All-new Brit supercar set to break cover

The Brits seem to have an inexhaustible ability to churn out homegrown, low-volume supercars, and here's another one.

The grey roadster you see here is dubbed the Breckland Beira, and it's due to make its public debut at London's Motorexpo next Monday (June 9).

One of the Beira's USPs is allegedly "supercar performance at a fraction of supercar cost", as it's a dual-fuel vehicle that runs on both petrol and LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas), benefiting its emissions and running costs.

Its maker is aiming for a November launch in the UK, and it's likely to be priced around $115K in its home market.

Although their new baby is a bespoke hand-built sports car, the Breckland mob kept costs down by pilfering freely from the GM parts bin in creating the roadster, and its basis is formed by the Kappa platform that also underpins the Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky and Opel GT.

But where this trio makes do with four-cylinder Ecotec engines (albeit bolstered by turbocharging in some cases), the Beira is propelled by a thumping 300kW 6.0-litre LS2 V8, making it a rival of sorts for our own Elfin Streamliner.

It tips the scales at none-too-lardy 1400kg, which lends credence to Breckland's claim that it can dispatch the 0-100km/h sprint in under five seconds, and go on to achieve an electronically governed top whack of 250km/h.

"Beira carries on from where Marcos and TVR left off in terms of providing maximum performance for money spent, and real individuality," says Breckland boss Mike Rawlings.

"We also looked seriously at environmental concerns and, as a result, Beira is designed to run on Liquefied Petroleum Gas as well as petrol.  This not only helps to reduce running costs and emissions, but also means Beira is capable of a range of some 700 miles (1120km) between refuelling stops."

In theory, this would enable the car to travel from Sydney to Melbourne without refueling -- if the car were to be sold here.

The car's dynamics are said to match its straight-line performance as the suspension was comprehensively re-engineered by Breckland in association with KW Suspension, with uprated springs, dampers and bushes, plus thicker anti-roll bars front and rear. 

Stopping power is provided by 325mm ventilated discs on all four corners, with six-pot calipers at the front and four-pots at the rear, while the finned alloys measure 8.5x18-inch at the front and 9.5x18 at the rear. Nineteen-inchers are optional.

Norfolk-based Breckland is part of a Hong Kong-based multi-national company called Riche Holdings and claims to be "vastly experienced" in the development and production of high-quality, low-volume specialist cars and prototypes for clients such as Mosler.

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