An all-new, “no limits” track-day car, intended literally to be “the fastest car on earth”, has been revealed by start-up Rodin Cars – and a road version is planned to follow.
Powered by a bespoke mid-mounted, 4.0-litre hybrid V10 turbo petrol engine, the enclosed single-seater FZero weighs around 50kg less than a current Formula 1 car and has been developed “without the limitations of road or racing regulations” for customers who will each pay £1.8 million for the privilege.
Company boss David Dicker, an Australian computer billionaire, says first deliveries could arrive as early as next summer, with the first batch limited to 27 units.
Speaking from a newly opened UK Rodin base at Donington Park circuit, Dicker adds that he expects the initial prototype to be running by Christmas.
Dicker, who came to prominence in the UK when he took over the defunct Lotus T125 single seater project and modified it extensively to create the Rodin FZed, told Autocar that he had been working on the FZero “for a couple of years” but was encouraged to reveal details when Red Bull recently announced its Adrian Newey-designed RB17 track hypercar.
“That car gave us confidence,” says Dicker. “We figured that if they reckoned they could sell 50 cars costing around £5m each, there has to be a market for cars like ours. Now all we have to do is make a car people will like.”
Dicker, an inveterate car collector and keen Ferrari racer, has closely controlled every detail of the new car, which will be made at a purpose-built factory in New Zealand’s South Island, where the firm is based.
Almost everything will be made in house, Dicker said, apart from the bespoke V10 engine, which will be created and developed by Lincolnshire-based race engine expert Neil Brown Engineering.
It has maximum power of 986bhp at 9000rpm and 670lb ft of torque at 7250rpm, combined with a 174bhp electric motor that acts as starter, alternator and power regenerator and “helps fill in the torque gaps”.
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