The K-1 Attack Roadster is a sports car built by the Slovak car company K-1 Engineering. The cars are manufactured by hand in Bratislava. The Attack was officially launched in May 2002,[1] but was in development since 1999. The car was originally made for racing, developed by Engineer Dick Kvetnansky and designed by Juraj Mitra and was completed in 2000. The car was built initially as a race car, upon seeing the demand as a road car the car was made available as a kit car using the 90-93 Honda Accord as the donor car. Small modifications could be made to accommodate the H22 engine from the Honda Prelude as well.
In May 2002, K-1 Engineering presented the Attack Roadster at the Frankfurt Motor Show (International Automobile Exhibition).[2] Powered by a mid-mounted 3.0-litre (2,967 cc) V-6 Ford Mondeo ST220 engine,[3] producing 178 kW at 7,000 rpm, mated to a 6-speed manual transmission with a rear-wheel drive powertrain. The Attack could accelerate from 0–100 km/h in 5.2 seconds.[4] Top speed was electronically limited to 250 km/h.
In 2003, a K-1 Attack was donated by Richard Kvetnansky to a development team of high school students in the west Philadelphia Learning Academy and was the only Attack with a full carbon fibre body. The team of students was led by the teacher-engineer Simon Hauger, their goal was to build "The World's First Hybrid Supercar". In 2004, the project was completed and won an International fuel efficiency competition in 2005,[which?] beating large car manufacturers like Honda, Toyota, and even Tesla.[citation needed] In 2006, it competed again and won, sweeping the competition. The car was capable of a 0–100 km/h (62 mph) time of 3.5 seconds, and gave a fuel economy of up to 24 km/L. The rear wheels of the car were powered by a Volkswagen GTI diesel engine that was modified to run on soybean oil and there were plans to power the front wheels by an alternating current propulsion electric motor and then later by an azure motor, but was never effectuated. The car was not only fast and economical, but also ecologically-friendly, thereby achieving its goal. According to the fuel efficiency competition, the car was given a wide media coverage by TV channels like the Discovery Channel, ABC, NBC, CABLE TV, and various car magazines.
Somewhere between twenty and forty were produced and exported to the United States by K-1 Engineering before production ceased. The kit was plagued by poor support, lack of assembly instructions and an extremely difficult build process due to ill-conceived design aspects.[citation needed] In 2011, B-Racing was born and gained the rights and tooling to begin manufacturing again. Since then countless improvements, refinements, and available upgrades have been made including several options for using different donor cars. Pricing has also been reduced from the original £16,200 to £8,100.
A kit car is an automobile available as a set of parts that a manufacturer sells and the buyer then assembles into a functioning car. Usually, many of the major mechanical systems such as the engine and transmission are sourced from donor vehicles or purchased new from other vendors. Kits vary in completeness, consisting of as little as a book of plans, or as much as a complete set with all components to assemble into a fully operational vehicle such as those from Caterham.
A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by many manufacturers around the world.
Lotus Cars Limited is a British automotive company headquartered in Norfolk, England. It manufactures sports cars and racing cars noted for their light weight and fine handling characteristics.
The Lamborghini Murciélago is a sports car produced by Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini between 2001 and 2010. Successor to the Diablo and flagship V12 of the automaker's lineup, the Murciélago was introduced as a coupé in 2001. The car was first available in North America for the 2002 model year. The Murciélago was Lamborghini's first new design in eleven years, and was also the brand's first new model under the ownership of German parent company Audi, which is owned by Volkswagen. The car is designed by Peruvian-born Belgian Luc Donckerwolke, Lamborghini's head of design from 1998 to 2005.
The Lamborghini Diablo is a high-performance mid-engine sports car built by Italian automobile manufacturer Lamborghini between 1990 and 2001. It is the first production Lamborghini capable of attaining a top speed in excess of 320 kilometres per hour (200 mph). After the end of its production run in 2001, the Diablo was replaced by the Lamborghini Murciélago. The name Diablo means "devil" in Spanish.
The Lotus Esprit is a British sports car that was built by Lotus Cars at their Hethel factory in England between 1976 and 2004. It was among the first of designer Giorgetto Giugiaro's polygonal "folded paper" designs.
The Audi TT is a 2-door production sports car made by Audi since 1998, and currently in its third generation. The first two generations were assembled by the Audi subsidiary Audi Hungaria Motor Kft. in Győr, Hungary, using bodyshells manufactured and painted at Audi's Ingolstadt plant and parts made entirely by the Hungarian factory for the third generation.
