More than one supercar has used the thoroughbred racing machines of Formula 1 as inspiration, but Caparo Vehicle Technologies is ready to take that idea to its logical conclusion -- a street-legal F1 car. The Caparo T1 is a two-seat, open-wheel car with a higher horsepower-to-weight ratio than any previously available production model.
 Photo courtesy of Mike Roberts A Caparo T1 showcased at the British Motor Show. See more exotic car pictures. |
In this article, we'll look at how the Caparo T1 is comparable to race cars, how it travels so fast and why, even though it's as fast as a race car, it's still street legal.
Street Racer
The Caparo T1 could be considered the sibling of the classic McLaren F1, thought by many to be “one of the great events in the history of the car" [Source: Autocar]. Two of the engineers responsible for the T1’s design, Ben Scott-Geddes and Graham Halstead, were also heavily involved in the creation of the McLaren F1 [Source: Newspress]. But where the F1 (and the Ferrari Enzo, which was tested by F1 star Michael Schumacher) were inspired by F1 cars, the Caparo T1 strives to be one. It has an open-wheel design with the familiar F1 suspension struts visible. Front and rear wings create road-hugging downforce. The driver sits in an enclosed central cockpit, with space behind for one passenger. More importantly, the T1 was designed from the ground up to be as light as possible. It will not be the fastest or most powerful production car ever made, but it's essentially as close to a Formula 1 car with headlights as any car will ever be.
 Photo courtesy of robad0b A McLaren F1 LM on display at the 2006 British International Motorshow. |
Caparo isn’t producing the T1 to prove their high-performance street "cred" (though they’ll generate a fair amount of it). The T1 is a showcase for Caparo’s lightweight vehicle technologies. The company markets its expertise at designing cars using very light materials as a way for automakers to create more efficient cars, ultimately reducing pollution and energy consumption. Toward that end, they hired Formula 1 designer and McLaren F1 design alum Gordon Murray, who is known for shaving every ounce of excess weight from racing cars [Source: Autocar].
 © T1 Cars Limited 2006 A rear view of the Caparo T1 highlighting the wings used to create road-hugging downforce. |
Get Up and Go
To propel the T1, a rear-wheel-drive car, Caparo uses a 3.5 liter, naturally aspirated V-8 engine with an all-aluminum block. This replaces the original engine, which was to be smaller, but supercharged [Source: Autoblog]. While the car’s 480 horsepower (hp) can’t touch W-16 beasts like the Bugatti Veyron, the T1 is so light that it will seem like it’s powered by a solid fuel rocket. The dry sump system typical of high-performance cars drops the center of gravity by allowing lower engine mounting. The power plant is linked to a 6-speed gearbox made of carbon and magnesium with a limited slip differential, all controlled via steering wheel mounted thumb paddles, just like those found on an F1 car. Tech-savvy owners will have several gear and final drive ratios to choose from when their T1 is ordered.
 Photo courtesy of Manju A Bugatti Veyron |
Although Caparo has not submitted any T1s for independent testing, they claim a top speed of about 200 mph, with a 0 to 60 time of 2.5 seconds and a 0 to 100 time of five seconds.
