Looking Ahead: 9 supercars — and bikes — we can't wait to be punishing next year

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Christmas shopping in a Lamborghini is not a good idea. Oh sure, Christmas shopping for a Lamborghini would be anyone’s dream mall excursion, but there are a whole bunch of reasons – not a lot of storage space, the fear of the inevitable Xmas season parking lot dings, etc. – to not traipse all around town for that perfect present in a Lamborghini Huracan.

Atop that list is the fact that Christmas, if you hadn’t noticed, is in December. A wintry Canada is not exactly supercar friendly, especially if said beast drives only the rear wheels. Pirelli PZero SottoZeros are truly phenomenal snow tires – and isn’t it amazing you can get snow tires 305 millimetres wide (the Huracan EVO’s rear rubber is a gargantuan 305/35ZR19) – but they are no match for 601 thoroughly Italian horsepower directed to the rear wheels.

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Oh, as Lamborghini takes pains to point out, its cars – now more reliable and, dare we say, almost practical – can easily make it through a Canadian winter. But just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do said something.

So, the first item on my supercars to drive next year list is to hit the road in the rear-wheel-drive EVO in a more appropriate setting. Say, the month of July. And since I’m obviously dreaming in technicolour, how about we do it in Italy? That would save Lamborghini some shipping costs – hey, it’s Christmas and I’m just putting other people’s needs first – and not be near as bothersome for the constabulary. Perhaps they could even trailer it to my rental in Bormio to save wear and tear – there I go again thinking of the other guy – on the brakes and tires. Whatever and wherever, though, I’m hoping I get a chance to re-sample the new Huracan EVO in less difficult conditions.

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Racing in the street

But the EVO is not the supercar I wanna drive most next year. It’s not even the Lamborghini I’m most eager to put through its paces. Nope, that laurel rests with the all-new Huracan STO . STO stands for Super Trofeo Omologata which, I don’t think you need Google translate here, indicates it is a racecar with just enough legal niceties to pass a DOT inspection.

Believe it or not, its 631 horses are just the least of its enticements. Primary amongst those is the fact that, thanks to copious aerodynamic wings, ducts, and inlets, the STO generates some 500 kilograms of downforce. For a little perspective, the Performante version of the Huracan puts out only 280 kilos of downforce and, if you remember, I absolutely raved about its ability to race around the incredible Imola circuit two years ago. That makes it the first on my Christmas wish list of supercars I need to flog in 2021. And, Lamborghini, if you can make it happen at Imola again, so much the better; I do so like to scare myself, uhm, witless and there’s nothing scarier than trying to rail through stupidly fast Acque Minerali without backing off the gas. I cannot wait.

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Put a little super in your adventure

OK, it’s not exactly a superbike, but Harley-Davidson’s Pan-America will be fast, what with 145 horsepower from its Revolution 1250 V-twin. The Pan-Am really is new: it’s a brand new segment for Harley, powered by an all-new engine and riding on a chassis completely alien to Milwaukee.

I’m not sure it will be the fastest adventure touring bike available or the best (a long shot considering it’s Harley’s first effort in this now 40-year-old segment) but it will provide a glimpse into the company’s future and tell us whether Milwaukee can adjust to a different paradigm and motorcycling’s shifting demographics. For that reason, it’s the motorcycle I’m most anxious to ride next year.

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Plug me in, Sulu

McLaren has had an outsized effect on the supercar world, the company’s attention to detail and high-tech high performance forcing both Ferrari and Lamborghini to significantly up their game. Unfortunately, any advantage Woking might have enjoyed has somewhat faded as a result of stagnant technology. Oh, there have been new cars over the last 10 years but, despite their outrageous power and dramatic visages, they’ve essentially been remakes of the original theme.

No more. As the first all-new McLaren in quite some time, the Artura jumps into the growing electrified supercar segment. What was once a straightforward twin-turbocharged V8 is now a turbo V6 married to an electric motor and enough battery to see a completely emissions-free 50 kilometres of range. It will also be the first to ride on the company’s all-new Carbon Lightweight Architecture (MCLA) which is claimed to be lighter and more robust than ever before. So, let’s see: a McLaren supercar with oodles of (electrified) low-end torque and a better-handling chassis that just so happens to also be environmentally-friendly. Yeah, I think I could be convinced to drive that.

