As far as sports and GT cars are concerned, the British and
the Italians are best. However, while the Italians may have the likes of
Ferrari and the rest, Britain has a myriad of small ‘shed-based’ manufacturers
which make unique cars for people looking for a very specific kind of car.
Take the £75,000 (€94,880 / $119,160) Trident Iceni, a
hand-built car which is very British and truly interesting. It is a two-seater
GT cruiser, with its big 6.6-liter V8 engine mid-mounted behind the front axle.
It produces 430 hp and 1290 Nm (950 lb-ft), yet those figures can be boosted to
660 hp and 1420 Nm (1050 lb-ft) with an available engine upgrade.
This monster of an engine allows the Iceni to sprint from
0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in under 4 seconds and on to a top speed of around 320
km/h (200 mph). Furthermore, if a constant speed of 110 km/h (70 mph) is
maintained, the engine will only turn over at some 980 rpm, allowing the car to
achieve an incredible efficiency figure for such a big engine - 4.1 l/100km or
68.9 UK mpg, allowing it to travel as much as 3,200 km (2000 miles) on a
tankfull of regular diesel, mineral diesel, bio diesel, palm oil or linseed
oil.
Trident Sports Cars managing director, Phillip Bevan, says:
“We are very pleased to be at Salon Privé which this year is a great
celebration of all things British and home grown talent - something we feel
very strongly about at Trident. It is
also a place where sports cars and super cars of this calibre are sold, and we
look forward to taking new orders for the Iceni at Syon Park this September.”