12 Of The Most Intense Homologation Special Cars In History

Homologation specials hold a special place in the hearts of automotive enthusiasts. These are the same cars that you watched tearing down tracks at warp speed, but for the road. Okay, maybe not exactly the same, as road-legal cars are subjected to different rules, but there is a connection. Homologation rules brought us legends like the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, Subaru Impreza WRX STI, Lancia Delta HF Integrale, and most recently the excellent Toyota GR Yaris, a hot hatch we wish was sold in the U.S.

However, though all of those cars are definitely remarkable, they are not nearly as intense as the models you are about to see here. Homologation specials have become a sort of a dying breed today — partly because racing organizers don't require exact street-legal versions, but also because of the quest for ever higher profits from automakers. Homologation cars once sprouted from all sides of the globe. Seemingly, every automaker had one. In today's world, low-volume production cars simply don't make much sense.

In this feature, we will focus only on the most intense ones. These models had the closest connection to the race breeds, with bonkers numbers even by today's standards. So, buckle up because, on this homologation journey, you'll see everything from mid-engine European hot hatches to one-off Le Mans giants!

While the current ZL1 is the most beloved Camaro in enthusiast and tuning circles today, the lineup's origins were pretty unlikely. The first Camaro ZL1 was developed to compete in the Can-Am road racing series and was never intended as a production vehicle. However, an Illinois dealer for Chevrolet, Fred Gibb, had another idea: Bringing the race car's V8 to the showrooms. So, he ordered a few ZL1 Camaros from Chevy's Central Office Production Order system (COPO) and offered them to customers. That initial success eventually led to the car entering production with subsequent models.

The fact that the first ZL1 had a racing engine made it somewhat of a homologation special. The 427-cubic-inch big block brought a significant performance upgrade over the existing 327-cubic-inch V8, producing over 500 hp! The engine was paired with either a heavy-duty four-speed manual or a Turbo hydra-matic automatic gearbox.

Crucially, the racing-focused aluminum block made the larger engine 500 pounds lighter, too, which must have been beneficial for handling. It also brought race car acceleration times to the table — the first Camaro ZL1 was capable of a quarter-mile time of just 11.6 seconds with slicks, upgraded exhaust, and different headers. Chevy built 69 examples of the first Camaro ZL1, and today, the car is a prized collectible, costing just short of $700,000 on average.

The RS200 was Ford's take on the Group B craze in the 1980s. At the outset, it was an even crazier car than the Sport Quattro that dominated the category: A dangerously light, mid-engine sports car driving all four wheels. The engine, a potent 1.8-liter turbocharged unit producing 250 hp and 215 lb-ft of torque, was enough to propel the RS200 to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds. However, that was only the regular homologation special, as things started to get really interesting with the Evolution model. Namely, the FIA required each manufacturer to produce 25 more cars of any upgraded model (200 of the first edition), and Ford did just that.

The RS200 Evolution was a much more maniacal car than the regular because, in the middle, it had a larger 2.1-liter turbocharged four-cylinder producing coma-inducing 600 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque! It was still made from fiberglass, tipping the scales at just 2,600 pounds, so performance was out of this world. Notably, 0-60 mph took only 3.3 seconds, but it would've been quicker if it wasn't for the hard-to-shift, non-synchronous five-speed manual. As you can imagine, it is a pretty difficult car to drive, with a significant turbo lag. Still, there is no denying the sensations you'll get from the shove in the back once the turbo spools up properly. The RS200 Evolution is as intense as it gets in a car!

Before Mercedes-Benz's AMG division dominated Formula One, it was busy beating the competition in other championships. In the 1990s, the German brand was almost unbeatable in the FIA GT Championship. The car behind that success was the CLK GTR, which, unlike most of its competitors, was tailor-made for the championship. McLaren, for example, heavily reworked its F1 supercar into a GTR race car to meet production requirements, as FIA mandated that 25 cars be sold to private customers. Not a problem for the F1, since 106 examples were already made.

