Reynard is back with an Inverter

Posted on January 11th, 2009 by Robert Adams | Posted under: Other makes, motorsports

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Reynard is a legendary name in automotive business. Founded in late 1973 this UK-based company made an impressive success by developing sports cars for many racing series across Europe and abroad.

Back in early 90s the company even participated in a development of Formula 1 car. Other achievements include a current Grand Prix Masters bolide, which is based on Reynard’s chassis.

Many Reynard’s machines still being used in racing series these days though the company is out of motorsport business for some years.

Back in 2002 Reynard was bankrupted due to the financial problems caused by faulty management. That was an utter personal defeat for Adrian Reynard, engineer and former race driver and one of the original co-founders of the company.

Despite the world crisis 2009 starts with good news for many Reynard’s fans. Adrian Reynard and his friends are back. For the first time in history they come on scene with completely new street-legal sports car, which is being called Reynard Inverter. This is a pure racing car designed for racetrack weekends and private racing series, though allowed for the road traffic. It means that enthusiasts may drive it to the racetrack and back home without any special haulers involved.

Reynard promises Inverter to be a pure sports car delivering F1’s typical 4G lateral cornering force. It’s easy to believe when you take a look at characteristics. This car is very light and powerful. It weights just 400 kg thanks to the tubular frame made of stainless steel and reinforced with aluminum honeycomb panels. Following the client’s choice Inverter may have a fiberglass or carbon fiber body, while the latter option is much more expensive. This car looks like a kit and it is actually. You may order a standard 1000 cc motorcycle engine from Honda Fireblade or even a mighty Suzuki Hayabusa’s heart. Both engines are mated to a 6-speed sequential gearbox with paddle-shifts supplying power to rear wheels via the Quaife differential. Honda’s engine delivers about 175 bhp at astonishing 14.000 rpm (360 bhp per tonne), while Suzuki’s 250 bhp motor generates an incredible 530 bhp/tonne power to weight ratio. Beyond that, the company promises to expand the choice of engines with some car unit if such demand ever appears.

Inverter wears Avon racing slicks to achieve those incredible cornering forces, but the “regular” tyres must be fitted if you want to drive it to the public roads. Car has two seats though the weight may exceed 500 kg if you take a passenger, so the second seat is rather an option for rare moments.

Reynard claims that they’ve used wind tunnels and Honda’s F1 team facilities to design a body of Inverter. Because of the perfect aerodynamics and typical sports car suspension Inverter creates an enormous down force at high speeds. The car is designed to achieve 150 mph (250 km/h) top speed, however cornering and acceleration are more important for racetracks. It’s incredible down force would theoretically allow the car to drive upside down at speeds over 100 mph, hence the Inverter name.