Niche carmaker Saleen has debuted its GT4 racecar,
which will compete in the namesake tournament, at a dedicated meeting in
Las-Vegas. Based on the Saleen S1 (simply called the Saleen 1), the
newcomer is a mid-engine racing coupe. Technically still a concept, the company
claims it will be finalized and will enter production soon.
Like its donor, the GT4 has a carbon body mounted on
an aluminum frame. The engine is also the old 2.2-liter turbo-four mill rated
at 456 hp and 474 Nm. Strangely enough, the Saleen
official website quotes 2.5 liters for displacement volume, which gives rise to
questions. It looks like either the manufacturer has two variants of the same
engine ready for production, or it plans to trim the Saleen 1 down to 2.2
liters.
The ‘civilian’ Saleen 1 ships with a choice between
manual and automatic transmission and always has the RWD. It needs 3.5 seconds
to sprint 0-97 km/h and maxes out at 290 km/h. It measures
4,356 mm long, 1,938 mm wide and 1,191 mm tall with 2,477 mm between the axles. The only existing production
lines are located in the United States, but a new factory in Nantong, China
will open next year.
Further compared to the Saleen 1, the GT4 has
differently-shaped front fenders with air intakes, as well as a new splitter,
diffuser, and rear wing. The ABS is new, and there are several other tech mods
that make it GT4-compliant. Saleen says it will sell the racecar to private racing teams for US$ 225,000 and might consider establishing its own racing team later on. It
emphasizes that even the much humbler-specced Saleen Cup used to achieve lap
times many GT4 vehicles would envy. The production will begin in
Corona, California in the coming November.
