Richard Hammond is in Paris taking a test drive in the French's very own super car - the Venturi Atlantique. He finds out how it compares to other top super cars, notably from the Italians, as well as marking it on it's overall design.
This car was not the only French supercar in that time. In the 80s/90s there were some more French supercars such us the Hommel Berlinette, Alpine A610, Mega Track, Mega Monte Carlo, etc.. Nowadays, my favourite French supercar is the fantastic Furtive-eGT which was presented at the Paris Motor Show in 2012. And the Genty Akylone also looks very nice.
The 6-cylinder Venturi had absolutely nothing to do with the original PRV engine. Almost everything had been modified or changed by the factory, pistons, camshaft, new injection system, etc.... So much so that Venturi had it homologated as their own engine. More powerful versions of 500 or 600 BHP had even been developed for competition Venturis, notably for the 24 hours of Le Mans.
It's sad that it's a forgotten French super car. Better than Ferrari I suppose. Surely it has reliability issues from a car being almost twenty or ten years old
"Richard Hammond ... blah blah ... as well as marking it on it's overall design". OMG. Is there a single British man who figured out the difference between its and it's? Is there a single British man who can tell good style from bad style?
I can't believe that hideous thing was once considered a supercar. To me, if a supercar is no longer called so 20 years later, it was never a supercar. I also can't believe he prefers the looks of this to a gen 1 NSX, which I absolutely love the look of. Which of the two cars ended in the pools of obscurity? That's right, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone today who's even heard of this, it looks like a Nissan.
HELMUT ALTO A French thing? Two of my 5 favourite car firms are definitely Citroen, and Bugatti, I love French cars. It's very plain looking. To call it a supercar would have to compare it with the Lamborghini Countach, does that sound right to you? Not really. In my opinion, the French have never really made a supercar, it's just not in their nature to produce speed and madness. The French are better at intelligent design and eccentric styling, the Citroen DS being the perfect example.
HELMUT ALTO Bugatti's been around now for a while, in France where they were originally built. I wouldn't consider them supercar makers but they're certainly luxury car makers. Yes, the war crippled that french market, but they've had a few attempts since, especially from Citroen with cars like the SM. But, the French won't ever really build a supercar because that just doesn't really fit their persona, which is probably why the Venturi failed. For the Italians to come up with something like a Lamborghini, it's something we're used to, but if the French tried to make something like that, it just wouldn't really fit. Yes, they can make luxury cars they can make expensive cars and they can make fast cars, but they can't make a supercar because they just don't quite have the culture for it. The ultimate ride down Parisian streets is a mid thirties Bugatti, not a Lamborghini Countach because people will simply look at you like an idiot, unlike the streets of Maranello.
cette venturi est laide ? NON NON ET NON . je la trouve encore superbe 25 ans après . Quel dommage que les français achetent leurs voitures de luxe à l'étranger . Quel gachis . Venturi continue à monaco avec des voitures electriques mais c est plus pareil .
Tastes and colors... But you're right, Venturi considered the Atlantique 300 as a GT, not a supercar. Because they did make a supercar, the Venturi 400 GT. It was actually the first road car with carbon brakes: 400 hp, 300 km/h and 4.1 0 to 100 km/h. You'll probably find it ugly, but still, it was a real supercar.
