It takes a special kind of crazy to charge headfirst into the high-end supercar club but James Glickenhaus is doing just that with his road-going SCG003 Stradale. The thinking behind the Italian-American GT3-racer-for-the-road is simple. Its racing roots, aero and brakes means it will kill road-biased hypercars like the McLaren P1 GTR or LaFerrari on any track, anywhere in the world.
But there's a high cost for track day humiliation - Glickenhaus charges $1.3m for its SCG003. Plus taxes. For a car nobody will recognise on the King's Road - that's borderline insanity to people who actually have hypercar cash and spend it to pose.
Now imagine all the above for less than tenth of the price of a SCG003 and you have an Arrinera Racing Hussarya GT. Originally created for GT4 racing last year the GT, like the Glick', has been produced for nothing less than track domination and this year the Polish supercar maker has the faster GT3 category in its sights.
Of course for a tenth of the price there have been some compromises.
Both road and race cars, for example, miss out on the SCG003's carbon-fibre tub, making do with a traditional steel spaceframe chassis. Somewhat tenuously Arrinera compares this with "the structures of Hurricanes and Spitfires in which Polish pilots made such significant contribution to the allied air campaigns of World War II". A noble namecheck and all the rest, although the Spitfire was actually a more advanced aluminium monocoque. If we didn't point that out someone else would have done, and all that...
Moving swiftly on (and back up to date) the Hussarya does feature expensive Ohlins damped pushrod suspension, competition-ready Alcon six-pot brakes and a thumping 7.0-litre LS7 V8 that should make up for the carbon deficit.
FIA homologated to GT3 specification, the cut-price McLaren P1-rival also has trick aero developed by Warsaw University that was then honed at MIRA's wind tunnel. Made in Cambridgeshire, it's also interesting to note that the car that preceded the Hussarya GT was developed by Lee Noble and the knowledge from Noble's involvement, particularly his masterful set-up of the multi-link suspension, is thought to live on in the new car.
Producing 420hp with the mandatory restrictor in place, road-going versions come with upwards of 650hp. Arrinera hasn't quoted acceleration figures, but with a kerbweight expected to be around 1,350kg, whatever gearing you choose, performance will be devastating.
Only fly in the ointment for those who will actually use their Hussarya GT on the road is the Polish supercar comes with a competition-spec Hewland sequential 'box that will be, let's say, 'challenging' for daily driving. Those Alcon brakes also do without ABS and there's no traction control either. Here the likes of McLaren and Ferrari claw back a technical/talent compensation advantage but with escalating values of P1s and LaFerraris that matters little. You'll still beat them on any track because they won't be there.
It's also reassuring that, unlike its blue chip rivals, the Hussarya has been made to crash. Seriously, its creators say it is strong and very repairable in a way carbon-fibre tubs aren't. Parts are cheap too so there is absolutely no excuse not to drive it. Arrinera hasn't announced pricing for the Hussarya GT but has admitted that it is targetting enthusiasts considering "five or six-year old cars from premium manufacturers".
That should price the Hussarya GT at around £150,000. For that you get a car that you can drive like hell, beat P1s at your local track days (if they ever show), learn to love real downforce and, let's face it, pretend you race for a living.