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Formula 1 for the road Caparo T1 1045 BHP per Ton
The Caparo T1 has been shown to the press in a near production form. The two seater, aimed at being the ultimate track day tool
The Caparo T1 is the product of Caparo Vehicle Technologies who describe themselves as “a new and advanced automotive engineering consultancy formed a year ago by the rapidly expanding Caparo Group to provide carmakers globally with a centre of excellence in lightweight vehicle design.”The new car serves as a technology flagship for demonstrating the company’s vehicle design and engineering capabilities.
"We said a year ago, at the outset of this programme, that the only way to truly convince carmakers that we have the experience and skills to design a safe, reliable, cost-efficient and high-performance car is to actually design and build one," says Ben Scott-Geddes, the car’s co-designer and operations director at Caparo Vehicle Technologies. "We’ve now done so … we’re proud of what we’ve achieved … and we now have something real and tangible to discuss."
With distributors appointed in the UK, USA, South Africa and Dubai and more dealers under evaluation the company claims it has a fast-filling order book. The handover of the car to the first customer is scheduled for July.
The big news is the Caparo’s power to weight figure of 1,045bhp-per-tonne power-to-weight ratio. The Caparo T1 is the first series production car ever to break through the 1,000 bhp-per-tonne barrier. This has been achieved by installing a home-grown 3.5-litre Caparo V8 engine, which produces 575bhp at 10,500rpm and 310lbft at 9,000rpm, into an extremely lightweight body and chassis constructed of advanced composite materials and weighing just 550kg.
The Caparo’s carbon/aluminium honeycomb monocoque features a separate composite crash structure at the front, while the rear sub-frame specifies aerospace grade steel.
This incredible power-to-weight ratio results in a 0-60mph time of less than 2.5 seconds and the ability to reach 100mph within five seconds. Braking performance is no less impressive with 100mph to standstill being delivered in 3.5 seconds.
"We’re absolutely delighted with the progress we’ve made throughout the test and development programme," says engineering director and T1 co-designer Graham Halstead. "The aerodynamic efficiency was already well established through wind tunnel testing of a scale model even before we built the first prototype. With tens of thousands of miles of durability trials and specific testing now under our belts we have progressively fine tuned the specification of the vehicle to meet and exceed even our high performance objectives."
"The combination of highly resolved aerodynamics and chassis make the vehicle predictably safe and responsive to driver inputs," adds Scott-Geddes. "The car drives and handles extremely well both on the road and track and this was the number one consideration in such an uncompromised high performance vehicle."
In terms of colour and trim each of these hand-built cars, which has a starting price of £190,000 (excluding taxes), will be tailored to suit individual customer requirements.
What it’s going to feel like from behind the wheel, we really can’t imagine…
For videos of the car click on the links below:
http://www.pistonheads.tv/clip1264
http://www.pistonheads.tv/clip1265
http://www.pistonheads.tv/clip1266
http://www.pistonheads.tv/clip1267
Caparo V8 engine specification:
Caparo T1 vehicle specification
Overall description
Aerodynamics
Steering
Capacities
Body
Chassis
Suspension
Safety
Electronics
Gearbox
Brakes
Equipment
Weight
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