The BAC Mono, Ariel Atom and KTM X-Bow; these three questionable road-legal, open-air cars are well known to be a great track machine and also a road-goer at the same time. But these three are about to get a new family member in the open-air family tree, but this one comes from where one would not expect it to be; Mexico.
Called the Vuhl 05, the name is pronounced ‘vool’ and actually stands for Vehicles of Ultra High-performance and Lightweight. And by the looks of it, the 05 does represent those characteristics. Being the brainchild of brothers Iker and Guillermo Echeverria, the car is built on a monocoque chassis with a three-section bonded tub built from aluminium extrusions and aluminium honeycomb weighing only 78kg. The body panels are made out of RTM reinforced plastic, but carbon fiber is offered as an option. With all these, the entire car’s dry weight only tips the scale at 695kg.
Powering this featherweight car is Ford’s 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbocharged EcoBoost engine from the Focus ST, but tinkered with to produce 285-horsepower and 420Nm of torque, all sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox. This gives the 05 an impressive power-to-weight ratio of 400bhp per tonne!
The carmaker claims that the Vuhl 05 is able to make a 0-100 dash in just 3.7 seconds and reach a top speed of 245 km/h. This unique Mexican mid-engined machine is also stuffed with double wishbone suspension for the front and rear, a four-pot caliper braking system, and a set of 17-inch wheels wrapped in 205/45 rubber in front and 18-inch rims with 235/45 tires for the back.
For the time being, the car is being sold only in the UK and North America with the price tag of USD 84,000.
