Nine front-engined cars with massive bonnet scoops

We could argue about which hot Impreza had the best bonnet scoop until the pink badged cows come home, but we think the one protruding from the Blobeye was the biggest. And of course, where scoops are concerned, biggest is best.

The original Mazda 3 MPS may have had plenty of power, but it still looked like a car your grandparents bought. The second gen got the same 256bhp output, but attempted to rectify the dull looks with wings, wide arches and a giant hole in the bonnet.

To get from 550 to 575M, Ferrari increased the capacity of its front mounted V12 from 5.5 litres to - you guessed it - 5.75 litres. This pushed power beyond 500bhp and an ever so slightly redesigned bonnet added a larger scoop to shovel in more air.

We could have picked any number of Challengers here. The fibreglass bonnet of the 1970 T/A homologation car is particularly special, but who could ignore the menacing mile wide intake on the runout special Demon 170 from 2023?
 

Excellent name for a muscle car, and if you specced the N96 Air Grabber hood in the early 1970s then you got a switch on the dash that would pop up the Air Grabber, complete with mean shark graphics.
 

For the final year of its production in 1967, the second generation Corvette Sting Ray came with three different hood designs. If you went for the big block 427 V8 engine you got this glorious scoop with a stingray's tail.

Although it was released a couple of years before the film hit cinemas, we can only assume that Pontiac's designers based the WS6 Ram Air's huge scoops on Shrek's nostrils. What a way to scoop up air for the 5.7-litre V8.

How many scoops is too many? Much like ice cream, there's surely no upper limit. The redesigned 1969 Shelby Mustangs had three NACA ducts up at the front of their bonnets and two vents further back to expel hot air.

Proof that bonnet scoops aren't just for muscle cars. The 2021MY Ram TRX arrived with a giant head height opening in its bonnet and three lights buried in the scoop. Of course, the intake was functional with fresh air needed for its 702bhp supercharged 6.2-litre HEMI V8.