Cars service manual

Spyker RANGE Preview

Spykers rich heritage reaches back to 1898 and encompasses racing and aviation. Previously shuttered in 1925, the 60-employee company based in Zeewolde, Holland, was resurrected in 2000 by Dutch tycoon Victor Muller, Spyker’s chief executive. Its latest supercars have been sold in Europe since 2001 but only came to the U.S. last year.





A safety fuel bag of 100-litre capacity is situated centrally in the space frame. The underside of the car is fully enclosed and generates considerable ground effect. Since the Le Mans rules prohibit ground effect on GT class racing cars, the underside of the R model is entirely flat with no venturi or diffuser but additional downforce is supplied by the fully adjustable rear wing. With weight hovering around the 1,000kg mark the C8 Double 12 promises to be savagely quick.

The Spyker order form allows the customer to choose the trim materials, how many air intakes the car sports, the quantity and type of dashboard gauges and various options regarding suspension, wheels, tyres, brake balance and even how the wheelarches and spoilers are attached to the bodywork. This level of custom build makes top-end Ferraris, Aston Martins and Lamborghinis look mass-produced and ensures that with a production capacity of 30 cars a year no two Spykers will ever be alike. It also helps that nothing is quite like a Spyker to start out with. The turned aluminium interior of the car unveiled at the 2002 British Motor Show left most onlookers slack jawed with astonishment.

Its like a gothic fantasy, a post-millennial recreation of a car that HG Wells may have designed. The detailing was entrancing, the steering wheel spokes being fabricated from elegant aluminium propellers, the gearshifter mounted on a longitudinal bar that punctures the turned aluminium fascia. The line of switches on the dashboard resemble that of a bi-plane and flicking each to life feels like conducting a pre-flight check. Anything that wasnt either polished or turned aluminium seemed to be swathed in a rich oxblood quilted leather.

"Almost every aspect of the car can be specified to customer demands"
Aluminium is a key theme here. The Spyder and Laviolette models are powered by a modified 4.2-litre Audi V8 engine, itself featuring an aluminium block and cylinder head. The chassis is an elaborate aluminium space frame and the body is created here in the UK by Coventry Prototype Panels before being shipped to the companys Zeewolde factory for final fitment.

Customers can even follow the construction of their car online by logging their details into Spykers website and watching a dedicated webcam trained on the car in question. The sole UK concession for Spyker is Hunt and Keals delightful mews property in Kensington. The company predict the Laviolette glass-roofed targa version to be the most popular with the Spyder a close second. With a choice of 400, 420 or 450bhp states of tune, the Spyder customer isnt stuck for choice.

The Laviolette buyer can expect to see over 190mph from its 450bhp engine. For ultimate performance potential, theres little to touch the C8 Double 12. This hand-built GT car is designed to compete in endurance racing in the LM GT and GT-N (FIA) classes. The road version was unveiled to coincide with the opening of the Spyker factory in March 2002.
Two distinct versions are available. The S versions are roadgoing beasts with a choice of either 500, 550 or a monstrous 620bhp power output. The R model is more specialised still, a car whose 450bhp output is due to inlet tract restrictors for GT racing homologation. With wide wheel arches and fully integrated roll cages, the Double 12s dry sump engine is mounted as low in the frame as possible.

A safety fuel bag of 100-litre capacity is situated centrally in the space frame. The underside of the car is fully enclosed and generates considerable ground effect. Since the Le Mans rules prohibit ground effect on GT class racing cars, the underside of the R model is entirely flat with no venturi or diffuser but additional downforce is supplied by the fully adjustable rear wing. With weight hovering around the 1,000kg mark the C8 Double 12 promises to be savagely quick.

Much will hinge upon how well Spyker can develop the sort of quality control procedures that the big manufacturers have poured millions into and upon which customers in this bracket have come to expect. Part of the reason the cars have taken so long to be offered to customers is the ironing out of quirks in the prosaic things like ventilation, door hinges and engine management software programming. If the company can crack this, theres absolutely no reason why this unlikely Dutch company cant be thought of in the same breath as other purveyors of automotive fantasy such as McLaren And Pagani. After all, for the tenacious, no road is impassable.

The exterior design looks sleek and clean, thanks to few cut lines (where one body panel ends and another begins). Push a button on the round aluminum key fob and the doors scissor upward electrically. Theres no key — an electronic card given to each owner automatically unlocks the doors when approaching the vehicle. A dash-mounted start button fires up the engine.


FACTS AT A GLANCE

CAR: Spyker range
PRICES: from 300,000 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 20
PERFORMANCE: (Laviolette) Max Speed 191mph/ 0-60mph 4.2s
FUEL CONSUMPTION: yes
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Limited slip differential, ABS, traction control
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: (C8 Double 12) Length/Width/Heightmm 4585/1980/1255mm