Fledgling supercar manufacturers promising the earth before disappearing into dust are a
standing joke
among those who've seen it all before.Does
the Vuhl 05
The Echeverria family's kitchen, or so it'd seem
Chatting with Guillermo Echeverria, one of the two brothers at the heart of the project, you get a sense that the Vuhl is less flash in the pan than some. Also that Vuhl is realistic in its expectations and outlook, rather than bursting onto the scene claiming to be the next Pagani or Koenigsegg.
It's clear the tastes that inspired Guillermo and Iker can be traced back to their father Guillermo senior, a racing driver and obsessive car tinkerer whose passion meant the brothers literally grew up around partially assembled racing cars, often in the house itself. The line from that upbringing to the Vuhl 05 isn't hard to trace then, the brothers arriving at starting their own car company having set up a joint design agency with outposts in Mexico City and Detroit and, as a result, not afraid of working globally. Which is how the Vuhl takes engines from Ford, panels from a Canadian supplier, dampers from Bilstein, tyres from Michelin, design input from agencies in Germany and Italy, development nous from the UK and mates it all with a Mexican-built tub based around extruded and bonded aluminium components designed with aerospace know-how. Phew.
Revealed at the RAC but at home here
Of the two Iker's speciality is the design side and Guillermo's the engineering, the latter envious of his brother's trips to Italian design agency
Esiste
and its associations with Ducati, Lamborghini and Audi. As the man with responsibility for what goes under the Vuhl's distinctive skin Guillermo's dealings have been with the less glamorous end of the supply chain but of more interest to those of us wondering what the thing will be like to drive.
So where do his tastes lie? "Mostly single seaters," he says with a shrug. "Formula 3, Formula Ford - lots of Formula Fords from my father, GT cars ... Lotus..." Road cars? "I drive a BMW 335i," he says, eyes lighting up at the sight of a PH business card. Which is nice.
Benchmarks for the Vuhl that crop up in conversation include the Lotus 2-Eleven, KTM X-Bow and Ariel Atom but others spring to mind too, including the Radical SR3 SL - also fitted with a hopped up Ecoboost engine - and BAC Mono, with which the Vuhl shares a similar sense of stylised functional beauty reminiscent of Italian superbikes. Sure, it's got the Radical's sense of track influenced focus. But doesn't ignore the need to look good doing it.
Design background shows in the detailing
Given all of the above when he talks about the Vuhl and why they went without ABS a picture quickly builds of how those tastes will translate into the driving experience. "The braking system is wonderful I think," he says. "The power of the system is great and the pedal feel was very important - you need to know exactly when you are locking up so it has a very racy feel to the pedal. But it has to be comfortable too." The suspension is fully adjustable too, for owners knowledgeable enough to benefit from that.
The choice of a manual gearbox and the detail of making it work properly also figure highly on Guillermo's radar. "This was a very important topic at the beginning of our programme," he says, "but we went that way because that's what we felt we wanted if this was our car. We spent a lot of time taking friction out of the system and tried tons of different configurations. It is now very straightforward and attaches direct to the Ford engine. Before we had a configuration like KTM's, which has a very long cable, which adds a lot of friction to the system."
Pedal feel more important than ABS
Basically the drivetrain from
the Focus ST
, the engine and gearbox arrive as one unit, calibrated, tuned and with all the necessary additional intercooling and hardware in place. This attaches to the tub via a chromoly steel rear subframe, a honeycomb aluminium crashbox up front completing the three major chassis components. The Canadian sourced bodywork is GRP as standard, carbon fibre optionally and saving 25kg in the process. And probably a comparable amount from your wallet. "It is very important," says Guillermo of this potential for additional weight saving. "But you can save perhaps 18kg with no carbon; this is much cheaper and I think most people will go for that."
On the scales
At 695kg dry for the standard car - a Radical SR3 SL is a significant 80kg more, the KTM X-Bow R 90kg extra by the same measure - Vuhl has pulled out a significant weight advantage over direct rivals impressive for a first effort. And though at the press conference the brothers backtracked from the initial assertion that Vuhl is an abbreviation of Vehicles of Ultra High-performance and Lightweight and 'just a name' it'd seem that all those boxes have been ticked. OK, an Atom is lighter still. But doesn't have bodywork, which isn't really playing fair! The BAC Mono matches it for horsepower and isn't far off the Atom on the scales at 540kg. But only has seating for one, obviously.
Proper aero tuning throughout
From inside and out (and on the scales) the car the Vuhl most resembles is clearly the Lotus 2-Eleven, the exposed aluminium tub and minimalist feel very reminiscent of that most extreme derivation of the familiar Elise underpinnings. Lotus canned the 2-Eleven when supplies of Toyota's free-revving 1.8-litre 2ZZ-GE dried up, the 1.6 and longer stroke, Prius derived 1.8
that replaced it
neither deemed suitable despite matching the older engine on headline figures.
Looking at the 2-Eleven offers hope for Vuhl's business case of circa 50 cars per year too, Lotus having sold 358 road versions and a further 40 or so dedicated race cars over its 2007-2011 lifespan and the cars still coveted by owners and driven hard on road and track the world over, up to and including in GT4 competition. Today you'll be looking at a base price of £30K for a used 2-Eleven, prices quickly rising into the 40s going by the examples currently in the PH classifieds. Like the 2-Eleven the Vuhl would make an excellent basis for a race car too, Guillermo clearly keen to see this happen in due course.
A media unveiling at the RAC in London and public debut at Goodwood underlines the importance of British expertise in the final tuning of the Vuhl, Guillermo telling us the car has been tested near industry component supplier and partner Multimatic's Thetford base. We rang Lotus to ask if it had been on the Hethel track and got a 'not as far as we're aware', it being pointed out Snetterton was closer and any number of old wartime airfields in the area have potential for discreet shakedowns of prototype sports cars away from prying eyes. Regardless, for all its globetrotting this Mexican flyweight realises cars of this ilk play well to the UK audience and we'll see for ourselves what it's like in action in a week's time. Indeed, PH will be there. In the passenger seat for this first run. But hopefully taking the wheel before too long...
VUHL 05
Engine: 2,000cc 4-cyl turbocharged
Transmission: 6-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 285
Torque (lb ft): 310lb ft
0-62mph: 3.7sec
Top speed: 152mph
Weight: 695kg dry, 725kg ready to drive
MPG: N/A
CO2: N/A
Price: £59,900 (£69,900 for Edition One limited introductory model)