The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance is no stranger to supercar debuts. But I don’t think anyone was expecting this. On the perfectly manicured lawns of the Pebble Beach Golf Course, Lakari Motors unveiled the Epitome, a 1,750 horsepower streak of red based on a C6 Corvette.
Lakari Motors have been showing up to various international motorshows for over a decade. Debuting the Lamborghini Diablo-based Fulgura in 2002, another completley different Fulgura prototype in 2004, and the all-new Lakari Borac in 2005. The man behind Lakari Motors is Abdesslam Lakari, a luxury yacht architect from Morocco.
The Lakari Epitome is based on a Corvette C6 chassis. But you’d never know. I’m struggling to compare it to anything. The closest thing I can think of is perhaps an alien missile? The entire body is formed from carbon fiber, which helps bring the weight down to around 2,800 lbs (1,270 kgs) – which is over 400 lbs (181 kgs) lighter than the C6.
Powering the Laraki Epitome is a heavily revised version of Chevrolet’s 7.0 litre V8. All the engine internals have been upgraded, and a couple of turbochargers bolted on for good measure. Lakari say that the engine is good for 1,200 horsepower on regular gasoline. But that’s not the end of the story. It has two gas tanks. One for normal pump gas, the other for 110 octane fuel.
At the flick of a switch the Epitome will start to consume a combination of the two fuels, while at the same time the ECU map changes to make the most of the more potent blend. When using the higher octane fuel the Epitome’s engine produces a massive 1,750 horsepower.
Laraki say they only plan on building nine examples of the Epitome, each costing $2 million. But as this is the third time the company has tried to get a supercar into production, don’t start writing those checks just yet.
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