No, it’s not a kit car. No, it’s not some tuner-house take on a Ferrari 308. That’s a Venturi 400 Trophy, and it’s one of Venturi’s race-only specials. The Monaco-based Venturi Automobiles put up a solid effort as a low-volume sports car manufacturer in the 1980s and 1990s, and they shone brightest on the track. Venturi cleaned up nicely at LeMans and in GT racing, and amazingly enough, did it with an engine that most of us would yank out and ditch in favor of just about anything else: the PRV V6.

Yes, the lowly PRV mill…whether you’ve owned a brick Volvo, lusted after a DeLorean DMC-12, or somehow managed to get stuck driving a 1991 Dodge Monaco, there is a good chance that many of you out there have some experience with the 90-degree six-banger that stayed in production in various forms for twenty-four years. It might not impress in a 1970s Volvo 242, but with a little tweaking here and there, the 400 could keep pace with a Ferrari packing twice the cylinders and could stop thanks to it’s carbon brakes, the first car with them equipped as standard. Yes, it’s French…and yes, it’s BangShift-approved.