Look at the characteristics of the Ferrari 575 Maranello, or Lamborghini Murcielago – supercars of the early 2000s. Yes – they are very cool, and their six-liter V12 make them special.
But if you look at the indicators of acceleration, most likely not even known to you, Swiss – Leblanc Caroline GTR; – Italian racers will seem very slow. But after all, not even acceleration, but speedy cornering is the strongest side of Leblanc, in which he would not leave chances to the supercars mentioned above.
And yes! – At first glance, this is a purely racing car, which would be inappropriate to compare with road supercars. But just imagine; – this car, shown by the way back in the 99th, allowed on public roads.
It has not such a monstrous engine, it is even very small by supercar standards, but thanks to the boost it is powerful, and thanks to its small size it is light. After all, the essence of all Leblanc cars is not in the affecting consciousness – power, but in lightness – which is simply necessary for a really fast car.
The price of the new Leblanc Caroline GTR was $ 1,100,000. And it is very, very big money for those years. If today million Bucks for a supercar is a very normal and even usual thing, back then it was really expensive. But there were very few such cars produced; – 3 – 5 vehicles per year.
It cannot be noticed by the photo, but Leblanc Carolin GTR is almost wholly a carbon-fiber car. On the picture you can see how small the doors are here, – again – just like in a racing car. And these doors open according to the scheme – “gull wing.” Here I would like to add that usually on similar cars, the doors open according to the scheme – “butterfly wing” – as in modern McLaren.
The curb weight of the Swiss car – 785 kg. Remember these numbers when we will be talking about power and acceleration.
Of course – such a car cannot be compared in comfort with the Maranello, or Murcielago. But to emphasize the suitability for public roads, the creators of this beast offer as an option – air conditioning. Pretty sweet – especially in a car where, because of the very loud operation of the engine and the exhaust system, there are factory headphones in the cabin. Additionally, it has sharp steering, – a little more than one turn.
The characteristics of Leblanc Caroline GTR are truly amazing. By the way, even the powerful engine valve cover is woven into the power structure of this machine.
So, – in the base of supercar Leblanc Caroline longitudinally relative to the body, a two-liter, turbocharged “four” is installed. This unit is assembled on the basis of the Cosworth engine.
With a compression ratio of 8.0; 1, and again – just with two liters of volume, it gives out 512 horsepower and 539 Nm of thrust. Now, remember the mass of this car.
With rear-wheel drive and a six-speed manual transmission, this – Swiss beast can break down to 100km in just 2.7s! – For those years it’s just amazing, worthy of race car numbers.
A quarter-mile Caroline passes for 10.9s, and the maximum speed is 341km per hour. – an excellent result, mainly as for the car where the priority is not the maximum speed, but the speed in turns.
The chassis of this supercar is made of carbon fiber, titanium, and magnesium.
Of course, Leblanc does not have such a great history as Ferrari, but most of those people who appreciate first of all the speed characteristics of the car, are interested in history very superficially. For them, it is more important that the car was fast and did not break on the track, and the Leblanc car copes very well with this.
Leblanc Caroline Technical Datasheet
(The information below was taken from the Leblanc official website. Unfortunately, the website is not available anymore.)
Make | Leblanc |
Model | Caroline |
Powertrain Layout | Mid Engine / RW |
Dry Weight | 785 KT / 1731 lbs |
Length | 4020 mm / 158.3 in |
Width | 190 mm / 74.8 in |
Height | 110 mm / 43.3 in |
Wheelbase | 2550 mm / 100.4 in |
Front / Rear Track | 1670 mm / 65.7 in 1550 mm / 61.0 in |
Engine
Type | R4 Turbo |
Displacement | 2000 cc |
Power | 382 kw / 512 bhp |
Torque | 539 Nm at 6000 rpm |
Max Engine Speed | 7800 rpm |
Chassis & Body
Body / Frame | carbonfiber |
Wheels (Diameter x Width) |
8.5 x 18 Front 13.5 x 18 Rear |
Tires | 245/35ZR-18 Front 335/35ZR-18 Rear |
Drivetrain
Transmission | 6 – speed sequential |
Topspeed | 341 km/h |
Base Price (excl. VAT) | 425 000 Euro |