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 costs just over $100,000. 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.
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MotorTranscript
00:00 00;01;10;12 00;01;15;12 This incredible hand built super car can go from 0-60 in under
00:15 3 seconds and can reach speeds of over 200mph.
00:18 00;01;17;12 00;01;20;10 But it will cost you between 96 and 128 thousand dollars to buy
00:23 one.
00:24 00;01;20;10 00;01;25;10 The Lucra was the brainchild of Luke Richards and he set up his California
00:42 based boutique car company to manufacture it.
00:44 00;01;25;10 00;01;35;10 The Lucra was a prototype of the car that was built in 2006.
00:45 00;01;35;10 00;01;40;10 The idea for the Lucra car in 2005, we got our first prototype in
00:56 2006.
00:57 00;01;40;10 00;01;45;10 The job of the car is to be a lightweight, high performance, high
00:58 powered car.
00:59 00;01;45;10 00;01;50;10 The aim of his design was to combine the speed and power of an American
01:02 muscle car with the maneuverability of a European sports car.
01:05 00;01;50;10 00;02;00;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;00;10 00;02;04;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;04;10 00;02;09;10 Growing up in England and growing up in America, I kind of felt
01:25 like I kind of had a passion for V8s, but I also had a passion for lightweight sports
01:29 cars.
01:30 00;02;09;10 00;02;14;10 So I did what he said was impossible, we made both in one.
01:33 00;02;14;10 00;02;17;10 The lightweight body is made from carbon fiber, but it's not just
01:37 about how little weight there is, it's also about where it is.
01:41 00;02;17;10 00;02;21;10 We kept the car down around 2,000 pounds, even with a V8, and we
01:45 made the car pretty stout.
01:46 00;02;21;10 00;02;25;10 We didn't skimp out on any of the safety or rigidity, because
01:49 that's equally important.
01:50 00;02;25;10 00;02;29;10 We also made the car tail heavy, so the weight distribution is
01:55 about 55 to the rear, but this gives it a nice mid-engine car feel.
01:59 00;02;29;10 00;02;36;10 It has a little bit of oversteer, it likes to drive through corners,
02:03 it's really easy to drive, really friendly, really difficult to spin, I mean really difficult
02:08 to get out of control.
02:09 00;02;36;10 00;02;41;10 And then we've tried it completely, and it makes for a very high
02:14 performance car that's really easy to drive by a novice, or a professional.
02:18 00;02;41;10 00;02;46;10 Each Lucra is built to order, and from start to finish the build
02:22 process takes around eight weeks.
02:24 00;02;46;10 00;02;49;10 We start off with the computer model of the chassis, all the tubing
02:28 is laser cut, all the sheet metal is laser cut.
02:31 00;02;49;10 00;02;54;10 By the chassis it gets made, it goes to powder coat, the body gets
02:34 made at about the same time.
02:35 00;02;54;10 00;02;57;10 The body's all in one piece, so it's very, very strong all by itself.
02:38 00;02;57;10 00;03;00;10 After we're done with the assembly, it goes out for alignment.
02:42 We like the customer to do all the testing, because we feel like this way they feel more
02:46 attached to the car.
02:47 00;03;00;10 00;03;04;10 We take them and the car to a track, and we just carefully warm
02:51 it up, carefully lap it slowly, and keep checking it, and lap it faster and faster and faster
02:57 with a race driver to help to train the customer how to drive it properly.
03:00 00;03;04;10 00;03;10;10 And by the end of the day the car is fully seated and broken in,
03:05 the driver is fully trained.
03:06 00;03;10;10 00;03;15;10 And after that we put the car in paint, and then interior.
03:09 At that point the car is back here, we have one final check over again, make sure everything
03:14 is how we want it.
03:15 00;03;15;10 00;03;20;10 We reassemble it, and we ship it to the customer.
03:18 00;03;20;10 00;03;24;10 But aside from its incredible performance, the most rewarding part about
03:22 designing the car is the reaction it gets from others.
03:25 00;03;24;10 00;03;29;10 I've done a lot of things that I wouldn't do in a regular car.
03:28 It's won races, it's jumped bridges in Mexico, it's been in movies, it's been off road.
03:35 00;03;29;10 00;03;35;10 The main thing what it does, that most every other car I've been
03:39 around doesn't do, is it stops traffic everywhere it goes.
03:43 Everyone wants to talk about it.
03:44 If you go to the gas station, it'll take an hour.
03:47 It's just 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's intimidated by it, nobody's threatened by it, they're just happy to see it and they
03:56 want to talk about it.
03:57 End
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