2007 Caparo T1 Review

Specifications

The Ultimate Sports Car… Period.

A lot of car manufacturers like to advertise that their cars “break all the rules.” Sometimes they couldnt be more wrong. But, every once in a
while the car enthusiast community is blessed with a vehicle that actually does break the rules. The most prominent and recent examples of this have been the McLaren F1, Ferrari Enzo and Bugatti Veyron. Amazing performance, amazing construction, and amazing price tags make them each utterly amazing cars; but a new car is set to knock them into the history books; the Caparo T1.

Designed by two ex-McLaren engineers that worked on everything from the mid-BMW-engined F1 three-seater to the more recent Mercedes McLaren SLR, the Caparo T1 is destined to be the ultimate supercar. Ben Scott-Geddes and Graham Halstead, those aforementioned engineers and the two brainiacs behind the T1, have designed the car around the principle that it should be a completely uncompromised sports car, with no concessions to everyday drivability or luxury, unlike one of the last cars the two worked on at McLaren; the SLR.

With that in mind, dont scroll through the photos looking for cupholders, stereos, navigation systems and the like; you wont find any. What you will find is carbon fiber. A lot of carbon fiber. In fact, most of the car is made of the stuff, beginning with a race car-like tub of it that attaches to a steel spaceframe in the rear to mount the engine. From that carbon tub sprouts the suspension arms, which act upon (once again) race car-like inboard- and longitudinally-mounted cantilevered shocks that are adjustable race units. Below, adjustable front and rear anti-roll bars keep all of the Caparos 1,025 pounds flat and stable through the turns. Even the quick-ratio steering box does its part to keep the Caparo on the road, with a magnesium case thats substantially lighter than any rivals.

Further cornering assistance comes from the most striking feature of all: the Caparos body shell. Capable of producing enough downforce at 150 miles per hour to drive upside down, the T1 uses adjustable wings (front and rear), a diffuser, and fowler flaps to increase its adhesion to the road. Coincidentally, while all these may sound uber-trick, the designers were thoughtful enough to consider that while the Caparo shouldnt smash into any walls while navigating turns (it should be able to pull over 3 lateral Gs on the skidpad!), not all cars are as capable; so they designed the car in easily (relatively) replaced sections, should one end up in some sort of mishap.

All this handling wouldnt be squat without some forward thrust, which comes in the form of a bespoke 2.4L V8 that is, in reality, two motorcycle engines siamesed together, then supercharged and massaged to the tune of 480 horsepower. The prototype of this dry-sump engine has done almost 30,000 miles in a Caterham with minimal problems, and is netting a decent 30 miles to the gallon, but all that power in the tiny Caterham has warped the chassis. Halstead claims the powerplant is capable of making 630 horsepower, but going above the current setups 1,000-bhp per tonne rating goes beyond what even professional race car drivers experience; and is therefore not advised. As is becoming of a proper race car, the T1 is fully tunable via a built in data logger. The throttle is electronic, or as Caparo calls it “fly-by-wire,” and the car also incorporates the necessary speed sensors for traction and launch controls. Backing this 10,500 rpm engine is a magnesium and carbon sequential 6-speed transmission of Caparos own design. Obviously it uses paddle shifters to control the gear changes, and out of necessity all this is backed with a limited slip differential and equal-length tripode driveshafts to ensure that the power it puts down to the road remains equal and predictable out of each and every single corner.

The cockpit (as it truly is) of the Caparo is equally purposeful. Completely without upholstery, the T1s occupants sit one behind the other in tandem jet-fighter style. Equally jet-fighter-ish is the canopy that slides forward to allow entry and exit, although an option is available to replace the canopy with a more track-friendly and view-expanding windscreen. Open-topped or not, behind the wheel is a nice place to be so long as youre on a track, with a composite front crash (read: crumple) area to take the brunt of a head-on impact, as well as 6-point harnesses that are compatible with the HANS device for both passenger and driver.

If youre off the track though, you may begin to notice the worst (or best, depending on your mindset) part about the Caparo: its interiors quality. Modeled after an F3 formula race car, its not exactly well put together. The emphasis here is on reliability and functionality, and Nappa leather, keyless entry, and chrome-trimmed gauges with cool blue lighting dont make you car any faster. So, you dont get any of that. With that in mind, youre obviously only going to store one thing in this car: your helmet. Caparo has allowed for that: there are two storage bins in the car that are, you guessed it; helmet-sized.

On that note, you may think that the Caparo is not a feasible street car. Youre right, it isnt. The purpose of the Caparo is simply to reverse the common “build it for the street and make it work on a track” supercar equation. Instead, Caparo has chosen to build a car that will embarrass far more expensive machines (the starting price is expected to fall around $280,000) on the track, and that is merely allowed on the street. The only other company that does this to a similar degree is Lotus with their track-ready Elise and Exige models, although even these will be soda crackers to the Caparos hot sauce. Rule-breaking indeed.