Trident Iceni, 200mph eco supercar.

[MagpieRacer]

by Vijay Pattni

A British carmaker has built a storming new 200mph+ supercar which can return nearly 70mpg – the new Trident Iceni.

The Trident Iceni is a new supercar which uses a 6.6-litre V8 turbodiesel engine which produces 550bhp and a massive 950lb/ft of torque – more than twice the pull of a 7-litre Corvette Z06.

This means the Trident Iceni can accelerate from 0-60mph in just 3.7 seconds – as quick as a Ferrari F40 – and hit a top speed of more than 200mph.

View more images of the new Trident Iceni

Click here to view more images of the Trident IceniThe Trident Iceni achieves this remarkable power and mpg figure thanks to what the company calls “torque multiplication”.

Trident says this technology is “available now, requires no further research and development and can make an immediate difference to the amount of emissions diesel vehicles produce”.

View images of the world’s fastest supercars

The Trident Iceni was tested at the Millbrook Proving Ground and at a constant speed of 70mph the team recorded an average mpg figure of 68.9.

And Trident recorded an astonishing 108mpg when testing at 30mph city driving, claiming the new Iceni can travel 2,000 miles on a single tank of diesel before refuelling.

The chassis is made from stainless steel and is guaranteed against corrosion for 100 years – meaning this supercar will never rust.

The new Trident Iceni is nearly production ready, and prices will start from £75,000 when it goes on sale.

I think it looks great and the performance figures make for good reading! 106mpg!

 

[TheCracker]

Great mpg and performance figures. Shame it's so ugly no one will ever buy one.

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

Great mpg and performance figures. Shame it's so ugly no one will ever buy one.

+1, but other manufacturers could learn from it at least.

 

[Robin]

Arg these small time car manufacturers really annoy me, they look ulgy as sin, they have interiors that have just been thown together using old Ford parts (like Clarkson said a while back) and these companies last 5 minutes or for however the rich guy is interested in it. The only company which seems to have properly established itself is Noble.

 

[Bones Brigade]

the car is HIDEOUS. maybe it will be a good performer...

 

[TheCracker]

Looks like the love child of a Mitsuoka and a Panoz with the worst TVR detailing thrown in for 'good' measure.

 

[nd 4 holden spd]

The front and side profile would almost be OK if the rear wasn't.........that hideous contraption.

 

[Jim Prower]

MPG figures + low-low price = too good to be true. This sounds like a take-the-money-and-run scam.

EDIT: after finding the company website, I think i may have jumped the gun a little too quickly at "Scam..." but I can't see how a Duramax 6.6 (That's what the engine really is!) can get that good of mileage. Besides, their website hasn't been updated since 2006.

They say their secret is in the gearbox at the rear axle. I'm still skeptical: probably ridiculously tall gears.

http://www.trident-vehicles.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=39

 

[Philly]

If it was do-able then we'd have companies like GM and Toyota and BMW making these "magic" cars turning out 800 hp while giving 100 mpg. And they would be family sedans. Or, 100 mpg would be the "magic" number to mean efficient instead of 30 for all cars.

Stainless Steel chassis? How much would that thing weigh? How about the body? Will that rust out? It seems that the biggest problems cars here in Michigan have is body rust.

 

[Muzaffar]

Another supercar, another failure.
How many supercar news do we have now this year? 10? 15? 20!? But anyhow, looks ugly as sin. The mpg performance does look impressive, wonder how do they achieve it with a 6.6-litre V8......

 

[superberkut]

The windows look like they were sourced from a MixMaster, the curves are from some ill-fated Ginetta (as are the tail-lights), and the front reminds me of a Panoz. And yet it all screams, 'ill-executed Marcos' to me. Maybe more like a Dongfeng sports car.

Very aerodynamic, though.

 

[sesselpupser]

I don't think its all that unrealistic, myself. I've been sat here writing a post trying to slate it, but aside from the fact that it'll sound like a tank, the engine alone weighs around 7-800kg and stainless steel isn't the lightest material they could have used (Carbon fibre doesn't rust, either...), when you think about it it does kind of make sense.

OK, so no doubt the figures are exaggerated, but I have no problem believing a 6.6 litre V8 turbodiesel bolted to an 8-speed gearbox could do 0-60 in 3.6 and get decent MPG.

Think about it. Diesel engines are far more efficient than Petrol, therefore you get much more torque out of the same capacity. Add a turbo and you can in theory up the boost (i'm sure the block is sturdy enough, if its from a Hummer...) and get stupid power and torque when your right foot gets heavy, yet have decent economy when off-boost, like a VTEC. Add to this VGT (variable geometry turbo) technology which can reduce turbo lag but still deliver high power, and you have a pretty decent package.

Then there's the 8 speed gearbox, this means that the gears don't necessarily need to be very long, since there's two more than in your conventional supercar. It's possible that second gear tops out at 70, but in 6th you'll be doing a steady 70 at 1000rpm...

