Nought to 60mph in 2.5 seconds. Over 1,000 bhp per tonne. It threatens to give even the Bugatti Veyron a run for its money.

Can it really scale those daunting heights – at less than a quarter of the Veyron’s price? Keith Collantine takes a look.

This car could be about to write an astonishing new chapter in motoring history.

If the performance figures that have been bandied around the Caparo T1 are to be believed, then it could be the quickest production vehicle ever produced.

The men behind the Caparo T1 reckon it can accelerate from 0 to 100 mph and brake back to zero in 8.5 seconds.

To put that into perspective, a Bugatti Veyron can do it in 9.9s, an F1 car in less than 6.6s.

Can the T1 really deliver on this bold promise? And just how can a car which costs less than a quarter of the Veyron’s price expect to trounce it?

The men behind the T1 include Graham Halstead, Ben Scott-Geddes and Gordon Murray. They were three of the bright minds behind the McLaren F1, which was the world’s fastest car – a crown now held by the Veyron.

They promised us a Formula 1 car for the road. And from the outside it certainly looks like one.

Halfway between a supercar and an F1 car, the Caparo T1 is packed with features from the cutting edge of motorsport.

It has front and rear wings to generate downforce and give more grip, a cooling system housed in F1-style sidepods, an airbox to ram more precious oxygen into the engine, and a racing steering wheel with an LCD readout.

Billed as the ultimate track day machine, this stunning creation is a race car with the thinnest veneer of civility to make it road legal.

The concept behind the Caparo is quite different to the thinking behind the Veyron. The Veyron delivers Thor-like power – over 1,000bhp – but in a luxurious car that therefore carries a lot of weight.

The Caparo has a 3.5-litre V8 engine with 575bhp, in a 550kg machine – that’s 20 per cent lighter than a Smart car.

That gives the Caparo T1 a theoretical 1,053bhp per tonne, versus the Veyron’s 529bhp per tonne.

That’s fine in theory – but what about the real world? Add a driver and passenger to the car, fill it up with fuel and suddenly it weighs much more and the magic figure potentially drops to under 700bhp per tonne.

But it’s still a mighty piece of engineering. Those enormous front and rear wings and its massive brakes allow the car to corner and brake with a force of 3g – three times the force of gravity.

No other road car can get close to that.

We’re holding our breath to find out just what the T1 can really do when it goes on sale.

The first 20 cars have been sold at £220,000 each. Once those are delivered, Veyron drivers might have to keep an eye their rear view mirrors for something approaching fast.

LATWOT video

The Caparo T1 in action.

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