The Keating TKR and "The Bolt"
The Keating/Barabus TKR
This one caught my when I saw it, as initially when I looked at the front I thought it was a derivation of a Saleen S7, and then when I saw the rear, it looked like a Pagani Zonda. And that's because, technically it's both; to a certain degree.
Basically, Keating; a Bolton, UK based sports car company, is the company responsible for creating the TKR (although it was originally called the Barabus TKR, before the company changed trading names to Keating). As mentioned, it shares many visual cues with the Saleen S7 and Pagani Zonda, and that's because it's designer; Adonis Alanagan took inspiration (borderline copying perhaps
) from the S7 for the front, and the Zonda for rear; hence the strong resemblance to the two.
Spec wise, things are very promising, since it was powered by a 7.0 Twin Turbo'ed version of the LS7 V8, and was claimed to make 1005hp (though weirdly it has also been suggested it made 2,002hp...). Also weight was quoted to be 1,190kg, so it's not heavy. Otherwise I think it looks pretty good, and interests me as I like the obscure over the mainstream when it comes to super-cars
Furthermore, Keating claimed it could do 0-60 is 2 seconds and go on to do 270mph, which are bold numbers now, let alone 8 years ago. However, it had been recorded to do 260mph at El Mirage Lake in California, as part of a speed test, and was set to take an official record, but it crashed.
Also, Tony Keating and his company are no strangers to bold claims, as their more recent creation; "The Bolt" was quite comical in it's claims.
Keating "The Bolt"
Like the TKR, it was powered by an LS7 V8, but there have been a myriad of HP figures suggested. Initially suggested to be 640hp, but Keating engineers stated 1200bhp was more realistic, but also an 800bhp version was apparently able to 0-60mph in 2.0sec.
The lack of certainty continues with the weight figures. Quoted to be at 990kg, thanks to the use of "space-age materials", though it apparently used Kevlar/Carbon-Fibre, however Keating engineers then said that figure was more like 1100-1200kg.
And to top it off, the centre point of "The Bolt" was that it could do 340mph, or "Mach 0.5" as they said; even though Mach 0.5 is more like 385mph. Got to love their optimism
. Oh and it was supposed to cost £750,000 for a 800bhp model, but Keating said that could've come down to £150,000, for lesser and "more refined versions". However this was 4 years ago, so I'm not sure how many were made besides the prototype above, if any.
Otherwise I like the TKR, looks really quite nice, if a little copy-cat-esque of other designs. "The Bolt" less so, but I admired the ambition, as much as it is laughable.
Also, bonus fact, despite making the TKR and Bolt; Keating has only made two other models, the SKR and ZKR so far, with only 15 cars built in total.
