The Soon-to-be, Fastest Accelerating Car in the World

The Caparo T1 goes from 0-60mph in less than 2.5 seconds and can reach 100mph within five seconds

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Caparo T1

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The soon-to-be world's fastest accelerating car has broken cover during the final stages of test and development. The Caparo T1 is a high performance two-seater sports car with highly resolved aerodynamics, which has been designed with the looks and performance of a Formula One race car. The T1's 500 kg weight and 550 bhp give it a power-to-weight ratio of 1100 bhp/tonne -- better than any current supersport motorcycle and approaching that of a genuine F1 car. With series production about to commence, the car will be built for discerning customers seeking the ultimate track day experience in a road driveable vehicle. In releasing full details of the car's specification, the company has revealed that while customer cars are being readied for start of production, preparations are also well in hand for the T1's first public appearance as a running car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on June 22-24 -- which effectively becomes the vehicle's launch date.

The Caparo T1 also serves as a technology flagship for demonstrating the company's high level 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 has a fast-filling order book. The handover of the car to the first customer is scheduled for July.

The biggest attraction for customers and the most striking aspect of the car's specification is its headline figure of 1,045bhp-per-tonne power-to-weight ratio. The Caparo T1 is the first series production car ever to break through the 1,000bhp-per-tonne barrier. This has been achieved by installing a home-grown 3.5-litre Caparo V8 engine, which produces 575bhp (425kW) at 10,500rpm and 420Nm (310lbft) at 9,000rpm, into an extremely lightweight body and chassis constructed of advanced composite materials and weighing just 550kg.

The Caparo T1 is around one-third the mass of the average family saloon. Its carbon/aluminium honeycomb monocoque features a separate composite crash structure at the front, while the rear sub-frame specifies aerospace grade steel. The non carbon-fibre steel suspension illustrates the company's ability to specify structural materials that can deliver the maximum performance at the lowest possible cost.

"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."

"The Caparo T1 not only looks and performs like a Formula One car but it also helps us to demonstrate new and advanced technology to vehicle manufacturers in the aerospace, automotive, defence, marine and motorsport industries," says Richard Butler director Caparo Vehicle Technologies and chief executive of Caparo Vehicle Products. "Already, we're working on a number of highly confidential client projects, applying the same approach to aerodynamics, choice of materials and efficient vehicle design, which has allowed us to develop the T1."

"Ultimately, our goal is to help carmakers to create a new generation of more fuel-efficient and lightweight family cars with significantly lower CO 2 emissions more in keeping with the needs of the 21 st century," says Angad Paul chief executive of the $1.2bn turnover Caparo Group, a fast-growing automotive Tier 1 supplier, which created Caparo Vehicle Technologies to back the T1 project. "