Gallery: the crazy cars of Cali 2018

A few years ago, you may remember that Alex Penfold (our ninja-like resident supercar paparazzo) was put in a trebuchet and fired across the Atlantic. Luckily, he landed somewhere on the West Coast of America, and manged to make his way up to the moneyed land of Monterey, California.

He sent back an SD card full of staggering images that form quite an automotive postcard. Y’know, the normal jaw-dropping kerbside scenes of Bugatti concepts, Mclaren P1 GTRs, LaFerraris, one-off Koenigseggs, Porsche 959s, Ferrari F50s and pretty much every hypercar known to man.

Well, things move fast over in Cali-forn-eye-aye, and what was new a few years ago is now old news. Fortunately, the folk over there like to freshen up their four-wheeled wardrobes on the regular. So Alex hopped over again. This time favouring the comfort of a plane. And what he saw was even more mind-blowing. You know things are good when you see everything from old-school greatness, to one-off rarities and communities of Chirons. And even stuff that’s hot off the press, like that Bugatti Divo above. So grab a saliva drip tray click forth in wonder. Then let us know your favourites below.

Ouch. This is what happens when a Porsche 959 hits a tree. Bet you thought it’d be going cheap, right? Nope. It sold for $467,500 at auction. Don’t try the same trick with your old Ford Ka.

Who doesn’t love a homologation special? The Merc CLK GTR was designed to compete in the FIA GT Championship alongside the Porsche 911 GT1 and McLaren F1 GTR. But to be eligible for the then-new series, manufacturers had to build and sell 25 road-going examples of their race cars. This is one of the 20 Coupes, as five Roadsters completed the build run.

Think cars have become too sanitised? Try hustling this down a fast road – it'll put hairs on your chest.

Ah, The Ferrari F50. As we said in our special TG Collector’s Edition Ferrari mag, “the F50’s years flying under the radar are now emphatically over". It really was something of a forgotten gem for about 20 years. And we really can’t figure out why. It's got a blimmin' F1 engine for crying out loud.

Ladies and Gents, a muse for Kanye West: the Lamborghini Murci.

And the last incarnation of the Lamborghini Murciélago, the SV. AKA, the mad one. Those of you under the age of 25 may well have had a picture of this thing on your bedroom wall. The Lamborghini Murcielago SV LP670-4, to give it its full title. What a way to go out.

Gulf livery: who wore it better? Porsche...

...or Ford? Let us know in the comments below. 

Earlier this year, Italian coachbuilding firm Manifattura Automobili Torino announced it will build a 25-strong limited series of the Lancia Stratos-inspired supercar. And what’s more, there’ll be three different versions. A road going supercar, a GT racing car and – be still our beating hearts – a Safari rally spec version. This is the road-going spec. Like what you see? 

Imagine being the person who rocks up in a Carrera GT to be trumped by an even rarer Porsche. Now that's a first-world problem.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Chiron.

Hear that? That's the sound of a screaming, glorious and earth-shatteringly noisy 4.8-litre V10.

Ooooo. An emerald Chiron. That's going straight in the basket.

Chirons: ten a penny in Cali.

Only 40 Bugatti Divos will be produced (that’s 40 on top of the 500 Chirons Bugatti is already building), and you can’t have one. Despite buyers having to be proposed by a dealer and own a Chiron already, it sold out immediately. And yes, more than one of the 40 bought a Chiron just to get their hands on the new €5m hypercar.

The Audi PB18 e-tron has 753 electric horsepower and looks tremendous. Can this hyper-shooting brake become Audi’s plug-in supercar phoenix?

See that exposed carbon bodywork? It took almost 1,000 hours to produce and is tinted “Fux Green” at the request of Michael Fux, the mattress magnate. The interior is also trimmed in the same white leather as his 720S while all the interior carbon is tinted green too, and the leatherwork stitched with contrast green thread. Can you guess his favourite colour? Yep, blue. Only joking, it's green.

There are so many limited-edition Paganis now we've forgotten what this Huayra is.

This is the Ferrari F60 America, effectively the open-top version of the insane F12 and quite possibly the most invigorating wake-up call on Planet Earth.

Check out those proportions. They are absolutely on point. Not bad for an out-of-hours skunk works project by a bunch of blokes in their twenties, eh?

Ruf brought the legendary Yellowbird back for the 2016 Geneva show. But this time it wasn't based on a Porsche 911. Underneath sits a bespoke carbon tub with unique steel sub frames front and rear that carry pushrod suspension. There’s still a twin-turbo flat-six in the back and, yes, the 3.6-litre is based on Porsche’s technology, only now it doesn’t develop 469bhp, but 700bhp. It drives the rear wheels (and rear wheels alone) through a six-speed manual gearbox. Old school. It also looks pretty cool, right?

"DO. NOT. CRASH. DO. NOT. CRASH. DO. NOT. CRASH." There you go, an insight into the mind of someone driving a gazillion dollar Ferrari.

Remember what we said about homologation specials earlier? Nothing has changed. This Merc 190 Evo was first unveiled in 1990 at the Geneva motor show, and is an, um, evolution of the 2.5-litre Evo, which in turn was an evolution of the 2.3-litre 190. Power? 235bhp, together with a 0-62mph time of 7.1secs and top speed of 155mph. Just 502 were officially made.

Here's a throwback: a Veyron.

Let's hope this 959 doesn't end up in that wall like the last one. Still would be worth a fortune.

You have permission to bow in the presence of greatness.

To Generation Gran Turismo this needs no introduction. If you're not aware of it, Google 'Nissan' and 'R390' immediately.

Sand. Wedge.

The Huayra Roadster gets Mercedes-AMG’s ‘M158’ V12 (it’s a unit specially built for Pagani), with a pair of turbos bolted on, producing 760bhp, and more than 737lb ft of torque. Which, packed into Pagani’s carbo-titanium monocoque and allied to a seven speed X-Trac gearbox, means you can experience 1.8G of lateral acceleration and 760bhp to the fullest. Though no 0-62mph time has been given, expect it to hoover it up in around three seconds.

Everybody knows racing stripes make cars infinitely faster. Therefore, using logic handed down by generations of petrolheads, Top Gear can confidently conclude that this special edition Ford GT makes at least 1,000hp. We jest, of course. It's just a new livery for Ford's supercar, honouring the heroics of Dan Gurney and AJ Foyt, who, in 1967, managed to win the Le Mans 24hr race in a Ford GT40.

A Pagani Zonda seen at its natural habitat: a petrol station. 

Not that it needed any confirmation, but the Porsche 918 is still dripping with cool. 

At ease, Internet. We've included a Koenigsegg. You happy now? 

Ah, this must be another one of Waze's magical time-saving rat runs. 

Legendary. That's all you need to know about this one. 

Long before the Bugatti Chiron and Veyron came swinging with their monster quad-turbo engines came the EB110. And it was fast, and excellent.

Damn. We really wish this picture came with a sound file. It'd read; epic.mp3