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL is a two-seat sports car which was produced by Mercedes-Benz as a gullwinged coupe (1954–1957) and roadster (1957–1963). It was based on the company's 1952 racer, the W194, with mechanical direct fuel injection which boosted power almost 50 percent in its three-liter overhead camshaft straight-six engine. Capable of reaching a top speed of up to 263 km/h (163 mph), it was a sports car racing champion and the fastest production car of its time.
The Honda S2000 is an open top sports car that was manufactured by Japanese automobile manufacturer Honda, from 1999 until 2009. First shown as a concept car called the SSM at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1995, the production version was launched on April 15, 1999, to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary. The S2000 is named for its engine displacement of two liters, carrying on in the tradition of the S500, S600, and S800 roadsters of the 1960s.
The Lotus Exige is a British two-door, two-seat sports car made by Lotus Cars since 2000. Originally a more-hardcore coupé version of the Lotus Elise roadster, since the Series 3 the Exige has been the larger-engined model of the family - using a V6 engine in place of the Elise's straight 4 with convertible versions of both available.
Bugatti Automobiles S.A.S. is a French luxury automobile manufacturer and luxury brand for hyper sports cars. The company was founded in 1998 as a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group and is based in Molsheim, Alsace, France. The Bugatti name was first made famous by Ettore Bugatti (1881–1947), who established the original Bugatti automobile brand in 1909 at Molsheim and built sports, racing and luxury cars.
The Smart Roadster (W452) is a two-door, two-seater sports car first introduced in 2003 by Smart GmbH. Sales of the Roadster and Roadster Coupé were mostly successful and the production ended in November 2005 after 43,091 Roadsters were made. The last one built now resides in the Mercedes-Benz Museum.
The Tesla Roadster is a battery electric vehicle (BEV) sports car, based on the Lotus Elise chassis, that was produced by the electric car firm Tesla Motors in California from 2008 to 2012. The Roadster was the first highway legal serial production all-electric car to use lithium-ion battery cells and the first production all-electric car to travel more than 320 kilometres (200 mi) per charge. It is also the first production car to be launched into deep space, carried by a Falcon Heavy rocket in a test flight on February 6, 2018.
The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies since 1920 after two initial attempts in 1905 and 1916. The series is self-sanctioned by its parent company, INDYCAR, LLC., which began in 1996 as the Indy Racing League (IRL) and was created by then Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George as a competitor to CART. In 2008, the IndyCar Series merged with CART's successor, the Champ Car World Series and the history and statistics of both series, as well as those from its predecessors, were unified.
Élan Motorsport Technologies is an American enterprise that serves as an umbrella company containing the race car engineering, development and manufacturing companies owned by American racing and automotive company conglomerate Panoz Motor Sports Group. Élan engineers, designs and builds Panoz-branded race cars and components, since its founding it has also acquired several manufacturers, including famous Formula Ford builders Van Diemen and IndyCar Series constructor G-Force. Élan-built cars have successfully competed in the American Le Mans Series, Le Mans Series, IMSA Prototype Lites and various other championships, racing series and types of professional racing throughout the world. It designs, develops and manufactures full line race cars, i.e. chassis, bodies, components and engines for professional racing competition for a variety of segments and classes.
The Dauer 962 Le Mans is a sports car based on the Porsche 962 Group C racing car. Built by German Jochen Dauer's Dauer Racing, a racing version of this car went on to win the 1994 24 Hours of Le Mans with the support of Porsche.
The Lamborghini Aventador is a mid-engine sportscar produced by the Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini. In keeping with Lamborghini tradition, the Aventador is named after a Spanish fighting bull that fought in Zaragoza, Aragón in 1993. The Aventador is the successor for the Murciélago and is made by hand in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy.
The Honda S660 is a two-seat targa sports car in the kei class manufactured by the Japanese manufacturer Honda with a transverse mid-engine and rear-wheel-drive layout. It is the successor to the Honda Beat, and the Honda S2000.
The second generation Honda NSX, marketed as the Acura NSX in North America, China and Kuwait, is a two-seater, all-wheel drive, mid-engine hybrid electric sports car developed and manufactured by Honda in the United States. Production began in 2016 and will end in 2022 with the Type S variant. It succeeds the original NSX that was produced in Japan from 1990 until 2005.
The Mazda MX-5 (NA) is the first generation of the Mazda MX-5 manufactured from 1989 to 1997. Inspired by the post-war era British sports cars, the MX-5 rejuvenated interest in roadsters after the demise of cars such as the MG B and Triumph Spitfire. Since its debut, the MX-5 has won numerous automotive awards and has become the world's best selling sports car.
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