Barnard
BTR7
Barnard
BTR7, the proudly South African sportscar built in Bloemfontein hit the market
in mid 2009.
Well,
it's now just about production-ready after a lengthy delay and a decision to
make it a pure track car instead of a road-legal supercar as originally
planned.
Initially
the sleek steel-bodied racer is available with a normally-aspirated 7-litre V8
Chevrolet engine producing 524 kW, but a more powerful BTR11 supercharged
version wielding 820kW is in the pipeline, as is a more affordable BTR3.
The
BTR7 (for Barnard Track Racing, with the 7 alluding to the 700 horsepower
output) has successfully undergone its initial shake-down test at Phakisa
Raceway near Welkom and is expected to be ready for action within months. It's
aimed primarily at the European and North American markets, where a strong
track-day culture exists. Exported price is US$ 250.000, ready to race.
The
car is designed to give petrolheads the most thrills per lap that money can buy
while at the same time paying homage to Le Mans endurance racers, according to
designer and company founder Chris Barnard.
"We've
deliberately steered clear of complex electronics like traction control and you
won't find any driver aids here … it's driving distilled to its purest form.
Importantly, it can run on normal 95 octane pump fuel."
Out
the box it is good for 300km/h plus and a 0-100 km/h dash in well under four
seconds, though it's designed for well-rounded track ability rather than simply
straight-line performance. To this end suspension is fully-adjustable with a
choice of either Penske or Bilstein dampers. The brakes are from Brembo, and
the gearbox is a six-speed Tremec manual.
The
Barnard represents a tantalising opportunity for enthusiasts to own an
authentic racer, which is focussed on ease-of-use both in terms of requiring
little maintenance, and also minimal set-up time to extract the best from it.
