[AUTO] SALEEN S7 TWIN TURBO: THE EXOTIC SUPERCAR MADE IN AMERICA

[H O L D F I R E 流]

Supercars do not come as a surprise to many nowadays, especially nowadays when hypercars are used more to refer to cars whose performance, as well as their prices, are beyond comprehension. However, there was a time, not so long ago, when supercars were becoming rarer and still surprising. The Saleen S7 from 2000, then its Twin Turbo version from 2005, are among these last monsters of efficiency, roughly stripped, which could not yet be piloted by any footballer in need of recognition ... Zapping Autonews story The expert's eye: connected with the Mazda MX-30 Not looking American for a penny with its mid-rear engine and endurance prototype look, one would rather have lent the Saleen S7 of the early 2000s of European origins.

 

Yet this road missile is the work of a small American manufacturer, Saleen Inc., which specialized in preparing Ford Mustangs for post-production in 1985, two years after forming a competition team. The S7 supercar, meanwhile, was born in the late 90s, based on an idea by Steve Saleen, boss and owner of the company of the same name, who was then looking to develop a racing car from a leaf. white.

Once his competition prototype was completed, a series of road vehicles needed for homologation quickly followed. V8 atmo then bi-turbo V8 atmo then bi-turbo + 20 Saleen S7 Twin TurboPhoto Credit - © 2019 Courtesy of RM Sotheby's The road version Saleen S7 was fitted with an original Ford 427 ci (7.0) aluminum V8, integrated into a carbon fiber frame. The super-wide look of the supercar, as close to the ground as possible, its long body in the rear part and its double round lights were reminiscent of the McLaren F1 (launched in 1993), with the difference that the American was camped on chrome wheels (the “yankee” touch that goes well). With manly controls and a racing car behavior, as hardly improved for road use, the car accelerated from 0 to 100 km / h in just under 4 seconds thanks to its 558 hp and 712 Nm of torque. . On the track, the S7R, for its part, has established itself as a very competitive car, notably winning class victories at the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1st in GT1 in 2010). In 2005, four years after production began on the S7, Saleen decided it was time to upgrade his supercar. After pairing two Garrett turbochargers with the V8 unit, the one that had thus become the S7 Twin Turbo took another step forward.

The fresh-air-fed eight-cylinder engine, totaling 750 hp and 1,018 Nm of torque, brought it down to 0-100 km / h in just 3.0 seconds. The top speed announced by Saleen was 399 km / h! In order to support such a speed, the front and rear diffusers of the car were redesigned to increase the downforce by over 60%. Note that the supercar transmits its power only to the rear wheels, via a 6-speed manual gearbox, just to understand what we are talking about here ... Only 30 examples of the S7 Twin Turbo were manufactured.