The main problem I'm having is that IF it can do 70 at 1000rpm in 6th, 7th or 8th and the engine only revs up to, say, 6000rpm (its a diesel after all), where the hell does the extra 130mph come from?! (as in, it would probably take days to get to 200mph...)

 

[YSSMAN]

I KNEW that I had seen this car somewhere before, and after hours and hours of thinking, I remembered!

Its in Project Gotham Racing 2!

Wow... Uh, good job at letting the car fall off the face of the Earth and then magically come back like the zombies of Dead Space. Jeez...

Well, I liked the car in the game, I still like it now. Diesel performance cars are still something that people are trying to figure out, and hopefully, if the small guys can do it, maybe the big kids can later on.

 

[Jim Prower]

The issue I have is that it's practically a pickup truck engine. Stock, the Duramax will hit around 4500, you might be able to squeeze 5500 out of it. It's likely redline is actually unmoved, just a boost-up: Stock she makes 365 HP with 660 Lb-ft.

It's an engine originally designed for pulling heavy loads, not necessarily making a light (er) load go ridiculously fast. and I'm STILL wondering how they got that big, thirsty pickup diesel to get such good mileage. If anything, It'd make more sense to see VW's TDi V12 put in there: smoother, better suited for a car. Even a front-engine, De Lorean-Framed, Mitsuoka/TVR lovechild.

I doubt it'll do 100 MPG in a stop/go city cycle, trick 8-speed or not...that was probably a constant 30 MPH. the highway mileage is a little more believeable, but still rather high. I would guess, normally, City would be down in the 30s, you might pull 40s or 50s out on the highway with a light foot.

Performance-wise? Well, let's look at another front-engined car with a truck engine. Viper. Probably will handle like the original RT/10 rather than a more recent model.

 

[Danny]

There was a thread on the Iceni last year.

 

[sesselpupser]

I doubt it'll do 100 MPG in a stop/go city cycle, trick 8-speed or not...that was probably a constant 30 MPH.

Oh yeah that reminds me, I forgot to mention that... I doubt it'll do an average of over 50, 60 MPG anywhere, but at a steady speed I can imagine it would drop significantly. I was reading a thread about this on Pistonheads.com, someone there mentioned talking to the Trident people at the Geneva motorshow when it was first shown (back when it was petrol powered, I believe), they said they got from Dover to Geneva on one (100 litre) tank of petrol. I don't know how many miles that is, but its probably more than London to Edinburgh and back, like that Audi (model/engine escapes me, though) on Top Gear that did the round trip on a single tank.

And yeah, this thing has been around for ages, but I think it was only recently that they announced it would be a diesel. It DOES seem odd they'd use an ancient american V8, considering Audi's proven diesel technology, but then again this is an independent British supercar, and I think Trident have probably filled out a few of these Sniff Petrol forms in their time...

Image removed by moderators.

Funny as it was, it still contains obscene language which isn't welcome here.
Please screen future images for such language and remove it from the image before posting them on this site.

 

[Tornado]

Funny, but language.

 

[Robin]

^ LMAO! that form is exactly what im talking about!

Not one week goes by without some rich toff trying to rekindle some british supercar heritage with some god awful machine that will either fall apart or will never make it to production due to bankruptcy... Plus they all seem to be styled (and named) by themselves and they stick bits of car together that they like, if your going to do it right get some styling house in!

Oh not to mention they make outlandish claims....

Im sorry but only proper companies supercars do it for me...

EDIT- Just remembered this joke from 1998.... Oh lets bring back Jensen Motors! £9 Million investment, 300 planned, 12 left the factory then they went bust! Sums up all these cars really!

Robin

 

[ExigeEvan]

Wow it seems a few of us have found this car/thread a step too far for British car manufactuers.

I also clicked in and read "A British carmaker", groaned, thought "oh great, another one" and was about to casually move on.

 

[opendriver]

Looks like a T350c.....both are ugly as hell


Almost 70 MPG from a duramax? Sounds to good to be true, but it just might be. Is this going to be another started company that is going to disappoint the bank?

Given the 8-speed gearbox and god knows what gears are in the rear end, but ill wait and see how this whole thing pans out

 

[Philly]

Well, seeing that small diesels in small cars designed for efficiency are having trouble pushing 50 mpg, I have a hard time believing a big diesel can reach 70 mpg.

I wonder what kind of credit these companies get from the bank..

 

[Dave A]

Looks like a T350c.....both are ugly as hell


Almost 70 MPG from a duramax? Sounds to good to be true, but it just might be. Is this going to be another started company that is going to disappoint the bank?

Given the 8-speed gearbox and god knows what gears are in the rear end, but ill wait and see how this whole thing pans out

I tlook snothing like a T350C .

The company has been around for some time, the car has been in development also for some time. It has changed over this time. I wonder what finances are running this company, they have literally been going for years but don't actually seem any closer to releasing the car. Maybe in another 3 years the car will be solar powered instead and still be no closer to production.

