2001 Lotec Sirius

The mastermind behind the Lotec Sirius was Kurt Lotterschmid, the individual who won the German Group C2 Championship title in 1983. His racing knowledge and experience were translated into exquisite supercars. In 1992 the one-off supercar called the Lotec C1000 was produced. It weighed just 1080 kg and produced over 850 horsepower. The engine was a derivative of the version that powered the Sauber C9 Le Mans sports prototype.

The Lotec Sirius was constructed of carbon-fibre over a tubular steel frame. There seems to be two beliefs when creating supercars. The first is equip the car with only the necessary creature comforts that help the car obtain street-legal status. The results are usually a gutted interior void of amenities, extremely lightweight, and powered by noisy but powerful engines. The other belief is to allow a few amenities that make the vehicle drivable and bare able for longer road trips. The Sirius came equipped with both power-steering and air-conditioning which drove its overall weight up to 1390 kg. Though the car was civilized in comparison to other supercars, it did take some negotiation with your body in order to get into and out of the vehicle.

Mounted mid-ship was a 48-valve 6-litre Mercedes-Benz V12 engine, the same used for the Pagani Zonda. The compression ratio was lowered to 8.5:1 and enhanced with twin KKK K27 turbochargers. The result was 850 horsepower and over 730 foot-pounds of torque. Power is sent to the wheels through a manual CIMA gearbox that is located behind the engine, technology also used in the Pagani and Koenigsegg.

Lotec estimates that they could produce around five a year. Since there has never really been much demand, this has never materialized. The company has experimented with various engines and seen horsepower rise as high as 1200. The Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG engine is a suitable candidate for replacing the current engine, if production were ever to commence.

By Daniel Vaughan | Apr 2006