Fast & Furious 8 potential directors meeting Vin Diesel

We love the main characters of the Fast & Furious franchise. But as great as they are, it’s just as much about the cars, isn’t it? Watch just one movie from the series and you will be inundated with close-up shots of fenders and exhaust pipes, and it feels like a good chunk of the films are characters standing in a garage or outside goggling at an exotic car. And that’s okay with us, because the cars featured are varied and quite amazing; street racing machines, muscle cars, exotics, classics, and much more.

The plots of these films rely heavily on characters using cars to carry out missions and to escape danger, and that creates an in-built interest even for those of us who aren’t all-out gearheads. But for the majority of us who love cars and watch these films with glee... boy, do we have a list for you.

We wanted to compile the list of the fastest cars in the Fast & Furious franchise. We sifted through hours of Skylines, Civics and Supras, and were able to find the 12 quickest (land-based) vehicles in the series. So with that, please sit back, relax, put on your seatbelt, and enjoy Screen Rant’s list of the 12 Fastest Cars in The Fast and The Furious Series…

12. 1997 VeilSide Fortune Mazda RX-7 (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift)

Veilside Mazda RX7 racing in The Fast and The Furious Tokyo

The workmanship of Japanese aftermarket brand VeilSide has shown up again and again in the Fast & Furious films, but nowhere were their wares more prominently on display than when Han (Sung Kang) used a heavily customized VeilSide Mazda RX-7 as his ride of choice in Tokyo Drift. The orange and black paint job and “Fortune” wide-body kit beautifully enshroud a true drift machine, with coilover suspension, massive disc brakes, and a turbocharged Wankel rotary engine. Han’s RX-7 was not the fastest car in the series, but it was one of the most memorable (and still plenty quick).

11. 1994 Toyota Supra (The Fast and The Furious)

Chasing Tran in a Toyota Supra in The Fast and The Furious

After baddie Johnny Tran destroys his Mitsubishi Eclipse, Brian (Paul Walker) asks his Sergeant for a new ride. And if what he received — a junker 1994 non-turbo Toyota Supra — had stayed as it came, it wouldn’t have been allowed anywhere near our list. And Dom (Vin Diesel), would agree, muttering to Brian when he first sees it, “I said a 10 second car, not a 10 minute car.”

But Dom and his team of gearheads more than restore the Supra, customizing it with a turbocharger, nitrous system, coilover suspension, many other technical tweaks, and a sharp orange paint scheme. And while we don’t have any hard numbers for this one-off ride, we know it crushed a Ferrari F355 Spider (0-60 in 4.8 seconds) in a drag race.

10. 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport (Fast Five)

A Corvette jumps out of a train in Fast Five

Remember that frighteningly good-looking muscle car Dom and Brian drove off-road alongside a train in Fast Five? The most valuable Corvette of them all, the ’63 Grand Sport was essentially a racecar for the road. It was conceptualized by the dreamers at GM to counter the Shelby Cobra, weighing 1,000 lbs less than a standard Corvette and packing racing internals including a 6.2L V-8 which cranked out 485 hp. But the brilliant Grand Sport was kiboshed almost immediately, and only 5 working prototypes were ever produced. The combination of low weight and formidable power made for a rip-roaring racer that would have surely decimated the competition throughout the 60s, if only it had a chance.

9. 2013 Lucra LC470 SC (Fast & Furious Six)

Lucra LC470 SC in car collection in Fast & Furious 6

Hand-built in California by Lucra Cars, the LC470 SC is like a modern-day Shelby Cobra: a small, sleek roadster fitted with a gargantuan engine. To get technical, the LC470 SC tips the scales at about 2,000 lbs (that’s 300 lbs less than a Mazda Miata) and has bolted to it a 7.0L V-8 that coaxes out 520 hp. All this has the effect of 0-60 in 2.5 seconds and a top speed of 180 mph. The entire body is hewn from a single piece of carbon fiber and as such weighs a virtually-nonexistent 160 lbs.

8. 2012 Nissan GT-R (Furious 7)

Nissan GT-R in parking garage in Furious 7

The Nissan Skyline of the late ‘90s was one of the best-looking cars ever, and it was also supremely capable, repeatedly besting more expensive exotics on the track. The Fast & The Furious franchise has featured a great many Skylines in its films, and while they all deserved a spot on this list, we chose an even faster Nissan for this list, the 2012 GT-R, which can trace its roots to those earlier cars. While certainly not as pretty as its forebearers, the GT-R is a hand-built, AWD supercar which uses a twin-turbocharged V-6 to help it get to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds and reach a top speed of 195 mph.

