Caparo Invests In Advanced Vehicle Technology Group

Caparo – a £650 million company with business interests in aluminium and steel processing and vehicle structural components – is to develop an advanced automotive technology and engineering design company to be called Caparo Vehicle Technologies. The new company will provide advanced technology development, materials engineering and design services to mainstream automotive, motorsport and aerospace markets. Coupled with its global manufacturing resource and capability Caparo aims to accelerate the use of lightweight materials in vehicle structures.The compact, lightweight, highly developed powertrain for the Caparo T1 car will feature a bespoke 2.4-litre V8 engine; branded the Caparo V8. The supercharged engine delivers 480 bhp at 10,500 rpm. Combined with a small motorsport transmission the complete powertrain weighs approximately 115kg; a comparatively featherweight figure which was crucial to achieving a total vehicle mass of 465 kg. This has enabled the company to be the first in the world to produce a road and track car able to exceed 1,000 bhp-per-tonne – a significant breakthrough in terms of pure automotive engineering.