Having a Lamborghinior Ferrari are not necessarily the hottest toys on the block, especially if somebody else turns up in this Mantide. It gets more eyeballs than any other car on the planet right now and all of that is down to the way this thing looks. Its an insane piece of design that is based on the already mad Chevy Corvette ZR1 and comes from Jason Castriota who designed the Ferrari P4/5.
Not only is Jason the man behind this radical 1 off design but he is also the new director at Stile Bertone. Its called the Mantide, pronounced Man-ti-deh (not Man-tide) and the best bit is that this is not a concept, but a one off supercar for anybody who can afford it!
The car is visually, miles apart from the Corvette and the only styling cues that are barely visible are the front windscreen and the taper of the teardrop rear windscreen. It looks like its landed from Mars and the person who you has been overtaken by this will most probable crash somewhere after looking at it’s rear styling. Its that futuristic, different and exclusive. Every bit on the car is all about making a style statement. Its aerodynamic too and has a drag coefficient that is 25% lesser than the ZR1 and the shape generates 30% more down force.
When Castriota spoke to Top Gear USA last year, he said that the Mantide ‘draws inspiration from modern aerospace and the world of Formula One’. We beg FIA to feature this as the safety car for F1 or still better, start a new one make racing series featuring this car.
With the slippery shape and carbon fiber used for body, wheels, seats and everything you can think of, it is 100 kg lighter than the ZR1 and remarkable faster as well. While the ZR1 is no slouch, the Mantide can do 0-100km/h (62mph) in 3.2 seconds and go all the way to 217mph (compared to the ZR1’s 3.5 sec and 205 mph). Couple this with a four point racing harnesses and a FIA roll cage, you have one serious racing machine.
While the car is a one-off, the cost will depend on how many zeros you add before you faint. So dont bother, the Chinese will make a copy anyway and wait for that! It is certain to be more than the $3 million price tag of the P4/5.
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