Ex-McLaren designer working on new lightweight sports car

Posted Thu Feb 21 2008 9:30 AM by Viknesh Vijayenthiran

There’s a definite resurgence in small and lightweight roadsters, tiny road-going racers with punchy engines and the kind of handling that owners of bigger and heavier sports cars can only dream of. Notable mentions include cars like the KTM X-bow, the Fisker designed Artega GT and anything with a Lotus badge on it. Soon we could be adding another entry to that list with news former McLaren Cars designer, Jim Dowle, is developing his own light weight sports car.

Dowle was heavily involved with the design, development and testing of both the legendary McLaren F1 road car and more recently the Mercedes-Benz SLR. While at McLaren, Dowle worked mostly alongside Gordon Murray and gained ample experience in the field of advanced composites. His new project is for a small mid-engined coupe designed along the lines of the Lotus Exige, reports Pistonheads.

Developers hope to have a prototype up and running within the next 18 months but most of the specifications are from being finalized. The car is expected to feature a 200hp four-cylinder engine and weigh a total of 870kg. There will be ample storage space so that it remains practical and the final price tag will be around £35,000 ($68,500).

As an added bonus we've dug up photos of the original McLaren F1 supercar. Released in 1994, the Macca is arguably the greatest supercar ever made - at least until the Bugatti Veyron arrived on the scene. You can view the pictures in the gallery below.

Gallery: McLaren F1

Reader Comments

Thu Feb 21 2008 5:20 PM
Sir Yappie says

Mclaren should be re-signing this guy up for the F1 replacement...as this car looks like the next gen version of that car !!
Tue Feb 26 2008 9:10 AM
chris says

i'm sorry but for 68 large, i'd expect more than 200 hp from a 2L. I could aftermarket my focus to that level fairly simply.

yeah its a nice light weight, but the GT model better have a blower, or else this car wont be a poster on a single 9 year old boy's ceiling
Wed Feb 27 2008 4:30 PM
Sir Yappie says

its the kind of level that the Lotus is at, at the moment. And if they keep the weight down it will be competing with more expensive larger engined cars.
Bigger engine doesnt always mean a better car. One of the sweetest handling and best driving cars on the market (Mazda MX-5) is only a 4 pot.
We dont really need another exotic, but a car that can be fun to drive while still being compact, great to look at, green(ish), and most of all FUN !!!!
Wed Feb 27 2008 5:56 PM
C6R says

Yes, sometimes less is more :)
Wed Mar 19 2008 6:53 PM
Sir Yappie says

C6R please tell me you are referring to the car still hahaha :-)

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