Six extraordinary supercars to see at the Compello Festival of Cars

Possibly the best, most track-focussed production-based car ever built by legendary manufacturer Porsche. Only 200 examples will ever be built, and with 515kW of power and a customer waiting list longer than the Nurburgring touring car race, this could be your only chance to see the GT2 in the flesh. Oh, and if you could buy one, you’d need something like $2 million in your wallet to seal the deal.

When was the last time you saw these two poster-children for 1980s supercar lovers in the same place at the same time? Even better, the two supercar legends will be parked side-by-side, showing off their V12 engines, Italian sex-appeal and attitude that screams retro cool. No teenage car lover’s 1980s bedroom wall was complete without this pair.

Nicknamed the `Godzilla’ due to its impressive technology and performance Nissan’s GT-R was the car that changed the face of touring-car racing. As well as winning the annual Bathurst 1000km classic here, it also dominated global touring-car racing in the early 1990s and stamped its place in pop culture through films such as The Fast and Furious. Essentially noting could touch the Nissan on a racetrack. The car featured at the Festival of Cars finished fourth at the Bathurst 12-Hour in 1993 further bolstering the model’s reputation in the toughest racing conditions.. While the Nissan changed local perceptions of what was and wasn’t a proper race-car, it also opened our minds to the genius of high-performance Japanese machinery. And we haven’t looked back.

Made famous by the 2002 Bond film Die Another Day the Aston Martin Vanquish has been a headline act ever since. But the car you’ll see at this car show is a later example of the Vanquish concept with the addition of one very important letter: S. That single S signifies even more power and performance from the mighty, normally-aspirated V12, while everything else about the car continues to suggest Aston Martin’s core values of supercar performance wrapped up in a dinner-suit. Much like 007 himself. 

You can’t replace a performance icon such as the Ferrari 488 with anything other than a huge leap forward. Which is precisely what the Ferrari F8 – otherwise known as the Tributo – represents. It sticks with the mid-engined layout and uses a turbocharged V8 engine for amazing performance, but it’s also styled as a nod to the great Ferrari mid-engined sports car of the past. The car on show is the first F8 to hit the roads in this country, so you won’t see it anywhere else.

AMG’s retro styled GTR has been a firm favourite among those who like their supercars with a dash of practicality. But in the Pro version of the GTR, any thoughts of that have been banished along with anything else that doesn’t fit into the ethos of a track-focussed car for the street. With a four-litre twin-turbocharged engine and 430kW of power, the GTR Pro also comes with electronically adjustable suspension and carbon-ceramic brakes; all top-shelf stuff. Just 15 of these cars have been slated for Australian delivery, and you can see one at the festival.

The Compello Car Club Festival of Cars, 9:30am to 2pm, 18 April at 1 Cochranes Rd, Moorabbin.