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.
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00:12This incredible, handmade supercar can go from 0-60 in under 3 seconds and can reach
00:15speeds of over 200mph.
00:18But it will cost you between $96,000 and $128,000 to buy one.
00:21$128,000 to buy one.
00:24The Lucra is exciting. It's easy to drive, it gives you a lot of confidence.
00:28It inspires some really daring maneuvers and craps, but it's just fun.
00:33Everyone who gets out of it has a huge smile on their face.
00:36The Lucra was the brainchild of Luke Richards,
00:39and he set up his California-based boutique car company to manufacture it.
00:44I first came up with the idea for the Lucra car in 2005.
00:48We got our first prototype in 2006.
00:51The job of the car is to be a lightweight, high-performance, high-powered car.
00:57The aim of his design was to combine the speed and power of an American muscle car
01:02with the maneuverability of a European sports car.
01:06My father told me you could either have a car that was fast in the straightaways
01:11or a car that was fast in the corners.
01:13Back then, the Camaros and the Mustangs were big horsepower,
01:17and the Lotuses and the European sports cars were lower horsepower Porsche, but lighter.
01:22Growing up in England and growing up in America, I kind of felt like I had a passion for V8s,
01:26but I also had a passion for lightweight sports cars.
01:29So I did what he said was impossible, and we made both in one.
01:33The lightweight body is made from carbon fiber,
01:36but it's not just about how little weight there is, it's also about where it is.
01:40We kept the car down around 2,000 pounds, even with the V8,
01:43and we made the car pretty stout.
01:45We didn't skimp out on any of the safety or rigidity, because that's equally important.
01:49We also made the car tail heavy, so the weight distribution is about 55 to the rear,
01:55but this gives it a nice mid-engine car feel.
01:58It has a little bit of oversteer.
02:00It likes to drive through corners.
02:02It's really easy to drive, really friendly, really difficult to spin.
02:05I mean, really difficult to get out of control.
02:09And we've tried completely,
02:11and it makes for a very high-performance car that's really easy to drive by a novice.
02:16And we're professional.
02:18Each Lucra is built to order,
02:20and from start to finish, the build process takes around eight weeks.
02:24We start off with a computer model of the chassis.
02:27All the tubing is laser-cut, all the sheet metal is laser-cut.
02:31By the chassis it gets made, it goes to powder coat,
02:33the body gets made at about the same time.
02:35The body's all in one piece, so it's very, very strong all by itself.
02:38After we're done with the assembly, it goes out for alignment.
02:41We like to custom and do all the testing,
02:43because we feel like this way they feel more attached to the car.
02:47We take them and the car to a track,
02:49and we just carefully warm it up, carefully lap it slowly,
02:53and keep checking it and lap it faster and faster and faster
02:56with a race driver to help to train the customer how to drive it properly.
03:00And by the end of the day, the car is fully seated and broken in.
03:04The driver is fully trained.
03:05And after that, we put the car in paint and then interior.
03:08At that point, the car is back here.
03:10We have one final check over again,
03:12make sure everything is how we want it.
03:14We reassemble it, and we ship it to the customer.
03:17But aside from its incredible performance,
03:20the most rewarding part about designing the car
03:23is the reaction it gets from others.
03:25It's done a lot of things that I wouldn't do in a regular car.
03:28It's won races, it's jumped bridges in Mexico,
03:32it's been in movies, it's been off-road.
03:35The main thing what it does that a lot of,
03:37most every other car I've been around doesn't do
03:39is it stops traffic everywhere it goes.
03:42Everyone wants to talk about it.
03:43If you go to the gas station, it'll take an hour.
03:46It's just everywhere it gets near you,
03:48it wants to talk about the car.
03:49Everywhere you go, it makes people smile.
03:51Nobody's intimidated by it, nobody's threatened by it.
03:54They're just happy to see it, and they want to talk about it.