Automotive History; Barabus Sports Cars/Keating Supercars

Some of you might have heard of this obscure car company, but most likely not.  Anthony Joseph Keating (later Dr. Anthony Joseph Keating) was born in Manchester, England, in 1972.  He took a course in Automobile Engineering at the University of Bolton, UK.  From there, he went on to found a small company on October 15, 2004, called Barabus Sports Cars Limited (later renamed as Keating Supercars LLC in 2007).  The company made its public debut in July 2006, at the 2006 British Motor Show, with the introduction of its model, the TKR.  It used parts from a Pagani Zonda and a Saleen S7.  The company's claims for this first car were unbelievable at best; 2,002hp from a 7.0L GM LS7 V8, 0-60 in 2 seconds flat, and a top speed of 260mph.  Needless to say, it wouldn't be road-legal.  It was laughable.
          But people stopped laughing when the TKR took home the record for the fastest production car when it was recorded hitting 260.1mph at the Salt Flats (even though it wasn't official, since it didn't go both ways).  It wasn't dethroned until 2010, when Bugatti introduced the Veyron 16.4 SS, which could top 268mph.  Encouraged by this success, the TKR was used in 2010 to try to break the blind land speed record, but crashed during the attempt, and no other attempts have been made by Keating to date.
          The production version of this car, however, is more plausible.  It still uses a GM LS7 V8, but with a displacement of 6.0L, and just 1,005hp is produced by the car.  Just.  All this power went to the rear wheels via a 5-speed manual 'box.
          Keating's first attempt at a road-going hypercar was the SKR.  According to the company, it had anywhere from 400-600hp, again from an LS7 V8, and 0-60 happens in 4 to 3.5 seconds, depending on which specification you order.  The ZKR that was unveiled in 2011 at the Monaco Top Marques Show was basically the same, just slower and heavier.
          And then came the Bolt.  The most unbelievable of them all.  Here are the claimed specs; The base version started at 640hp, which could be upgraded to 750hp, 840, 1,000hp, and all the way up to the top-of-the-line 2,500hp version, 0-60 in 2.0 seconds, and a top speed of 340mph.   It never went into production.  Only one prototype was built, and the claims have never been verified.
          So, ever since 2014, the Keating Supercars company hasn't done much, except for engineering their next model, the Vipera Berus.  Keating said at the Berus' reveal that it would enter production by 2019, but that didn't happen, so maybe it will this year.  The Berus will be powered by either an LS7 V8 producing 201hp-402hp, or an all-electric version producing up to 725hp and 1,054 lb.-ft. of torque.  No other specs have yet been made known to the general public.  On the Keating Supercars website, they say that the Berus is in the 'final stage of development', and a prototype has been photographed in the UK recently, so I think there is hope.
          If you look at the Keating Supercars company's history as a whole, than I think it would be pretty easy to see that they have been a victim of people's doubts.  No one believed any of their claims about their cars, so not many people bought them, or even put their name on the pre-order sheet, and thus the company is going down.  In fact, according to companycheck.co.uk, Keating Supercars is currently in debt $490,293 (£374,363/€444,191).  Keating Supercars is a partner with the National Centre for Motorsport Engineering in the UK, which is just what it sounds like; Teaching new students about aerodynamics, motorsport rules, driving techniques, (and learning about and perfecting those things themselves) and making computer software for designing cars.  All in all, Keating's present situation doesn't look at all good.  But as for it's future?  Who knows!

Keating TKR

Keating Bolt

 Keating Vipera Berus