It's very simple, really. The best racing cars tend to be gorgeous. And while the 2011 crop of F1 cars is generally very handsome, it is Mercedes’s W02 that's the flat-out drop-dead beauty.

Back in the early days of the Dakar, when it wasn't a South American branding exercise but a race to the capital of Senegal, a group of French people entered a custom-built Rolls–Royce Corniche powered by a 5.7-liter Chevy V8.

This is the Villeneuve family in the summer of 1979. Joan and Gilles are joined by their kids Melanie and Jacques around Gilles's Ferrari 312T.

One of Porsche's entries for the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans was a racing pig. Developed with French help in a quest for harmony between downforce and drag, it was the fastest thing on track. Until dawn on Sunday.

It’s always a pleasure to look at the paintings of wonderful Bauhaus artist László Moholy-Nagy, particularly when they feature racing cars like Pneumatik from 1924.

Last year, we were all drooling over the MX–5 Superlight at motor shows. It was actually a nine-year-old car. It was nothing but the Mazda Miata Mono-Posto from 2000 in new clothes.

Instead, it’s a Czech racer of the same vintage: The 1958 Škoda 1100 OHC, a lightweight sports prototype raced in Eastern Europe.

The BMW Z4 GT3's a $408,000, roll-caged, carbon-fibered, 4.0-liter V8-powered, six-speed sequential shifted track-day all-star. It also comes shipped in boxes. Watch Team West Coast Racing put theirs together in this time-lapse video compressing 600 hours of labor. [ColdTrackDays]

How’s this for a dream home for car geeks: a large warehouse in Sydney converted into a home with ample space to park a car, any car, smack in the middle of the living room.

The only thing to ruffle the tranquil air at dawn is the superheated exhaust from the turbocharged V8. The silhouette of a NACA duct like a space shuttle. The Sauber C9 is on its way to victory at Le Mans.

It’s rather underpowered and lacking in racing cred, but you’ve got to love the Art Deco tank looks of this GAZ GL–1 sports car—from 1938, of all years.

What would you pay for a NASCAR veteran '65 Impala, allegedly driven by Roy Mayne? Crazed modelmaker ParkRNDL tipped us about this car more than a week ago, but then our friends at Bring A Trailer discovered it.

Denny Hulme's 1969 Can-Am victory in a McLaren M8B was one of the high points of motorsport for enthusiast Bob Rubin, who commissioned artist Chris Gilmour to make this amazing full-scale M8 from cardboard and hot glue.

The 1971 Mercedes–Benz 300 SEL 6.8 AMG was one of the coolest racing cars ever built. 39 years later, it’s returned to Spa, accompanied by a thoroughly modern S63 AMG.

Dennis Palatov's maniac dp4 super go-kart recently visited Oregon Raceway Park for its first track day. It murdered everything. Spec Miatas? Standing still. Ariel Atoms? Child's play. Here's an exclusive look at the car's first lap.

Want to buy one of the three twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter Northstar V8-engined LMP02 race cars Cadillac built for ALMS in 2002? One Ohio eBay seller's got two up for auction right now. Buy it now price? $355,000. [eBay via Autoblog]

The Alfa Romeo TZ3 is a purpose-built race car from the Zagato design house created to celebrate 100 years of Alfas. The sexy aluminum body covers a tubular carbon fiber chassis and an undisclosed powertrain.

The Toyota Tacoma Pikes Peak can hit 60 MPH in 1.6 seconds thanks to a 1,000 HP 2.1-liter engine. But it's only geared to do 132 MPH. Imagine how crazy that is. Oh wait, don't, there's video.

We were just saying something about needing the Focus RS500, we think — can't really remember because this 410HP, mid-engined, rear-wheel-driver Volvo S60 headed for the Belgian Touring Car Series wiped out our memory. Imagine if it where a wagon.

What happens when you take a Mercedes SLS AMG, strip out the superfluous baloney, amp-up the engine and install race seats, gauges and gear? You get this — the factory-built Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 racer. Awesome.