In 1990, a businessman from the United Arab Emirates woke up one morning and thought: "Hey, I'm unbelievably rich. I'm going to get on the blower to Mercedes and ask them to build me the fastest car in the world."
And that's exactly what he did. Mercedes, good sports as they are, agreed to supply Mr Businessman with his car of choice, teaming up with Mercedes tuners Lotec to create something almost unbelievably fast. Five years and $3.5million later, Mercedes delivered this: the Lotec Mercedes-Benz C1000, and let's not beat around the bush: it's insane.
Let's start from the top. The 'C' in the Lotec's name stands for carbon-fibre, which was used liberally in the manufacturing process to try and keep the weight as low as possible. As a result, the C1000 tips the scales at 1,080kg -- about the same as your average run-of-the-mill supermini.
However, unlike your average run-of-the-mill supermini, the C1000 is powered by a 5.6-litre Mercedes V8 to which two Garrett turbochargers are bolted. The result? 1,000bhp.
Let's just put that into perspective. That's 1,000bhp in 1995. The year Robson and Jerome were at number one with 'Unchained Melody'. And, perhaps more importantly, ten years before Bugatti stumped up the Veyron which, as I'm sure you know, also chucks out 1,000bhp.
Thanks to the mahoosive engine under the bonnet, the C1000 will get from 0-60mph in 3.2 seconds and flat out will do 268mph. By contrast, the fastest car in the world at the time, the McLaren F1, could only manage a paltry 140mph. Terrifyingly, the power is sent to just the rear wheels via a Hewland six-speed gearbox.
The C1000's doors open vertically to reveal a bright red and black carbon-fibre interior. It's not exactly luxuriously appointed in there but you do get a brace of three-point race harnesses, air-conditioning, adjustable pedals and an adjustable steering column. You even get a boot, although we can't imagine that it's particularly capacious.
The price for this one-of-a-kind hypercar? Well, it's expected to fetch between $1m and $1.3m when it goes under the hammer at RKMCCA's October 31 auction in Charlotte, North Carolina. So, if you've got deep pockets and fancy buying a car which will outgun a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, this could be the ideal choice.
Photos: RKMCCA
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