There’s no correlation between beauty and victory on the racetrack, contrary to what some magnates of motorsport have said in the past. The following 10 cars in this list prove it. At speed, they looked breathtaking or distinctive, maybe even ahead of their time. But they weren’t functional and failed to bring home the goods, leaving them consigned to the history books. Today we remember them, competitive shortcomings and all. In our heart, they’re forever winners.
Regulatory changes enacted by the FIA prompted Ford’s American brass to pull out of sports car racing in 1968 after beating Ferrari to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans two years in a row. However, Ford of the United Kingdom felt its work wasn’t finished. It partnered with Alan Mann Racing to create the three-liter Cosworth DFV-powered Ford P68. Despite its looks and occasional speed in the hands of Bruce McLaren, Chris Irwin, Richard Attwood and other talents of the time, the P68 was a mechanical disaster, failing to finish any of the eight races in which it competed.
After shocking everyone with a win at the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans, Mazda was rewarded in the way the FIA typically rewards winners: by having its key technology banned. Thus, rotary engines were no longer permitted in the World Sportscar Championship. However, they were allowed in IMSA, across the pond, leading to this curiosity: the quad-R26B-powered Mazda RX-792P. Between the deep concave sculpting behind the front wheels and that elegant, perfectly-proportioned canopy, for my money the RX-792P is tied with Toyota’s GT-One for the title of Prettiest Race Car Ever.
“Pretty” matters diddly squat for performance, though, which is why Mazda pulled the plug on the program after the 1992 season, when the car failed to start the first two races of the calendar due to fire. Its best result was a second at Watkins Glen; very respectable, until you consider that it crossed the line five laps after the all-dominating Eagle MkIII. Now there’s a car that was beautiful and successful.
The GT1 grid at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995 and 1996 was stacked with stunners, from the McLaren F1 GTR to the Ferrari F40 GTE, Porsche 911 GT2 Evo and Honda NSX Turbo. Toyota’s SARD squad campaigned a Supra in the category as well — a GT500 car from the Japanese Grand Touring Car Championship with the turbocharged 2.1-liter inline-four out of the aforementioned Eagle MkIII that achieved IMSA glory.
Le Mans glory, sadly, wasn’t in the cards. Drivers found the car dicey on the limit, while in the race its floor was beset with all manner of setbacks per Speedhunters. The Supra finished seventh in its class and 14th overall, 34 laps down from the winning F1 LM. SARD gave it one more shot in ’96 with a lighter package boasting revised aero for better high-speed stability, but a combination of mechanical gremlins and on-track foibles culminated in a retirement with eight hours left to run.
The Supra wasn’t SARD’s only attempt at Le Mans in 1995 and 1996. The team also brought a heavily modified, V8-powered SW20 MR2, called the MC8-R, to the historic event, as well as the then-contemporary BPR Global GT Series. The MC8-R’s 1995 Le Mans bout lasted a mere 14 laps, while the car finished the 1996 race second-to-last overall. Undeterred, SARD wanted to give it another go in 1997 with a pair of cars, but both were eliminated in pre-qualifying.
The first Aston Martin to break the 300 km/h barrier had enough pace to lead the start of the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans at the hands of Formula 1 champ Phil Hill, and certainly looked gorgeous doing so. But a transmission failure sunk its hopes entering the third hour. No matter; Aston would campaign the DP215 again, in the 12 Hours of Reims — only for the transmission to again prove the weak link. The car never ran another race, and three years later was seriously damaged in a highway accident. But the DP215 has been repaired in the decades since, and found a new home five years ago at RM Sotheby’s Monterey auction to the tune of $21.5 million.
Much like Toyota did with the Supra, Nissan contested Le Mans with a pair of Nismo-modified R33 Skyline GT-Rs in 1995. One of the cars finished 10th overall, good for fifth in class after four McLarens. Not bad, though Nissan clearly needed to step up its game to keep up with the trajectory of GT1 development, as the lower category began to outpace full-on prototypes around this time.
Enter the R390 GT1. Nissan partnered with Tom Walkinshaw Racing for this endeavor. That seemed a smart move, given TWR’s triumph at the 1988 race with the Jaguar XJR-9. The new machine was fast, but fragile. In 1997, two of the team’s three cars retired after gearbox failure. The last remaining chassis made it to the end, finishing fifth in class — though it needed two transmission replacements in the process. 1998 proved much more fruitful, as all four R390s Nissan entered completed Le Mans that year, with the best-performing one sneaking onto the bottom step of the podium. But changing regulations ended the program just as the crew was beginning to work out the kinks.
We’ve acknowledged plenty of endurance racers in this list, but no assembly of the prettiest-but-slowest race cars would be complete without a contribution from Ferrari. Because even when a Ferrari completely biffs it on track, it tends to do so with grace.
Case in point: the F92A. Like all of Ferrari’s F1 machinery through the ’90s, it’s visually unassailable. Hell, it was even fast, in the off chance it could finish a race. Jean Alesi managed to do that in just six out of 16 chances in the 1992 season. On two of those occasions, he even took home third-place trophies.
Ferrari had a habit of attributing the F92A’s fickle nature to its innovative floor design. If you ask Alesi, that was merely a cover. “The engine suffered from blow-by, that is to say there was a leakage of oil from the piston rings in the combustion chamber,” the French driver told Motorsport.com in 2020.
“This caused 40-50bhp to be lost,” Alesi continued. “But in Ferrari tradition, it could not be said that it was the fault of the V12. Instead the fault was attributed to the car — which is a shame because the concept was interesting.”
The Peugeot 905 eventually won Le Mans in 1992, with the “Evo 1B” variation. The problem with the Evo 1B is that it looks absolutely tragic from the front end, particularly if you’ve ever seen the original 905. Between the wheel spats, low-slung rear wing, smoothed front cowl and those heavily stylized headlight covers, the first rendition was like a spaceship among the traditional Group C set.
Unfortunately, the first 905 was also well off the pace of Jaguar’s leading XJR-14; that is, when it wasn’t breaking down. Aside from a fluke victory in the opening round of the 1991 World Sportscar Championship, the car’s record was nothing to be proud of. Peugeot’s late-season “B” update after double DNFs at Le Mans and Nürburgring brought better aero and a considerably more powerful engine, setting the groundwork for a dominant second year. But the team had to trade the 905's winning looks for winning results.
Bizzarrini didn’t last long as an automaker or racing outfit, but stylistically, what little output it achieved in its short existence through the back half of the ’60s was at least beautiful. Just one Chevy small-block-propelled P538 chassis started the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans — yeah, that Le Mans — and left the race with a fractured steering arm. Four are said to have been built as part of the original run according to Hemmings: two with small blocks between the axles, and two with Lamborghini V12s. Giotto Bizzarrini wanted to give the car another shot at Le Mans in 1967, but that never came to pass. Two years later, the company folded.
There it is: 10 beautiful but uncompetitive race cars. History’s filled with many more examples though, so give a shout out to any we failed to mention in the comments below.