TG’s top 10 things with wings

Car designers spend years and years honing the perfect shape. Idiots. All they really need is a ruddy big spoiler...

Words: Dan Read
Photos: Lee Brimble

This article was originally published in the November issue of Top Gear magazine

Lamborghini Murcielago SV
With this wing, the SV does 209mph. With a smaller one, it does 212. Forget the extra 3mph and get the big one. Drag has never been so cool. 

Toyota Supra Turbo
The Supra Turbo first scared small children way back in 1993, sporting the kind of artful hoop hugeness that promised much turbo honour.

A small wing that caused much corporate trauma; original wingless TTs were found to be ‘unstable', cue massive recall and more wings.

Maserati MC12
The MC12's two-metre wing is a proper job. Standing weight distribution is 41/59 front/rear. At 125mph, the wing makes it 34/66. Effective.

Koenigsegg CCX
The infamous ‘Top Gear' wing, as demanded by the Stig, via the process of ‘crashing quite horribly, at speed, into a stack of tyres'.

Video: watch the mentalist CCX try to kill the Stig

The original ‘whale-tail' spoiler: facilitator of many an Essex romance. Because a Cossie ain't a Cossie without an appendage like this.

Bugatti Veyron
The Veyron's animate spoiler adjusts depending on speed, and when you hit the middle pedal, flips vertical to form a functioning airbrake.

Lamborghini Countach
The Lambo's optional V-fin first appeared on the LP400S in 1978. It helped handling but reduced top speed. Most buyers chose the wing.

Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Thanks in part to its adjustable, carbon-fibre wing, the RS is 25kg lighter than the GT3. It's also long and wide enough to sleep a tramp.

To be eligible for NASCAR in 1970, manufacturers had to build a street-legal equivalent for every dealership. Hence the goalpost on this road car.