2011 Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera

Lamborghinis have long stood for sheer, menacing speed, usually courtesy of a monster engine. It's a solid formula, but any engineer will tell you that you eventually reach a point of diminishing returns. How, then, do you make an even more insane Lamborghini? Make it lighter.

Lamborghini first applied the "lighter is better" approach to the compact Gallardo back in 2007, aptly naming the special model the Superleggera, or "super-light." Extensive use of carbon-fiber and the deletion of such frivolities as a radio and cup holders knocked more than 200 pounds off of the curb weight, allowing the stripped-down, road-legal track car to hit 62 mph in 3.8 seconds. The lack of creature comforts didn't scare away buyers -- Lamborghini moved 618 Gallardo Superleggeras during its one-year production run.

Built on the success of the original and with lessons learned in the new, one-make Lamborghini Super Trofeo racing series, Lamborghini is bringing back the Superleggera, and it's lighter and wilder than ever. The speed freaks in Sant'Agata went over the Gallardo, now in a new generation known as the LP 560-4, with a fine-tooth comb and managed to shave 38 more pounds over the first Gallardo Superleggera, dropping the curb weight to just 2954 pounds and making it the lightest Lamborghini available.

Ferrari 599 HY-KERS Hybrid

Ferrari's HY-KERS concept, shown at the 2010 Geneva auto show, is a bit tough to swallow. The world's most iconic sports car marque, known for screaming V-8s and V-12s, is playing around with the gas-electric technology epitomized by the Toyota Prius. Yet it gets even more dramatic than a hybrid concept. Eventually - maybe ten years from now - all Ferrari's will be saddled with batteries and an electric motor. Hybridization or electrification of the Prancing Horse lineup is inevitable.

The HY-KERS, a hybrid concept based on the 599 GTB Fiorano, is the first glimpse of that future. Ferrari tells us that a production hybrid will arrive in three to five years, though no one's saying what car the gas-electric powertrain will be pushed into first. We're told the hardware shown on the HY-KERS concept can easily be adapted to mid-engine vehicles. Whatever the body, though, management is clear that hybrid propulsion won't be optional; the gas-electric unit will be the one and only powertrain offered for the vehicle.