Tuesday 30th January 2007

Melling's Hellcat has surfaced

Is 1200bhp and 880lb-ft of torque enough?

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Melling Hellcat

Engine guru Al Melling's new car, the Hellcat, has surfaced -- and it could be a Veyron-beater.

The two-seater was unveiled this week, powered by Melling's stunningly powerful; four-turbo, 6-litre V10 producing 1,200bhp at 7,200rpm and a mind-bending 880lb-ft of torque. All that power is shifted through the rear wheels via a transaxle setup. The engine itself is milled from solid aluminium billets, and was originally slated to produce only 700bhp -- but that's not an unusual amount of power in today's power-crazy automotive world so Melling upped the ante.

Underneath is a steel spaceframe, independent suspension clothed in a carbon-fibre and aluminium body. With no creature comforts to speak of, the whole could weigh less than 1,200Kg according to the story in Autocar, and Melling reckons it'll rocket to 225mph -- or probably more. Whether your fillings would travel with you is another story, as the car is said to reach 60mph from rest in 2.6 seconds...

Expect it to cost under £200,000 and the first of the 20 cars Melling will build to be united with their new owners later this year.

• Autoblog story

[bunglist]

Well, if it does what they reckon it can do, excellent.

Wouldn't mind having a go in one of these.

[bennno]

shame it looks like a heap in the pics

bennno

[lordbenny]

Not excactly the most beautiful car ever made. Especially at 200k!!!

[sprinter885]

"225 mph-or more" !!
For gawds sake keep the Hamster away from it !!

[nobleguy]

sprinter885 said:

"225 mph-or more" !!
For gawds sake keep the Hamster away from it !!

So it's not a Veyron beater then.

[carl_w]

Hmm, max speed in 3rd gear is about the same as it is in my Cerb.

Suggests that 4th and 5th must be extraordinarily long.

[lathamjohnp]

I'm not sure the ugliness matters with those specs.

With that much power and four turbos, I imagine cooling will be a challenge, but then its unlikely to be aiming for Veyron levels of everyday usability.

John

[zcacogp]

Sorry to be really negative, but is that thing not fiendishly ugly? Looking like the bast4rd love-child of a speedboat and a great white shark?

Admittedly, the interior design and performance are rather more important when you are driving the thing, but still ...


Oli.

[andyinpembs]

looks like it has a cannon on the front.. cool, sign me up!

[GTRene]

same thread running already over here;

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=350582&f=23&h=0

GTRene

[BSC]

"the car is said to reach 60mph from rest in 2.6 seconds.."

Not possible with RWD only despite all the power and torque. Grip will be missing. Just my 2p.

[pasthim]

Veyron beater my a**e! It's got two wheel drive and is ugly as sin, in fact uglier. Also a Veyron is absolute quality through and through. A stripped out high speed shell is nothing to this.

[Road_Terrorist]

Has that photo been photochopped? Surely it doesn't look that bad, the roof is all wonky?

Hmmm, who would buy one over, say the Henessy Twin Turbo Viper, which actually does look cool, and it's faster despite less power, would be nicer to drive with endless torque, and I'd bet on it being more reliable as well.

www.rsportscars.com/eng/cars/viper_venom1000.asp



Or if you simply must have a slightly inbred looking, eccentric British car, then Bristol do the Fighter with a similar spec engine.

[kingb]

wow
makes a veyron with 1001bhp seem silly for 800k
1200bmp for 200k bargain

i like the looks too but i recon they can be cleaned up a bit

[Alex]

I'll believe it when I see it.

[Beefmeister]

Road_Terrorist said:

Has that photo been photochopped? Surely it doesn't look that bad, the roof is all wonky?

Hmmm, who would buy one over, say the Henessy Twin Turbo Viper, which actually does look cool, and it's faster despite less power, would be nicer to drive with endless torque, and I'd bet on it being more reliable as well.

www.rsportscars.com/eng/cars/viper_venom1000.asp



Or if you simply must have a slightly inbred looking, eccentric British car, then Bristol do the Fighter with a similar spec engine.

Ooooh you could play at being batman in that one too - look at the similarity!! lol



Love the Henessey Viper, seen a couple of videos of it on Youtube (i'll try to find links), its a monster but fecking quick.

Good call on the Bristol too - though it is £350k.

Sorry Mr Melling, but i'll put my £200k into a 599GTB....

Edited by Beefmeister on Tuesday 30th January 14:12

Edited by Beefmeister on Tuesday 30th January 14:13

[Aerofoil]

That viper for 120K looks amazing.

[Calorus]

lordbenny said:

Not excactly the most beautiful car ever made. Especially at 200k!!!

What do you mean especially at £200k? in the Supercar states that's not even sofa change. Performance-wise it nails everything else in its price bracket to trees.

[havoc]

Yet another white elephant from an independent Brit sports-car maker that doesn't actually go anywhere? Or a car that even Cerbera and Diablo owners will be too scared to drive?

Either way, it looks ugly as sin, and he's not got the BEST of reps when it comes to building reliable lumps...

[Calorus]

But it does look like crap.