Still, Mercedes-Benz and AMG were ready to make 25 homologation specials of the CLK GTR in their quest for winning races. Twenty of those cars were coupes, and five were roadsters, with both body styles being as wild as cars get. Equipped with a 6.9-liter V12 producing 600 hp and 572 lb-ft of torque, the CLK GTRs brought AMG's whole racing pedigree to the masses. Well, only to a lucky few, but you get the point. 0-62 mph in these sleek machines took 3.8 seconds, while the top speed was 214 mph.

Customers also got to play with a six-speed sequential gearbox with a clutch, just like in the race car. Still, the rest of the interior is pretty tame, with most switchgear borrowed from the W210 E-Class. Not that this stopped the CLK GTR from becoming an automotive icon, as in a recent auction, it hit $10 million.

Nissan wanted a piece of the GT racing craze in the 1990s. However, unlike its German competitors, the Japanese brand focused mainly on the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, where the organizers required only one street-legal unit to be made for the manufacturer to compete. Since Nissan was only into competing and not selling hugely expensive hypercars to customers, it built the one required example. So, yeah, it's as rare as it gets. As expected, only a few people inside Nissan ever drove the R390 GT1, though it does make appearances at car shows, like Villa d'Este.

But it's also quite special. Low and wide, with a great focus on aerodynamics, the R390 GT1 looks almost similar to the race car. Moreover, it packs the same 3.5-liter twin-turbo V8 with 550 hp and 470 lb-ft of torque, connected to a six-speed sequential gearbox that sends the power to the rear wheels. 0-60 mph in this car took only 3.1 seconds, but the 221-mph top speed was probably even more impressive. And since it weighs only 2,425 pounds and has a stiff chassis developed by Nissan engineers, it must be fantastic to drive. Still, we could only ever speculate!

The Peugeot 205 GTi is one of the most beloved hot hatches in Europe. Quick enough to give you the thrills and with a superbly balanced chassis, it showed that you can have a lot of fun in a car strictly designed for urban driving. However, the GTi wasn't the ultimate version of the small hatchback. Not even close. It was the 205 Turbo 16 — a crazy homologation special designed to tackle all those overpowering Group B rally cars of the 1980s.

The 205 Turbo 16 rally car was very successful, winning 16 WRC races of the 26 in which it competed — a staggering 62% success rate. Here, though, we will be focusing on the road-going version, which is closely connected to the successful rally car. Like most Group B hatchbacks, the T16 is a mid-engine sports car with AWD for excellent balance and lateral grip. It also looks the part, particularly the side-mounted air intakes that reveal the mid-engine layout.

The engine itself was a 1.8-liter turbocharged four-cylinder unit producing 200 hp. That was short on its rivals but still enough for a 0-62 mph sprint of 6 seconds. Still, the highlight of the 205 T16 was its suspension, which, in true French fashion, was smooth on public roads, but it never unsettled the handling. In fact, the 205 T16 remains one of the best-handling hot hatches, even if few can ever enjoy it, as Peugeot made only 219 examples.

Before Toyota dominated the 24 Hours Le Mans race with five straight wins from 2018 to 2022, it had several unsuccessful attempts. Perhaps its most legendary early races were in 1998 and 1999, where the Toyota GT-One TS020 was the fastest car, but due to some bad luck, the best it could muster was second place. In 1998, the team retired an hour before the finish, giving the 911 GT1 the win, while in 1999, its number one car suffered a tire blowout on the Mulsanne straight.

Still, there is no denying that the GT-One is one of the most handsome machines that ever raced at Le Mans. That also holds true for the street-legal version, of which only two examples were made. Namely, just like with the Nissan R390 GT1, Le Mans organizers required one homologation special to be made for the car to compete. And since Toyota was only interested in racing, it only made two cars.

And the GT-One street version is as wild as it gets. Interestingly, Toyota made some workarounds in the street version, like claiming that the fuel tank can hold a suitcase and thus can be used as a trunk, and regulators were okay with it. Elsewhere, the GT-One homologation special had the same 3.6-liter twin-turbo V8 as the race car, producing almost 600 hp. As a result, the GT-One reaches 62 mph in 3.2 seconds and has a top speed of more than 236 mph!