this thing will be a beastsource:
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=121253?tid=edmunds.il.home.photopanel..1.*
Let's start with some raw numbers, since the Caparo T1 is really all about numbers, and they're especially raw.
First, the Caparo T1 offers 575 horsepower and weighs 1,213 pounds. This represents a power-to-weight ratio that's twice as good as the $1 million Bugatti Veyron. From a standing start, the Caparo T1 is expected to sprint to 60 mph in around 2.5 seconds and reach 100 mph in less than 5 seconds. It will cost $378,000.
This is, of course, not the first time an unknown company has made outrageous claims for its new supercar. Most such projects end in abject failure quickly followed by financial ruin, but there are at least three good reasons why the Caparo T1 might be different.
First, Caparo is a significant player in the manufacture of both steel and vehicle components (largely in India), and it has yearly revenues of more than $1.3 billion. Second, the T1 is the brainchild of Ben Scott-Geddes and Graham Halstead, engineers already known for their work on the 1994 McLaren F1 supercar. And third, we've had a ride in the Caparo T1 at the famed Goodwood Motor Circuit in Britain.
The Inspiration
"I have no desire to be the next Enzo Ferrari," says Angad Paul, the 37-year-old CEO of Caparo. "The T1 is a showcase, a marketing tool for the brand. It allows us to develop our know-how and demonstrate our technical prowess. This will help us to sell more components."
Although Paul says he enjoys vehicles and owns a couple of Ferraris, he is not building the T1 for the sake of vanity. Faced with a desire to expand his steel business into composites production, Paul happened upon the opportunity to build a supercar as a way to demonstrate his company's skills.
The project actually started in 2005, when Scott-Geddes and Halstead started up Freestream, a company that would build the T1, very much like the car you see here only powered by a 2.4-liter V8 derived from a Formula 1 design. It quickly became the automotive answer to Paris Hilton in British car magazines, its colorful image splashed across pages of the usual hype and speculation. Freestream was acquired by Caparo in March 2006 and then the Caparo T1 officially debuted at an exotic car show in Monaco in April 2006.
The Concept
Although Scott-Geddes and Halstead helped develop both the F1 and the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren while working for McLaren Group (well-known for its involvement in Formula 1 racing), they decided from the outset that the T1 should be a very different kind of car. "No one can knock the Bugatti Veyron; it's a fantastic car," says Scott-Geddes. "But it cost billions of [dollars] to develop and VW loses money on every one it sells. I can't see anyone doing another." Instead, he believes the established makers of supercars will become victims of their success, forced to focus on practicality, quality and safety, leaving specialty companies such as Caparo to pursue ultimate performance.
While the McLaren F1 had been designed as a road car that could prove equally adept on the racetrack, the Caparo is a road-legal track car. The T1 has been designed so you will be able to drive your car to a track day, complete 50 laps and then drive it home again — in theory, at least.
"This is an odd project," admits Scott-Geddes. "It is not really like a road car and it's not really like a racecar." He admits that the T1 would fall afoul of most racecar regulations. "To get the maximum performance from as little mass as possible, we basically cheat — we don't have to contend with any of the restrictions facing normal racecar design. You could enter the car into an open formula race, but you'd be so fast that you'd piss off everybody else."
The Car
The T1 is reminiscent of a prototype sports car for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a hand-built, midengine, rear-wheel-drive racing car wearing 200-mph clothes. A racing-style monocoque made from carbon fiber and aluminium honeycomb forms the basic structure of the car and encloses a narrow, two-passenger cockpit. A dedicated impact-absorbing crash structure of carbon composite is attached to the front of the monocque, while a tubular spaceframe at the rear carries the engine and transaxle.
Just as with a racing car, the double-wishbone suspension at each corner is fully adjustable, with five-way adjustable dampers and cockpit-adjustable antiroll bars. Track-day enthusiasts will also be able to fiddle with the aerodynamics, including the angle of the sizable rear wing. Just like a racing car, the T1's ride height and rake are crucial for aerodynamic downforce, and the car is designed to afford just 2.8 inches of ground clearance on the track.
The T1's wheelbase measures 114.2 inches while the overall length is 160.1 inches and the overall width is 75.1 inches. The tip of the air inlet for the engine is just 42.3 inches off the ground.
The Caparo T1's engine comes from Menard, a DOHC 3.5-liter V8 that began life as a Nissan-designed unit for IRL Indycar racing. It's calibrated to produce 575 hp at 10,500 rpm with 310 pound-feet of torque at 9,000 rpm.
The racing industry also supplies the T1's gearbox, just as it does many of the car's components. It's a Hewland-designed, non-synchromesh sequential-shift six-speed transmission that's operated pneumatically by shift paddles on the steering wheel. A limited-slip differential is fitted and the production car will feature driver-adjustable electronic traction and launch control.
Taking a Ride
Caparo is adamant that nobody outside the company will drive the T1 before it is finally in production. Instead, we were able to clamber into the passenger seat of a prototype for two laps around the Goodwood Motor Circuit.
We take our spot in the passenger seat, just beside and a bit behind the driver, and adopt a reclined posture. It helps to have slim hips to squirm into the seat bucket, but it isn't half as uncomfortable as it looks, and this 6-foot-3 passenger had no trouble finding room. Production cockpits will come dressed in either leather or suedelike upholstery, but the interior is distinctly businesslike, not luxurious. A canopy will be offered for wet weather protection, although Scott-Geddes admits that it gets uncomfortably hot inside the car when the canopy is in place.
Noise restrictions at the Goodwood circuit imposed a limit of 7,000 rpm on this largely unmuffled T1 prototype, which is right at the bottom of the engine's power band.
Caparo is claiming that a T1 fitted with slick-tread racing tires will exceed 3gs of both cornering grip and braking force. We'll have to reserve judgment on that until we've driven the Caparo ourselves, but this taste of the prototype proves that the T1 feels more like a single-seat racecar than a conventional road-going supercar. The engine noise is angry rather than cultured and the gearshift action feels as rapid as anything we've experienced.
If you want to get the most from the Caparo T1, you'll have to have more than a little driving skill, and some courage besides.
Is This a Real Car?
Scott-Geddes admits that he's surprised that more than 50 percent of customer inquiries have come from the U.S. Chad Mann, the president of Mann Motor Company, has been appointed to import and distribute the car in America, but it remains unclear as to whether the car can be made street legal.
Scott-Geddes also admits that his team at Caparo still faces a challenge in making the car reliable. Both the T1 prototypes at Goodwood suffered a series of problems during the day, and the event had to be cut short. Customers in this price bracket will not enjoy the prospect of racecar fragility, even if racecar performance is the reward.
What times we live in that so many people are building cars like this.
