The burning mixture of power and style – this is how a race car looks like. Let the true religious people forgive us and treat the following statement as an allegoric figure of speech, and nothing more, but the truth is that for many people racing is really something like a religion, where speed is god and race cars are icons. Today we want to show our readers a gallery of such icons of style, power, and speed – the race cars, which have become legends of the racing sport, setting up new world records and demonstrating the level of perfection, which can only be reached when the genius of engineering joins the passion about style.

BMW, Porsche, Subaru, Mustang, and Alfa Romeo – these names are recognized worldwide as the synonyms of not only speed and power, but also of the highest level of style and particular esthetics vehicles possess. But this showcase is not only about grand premium brands of race cars; sometimes even a small car may have huge ambitions. Below you will see retro race cars and even those vehicles which were born to be durable but pretty dull workers, helping people travel in between home, work, and supermarket, but later decided to try themselves in conquering the sands of deserts, guile of mountains, or impregnability of wild forests. They say some vehicles are born to become legends, but others simply become ones even without such primary predestination. In the gallery below you will meet both types of race cars – legends of the automobile design.

Banger racers by Matthew Farrant

My Top Automotive Photography 2009 by Chris Hoare

racing by Sjoerd ten Kate

Le Mans 24hr Race 2010 by James Abbott

Holden Racing Team by Kenny Smith

Goodwood Revival by Ian Wride

Burnouts & Quarter Mile Drags 1.0 by Allan Sturm

Motorsports | Boavista Circuit by Ricardo Pereira

Paris-Dakar by Ula

Goodwood Festival of Speed 2010 by Ian Wride

WRC by Pavel Grooby

Rally Argentina 2008 by Felipe Vaiano

Rally by Giorgi Bendelava

WRC Rally Finland 2010 // SS1 Laajavuori 1 by Evgeniya Righini-Brand

IRC Yalta Rally 2011 by Alexander Kostin

WRC Rally Finland 2010 // Days 1 & 2 by Evgeniya Righini-Brand

Maximum Speed by Pedro Afonso

Boucles de Spa 2011 by Jelle Claeys

Cars’R'us by Kristijan Ivanovski

Driving 4 Charity by Jelle Claeys

Drive In by Luciano Alarcon

Grip by Paddy McGrath

Vintage stuff… by Jelle Claeys

SPORT by Cesare De Giglio

uphill by Aleš Půlpán

El Mirage & Bonneville by Lance Dawes

THE LAST 60 FEET by Steve Hathaway

Race Cars by Son Nguyen

Rally Car by olivier Verbeke