After
the introduction of the C8 Spyder and Laviolette production at the Zeewolde
factory only slowly gets underway. The cars however are shown at a large number
of prestigious events around the world, like the concourses at Pebble Beach in
the US, Villa d'Este in Italy and of course Paleis Het Loo in Holland, and
attract a lot of attention.
Here you see the engine and the suspension of the C8 Laviolette, just behind the
cockpit. The V8 engine with four overhead camshafts, five valves per cylinder
and eight injection throttle bodies looks like a work of art. On either side of
the engine stainless steel 4-into-1 high performance exhausts are fitted. On the
picture the header of the exhaust is beautifully polished, which makes the whole
package appear so much more impressive. Also you get a good look at the rear
suspension set-up with the horizontal spring-damper bridge and the completely
aluminum construction.
A
new addition to the C8 range appeared in September 2001 at the Frankfurt Motor
Show in Germany: the C8 Double 12R. It's the competition version of the C8,
developed for endurance racing in the Le Mans GT and FIA GT-N class. The car is
completely constructed from aluminum; its body is handmade and riveted. It
features a 4.0 litre version of the V8 engine with up to 450 hp with class
required air-restrictors and 620 hp without restrictors. The rear of the car has
been lengthened compared to the regular C8 for better aerodynamics and a large
aluminum adjustable rear wing has been fitted to generate more downforce.
This model has been named after S.F. Edge's record braking 24 hour drive in a
Spyker C4 in 1922 at the Brooklands circuit in England. In two consecutive
stints of 12 hours (during daylight) he completed 2860 km, braking his previous
1907 record by far. At the time it generated a lot of publicity and boosted
Spyker's image, which the modern Spyker company hopes to replicate with this new
racer. In 2002 the C8 Double 12R competed at the Sebring 12 hours race and the most prominent endurance race of them all: the 24 hours of Le Mans. Unfortunately the car did not finish in both events, due to a number of technical difficulties. The car had its revenge in the 2003 edition of the Le Mans race, where it finally saw the checkered flag albeit many laps behind its competition. After that Spyker put its competition program on the backburner for a while to concentrate on starting up production.
(picture by Leroy Curtis, used with permission)
In March 2002 a street-legal version of the C8 Double 12R was introduced: the C8 Double 12S. The main purpose of this model was to homologate its racing brother for the Le Mans and FIA GT classes so it could race without additional (weight) penalties and therefore be more competitive.
The C8 Double 12S resembles the 12R but is of course more comfortable. A
remarkable difference is its underside: the 12S has an underside which generates
ground effect as opposed to that of the 12R (due to competition regulations).
Because of that it doesn't need the adjustable rear wing, though it's available
as an option.
The 4-litre engine of the 12S can be ordered in five tuning stages, starting
with 400 hp in stage 1 and up to 620 hp in stage 5. The engine can endure a
maximum of 9500 rpm, which is extreme for a road going car. Transmission is a
6-speed manual gearbox. The car weighs 1215 kg and top speed is 300 kph (stage 1
engine) to 345 kph (stage 5 engine). 0 to 100 kph acceleration is done in 4.5 to
3.8 seconds. The 12R has a top speed in excess of 315 kph and a 0 to 100 kph
acceleration in less than 4 seconds. In other words: the C8 Double 12 for the
open road can be just as potent as the competition version. It must be a thrill to
drive.
2003 saw yet another expansion to the Spyker model range: the C8 Spyder T. Introduced at Frankfurt Motor Show this model adds some extra power to what now has become the "short wheel base" models. This "T" version of the C8 Spyder is powered by a twin-turbo variant of the Audi V8 engine which has been tuned by Cosworth, a company once famous for building all-conquering Ford F1 engines but now owned by Audi.
In this specification the 4-litre engine produces 525 hp @ 6400 rpm, about 125 hp more than in the "regular" C8 Spyder, which is good for a maximum speed of 320 kph. In order to cope with this extra power and speed the body has been widened and modified, the track width enlarged with 4 cm and the ground clearance reduced with 1,5 cm. With these alterations the car looks even more potent and the flared wheel arches, necessitated by the larger track width, give it a distinct competition look. At the time of its introduction the T edition of the C8 Spyder was meant as a homologation model for a FIA GT-class racing car, the TR, with a limited production of 25 cars to be built before the 2005 season. This didn't work out that way however; only a few have been produced. Spyker shifted it's efforts to homologating a modified version of the regular C8 Spyder, named the C8 Spyder GT2R, for taking part in the 2005 editions of the Sebring 12 hours and Le Mans 24 hours races.
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