I’ve thought about this question before because I would like to quantify exactly what makes them special. The area of the car market I’m talking about is the really top end - not the things mind that are just expensive cruisers (such as the Rolls Royce range) but stuff with scary, balls-to-the-wall performance to go with it.

Impracticality
One thing I’ve noted during my search for the ‘essence of supercar’ (it could be a well nice aftershave that, though granted it would have a whiff of the high octane stuff about it) is that the car has to be completely impractical. It has to really offer barely any room at all, whether you’re a passenger (real supercars rarely offer room for more than one of these) or a piece of baggage.

This is one of the reasons why you could call cars such as the Subaru Impreza WRX Sti and Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution incredibly impressive and fast - but they aren’t supercars. There’s just too much space, a bit too much ‘well I could help you do the shopping run too’ about them. There’s a place for that, but it’s not as a supercar.

Looks to die for
Supercars, invariably, look different from all other cars on the road. I was recently driving to work and there was a Lamborghini Gallardo driving on the opposite carriageway. It caught my eye and made my stomach feel light. The sheer looks of the thing made me gawk.

A car cannot be called a supercar unless it looks a bit special. I’m not just talking about a bit of carbon fibre as the bonnet either - it must have something that screams ‘I will eat you if you do something I don’t like’. This can be a rear diffuser; a bonnet bulge or intakes that make the car look like it has miniature caverns. Whatever it is, it must catch your eye. Cars that are trying the same trick (but aren’t supercars) will frequently paint their machines in traditional supercar livery such as bright reds and yellows.

Power and performance
A supercar should be super in every way - whether it is the looks or the performance. This being the case, such a machine cannot carry the moniker unless it is flying the flag for pointless, over the top performance. If your current car can do a higher top speed then you’re either rich or kidding yourself.

Cars such as the new Nissan GT-R are genuine sports cars - simply because it will do the 0-60 run in 3.6 seconds. Truly breathtaking. A bit scary as well no doubt. That’s another purpose of a supercar. Unless you’re a racing driver, it should have the ability to make you wet yourself. Repeatedly.

Costs
This really is something particular to supercars (well okay, you’ll suffer some of this if you get a performance car of the non-super variety). The cost of an initial purchase can be just about as high as you want to go, given how much you can customise your chosen vehicle. Your dealer can give you an options list longer than your arm and if you’re a real supercar buyer you’ll tick more than a few.

Cars you might like which won’t make your bank manager cry
These days, there are some cars that you can get for a very reasonable price that are either supercars or have genuine heritage. The Honda NSX is one such car. You can pick one of these bad boys up for just up from £20,000 and you’ll have a high revving V6 howler to your name that will put a lot of other cars on the road to shame.

Whilst some complain about TVR, if you haven’t got the Earth to spend then I’d recommend one. Look for a good model though, as reliability is a known issue (tell me which ’supercar’ doesn’t come with this feature though). I found a TVR Chimaera (4.3 litre convertible monster) for only £8,650 - a real bargain that will go like absolute stink.

My favourite supercar
As a car enthusiast, naturally I have a preference for a vehicle - should I happen to win the lottery or get an inheritance I wasn’t expecting. My choice is for the Ferrari F430. This two-door coupe is a fantastic vehicle. You can get it in manual or ‘F1′ style paddle shift and it’ll go from 0-60 in less than four seconds and will naturally cost you the Earth to run. I found one however for only £100,000.

I guess the point of supercars really is just that - to be super, in the same way that Superman is. They are unattainable. The height of mechanical and automotive genius. They turn heads. Perhaps though the only sign of a true supercar is whether a boy will have a picture of it on his wall. In that case, make mine a Lamborghini Diablo. This analogy highlights perfectly what a supercar represents - emotion, excitement and power all rolled into a beautiful package.

Preview: Malaysian Grand Prix

Where: Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur
Dates: 21, 22, 23 March 2008
Track: Sepang International Circuit
Laps: 56 required
Length: 5.543 km
Record: 1:34.223 Juan Pablo Montoya (2004)

The Malaysian Grand Prix should be extremely interesting due to the heat and humidity making it over 60 degrees in the cockpit - something very few of us could bear. It’s my prediction that it means we’ll see more incidents toward the end of the days’ racing. Sepang features fifteen turns altogether, several of which are pulling in excess of 3G’s of force - again, this is something that should keep the racing really interesting to watch.

A number of the turns allow for high gearing (a couple of which will allow the driver to stay in seventh gear), so expect some roaring performances into/out of these particular turns. Both Friday practices have now been completed (2-3.30am and 6-7.30am respectively) and the Saturday practice begins at 3am for one hour. Qualifying is at 6am and the race begins at 7am on Sunday.

So what’s happened so far? Well, the first practice saw a range of incidents. Not least was the apparently compromised Red Bull RB4 car that David Coulthard was driving. It looked to be a promising lap, but part way round, after running on a curb; Coulthard suffered what appears to be a track rod failure. This led to a request by the race stewards for the detailed technical report of the incident.

Of course, we want the sport to be as safe and fair as possible - but no one would predict mechanical problems of this nature, or they wouldn’t be happening in the first place. Either way, it would be a genuine upset if stewards decide that the car does not meet requirements, as they have the capacity to enforce a ‘no race’ exclusion on the Red Bull vehicle. The incident has left Coulthard missing second practice and placing him 16th on the grid.

Practice one held some interesting (and expected in the same instance) results. Ferrari set the pace for the whole morning, with both Massa and Raikkonen driving their cars particularly hard. Moving on to who I would like to personally see take the victory (I’m not biased at all!), the McLaren team started off well, not too far off the Ferrari team. Hamilton managed to steal pole in the second practice session with a blistering lap time of 1 minute 35.055 seconds - extremely quick and not a mile off the current record, even considering the to-the-wire F1 times.

Unfortunately for the other team I’m interested in - Super Aguri - things didn’t go half so well. Takuma Sato had overheating problems with his car, whilst Anthony Davidson just can’t seem to ring out exactly what he wants from his race machine. He couldn’t better his second practice time of 1 minute 39.021 seconds.

You can see the times here for the second practice session, which currently places Lewis Hamilton in pole position. Remember though, there’s another practice session and qualifying to go, though everything is looking good so far for the young English driver.

Based on the practice times table, it’s very clear that Ferrari is burning off to an excellent season start - something that is down to both driving skill and engineering. I’d never rule out Button in the Honda however - the amount of laps he is intent on driving shows is concentration and commitment. Overall, I think Malaysia could well be one of the highlights of this year’s F1 season. Mark my words; this is going to be a big one!