I like nich British cars, I really do, they are quirky and unique. But there has to be some realism, 100mph not realistic, and as I said before the Iceni is a several years old concept that is still seemingly no closer to production. It's a shame about Jensen, I likes thoes SV8's, I saw one at a show and sat in it. They didn't seem brilliant quality but not shoddy, it was more case of parts bin switches etc, but getting enough people to part with their cash was harder than expected.

 

[sesselpupser]

Well, seeing that small diesels in small cars designed for efficiency are having trouble pushing 50 mpg, I have a hard time believing a big diesel can reach 70 mpg.

I wonder what kind of credit these companies get from the bank..

It depends where you measure it, really. In the city, doing 0-60 sprints or trying to get to 200mph I doubt you'd see any real difference between the Trident and any other supercar, in fact the trident may well be worse off due to its weight (that V8 and 8-speed gearbox wrapped up in stainless steel won't be lighter than a Sagaris or 430).

However, on the motorway or freeway or highway or whatever you want to call it, I think the Iceni would get 60, 70, MAYBE up to 100 MPG, simply because of the huge torque and 8, undoubtedly long, gears. A small diesel in a small car will probably be doing 3500-4000rpm to stay at a steady 70mph, because of the fact that hatchbacks (which is what I assume you meant) are amongst the least aerodynamic cars, while their small engines and 120mph 5-speed gearboxes need to be pushed to get up to speed. The Iceni, however, could be doing little over idling to do 70mph, in which case it'll definitely get better mileage.

I personally think, though, having thought about it for a bit, that Trident probably just went to the extreme while testing the car. They probably got a 5'5" test driver who weighs 8 stone and has no hair at all to drive downhill with the air conditioning off, windows up, without any braking and so on and so forth like in the episode of Top Gear when Clarkson drove the Audi from London to Scotland, then back again on the same tank of petrol. Its not like they're official urban, rural and combined figures, they're just saying what the car is capable of.

 

[JCE]

I'm impressed if those numbers are legit. It doesn't look too bad, better than Chinese cars.

But...

That shift knob look familiar?


That's my original 1990 Camaro shift knob. The one in that supercar looks like a hybrid between that and a C4 Corvette auto shift knob.

MPG figures + low-low price = too good to be true. This sounds like a take-the-money-and-run scam.

EDIT: after finding the company website, I think i may have jumped the gun a little too quickly at "Scam..." but I can't see how a Duramax 6.6 (That's what the engine really is!) can get that good of mileage. Besides, their website hasn't been updated since 2006.

They say their secret is in the gearbox at the rear axle. I'm still skeptical: probably ridiculously tall gears.

http://www.trident-vehicles.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=39

 

[Robin]

I like nich British cars, I really do, they are quirky and unique. But there has to be some realism.

I agree, I would have no problem with people starting up these niche companies to produce some nice unique cars if they didn't make everything so bloody unrealistic. The prices are usually stupidly high, the quality is usually low, styling mostly ugly and they make silly claims.

If they were to release something simple and elegant with a half decent engine and built qaulity and aim it somewhere around the Audi TT price range they would stand a far better chance for selling a decent amount. Right now they are going all lets beat Lamborghini's and asking prices double equivalent production cars for 10 year old V8's... I don't understand why they cannot learn!

It's a shame about Jensen, I likes thoes SV8's, I saw one at a show and sat in it. They didn't seem brilliant quality but not shoddy, it was more case of parts bin switches etc, but getting enough people to part with their cash was harder than expected.

I also saw one, at 1998 at the motorshow and although the styling wasnt nearly outlandish as some of the other stuff we are seeing today their business plan was based solely on the fact that the brand was going to the sell the car... wrong idea! At the time looked like a replacement / answer to the MG TF which is ironic because MG have just started selling them again but in this case they are being snapped up! even more ironically because of the brand.

Ahh well they are probably good for collectors now...

Robin

 

[niky]

I'm impressed if those numbers are legit. It doesn't look too bad, better than Chinese cars.

But...

That shift knob look familiar?


That's my original 1990 Camaro shift knob. The one in that supercar looks like a hybrid between that and a C4 Corvette auto shift knob.

Shift knob nothing... see the pretty off-the-shelf Momo steering wheel? With that much money, you'd think they could get something fancier than typical Max Power fare... (If you're in the US, replace Max Power with Fast n' Furious... it's the same thing...).

Even with 8-speeds, I highly doubt you could eke more than 40-50 mpg out of a diesel of that size... especially considering it's a relatively old-fashioned Duramax... The acceleration I can believe... short enough gears with gobs of torque will do the trick... but fuel economy? Unless Trident has found some magic bullet to transform the engine, I really doubt it... those things typically get under 20 mpg in trucks... ...granted... better gearing, lighter car, but still... even if you consider UK MPG is higher than US MPG... 68.9 = 57.4 MPG... that's an amazing number.

That said making a diesel-engined sports / supercar would be a fun project.

 

[JCE]

That said making a diesel-engined sports / supercar would be a fun project.

One word: Bullydog. Assuming the car doesn't already have one installed.