The Most Questionable Cars Ever Built for Racers

Some cars are built to enjoy famous from competing in some of the most prestigious rallies globally, while others are made for the everyday use of the population. You’d think there’d be a clearcut distinction between cars made for civilian and professional use.

We thought so too… until now.

Today, we’ll be looking at some cars that were never built to compete but still managed to be featured on the race tracks. Surprisingly, a handful of cars hold ranks, having earned multiple successes, but, more often than not, these motorcars were doomed to fail on the tracks. 

Here are 4 of the most questionable cars to ever have been placed on a race track.

1. Austin Seven – 1923

Auto Car | The Austin Seven

Austin was launched in the UK and garnered widespread interest in being the first car to be affordable in 1922. Its debut performance was held the following year, with an effortless open body with two seats. Next, it competed in the Easter Monday meeting at Brooklands and made an impeccable record of 62.40mph.

The world’s first Austin Seven race car driver was Captain Waite, who then drove it back to his house, completing 190 miles on that day, including the race’s mileage.

Today, this car remains to be staunch of the finest Clubman racing and it’s all thanks to its high-fun computation and its very affordable cost.   

2. Mercedes 300SEL 6.8 RED PIG – 1969

Auto Car | The Mercedes 300SEL

Red Pig or Roten Sau does not sound like a very kind or catchy name, especially for a car, but it somehow fits the Mercedes 300SEL 6.8. The Red Pig appeared in a race that lasted for 6 hours at Macau but, the passion for pretty tires and the 5mpg fuel consumption made it extremely difficult for it to be nursed back home.

In Europe, Mercedes’ board members were not very impressed and sent orders to halt the project so the cars were bought by AMG and were further developed.

3. Ferrari 308 Group 4 – 1982

Auto Car | The Ferrari 308 Group 4

This car, much like all the others, was not intended to appear for rallying, but it was still approved to be used as a race car way back in 1976. As the factory didn’t want to get involved directly, they had Michelotto do all the work, who created a total of 11 custom cars and increased their power up to 400bhp to make it suitable for the race tracks.

During its time on the tracks, the Ferrari 308 achieved its best results only once, in which it landed second, during the Tour de Corse in 1982.

4. Jaguar F-Type – 2018

Auto Car | The Jaguar F-Type

It is sad knowing that the original Jaguar F-type rally cars will never debut for any race. The car was built for the firm’s 70th year celebration and the remembrance of the popular Jaguar XK120, which was driven by Ian Appleyard in 3 Alpine races one after the other.

To save weight, the vehicle was stripped and constructed to fall completely within FIA requirements. In all seriousness, however, the Jaguar F-type is completely a road car.

Wrapping It Up

What can we say except, the world is a weird place, and we guess we’ll never know what these companies were thinking when they decided to put such questionable cars on the race tracks. Might be for the loss of a better option to put out there. But, who knows?