The IFR Aspid is a Spanish

open-wheel An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

introduced in 2008. It was available in two models, Sport and Supersport, which had base prices of £75,000 and £107,000 respectively. The Aspid was originally developed as a showcase of the technology developed by IFR, an automotive consultancy group. The Aspid gets its name from the Spanish word for the small and very quick snake that killed Cleopatra.

Performance

The Aspid is powered by the 2.0 L Honda F20C I4 engine used in the

Honda S2000 The Honda S2000 is an Roadster (automobile), open top sports car that was manufactured by Japanese automobile manufacturer Honda, from 1999 until 2009. First shown as a concept car called the SSM at the Tokyo Motor Show#1995, Tokyo Motor Show in ...

, which has been tuned and dry sumped by IFR to output in naturally aspirated base trim and in supercharged, Supersport trim. The naturally aspirated version is capable of 0-62 mph (100 km/h) in 3.9 seconds with the supercharged version taking 2.8 seconds, with both sharing the Honda S2000's 9,000 rpm redline. In corners the Aspid can pull 1.6g of lateral acceleration, it has a claimed top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph), and it can decelerate from to 0 in 3.1 seconds. Mechanically the Aspid also uses the 6 speed manual from the

with the only other powertrain upgrade coming in the form of a custom exhaust system.

Technical innovation

One of the aspects which IFR has focused heavily on whilst marketing the Aspid is the fact that it holds four unique patents for technologies used throughout the car. The first patent is for a twin brake disc (TBD) system, consisting of two lightweight stainless steel discs with large turbine shaped slots designed to maximize brake cooling and efficiency as well as to be a claimed 70% lighter than a conventional brake disc setup. The second patent is for the aluminum extrusion chassis, developed for maximum rigidity and to fit the Aspid's double wishbone suspension system. The chassis then has a lightweight aluminum honeycomb overlaid on top for added strength. With these advancements IFR has been able to reduce the weight of the Aspid's chassis to only . The third patent is for Dual Lip Reinforcement (DLR) wishbones which used almond shaped spars with strengthening beams going through the centers to improve rigidity and aerodynamics. Lastly, the 4th patent is for a modular wiring loom which cuts the amount of harness needed to 1/3 of what it originally was as well as reduce its weight by 70%. The Aspid also uses a removable F1 style carbon fiber steering wheel complete with data logging and telemetry abilities as well as a slew of other features to control various aspects of the car such as rev limit, ride height,

brake balance The brake balance or brake bias of a vehicle is the distribution of brake force at the front and rear tires, and may be given as the percentage distributed to the front brakes (e.g. 52%) or as the ratio of front and rear percentages (e.g. 52/48). Th ...

, valve timing and others, which is a feature seldom used in street cars. Additionally the Aspid is fully compliant with

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

safety regulations, as well as European homologation standards, from stock and as such can be taken to the track and raced with little additional modification needed.

Media

The Aspid received a lot of press attention when it debuted in 2008 from motoring publications, such as ''Evo'', ''Autocar'', ''Car Magazine'', ''

Motor Trend ''MotorTrend'' is an American automobile magazine. It first appeared in September 1949, and designated the first Car of the Year, also in 1949. Petersen Publishing Company in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles published ''MotorTrend'' until 19 ...

'' and others, who praised the Aspid highly for its technological innovation as well as its level of comfort and amenities relative to other open-wheel cars on the market. Many reviewers did lament the pricing, however, often highlighting the affordability of other open-wheeled cars and comparing the Aspid to a more advanced and luxurious, albeit higher priced, version of the

Caterham 7 The Caterham 7 (or Caterham Seven) is a super-lightweight sports car produced by Caterham Cars in the United Kingdom. It is based on the Lotus Seven, a lightweight sports car sold in kit and factory-built form by Lotus Cars, from 1957 to 1972. A ...

References

{{commonscat, IFR Aspid

External links

Official page

Article at RSportscars.com

Article at Car Magazine

Article at Autocar.com

Article at caradvice.com

Article at Motortrend.com
Cars of Spain Sports cars Cars introduced in 2009