You could soon be making your own Saleen 7 — if you change the name.
If you have harboured dreams of getting into the supercar-making game but can’t be bothered with all that messy and expensive development nonsense, then we might just have a deal for you.
GA Global Partners is accepting offers for the assets and intellectual property rights for the Saleen S7, S7R and S5S Raptor prototype, meaning the purchaser immediately becomes the rights holder for the only significant American-made true supercars. Neat huh?
The company stresses that you aren’t buying anything from Saleen itself, and Saleen still retains the rights to the names.
Still, you would get yourself the rights to build a pretty impressive car, all the moulds and designs to do it, the remaining inventory (no word on what that actually is) as well as the six remaining chassis for the S7 and S7R, parts and merchandising.
On top of all that, you would get the only S5R Raptor in existence, as the smaller car never made it into production, despite several attempts from the company.
The Good Oil is keen — shall we all chip in and start local production of a Kiwi supercar? All we need is a name. What do you think we should call it?
A mega-muscle car for less than a fiver
One of The Good Oil’s favourite production cars is the mighty Dodge Challenger Hellcat — the 6.2-litre supercharged V8-powered beast from hell that pumps out a thoroughly mighty 527kW of power and 880Nm of torque.
But for some people even too much simply isn’t enough.
US charity Dream Giveaway has built a one-off version of the Hellcat that it is calling the Hellcat X. It is named after the Grumman XF6F — the prototype that evolved into the Hellcat World War II fighter — which featured a twin-charged engine. As does the Hellcat X.
That’s right: a supercharged 6.2-litre V8 wasn’t mad enough, so Dream Giveaways went and slapped a turbo on it as well.
The extra hairdryer boosts the Hellcat X’s power output to a frankly ridiculous 600kW, which is 150kW more than a Lamborghini Huracan.
The best part is that it will cost some lucky punter the princely sum of US$3 ($4.50), as it is only available as a prize in one of Dream Giveaway’s raffles, with the proceeds going to the New Beginnings Children’s Home charity.
To make it even more awesome, the winner will also get a matching black 1970 Challenger 440 R/T. That’s right, not one but two muscle cars.
Now that is the sort of raffle The Good Oil could get behind.
We are the world
■A Pennsylvania man discovered the hard way that using his ride-on lawnmower to get around town after he was disqualified from driving wasn’t a valid alternative. The police arrested him anyway. To be fair to the plods, 25-year-old Tyler Anspach was three times over the legal blood alcohol limit, driving in the middle of the road and “making threats” as he tried to get to a friend’s house with a fresh carton of beer.
■A number of cow-related accidents on the Hungerford Common in Berkshire, England, have led to residents calling for a lower speed limit in the park. But the council has put forward an alternative solution — fitting the cows with lights and high-vis vests. Mayor Martin Crane said: “We’re looking at putting speed monitoring devices on the common. But there was also a suggestion they put luminous bands or lights round the cows’ necks.” Someone should really ask the cows first.
Police Alfas forced to give way to SEATs in Italy
The Spanish SEAT Leons include features such as bulletproof doors.
Fancy recreating the classic chase from The Italian Job with a bunch of Minis being pursued through the streets (and across the rooftops) of Turin by a bunch of Italian police Alfa-Romeos? You’re out of luck. The Italian police have just dumped their Alfas in favour of — wait for it — SEATs.
The Spanish brand recently won the supply contract for Italian police forces worth up to 4000 cars over the next three years.
The first batch of 925 cars are turbo-diesel Leon hatches and wagons that pack an, um, unimpressive 112kW of power, but hide a few surprises — like armoured protection including bulletproof doors and glass all around, beefed-up suspension with tyres that can take a few bullets. The rear seats are sealed off to keep crims under control.
While we don’t imagine they are terribly fast, the little SEATs are pretty cool-looking. That counts for a lot in Italy.
So if you were to remake The Italian Job version 3.0, you would have large German-owned Minis being chased by heavy Spanish police cars driven by Italians. The Good Oil is certain there is a clever joke in there somewhere.
Yapping like an angry puppy
Kei cars are cool. The tiny 660cc Japanese cars are brilliantly weird and they are also one of the last segments in which Honda actually produces cool cars.
Take, for example, the brilliant N-one — a modern reinterpretation of the tiny Honda N360 Kei from 1968.
It is a wonderfully retro little car with massive character. And now it is even cooler with the release of the latest Mugen trim kits.
Chunky bumpers with foglights in the front, big (well, in relation to the car) alloy wheels, an adorably cute spoiler on the rear and an utterly brilliant twin exhaust all make the N-one Premium cutely aggressive. Much like an angry puppy.
Sadly, Honda for some reason doesn’t let Mugen loose on the engine, so wildly angry power outputs are just a dream at this stage.
But we are sure someone does it.
Number crunching
257 KM/H
Speed at which the Saleen S7’s downforce matches its weight
27 SECONDS
Time the Saleen S7 twin turbo needs to go from 0 to 200mph (322km/h)
1000 HORSEPOWER
Power (746kW) produced by the S7 twin turbo with the optional Competition Pack
2200 HORSEPOWER
Power (1640kW) Russian tuners got out of the S7’s 7-litre twin turbo