"Mr. J" (Mister-J)
05/03/2014 at 02:23 • Filed to: None
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"Mr. J" (Mister-J)
05/03/2014 at 02:23 • Filed to: None | 1
| 1 |
Looking at endurance racing, green technology, hybrid this and EM-PEA-GEEs that, one might wonder why green sports cars are somewhat late coming to the table. Sure, there is the elusive Ferrari LaFerrari, technically magnificent Porsche 918 Spyder and ballistic Mclaren P1 with their unobtanium price tags and hybrid-torque-fill-wont-let-you-review-it-or-know-Nurburgring-lap-times etc but what about the Jalopposite-lock Holy Grail of a diesel shooting brake with a proper 3 pedal human operated manual gearbox and twice as much torque as hp and other brownness and nice things?
(Full disclosure: This is isn't necessarily all of those things and let me remind you that you don't even have to like it. 45 min prior to me typing this exact sentence I had no knowledge of this car. Whatsoever. Nor have I ever posted my own article to this wonderful site that I found as a result of trying to find what the best awd hatchbacks with manual transmissions are. So join me as I read and then continue to write the rest of this article so you don't have to.)
So, it's not actually a sports car. Let's set that straight. This is a boutique British GT car. This is not comparable to LaFerrorsche P1 wizardry. We are going to a time where things are simpler, calculated and put "just so" ... somewhere in Norfolk. And as you read more into the bespoke, handcrafted nature of this car, you might find this to be something of a rarity. A very special thing. But before we dive into that, lets indulge a few specs to put this all into some context. One 6.6L turbo diesel V8 in an FMR layout (that's Front-Mid engine placement and Rear wheel drive. Very nice). One 6 speed "fully-automatic" gearbox. Sorry to get your hopes up initially. This is not the 3 pedal car you are looking for. Although, there is due respect for this particular transmission. More on that later. As far as packages go, there is standard trim (395hp, 700lbs*ft torque), Premium, Luxury, Performance and Track with power outputs of 430hp/950lbs*ft torque and 660hp/ 1050 torques! I'm a 430/950 kind of guy myself but my word that all sounds very exciting! On top of that, the engine is engineered to run on anywhere from the current 5% blend Bio-Diesel to 100% Biofuel. That means this will run on (filtered, centrifuged) burger grease. Or Rapeseed Methyl Ether, Olive/Palm oil, Paraffin or Kerosene. Say what? My uncle drives a Hilux Surf diesel (Canada, 15 yr import law, what's up) that he converted to have a secondary 80L tank for waste vegetable oil he gets for ~$0.30/L. Shameless plug, using waste products is great. Now, he won't be winning any races with a meager 80-90hp 4-pot in a 6.35 million lb 4x4 steel container but look at these guys! They mean business!
Here they are wind tunnel testing a Trident Iceni R GT3 based off their road going GT4 so they can go off to the races again. I say again because like many (all?) great British car compaines, they are adequately steeped in racing.
Now lets get back to some of the things that arguably make this company and their car special. Chassis. Direct quote (Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V + remove some blank space):
"The chassis is formed from special grade stainless steel (4003) and, whilst an unconventional material choice, gives an extremely strong structure with class-leading torsional rigidity - it comes with a lifetime guarantee (100 years). "
I'm not sure what the body panels are made of but lets recall another use of stainless steel on another car that many of us revere for things including but not limited to what certain models could do at 88 mph. The Delorean DMC-12 had 304 grade, brushed stainless steel body panels on a fiberglass underbody. Not sure about the 100 year guarantee with that though.... And there's more. Trident designed and built many other components specifically for this car as well. Wheels, seats, air vents, instruments, door-pulls (Ok, pretty sure my mom could do this... hang in there), 'occulight' roof panels lights, windows, grilles, differential and gearbox. Zenvo did a pretty sweet job, or not depending on who you ask *cough* Clarkson *cough* but even they sourced their gearbox from some Italians for their 1100hp twincharged 7.0L V8 supercar. No, this is a bold move. and while it is a 6 speed slushbox, the slush stops at 1mph. After 1mph the torque converter locks and witchcraft happens in the form of Tridents patented "torque multiplication" to make this do
I'm partial as I've owned an '86 MR2 and a '91 NX1600 and have a reserved area for T-tops in my heart. I'll bet this one only leaks sometimes! Probably not though. I'll probably never know either seeing as there is one other specification unrevealed as of yet. Price. Not so bad really. $160-200K.
So, there's a fastback and a open top with a shooting brake in the works. Yeah, that first pic fully was not the shooting brake. That was the fastback, there is some British oilburner out there with an even bigger badonk waiting to grace us with its presence. In closing, classy, efficient, earthmoving torque, easy on the eyes, slightly less so on the wallet although maybe comparable to Aston albeit with a more TVR meets Greenpeace sort of feel. Have a front 3/4 for your troubles.
Opposite Locksmith
> Mr. J
05/03/2014 at 10:37 |
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id rather a stick shift attached to a cummins