Man Designs And Builds His Own 200mph Supercar | Ridiculous Rides
This hand built supercar combines American muscle and European manoeuvrability to reach speeds of up to 200 miles per hour. The Lucra – which goes from 0 to sixty in just under three seconds - can be yours for just over $99,000. The dream car, which has a V8 engine but still weighs just 2,000 pounds, was conceived and designed by Luke Richards from his luxury showroom in California, USA. After being brought up in both Europe and the United States he had a passion for both muscle and lightweight sports cars so decided on the concept. Despite the Lucra’s power and the intricacies of its design the car can be customised and built for prospective customers in just eight weeks. From his headquarters in Los Angeles and Santa Monica Luke weights the Lucra at the back meaning it handles well even at top speeds. But aside from the Lucra’s incredible performance – Luke says the most rewarding part about designing the car is the reaction it gets from others.
Transcript
00:00 00;02;12;12 00;02;17;10 00;02;19;10 This incredible hand built supercar can go from 0-60 in under
00:15 3 seconds and can reach speeds of over 200mph, but it will cost you between $96,000 and $128,000
00:23 to buy one.
00:24 00;02;19;10 00;02;25;10 The Lucra was the brainchild of Luke Richards and he set up his California
00:41 based boutique car company to manufacture it.
00:44 00;02;25;10 00;02;35;10 The first prototype was in 2005 and the job of the car is to be
00:54 a lightweight, high performance, high powered car.
00:57 00;02;35;10 00;02;40;10 The aim of his design was to combine the speed and power of an American
01:01 muscle car with the maneuverability of a European sports car.
01:05 00;02;40;10 00;02;50;10 My father told me you could either have a car that was fast in the
01:11 straightaways or a car that was fast in the corners.
01:14 00;02;50;10 00;02;54;10 Back then the Camaros and the Mustangs were big horsepower and the
01:18 Lotuses and the European sports cars were lower horsepower Porsche, but lighter.
01:22 00;02;54;10 00;03;00;00 Growing up in England and growing up in America I kind of felt like
01:25 I had a passion for V8s but I also had a passion for lightweight sports cars.
01:29 00;03;00;00 00;03;04;00 I did what he said was impossible and we made both in one.
01:33 00;03;04;00 00;03;08;00 The lightweight body is made from carbon fibre, but it's not just
01:37 about how little weight there is, it's also about where it is.
01:41 00;03;08;00 00;03;14;00 We kept the car down around 2000 pounds, even with a V8, and we
01:45 made the car pretty stout.
01:46 We didn't skimp out on any of the safety or rigidity because that's equally important.
01:50 00;03;14;00 00;03;21;00 We also made the car tail heavy, so the weight distribution is
01:54 about 55 to the rear, but this gives it a nice mid-engine car feel.
01:59 It has a little bit of oversteer, it likes to drive through corners, it's really easy
02:03 to drive, really friendly, really difficult to spin, I mean really difficult to get out
02:09 of control.
02:10 00;03;21;00 00;03;29;00 We've tried it completely, and it makes for a very high performance car
02:14 that's really easy to drive by a novice, or a professional.
02:18 00;03;29;00 00;03;37;00 Each Lucra is built to order, and from start to finish the build
02:22 process takes around eight weeks.
02:24 00;03;37;00 00;03;41;00 We start off with a computer model of the chassis, all the tubing
02:28 is laser cut, all the sheet metal is laser cut.
02:31 By the chassis it gets made, it goes to powder coat, the body gets made at about the same
02:35 time.
02:36 The body is all in one piece, so it's very, very strong all by itself.
02:38 After we're done with the assembly, it goes out for alignment.
02:42 We like to custom and do all the testing, because we feel like this way they feel more
02:46 attached to the car.
02:47 We take them and the car to a track, and we just carefully warm it up, carefully lap it
02:53 slowly, and keep checking it, and lap it faster and faster and faster with a race driver to
02:58 help to train the customer how to drive it properly.
03:01 And by the end of the day the car is fully seated and broken in, the driver is fully
03:05 trained, and after that we put the car in paint and then interior.
03:08 At that point the car is back here, we have one final check over again, make sure everything
03:13 is how we want it, we reassemble it, and we ship it to the customer.
03:18 But aside from its incredible performance, the most rewarding part about designing the
03:23 car is the reaction it gets from others.
03:25 I've done a lot of things that I wouldn't do in a regular car.
03:29 It's won races, it's jumped bridges in Mexico, it's been in movies, it's been off road.
03:35 The main thing what it does, that most every other car I've been around doesn't do, is
03:40 it stops traffic everywhere it goes.
03:42 Everyone wants to talk about it.
03:43 If you go to the gas station, it'll take an hour.
03:47 Everywhere you get, it gets near you, everyone wants to talk about the car.
03:50 Everywhere you go it makes people smile.
03:52 Nobody is intimidated by it, nobody is threatened by it, they're just happy to see it and they
03:56 want to talk about it.
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