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An even faster adventure

As much as I need to ride Harley’s Pan-Am, I think I want to ride Ducati’s Multistrada V4 even more. It’s basically a marriage of the best superbike engine in existence – Ducati’s latest Panigale V4 – and the creature comfort of the company’s Multistrada adventure tourer. Intoxicatingly fast and posterior-friendly? Sign me up. Especially since the top-of-range model has the latest version of Bologna’s semi-active “Skyhook” electronic suspension.

But the killer app in all this? Because it abandons the company’s high-tech (but finicky) desmodromic valve actuation system, Ducati says the new 1158-cc V4 can go a whopping 60,000 kilometres between valve clearance inspections. Crikey! A fast and practical Duke? I might have to get me one of those.

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An even faster hybrid

Hang on to your hats folks – Ferrari has a front-wheel-drive supercar. Now to be clear, the new SF90 Spider is not exclusively FWD. It would not be a supercar, much less a Ferrari, if it was. However, Maranello’s latest hypercar is a hybrid and, with two of its three electric motors on the front axle, not only can it torque vector through corners but in pure EV mode it is FWD.

It also, thanks to that electrification and a twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8, boasts some 986 “net” horsepower. Yes, I’ll save you the research: that’s more than the LaFerrari and it is quicker to 100 kilometres an hour to boot. There’s even a Canadian connection. The key feature of SF90’s Assetto Fiorano performance package is a set of high-tech shocks made by Markham’s own Multimatic. For the Canadian content alone, I’m willing to travel all the way to Maranello to test it.

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A practical superbike

It’s a measure of the change in the ethos of modern motorcycling that the most exciting superbike of 2021 boasts but 659cc and two cylinders. In fact, it’s barely got 100 horsepower. Yet, everyone I know in the industry can’t wait to swing a leg over it.

The middleweight superbike in question is Aprilia’s new RS660 and its parallel twin engine is essentially an RSV4 with its rear two cylinders lopped off. It is light, manageable and, most surprisingly, considering its rather convincingly superish styling, comfortable. That’s showing its practical side. Meanwhile, a six-axis Inertial Measurement Unit-controlled cornering ABS and traction control system married to topflight suspension and radially-mounted four-pot Brembo front calipers mean it’ll be a terror on a tight, twisty road. It’s even dressed up to look like the company’s MotoGP racer. My American friends have been lucky enough to test the new baby Aprilia and their enthusiasm is contagious. I can’t wait to ride the RS660.

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Shades of Valkyrie

Inspired by Formula 1, the Aston Martin Valhalla looks like a cross between a LeMans LMP1 racer and Jaguar’s defunct XJ220 super-duper car plus some form of Norse mythological weirdness happening in the front end. Whatever the origins, it works. Aston Martin is claiming the Valhalla is the slipperiest car it has ever produced in part because of its FlexFoil rear wing, a unit which can alter the car’s downforce without changing its angle of attack.

Powered by a dry-sump, twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6, the Valhalla is another hyper-hybrid, only in this case, it’s not a plug-in. It’s rumoured, however, to produce 986 horsepower (when combined with its electric motors), not bad when you consider this is the first engine designed in-house by Aston Martin since  Tadek Marek’s 5.3L V8  in 1968.

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One more Aston Martin

As if the Valkyrie and Valhalla aren’t enough exotica, Aston Martin is pairing with a company named Brough Superior to produce — get this —  a motorcycle .

Yes, an Aston Martin with just two wheels. What’s even weirder is the Aston Martin nameplate may not be the most storied in this pairing. Brough Superior, deceased until recently, is one of the most revered names in motorcycling – T.E Lawrence, aka Lawrence of Arabia, owned no less than seven of its SS100s – and was known in its heyday as the “Rolls-Royce of motorcycles.”

Brough has been producing modern resto-rods powered by a unique 88-degree V-twin since 2012. To give this AMB 001 the requisite uniqueness, designers Mark Upham and Thierry Henriette (formerly of Boxer motorcycles), added a rare-for-motorcycles turbocharger, rendering a very superbike-like 180 horsepower. Completing the craziness is some bodywork that looks like a cross between a concept bike and Hans Muth’s original Katana. Pony up CAD$164,000 and you too can have one under your Christmas tree. Hurry! Aston Martin is only building 100 of them.