7. 2011 Lexus LFA (Fast Five)

LFA 2011 Orange from Fast Five

When we imagine a Lexus, we think of a soft, quiet, profoundly comfortable luxury car, built under the auspices of Toyota and thus reliable, yet somewhat boring. The Lexus LFA, on the other hand, is not boring. Capable of 0-60 in 3.8 seconds, able to hit 202 mph, and track the Nurburgring 5 seconds faster than the Nissan GT-R, the LFA is a legitimate supercar. It still comes with Lexus comfort and reliability, but it also has a 552 hp, 4.8L V-10, hand-built using state-of-the-art processes. Only 500 were made, but considering the nameplate they will probably be on the road for a very long time.

6. 1966 Ford GT40 (Fast Five)

Ford GT40 on train in Fast Five

No, the Ford GT40 that Dom took apart in Fast Five wasn’t authentic; it was a kit car built for the film. Good thing, too, as real GT40s have been known to fetch north of $1 million at auction (the 1964 prototype went for $7 million in 2014). The cars have an amazing history: Developed to compete against the likes of Ferrari in long-distance road races, by 1966 Ford had worked out all the kinks and started dominating, nabbing 4 consecutive Le Mans overall victories. The Mk II version of the GT40 had a broad 7.0L V-8. Ford has never released horsepower figures for the Mk II, but we know it could run to 100 mph in 8 seconds and had a top speed of 210 mph.

5. 2015 Lykan HyperSport (Furious 7)

Lykan HyperSport jumping in Abu Dhabi in Furious 7

Perhaps the most infamous moment in all of Fast & Furious came during the 6th film, when Dom and Brian launch a supercar out the window of a skyscraper, through the next 1, before finally coming to a halt in a 3rd tower. The car used in that scene was a 2015 Lykan HyperSport, a $3.4 million angular piece of art made by UAE-based W Motors. Each of its headlights features 220 diamonds, or can be customized with any other gems desired. The car also benefits from holographic controls, a 780-hp twin-turbocharged 6-cylinder engine, and an interior replete with carbon fiber and gold-stitching. The opulent HyperSport can do 0-60 in 3 seconds flat and achieve 240 mph.

4. 2005 Ferrari FXX (Fast & Furious Six)

2005 Ferrari FXX in Fast and the Furious

Only 30 Ferrari FXXs were ever made; they weren't so much sold as they were annointed. Each of the lucky owners was handpicked by Ferrari from a pool of the brand-loyal and very well-heeled. The FXX was an evolution on the ground-breaking 2003-2004 Enzo, but instead of churning out a measly 660 hp as in the road-going Enzo, the very-not-street-legal FXX racecar sported a cool 801 hp emanating from a 6.3L naturally-aspirated V-12. It could hit 0-60 in 2.9 seconds and go all the way up to 243 mph.

3. 2010 Koenigsegg CCXR Edition (Fast Five)

Koenigseggs at body shop in Fast Five

Swedish hypercar company Koenigsegg started manufacturing the targa-topped CCX in 2005, of which to date only 30 have been made. But after a while they found that 795 hp wasn’t cutting it, so they went back to the drawing boards and developed the 1004 hp CCXR. They made only  9 of those. Never ones to rest on their laurels, the Swedes again put on their thinking caps and came up with the even-faster CCXR Edition — 4 were made, and the remapped twin-supercharged, 4.8L V-8 helped the convertible run 0-60 in 2.9 seconds and reach speeds in excess of 250 mph.

2. 2011 Bugatti Veyron (Furious 7)

Bugatti Veyron driving into Abu Dhabi in Furious 7

One of the most expensive and recognizable supercars in the world, the Bugatti Veyron was released in 2005 to much fanfare, marking the revival of a storied brand and the entrance into a new era of motorcars. That’s because the Veyron brought with it some herculean figures; its low-slung body cradled within it a quad-turbocharged W-16 engine capable of churning out 1000 hp. Thanks to Top Gear and other outfits, it’s been widely noted that this car has 10 radiators to help expel heat. The Bugatti is extremely quick, leaping from 0-60 in 2.5 seconds and shuttling on to a top end of 253 mph.

1. 1968 Nelson Racing Engines Dodge Charger (Furious 7)

Nelson Dodge Charger sitting at intersection in Furious 7

Believe it or not, the Bugatti is not the fastest car in the Fast & Furious franchise. It’s another car in the 7th film — a '68 Dodge Charger, of all things — that takes the cake. But it’s not just any Charger; the sleek steel muscle car is a painstakingly crafted bespoke piece made by custom shop Nelson Racing Engines. It has a mind-bending 2000 hp, 9.4L Hemi fitted with not 1 but 2 turbochargers. The body was shaped by a team of some of the best metalworkers in the world. It does 0-60 in 2 seconds flat, and with the optional aero kit can achieve 260 mph (in regular attire it's limited to "just" 200 mph).

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Which of these would you most like to have in your garage?