Caparo’s T1 smashes BBC Top Gear’s lap record

The world’s fastest ever track-biased, ultra-performance road car, the Caparo T1, has smashed the lap record on BBC TV’s popular motoring programme Top Gear. The two-seater sports car, which utilises lightweight materials and technology more commonly found in Formula One cars, set a new lap record time of 1:10.6; an astonishing seven seconds quicker than a modified Koenigsegg CCX which held the previous record.

”Caparo’s engineers have utilised some of the most advanced materials and technologies available,” says Richard Butler, managing director of Caparo Vehicle Products. “The cars are constructed using a carbon composite tub, giving it a dry power to weight ratio of more than 1,000bhp per tonne. The car’s high performance brakes, built and designed by Caparo AP Braking, also provide awesome stopping power. High-strength aerospace grade aluminium billet is used for the six pot race calipers on the front and the four pot calipers on the rear, capable of bringing the car to standstill from 100mph in under three seconds.”

Indeed, commenting on braking power of the T1, it was stated on the show that, “you couldn’t stop more quickly if you went into a tree.”

Despite its record breaking time, Top Gear viewers will not see the T1 at the top of the Power Lap board yet. The programme makers specified that in order to appear on the board, cars must be capable of driving over a speed bump. In their opinion, the T1 would not have been able to do this and was subsequently removed from the top of the leader board.

“We certainly hope that the Caparo T1 is given another chance by Top Gear to take its rightful place at the top of the leader board; even if they put a speed bump on the track we are confident of our success,” says Angad Paul, chief executive officer, Caparo Group. “To have beaten the previous leader by seven seconds is a truly astonishing achievement.”

The vehicle’s designer, Ben Scott-Geddes stated that, “the model we supplied to Top Gear was one of our final engineering vehicles without adjustable ride height and electronic active driver control systems which are standard on our production models. When driver’s select the ‘road’ setting, the car is more tractable in slower speed conditions and the ride height is fully adjustable to bring the car up to 90mm clearance, making it more than capable of driving over speed bumps.”