Fast-Autos News

Farbio GTS – a new name in supercars

A small British supercar manufacturer has emerged – Farbio Sports Cars, which has a small plant in the west of England. Actually, it is not really new, because the design started as the Farboud, which differed in a number of important features – the the styling is virtually the same.

            

Farboud was bought by Chris Marsh, the son of the founder of Marcos, and has since redesigned the car extensively. The Farbio GTS is powered by a Ford 3.liter V-6, tuned to develop 262 bhp, naturally aspirated, and a 384 bhp with a Rotrex supercharger is due early in 2008. The supercharged version will develop 384 bhp, between the Noble M12 and M400 in power.

There is more similarity, too, because the engines were developed by Noble Motor Sport, which is not connected with Noble Automotive, but was responsible for the tuning of the engines in the Nobles!

Both are mounted transversely, in unit with a Getrag six-speed gearbox, so the basic layout is similar to that of the Nobel M400.

Tubular frame, carbon fiber panels

The Farbio is based on a multi-tubular space frame, while all the body panels are carbon fiber, so the end result is a very light car – 2,308 lb (1,048 kg) naturally aspirated and 2,348 lb) 1,066 kg supercharged. This is very light and gives the naturally aspirated car a power:weight ratio of 250 bhp/ton, and the supercharged model 360 bhp per tonne.

The result will be very rapid acceleration, giving the supercharged car a 0-60 mph time of about 3.9 seconds, almost one second faster than the model available now.

Triangular wishbones are used front and rear to keep things simple, with Eibach coil-spring/damper units. The brakes are provided by AP and have four-pot calipers., and the Toyo tires are 245/35 19s at the front and 285/35 19s at the rear.

Farbio has shown the GTS at various shows, and so already has orders from the UK, USA, where the car will be modified to meet emission and safety regulations, Scandinavia and Thailand.

Unlike many compact supercars, the Farbio GTS has been designed for tall drivers and has quite a lot of luggage space, with room for a full set of golf clubs. Prices start at about $120,000 (£59,925).

SSC Ultimate Aero TT fastest production car in the world!

Well, the SSC Ultimate Aero TT has done it - it has taken the world speed record for a production car from Bugatti and pushed it up to 255 mph! That's 2 mph more than the unoffical figure recorded by Bugatti, and 7 mph more than the previous official record.

First attempts by the SSC Ultimate Aero TT at the record were called off owing to snow on part of the road being used for the record attempt - this was a section of raod closed to the public for the record attempt.

The second attempt got up to 244 mph, and then a few months later, the car did a two-way run averaging 255 mph, also on a closed road. Wow!

New supercars at Frankfurt

Now it is the turn of the Frankfurt Motor Show to be in the limelight – a huge exhibition spread around many halls. Forget all the mundane and boring cars on view, and let's see what's happening in the supercar world.

How about $1.5 million for a Lamborghini?

With a Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 costing around $300,000, a price tag of $about 1.5 million might seem a bit much for a car that is very similar, with the same power train, chassis and so on.

Seems a lot to me, but not to 20 Lamborghini customers who are coughing up this much – more if they live in the EU, where you need to add sales tax at 15-20 per cent. They have already paid their deposits and are ready to take delivery.

Only 20 of this new Lamborghini, called the Reventón, are being built. What sets it apart are the body panels, which are all carbon fiber, and a slightly different shape from the Murcielago. The lines are more angular, with the two air intakes at the front angled out a little, so that the inner corners come to points, ahead of the central part of the front end.

The nose is arrow shaped, too, which according to Lamborghini was inspired by aircraft design. The low side air intakes are also more angular, as is the back end, in which large air outlets are included in the panels below the rear lamps. The side and rear lamps and indicators are high-intensity LEDs.

Inside, the driver gets a display panel which can show the speed and rev counter, etc, as normal dials or as bar graphs with digital display. The performance is the same as for the Murcielago LP640.

Bentley Continental GT Speed: 600 bhp

Bentley has also produced a more sporty version of the fine Continental GT – the Continental GT Speed. It has the same body as the GT, so you get a full four seater coupe, but now with an engine souped up to 600 bhp. Incidentally, the 600-bhp club is quite exclusive – I reckon there are only about 15 engine types producing more than 600 bhp in the world.

This extra power takes the top speed up to over 200 mph, and it must be the only full four-seater in production able to reach this speed. The car will get to 100 mph in 10.3 seconds, which is very quick for such a big lump of metal.

Bentley has improved the handling of the Continental GT models, and the Continental GT Speed gets the sharper handling, and more sporty settings for the stability control and automatic gearbox.

Evidently, Bentley has succeeded in cutting the understeer of the car, which is a good thing as this was one of the car's weaknesses. You might remember that the Continental GT is very heavy, and so is the GT Speed, despite the fact that the weight has been by 77lb (35kg). Hardly going on a diet – it is like a 200 lb man boasting that he has reduced his weight by 3 lb. I don't think his friends would be impressed.

As I have said before, it is a pity that Bentley has not invested in production equipment to produce the aluminum space frames developed by Audi – maybe Audi is keeping the technology to itself. With an aluminum body, Bentley would be facing the world of expensive oil and the need to be 'environmentally friendly' head on. Enthusiasts would also find that Bentley Continental GTs weighing under 4,500 lb would accelerate much better, use less fuel, and handle better – ah, but it's just a dream.

Audi RS6 Gets biturbo engine and 580 bhp

Well, here's a real Q-car: the Audi RS6 with V-10 biturbo engine producing 580 bhp! Of course, it has quattro four-wheel drive, but now with a bias to the rear wheels - 40 per cent of torque goes to the front, and 60 per cent to the rear wheels.

Don't know how fast it will go, because the RS6 is limted to 155 mph, but boy will it howl as it accelerates to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds. The engine, a modified version of the Lamborghini V-10, but with direct injection and twin turbos pushes out 580 bph at 6,250rpm, and 480 lb ft (650Nm) torque all the way from 1,500rpm to 6,250rpm. Acceleration in all gears will be tremendous - but you won't get the magic of the yowling V-10 revving up to 8,000 rpm. Still that makes a lot for an engine in a tin box.

Also new is dynamic ride control, which limits roll hydraulically, but still gives a decent ride. This sounds like the system developed in Australia, and used on Citroen rally cars. Should be good.

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Best Wishes

John Hartley, Editor, Fast-Autos