VUHL 05

While the world has no shortage of nutty trackday-ready cars, the majority of them come from small european builders (e.g. Caterham, Ariel, BAC, KTM), often leaving the selection for American drivers fairly limited. A new Mexico/Detroit based business has a solution called the VŪHL 05. VŪHL which stands for “Vehicles of Ultra-lightweight and High-performance” is the brainchild of two brothers whose father who built and raced his own cars for 30 years.

While the VŪHL 05 may be very much an American product it is more european in its execution. They clearly kept Lotus designer Colin Chapman’s “Simplify, then add lightness” theory in mind during the design process as the entire monocoque weighs only 78kg (172 pounds) with the entire car coming in at just 695kg (1,532 pounds).

Power comes from a 2-litre version of Ford’s award-winning DOHC turbocharged EcoBoost four cylinder engine, the output of which is 285bhp and 420Nm of torque, resulting in an impressive power to weight ratio of 400bhp per tonne. The 0-100kph sprint time comes in at 3.7 seconds and the top speed is over 150mph.

It all looks very promising but the real proof of this kind of car is how good it is to drive and with the first deliveries not being until 2014 we’ll just have to wait and see. If you want to put in your order now it will cost you £55,000 GBP which converts to around $84,000 USD. initially it will be available to US and UK markets.