Spain joins the supercar club
BY DAVID HASSALL | 19th May 2009
Built by local racing team GTA Motor as an alternative to pesky Italians like Ferrari and Lamborghini, the mid-engined Spano will be built in small numbers and will sell for more than $1 million.
The first of a maximum 99 examples – to be built to order, of course – is reportedly set to be delivered to a customer in China.
The Spanish supercar is the dream of GTA Motor owner and founder Domingo Ochoa, who has been involved in the automotive industry for 30 years, who decided to embark on the project to turn it into reality five years ago.
It was unveiled in the company’s home town of Valencia – in front of 2000 invited guests at the city’s eye-catching domed “Hemisferic” building – rather than the national motor show being held down the road in Barcelona at the same time.
Styled by Spanish designer Sento Pallardó, a native of Valencia, the 4650mm long and 1980mm wide Spano looks largely generic at first, but features some nice detail touches and an interesting side profile.
However, under the European styling beats the heart of an American icon, the supercharged 8.3-litre V10 engine from the Dodge Viper, mounted longitudinally ahead of the rear axle and developed by GTA to produce 580kW of power at 6300rpm and an incredible 920Nm of torque.
And, if that’s not enough power for you, the engine will also run on ethanol fuel, which has a higher octane rating and boosts power to 625kW at 6250rpm.
Although all the power is directed only to the rear wheels, via seven-speed manual or semi-automatic transmissions, GTA’s two decades of motor sport enabled it to develop an engine management system that feeds the power in progressively from a minimum of 335kW.
With a 0-100km/h time of less than three seconds, the company claims the Spano is one of the five fastest-accelerating production cars in the world.
Also using the company’s racing experience, the chassis is made from a combination of Kevlar, carbon-fibre and titanium, resulting in a monocoque weight of just 56kg, helping to keep the overall figure down to 1350kg.
GTA bravely claims the car is four times more rigid than any other production supercar and is the only car in the world built from materials based on aeronautical technology. At least its claim as the fastest car ever built in Spain should stand up to scrutiny.
Pneumatic power-assisted anti-lock brakes employ 380mm diameter carbon ceramic ventilated discs and six-piston callipers supplied by AP Racing, housed inside 19x10-inch front wheels with 255/35 tyres produced for the car by Pirelli and 20x13-inch alloys at the rear with 330/35 rubber.
The company has tried to make the Spano user-friendly, so it comes with an active suspension system that can raise the car 8.0cm to get over speed humps and out of car parks, and has a turning circle of only 10.8 metres.
Standard features include a rear-view camera, heated and cooled seats, SatNav, a configurable LCD instrument panel, an electric handbrake and a carbon-fibre steering wheel.
“Today is a big day for us and for the automobile industry in Spain,” Mr Ochoa told the potential customers, government representatives, racing identities and even local celebrities at the Valencia launch.
“It is a dream come true after the hard, exhaustive work, but as you can see it was worth it. We are very proud of the result obtained.
“I think that we are looking at an automobile that will mark a before and after in the history of the Spanish automobile, following the way of other brands which are no longer around.”