The Cool Car Award this week goes to....The 2015 Lamborghini Sesto Elemento!

What it is

A V10 powered supercar, weighing just 2,202lb (999kg), with 562hp and 398 lb.-ft.  It could do the 0-60mph run in a claimed 2.5 seconds, topping out at 217mph.  When new, it cost $2,920,000.

Interesting Features

1.  Each wheel was made almost completely from carbon fiber components,

and it took a man 730 hours on average to make just one.

2.  Just 20 cars were produced.
3.  It was, and still is, the lightest Lamborghini production car ever.

4.  The interior lacks such niceties as air conditioning and a stereo, and there are no seats; Just foam padding adhered directly to the carbon fiber chassis.

5.  The exhaust pipes are located right under the rear wing.

6.  It's name translates to 'Sixth Element' in English.

7.  It has a built-in parachute pack.

LeBlanc Mirabeau; The Le Mans specification road car you've never heard of

The Mirabeau was the second car from the low-volume Swiss car producer LeBlanc.  It was originally intended for competition use in the 2006 24 Hours of Le Mans, but as far as I can tell (please comment if you know otherwise), they never managed to even qualify.  It never did enter production, sadly, but three prototypes were built, all of which are currently residing in different car museums across Europe, making it one of the rarest working cars on earth.
          The car was powered by a mid-mounted Koenigsegg-developed supercharged V8 engine making 700hp and 627 lb.-ft. of torque, which enabled it to do the 0-60mph sprint in just 2.7 seconds, and max out at a top speed of 230mph.  Handling was probably very sharp and responsive too, thanks to a dry weight of only 1,790lbs./811kg.  To see how this compares to other hypercars of its day, take a look at the chart below.
 

Leblanc Mirabeau	Bugatti Veyron	Saleen S7	Koenigsegg CCR
0-60 – 2.7	0-60 – 2.5	0-60 – 2.8	0-60 – 3.0
230mph	267mph	248mph	245mph
700hp	1,200hp	750hp	806hp
627 lb.-ft.	1,106 lb.-ft.	700 lb.-ft.	678 lb.-ft.
1,790lbs.	4,044lbs.	2,865lbs.	2,601lbs.
$650,000	$2,000,000	$375,000	$650,000

But the LeBlanc company has since folded, and their website is for sale.  It is really too bad.  A car like this should have gone into production, to compete with the likes of the Saleen S7.  It could have become a legend.  But it went down because of financial issues, like most of the potentially good companies do.  It would have been a blast to drive, though.  Open cockpit, 700hp at the rear wheels, mid-mounted engine.....Oh, that would be great.  Well, we can only dream.

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

Zimmer Quicksilver; A car as rare as the metal it's named after

Zimmer Quicksilver.  Does that name ring a bell?  Probably not.  Chances are, you've never heard of this car.  It came from the same company that made the Golden Spirit (1978-1988).  The Golden Spirit was produced in nearly 1,500 units; But just 170 units of the Quicksilver (1984-1988) were made.
          So, more about the Quicksilver.  It was based on a Pontiac Fiero (yes, it really was.  I guess exotic car replicas aren't all that Pontiac Fieros are good for), and used the same V6 engine and transmission too.  But the likeness between the donor car and the finished product stops there.
          The Quicksilver was luxurious.  And expensive.  The Pontiac Fiero of that day started at $12,000; The Zimmer started at $52,000.  The Zimmer had more cargo space too, while the Fiero was infamous for its shortage of said space.  On the outside, it looked something like a cross between a '70s Lincoln Continental and an, um, I'm not sure what.  It was unique.
          But it's looks didn't match it's performance.  It was even slower than the Fiero it was based on, due to the added weight of some luxury items (such as the power seats).  I suspect that this is one of the reasons that only 170 were sold.
          It looks cool.  Futuristic.  Lincoln Continental-esq.  But it wasn't as good as it looked.  For a car that was supposed to compete with the likes of the BMW 8-Series, Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham, Chrysler New Yorker, and Jaguar XJ6, it fell short.  Really short.  Because anything based on a Fiero is going to be noisy, slow, and cheap.  Unless you add a whole ton of luxury amenities.  Then it is slow, noisy, but comfortable.
          Moral of this post: Don't try to build a luxury car using the chassis of a Fiero.