Lottery win coming through? Found yourself in the market for a money-no-object sportscar? Excellent.

We’ve pulled together this list of absolute beauties for every taste from a track-prepped Ferrari and a Gordon Murray-designed Mercedes to luxurious GTs, boulevard cruisers and even a car deemed too extreme for the road. Here’s our guide to the eight best money-no-object sportscars.

1. Ferrari F12tdf

Named after the Tour de France road race held in France between 1951-1986, the Ferrari F12tdf is a sportscar that has been custom-built for the track. Ferrari took the standard 740PS (544kW) F12 Berlinetta and improved it in every conceivable way. The 6.3-litre V12’s power increased from 740 to 780PS (574kW), while carbon-fibre bumpers and under trays helped shed 100kg. The result? A top speed of “more than 211mph” (Ferrari never confirmed an exact number) and 0-62mph in 2.9 seconds.

Performance figures were only half story, though. The F12tdf generated 230kg of front-end downforce thanks to a new aero package. When combined with rear-wheel steer (not fitted to the standard F12), meant that – whatever you did – understeer was never a problem. Huge carbon ceramic brakes (nicked straight from the LaFerrari hypercar) provided limitless stopping power. The downsides are few but substantial – Ferrari only built 799 examples, and they command prices of well over £1 million.

2. Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren

You get a sense of Beauty and the Beast to the unlikely partnership between McLaren designer Gordon Murray and Mercedes-Benz. While Murray was famed for building championship-winning racing cars, Mercedes wanted to build a GT that would appeal to glitterati like Paris Hilton. Something had to give and (given Murray’s famous dislike for compromise) unsurprisingly that ‘something’ was Mercedes. Because of this, while the McLaren SLR might look like the Vision SLR Concept shown at 1999’s Detroit motor show, it was all new under the skin, with an engine sitting half a metre further behind the front axle and a fuel tank relocated to sit within the wheelbase, all to satisfy Murray’s need for a near-perfect 49:51 weight distribution.

Sadly, other parts of the SLR – the tacky cabin, its 1,768kg heft and wooden-feeling brakes – were less than perfect. But such criticisms will soon melt away once you bask in the glory of the Merlin-like sound emitted from the 635PS (467kW), 5.5-litre supercharged V8s side exit exhausts.

3. Aston Martin V600 Le Mans

While the Aston Martin V600 Le Mans looked more like a rocket-propelled stately home than a sportscar, its ungainly looks could be deceiving – this GT could keep a Lamborghini Diablo honest. And it could do it while pampering its four occupants in wood and leather-lined luxury. Lifting the Aston’s vented bonnet revealed a 5.3-litre V8 flanked by a pair of superchargers with pumping force to rival a hydroelectric power station.

The V600 Le Mans is particularly cherished. Not only did it bring power up to 608PS (447kW, or 600bhp, hence the name), but it also got some much-needed attention to the suspension and brakes. The Le Mans body kit might be too Max Power from some, but only 40 Le Mans models were ever built, which explains why you’ll need close to half a million pounds to get a good one.

4. Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0

If the Porsche 911 is the ultimate sportscar, then the GT3 RS 4.0 litre is the ultimate sportscar in its purest form. To build it, Porsche took the ‘standard’ GT3 RS’ 3.8-litre flat-six, stroked it to 4.0-litres then added exotic mechanicals like titanium conrods and a crankshaft nicked straight from the RSR racing car. Weight, meanwhile, dropped to 1,360kg – 10kg less than the standard GT3 – thanks to parts like a bonnet and wings made from carbon-fibre.

The icing on the cake came in the form of an aero package (including dive plates on the front bumper) that increased downforce by nearly 20 per cent. The result was a 500PS (368kW) 911 with an 8,250rpm redline, mid-range flexibility that would leave a standard RS floundering and handling that still feels contemporary today. No wonder the best examples sell for well over Porsche’s original £130,000 sticker price.

5. BMW Z8

The BMW Z8 is an example of a sportscar that gets better with age. With an engine borrowed from the E39 M5 – but none of the saloon’s structural integrity – back in 1998, it wasn’t the sharp handler road testers expected and fewer than 6,000 examples sold before the car went out of production in 2003. But people got the Z8 wrong. It wasn’t a cornering king but a boulevard cruiser, and it does that very well.

Its retro styling – a throwback to the 507 GT – was pure, shark-nosed BMW (how times have changed), and while it never handled like a Lotus, it had plenty of power on the straights. Anyone looking for a deeply cool, and relatively rare sportscar would be hard-pressed to ignore the Z8, even if clean examples sell for nearly double their original £100,000 asking price. 

6. Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione

If the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione was a film, it would be Shallow Hal because, for once, this is an Alfa Romeo that has the personality to go with its achingly good looks. A carbon-fibre body means the Alfa is lightweight (1,585kg) for a big GT car, while a near-perfect weight distribution was guaranteed by mounting the engine far behind the front axle and the gearbox ahead of the rear. Double wishbone suspension front and rear guaranteed neat handling, while power came from a Ferrari-sourced 4.7-litre V8 producing 456PS (335kW) at 7,000rpm. Enough to get the Alfa from 0-62mph in just 4.2 seconds on its way to a 181mph top speed.

Contemporary sportscars – like the Ferrari 599 GTB – would give the Alfa a run for its money, but the 8C’s desirability is assured because only 500 were built. No wonder an 8C will now cost you twice its 2007 asking price.

7. Morgan AeroMax

We couldn’t write a guide to the best money’s-no-object sportscars without featuring Morgan – a manufacturer with the essence of ‘sportscar’ coursing through its veins. Such was the reaction to the AeroMax’s swooping Art Deco lines when it was revealed in 2005, Morgan decided to build 100 examples rather than the single car originally planned. The AeroMax blends old and new in true Morgan tradition so while you get traditional looks and a vintage driving position, the chassis is aluminium and the 4.8-litre V8 comes from BMW.

It’s a combination that gives the Morgan a power-to-weight ratio of 316PS (232kW) per tonne and handling that would be outside the abilities of a traditional ash-framed model… And we haven’t even mentioned its race-spec AP brakes and glorious-sounding side-exit exhausts. Sadly, you’ll need close to a quarter of a million pounds to get your hands on one now.

8. TVR Cerbera Speed 12

With a lightweight fibreglass body spirited along by your choice of motorsport-inspired six or eight-cylinder engines, any Peter Wheeler TVR was quick – so let’s pause for a second to consider the 7.7-litre Cerbera Speed 12. With double the power of any other TVR. Its V12 lump was created by welding two Tuscan Speed Six engines together to which TVR bolted the engine to a backbone chassis with carbon-fibre body panels. The finished article was a car that even Wheeler – a man not known for his caution – decided was faintly ridiculous, saying: “I knew within 300 yards that it was a silly idea. Over 900bhp (912PS/671kW) in a car weighing just over a ton is plainly ridiculous on the road”.

Rule changes would soon render the Speed 12 obsolete from the track, too, but not before one lucky owner bought the soul-available road car. And only after the buyer had passed a one-on-one chat with Peter Wheeler, who judged their suitability. As the only example of a TVR turned up to 11, you’d imagine the Speed 12 would be nearly priceless to the right buyer.