Could the Lucra L148 be America's next great supercar?

Lucra Cars is a boutique car developer and manufacturer with a passion to create the next American supercars. Having made quite a splash last year with the rollout of the Lucra LC470, whose motto is "STREET LEGAL – but just barely," the company has just revealed pics and a bit of information about its Bugatti killer, the L148.

The world of hyperpower sport cars has gone wild in the past few years, with several street-legal production cars joining the 2.5/10 club – a 0-60 mph (100 km/h) time of 2.5 seconds and a 10 second quarter mile (0.4 km) time. Entry into this elite club is not simply a question of power. Rather it represents achieving a superb balance between power, transmission, suspension, and the ability to couple immense torque to the tarmac.

One of the charter members of the 2.5/10 club is the Lucra LC470 (shown above), clocked by Top Speed magazine at 2.5/9.1, with a 60-0 braking distance of 93 ft (28 m) and a skidpad acceleration of 1.3 Gs. Where the LC470 misses the supercar boat is in its austerity; it does not even have an option for air conditioning. Its real identity is as a street legal race car.

This problem is overcome in the L148, albeit for a much larger price tag (over US$250K rather than about $100K for the LC470). Included is an aerodynamically tuned carbon-fiber body made in one piece (with cutouts for the hood, trunk, and doors, of course.) This approach to body design increases the strength and rigidity of the body shell, while turning a minor fracture into an expensive body replacement.

The body rests atop a tubular chromoly steel chassis, on which are mounted a number of performance parts, including a front/mid-mounted 4.7 liter GM LS7 V8 engine, which may be coupled to the rear axle through a Mercedes seven-speed paddleshift transmission.

Though some reports claim 700 hp (532 kW) output for the L148’s engine, the LS7 engine puts out just over 500 hp (380 kW). The dicey reputation of the LS7 engine under turbocharging makes one suspect that the Lucra L148 engine could actually be one of GM’s LSX engines that have been specially designed for use at large boost.

To add some of the sophistication expected in vehicles of this haughty clique, the L148 will come equipped with air conditioning, satellite radio, GPS navigation – and even a windscreen and a roof. The L148 is currently planned to reach the road in mid-2014.