Top Gear’s top ten racing supercars

Turning road cars into race cars has long been a recipe for success. Throw more power and gloriously aggressive aerodynamic addenda at an already proven supercar and race results should inevitably follow.

Scroll the pictures above as we count down our ten favourite circuit-biased supercars...

On road, the GT-R will fight - and vanquish - just about any sports car you throw its way. Sticking a demonic rear wing on its bootlid and a roll cage inside was, therefore, a no-brainer.

With GT3 racing regulations not permitting four-wheel drive, though, the GT-R is shorn of one of its major superpowers, and must make do with sending its 600bhp to the rear axle only. The plus point is that ditching AWD helps contribute to a colossal diet, the GT-R GT3 weighing less than a Ford Focus.

Eligible for an assortment of sports car racing series, the GT-R GT3 has four championships, 15 race wins and 63 top five finishes to its name. And counting.

A grand tourer weighing comfortably in excess of two tonnes is not a natural place to go racing car making. That might explain why a racing Conti GT didn't appear until a decade into the road car's life.

The Conti's transformation to circuit star is the result of a partnership between Bentley and M-Sport, a company previously known for its rallying expertise. Like the GT-R, a huge diet (the loss of 1000kg, no less) and guillotining the front driveshaft sat top of the agenda.

The result is a rather fine-looking racing car with an ample 600bhp. The Conti GT3 has just completed its debut year, with three race wins and second overall in the Blancpain Endurance Series. In 2015, Bentley's taking it to the Nurburgring 24 Hours.

Ferrari's presence in the racing supercar market stretches back a predictably long time, and its V8 juniors have particular provenance, the 348 and 355 Challenge cars predating the GT3 class by some margin.

The Ferrari 458 has also spawned a one-make Challenge series, as well as a couple of other racing cars. While the GT2 took class honours at the 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours, the 458 GT3 has an even more honourable record, with a burgeoning list of trophies to its name across all manner of racing series.

Audi may be a name synonymous with Le Mans domination nowadays, but it only fields factory teams in the race's uppermost 'LMP1' prototype class. Despite this, though, the R8 is something of an endurance racing legend via customer outfits.

The LMS runs to GT3 regulations, and has competed across the globe since 2009, with overall honours at the Nurburgring 24 Hour on its polished CV. It also boasts the kind of behemoth rear wing that would render it sub-zero regardless of results.

Remember Ascari? The telly boys bigged up a pair of the British company's sports cars, but with very few ever sold to the buying public, the name has faded into insignificance. Beyond the glorious Spanish race track that still stands, that is.

Shame, as what a good-looking thing the KZ1 is. And it gets no better than in GT3 spec, with a mid-mounted 500bhp V8 providing the power, and a nice chunky spoiler serves up downforce. Five years ago it was well priced too, its £166,000 tag making it around £75,000 cheaper than contemporary 911 or R8 GT3s.

Another British curio with racing pedigree. The Aero 8 may not quite qualify as a full-strength supercar, but that doesn't stop us loving its outrageously styled motorsport iterations.

Morgan twice took the Aero 8 to Le Mans, with a DNF and an NC (not classified) on its race record. That doesn't fully signify the blood, sweat and tears that went into its laps of La Sarthe though, nor quite how, um, David its team looked in the shadow of Audi or Peugeot's Goliaths. The Brits love an underdog, don't forget...

The SLS makes every other GT racer on the planet look a bit... spindly. Its aural presence is a match for its aggressive stance, too: good luck trying to hear another car on the grid as its V8 thunder echoes around the circuit grandstands.

The SLS GT3 is a sight to behold on the race track, its exceedingly wide body looking inappropriate for the cut-and-thrust of circuit racing. The spray of sparks as its various aero addenda skips and scuffs its way round Karussell in the early hours of the Nurburgring 24 Hours only adds to the fire'n'brimstone effect. In 2013, the SLS took the chequered flag to give Mercedes its first ever N24 win.

No list like this would be complete without the now 51-year-old Porsche 911. Much like the road car, there are almost endless track-spec iterations we could talk you through - there's even a hybrid GT3 racer - but the RSR name arguably has most prestige to it.

Powered by a 460bhp 4-litre flat-six engine, the current, 991-generation RSR won its class at the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours and finished on 2014's podium. It also looks fan-bleeding-tastic.

There are few cars with the racing provenance of the Ford GT40, thanks to its famous Le Mans victories in the 1960s. When Ford brought its supercar back as a modern-day pastiche, there was little doubt there'd be a motorsport version to try and recreate those Sixties highs.

Somewhat inevitably, the victories that followed aren't quite so iconic as that of its predecessor, with the 2008 FIA GT3 European Championship title its most glorious win. But with a fabulously rumbly 550bhp V8 engine and one helluva rear diffuser, that's really not an issue. Wonderful car.

And now for something a little different. History is littered with racecars that look fantastic, and racecars that sound disturbingly good. Some even tick both boxes with aplomb. None do it as well as the M1 Procar though.

The M1 renews its strong shout for ‘greatest noise made by a thing ever' at historic motorsport events every year, but what we really want to see is a recreation of the Procar Championship.

A support series for Formula 1 over 30 years ago, it saw a plethora of drivers from across motorsport - including F1 itself - pitted against each other in identical, unholy sounding cars. Niki Lauda won the first Procar title, Nelson Piquet the second, and final championship. Racing cars have never been quite as cool since.