Oilstainlab has gained a certain notoriety for its audacious Half-11 Prototype. This Porsche-esque roadster pushes the limits of what a road-legal car can be, teetering on the edge of extremity. Now, the company is taking the radical concept behind that prototype and turning it into an ultra-exclusive production car, limited to just 25 units.
First, let’s talk about production spec
targets. Oilstainlab wants the finished car to produce at least 650 horsepower and weigh approximately 907 kg. For perspective,
consider that the Mazda MX-5 makes 181 hp and weighs 1,043 kg or more. In other words, the finished Half-11 promises to be nothing
short of a missile on wheels.
Oilstainlab is
also developing an 850 horsepower fully electric variant. Perhaps the
wildest part about the drivetrain, though, is the option for buyers willing to
drop US$ 2.3 million: they’ll get both powertrains. As Nikita Bridan, one of
Oilstainlab’s co-creators alongside his brother Iliya, explained to
Car&Driver, “It’s not exactly a powertrain swap; it’s a subframe swap.”
This unique flexibility shows how far they’re willing to go to cater to the
ultra-rich thrill-seeker.
The pair are brothers who have worked with
big-name brands like Genesis, Cadillac, Toyota, and Honda, so they have some
idea about what they’re taking on. After creating the Half-11 prototype, they
garnered enough interest that a production car in very limited numbers seemed
feasible. Unlike the prototype, the combustion engine in the production car
will be a flat-six, which the creators swear is not based on a Porsche case.
Also, unlike the prototype, the body will be available in whatever color a
buyer might want. It’ll feature a unique carbon fiber monocoque and a choice of
gearbox too. Buyers can have a six-speed manual or a seven-speed sequential
transmission. The production versions will come out of Multimatic in Canada,
the same company responsible for the Ford GT.
At this stage, the company is focused on
finding the right buyers for these exclusive machines. Their plan includes
enlisting 11 of these owners to participate as testers. Oilstainlab refers to
these select few as “maniacs.” It’s worth noting that Oilstainlab has a lot of work
to do to see this car become a real-world production car, even in super-limited
numbers. As of this writing, it still needs to finalize a lot of what the
production car will be. We don’t yet know who will build the engine, what the
development team looks like, or exactly when the first one is set to roll off
the line. Here’s to hoping it all works out though.