This hand built supercar combines American muscle and European manoeuvrability to reach speeds of up to 200 miles per hour. The Lucra – which goes from 0 to sixty in just under three seconds - can be yours for just over $99,000. The dream car, which has a V8 engine but still weighs just 2,000 pounds, was conceived and designed by Luke Richards from his luxury showroom in California, USA. After being brought up in both Europe and the United States he had a passion for both muscle and lightweight sports cars so decided on the concept. Despite the Lucra’s power and the intricacies of its design the car can be customised and built for prospective customers in just eight weeks. From his headquarters in Los Angeles and Santa Monica Luke weights the Lucra at the back meaning it handles well even at top speeds. But aside from the Lucra’s incredible performance – Luke says the most rewarding part about designing the car is the reaction it gets from others.
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00:000001 M bleibt Burger
00:05野牛
00:1000. On the way Entertainment
00:13This incredible handbuilt supercar can go from nought to 60 in only three seconds
00:1700. On the way Entertainment
00:18and can reach speeds of over 200 mph
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00:23but it will cost you between $96,000-128,000 to buy one
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00:26Uber's exciting, it's easy to drive it gives you a lot of confidence
00:29It inspires some really daring maneuvers and craps, but it's just fun.
00:34Everyone who gets out of it has a huge smile on their face.
00:37The Lucra was the brainchild of Luke Richards, and he set up his California-based boutique car company to manufacture it.
00:45I first came up with the idea for the Lucra car in 2005.
00:49We got our first prototype in 2006.
00:52The job of the car is to be a lightweight, high-performance, high-powered car.
00:58The aim of his design was to combine the speed and power of an American muscle car with the maneuverability of a European sports car.
01:07My father told me you could either have a car that was fast in the straightaways or a car that was fast in the corners.
01:14Back then, the Camaros and the Mustangs were big horsepower, and the Lotuses and the European sports cars were lower horsepower Porsche, but lighter.
01:23Growing up in England and growing up in America, I kind of felt like I had a passion for V8s, but I also had a passion for lightweight sports cars.
01:30So I did what he said was impossible, and we made both in one.
01:34The lightweight body is made from carbon fiber, but it's not just about how little weight there is. It's also about where it is.
01:41We kept the car down around 2,000 pounds, even with a V8, and we made the car pretty stout.
01:47We didn't skimp out on any of the safety or rigidity, because that's equally important.
01:51We also made the car tail heavy, so the weight distribution is about 55 to the rear, but this gives it a nice mid-engine car feel.
02:00It has a little bit of oversteer. It likes to drive through corners. It's really easy to drive, really friendly, really difficult to spin.
02:07I mean, really difficult to get out of control, and we've tried completely.
02:12It makes for a very high-performance car that's really easy to drive by a novice or a professional.
02:19Each Lucra is built to order, and from start to finish, the build process takes around eight weeks.
02:25We start off with a computer model of the chassis. All the tubing is laser-cut. All the sheet metal is laser-cut.
02:31By the chassis, it gets made. It goes to powder coat. The body gets made at about the same time.
02:36The body's all in one piece, so it's very, very strong all by itself.
02:39After we're done with the assembly, it goes out for alignment.
02:42We like to custom and do all the testing because we feel like this way they feel more attached to the car.
02:47We take them and the car to a track, and we just carefully warm it up, carefully lap it slowly, and keep checking it,
02:55and lap it faster and faster and faster with a race driver to help to train the customer how to drive it properly.
03:00And by the end of the day, the car is fully seated and broken in. The driver is fully trained.
03:06And after that, we put the car in paint and then interior.
03:09At that point, the car is back here. We have one final check over again, make sure everything is how we want it.
03:14We reassemble it, and we ship it to the customer.
03:18But aside from its incredible performance, the most rewarding part about designing the car is the reaction it gets from others.
03:25It's done a lot of things that I wouldn't do in a regular car.
03:28It's won races. It's jumped bridges in Mexico. It's been in movies. It's been off-road.
03:35The main thing what it does, that most every other car I've been around doesn't do, is it stops traffic everywhere it goes.
03:42Everyone wants to talk about it. If you go to the gas station, it'll take an hour.
03:46It's just everywhere you get near, you want to talk about the car. Everywhere you go, it makes people smile.
03:52Nobody's intimidated by it. Nobody's threatened by it. They're just happy to see it, and they want to talk about it.