LONDON — IFR Automotive is the latest boutique manufacturer to pull the wraps off a two-place, open-wheel roadster: the Aspid.
Although the first customer deliveries are said to be at least a year away, the Aspid will make its public debut next month at the 2008 British Auto Show. Projected prices will start at just under $150,000, with fully loaded models going for roughly twice that tariff.
In case you were wondering, IFR stands for Ignacio Fernández Rodriguez, the company's founder and managing director. Rodriguez is an automotive engineer with a background in motorsports, including stints with Prodrive and Mitsubishi's WRC group. He founded IFR in 2003 as an automotive engineering consultancy.
Rodriguez does not lack for superlatives in describing the Aspid as "a pure driver's car designed for the 21st century." In fact, some of the personal stats, at least on paper, seem remarkable.
The Aspid can be ordered with a normally aspirated 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 270 horsepower or a supercharged 400-hp variant, driving the rear wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox and a limited-slip differential.
The car is constructed primarily of aluminum and carbon, with an ultralow weight of 1,550 pounds. Acceleration is literally neck-snapping: zero to 60 in less than 2.8 seconds and zero to 100 in a mere 5.9 seconds. Braking is equally impressive, with the car stopping from 100 to zero in 2.0 seconds. Top speed is restricted to 155 mph, but the Aspid can also pull an incredible 1.6g in corners.
Says Rodriguez: "Our aim was to invoke the most intense emotions a car can generate, so the driver can really enjoy it for daily use with high levels of performance available on the track."
Although IFR says it has already begun taking orders and will let journalists drive the first production cars later this year, it doesn't expect to deliver the first vehicles to customers until next summer. The goal is to assemble one bespoke car a week, with each one built to a specific customer's individual specs.
About that name: It's Spanish for asp, as in the tiny snake that, according to legend, killed Cleopatra. As IFR coyly notes in its press material, the asp is "a member of the cobra or viper family."
Get the message?
What this means to you: Despite the snake name, the Aspid doesn't appear to have much in common with either the Dodge Viper or the AC Cobra, other than the number of people it can accommodate. — Paul Lienert, Correspondent
Although the first customer deliveries are said to be at least a year away, the Aspid will make its public debut next month at the 2008 British Auto Show. Projected prices will start at just under $150,000, with fully loaded models going for roughly twice that tariff.
In case you were wondering, IFR stands for Ignacio Fernández Rodriguez, the company's founder and managing director. Rodriguez is an automotive engineer with a background in motorsports, including stints with Prodrive and Mitsubishi's WRC group. He founded IFR in 2003 as an automotive engineering consultancy.
Rodriguez does not lack for superlatives in describing the Aspid as "a pure driver's car designed for the 21st century." In fact, some of the personal stats, at least on paper, seem remarkable.
The Aspid can be ordered with a normally aspirated 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 270 horsepower or a supercharged 400-hp variant, driving the rear wheels through a six-speed manual gearbox and a limited-slip differential.
The car is constructed primarily of aluminum and carbon, with an ultralow weight of 1,550 pounds. Acceleration is literally neck-snapping: zero to 60 in less than 2.8 seconds and zero to 100 in a mere 5.9 seconds. Braking is equally impressive, with the car stopping from 100 to zero in 2.0 seconds. Top speed is restricted to 155 mph, but the Aspid can also pull an incredible 1.6g in corners.
Says Rodriguez: "Our aim was to invoke the most intense emotions a car can generate, so the driver can really enjoy it for daily use with high levels of performance available on the track."
Although IFR says it has already begun taking orders and will let journalists drive the first production cars later this year, it doesn't expect to deliver the first vehicles to customers until next summer. The goal is to assemble one bespoke car a week, with each one built to a specific customer's individual specs.
About that name: It's Spanish for asp, as in the tiny snake that, according to legend, killed Cleopatra. As IFR coyly notes in its press material, the asp is "a member of the cobra or viper family."
Get the message?
What this means to you: Despite the snake name, the Aspid doesn't appear to have much in common with either the Dodge Viper or the AC Cobra, other than the number of people it can accommodate. — Paul Lienert, Correspondent
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