British car designer Lee Noble is back with a vengeance. If you are a Carsccop regular, you’ll remember the Arrinera.
And if you’re wondering who Lee Noble is, you’ll be interested to learn that he has been designing and manufacturing cars for three decades, almost all of them hardcore machines focused on pure driving pleasure. The first of them, the Ultima, was used as the test mule for none other than the McLaren F1.
Although contributing to the genesis of the F1 is a nice thing to have on your CV, Lee Noble didn’t stop there: in 1999 he established Noble Automotive that produced a series of supercars the latest of which, the carbon fiber-chassis M600, is a Ferrari F430 rival powered by a twin-turbocharged V8 pushing out 650HP.
After leaving the company bearing his name he founded Fenix Automotive and is now a member of the board, as well as a shareholder for Arrinera Automotive S.A., a Polish-British joint venture that intends to rival established supercar manufacturers.
The first sample certainly looks convincing. It sports a dramatic body designed by Pavlo Burkatskyy that is full of creases and sharp angles and looks a bit like the offspring of a Lambo Aventador and a spacecraft. The cab-forward look and the upwards-opening doors reinforce the Lambo impression.
However, it is the rear end with the LED tail lamps, large diffuser and centrally mounted exhausts that draws most attention.
The Lee Noble-designed chassis is made of variable-section high-strength steel and, as the company claims, it is extremely light while at the same time offering exceptional deformation resistance. As an option, the car’s body, interior and floor can be made out of carbon/Kevlar composite materials.
The Arrinera is powered by a mid-mounted 6.2-liter V8 engine with an output of 650HP and 820 Nm (604.8 lb-ft). The Polish firm says it accelerates from standstill to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 3.2 seconds and covers the quarter mile (0-400 m) in 11.0 seconds. It also reaches a top speed of 340 km/h (211.5 mph) and a lateral acceleration of 1.3 g in curves.
The sports car also features an all-around multilink suspension and 19-inch alloy wheels with 255/35 front and 335/30 rear tires. Breaking is taken care of 380 mm front and 350 mm rear discs, with 6- and 4-piston calipers respectively.
On board, the Arrinera's cabin is covered in leather and composite materials and boasts a comprehensive suite of standard features. It also gets four-point harnesses and roll bars positioned behind the seats for additional safety. A night vision camera that detects objects exceeding ambient temperature, like pedestrians or animals and displays a clear image in the center console screen is optional.
The completion of the prototype means that testing and preparation for the production version, that will be made in Poland, can begin, a process that is expected to take at least 12 months. Pricing for the Arrinera is expected to start at around ₤100,000 ($158,500).
Arrinera Automotive added that it soon plans to begin work on a second model. The Polish company said it will be a ₤70,000 ($111,000) roadster in either single or two-seat configurations, without any luggage space, weighing in at under 500kg and powered by an unspecified engine delivering from 200HP to 300HP.
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