Suzuki Cappucino (1993)

While Honda Beat and Mazda AZ-1 was bounded in Japan, Suzuki Cappucino enjoyed greater sales success in Europe. Undoubtedly, its pretty look was one of the reasons. Power came from a 657 c.c. turbocharged 3-cylinder with 12 valves. Performance was so-so, but fun to drive and own.

Specifications

Model	Suzuki Cappucino
Year of production	1993
Layout	Front-engined, Fwd.
Engine	Inline-3, dohc, 4v/cyl, turbo.
Capacity	657c.c.
Power	64 hp
Torque	76 lbft
Gearbox	5M
Kerb weight	700 kg
Top speed	93 mph*
0-60 mph	11.3 sec*

* Tested by Autocar

Tommy Kaira ZZ (1996)

Designed by 2 Japanese ex-racing drivers, Tommy Kaira ZZ was assembled in UK for better sourcing for components and mainly sold back to Japan. The welded aluminium space frame chassis was covered by glass-fiber body like many British specialty sports cars, thus ensured a kerb weight of 730 kg to compete with Lotus Elise. The engine came from Nissan Primera - 2 litres, 16 valves four-cylinder, now fed by racing motorbike's carburetors instead of fuel injection. The result was a little bit rougher at low speed but it became very strong at high rev - 185 hp.

In many ways, it seemed to be the Japanese version of Lotus Elise, although some 40% dearer. Not only having similar chassis, similar weight and dimensions, both mid-engined and open top, ZZ was designed to be a small sports car with amazing performance but without much concern about comfort. If you think it must be an imitator to the wonderful Elise, you are wrong. ZZ actually appeared one year earlier than the Elise, although European got known to it later.

Its engine was stronger yet smoother than Elise's Rover K-series engine. Faster as well. In many ways it was rawer and more racing-car-like than the Elise: gearchange and pedals were heavier but accurate, it rode stiffer although still acceptable. Cornering limit was higher due to the grippy 205 tyres, this also resulted in less accessible oversteer than Elise or Caterham.

The cockpit was as raw as a real racing car - exposed gear linkage, no trimming, no radio nor any other equipment. Even windows and soft top were lacking. The only sunshine protection was an optional double-bubble roof made of fiberglass.

Specifications

Model	Tommy Kaira ZZ
Year of production	1996
Layout	Mid-engined, Rwd.
Chassis	Aluminium space frame chassis, glassfiber body.
Engine	Inline-4, dohc, 4v/cyl.
Capacity	1998 c.c.
Power	185 hp
Torque	142 lbft
Gearbox	5M
Kerb weight	730 kg
Top speed	140 mph (claimed)
0-60 mph	4.8 sec (claimed)

* Tested by Autocar

Vector W8, WX3 and M12 (1985-)

W8 in differential views

I can't find any car as wild-claimed as this one. At its peak, Vector claimed 1200 horsepower output from the twin-turbo 7-litre V8, and a top speed of 260 mph. Who really believe that ? Perhaps some patriot American who knows little about cars did. In fact, since I first read the Vector W2 prototype in newspaper in 1985, it never really went into formal production. Times and times the company displayed a new prototype, from W8, WX3 to M12, to the press and claimed higher performance than ever. But every time we heard the previous one was never produced, without any explanation. Vector knew how to attract public attention. Wild claim was one of the tricks, another was featuring it in Winston's TV advertisement, in which it was described as "American dream". This was indeed right - dream never result in reality. One sources said during those years only 15 Vectors of any kind were built, and most of them were prototypes !

W8

The original philosophy of Vector was very interesting. Since American was never the expert of supercars, Vector's creator Gerald Wiegert thought he could create a supercar based on the most sophisticated aircraft technology of his country. The first Vector W8 really employed many aerospace technology: its aluminium space frame chassis was bonded by epoxy and rivets in aircraft style, the floor was aluminium honeycomb structure, the body consisted of carbon fiber, Kevlar and some glass-fiber. The aluminium brake caliper had 4 pistons. The speedo was implemented by CRT screens ....

However spectacular this sounds to be, the most important to supercar is the powertrain and handling. In this aspect, Vector lost marks although tried its best - the GM-sourced pushrod V8 was made of aluminium in head and block, displaced at 6.0 litres it was already mega size, but still fed by two Garrett turbochargers (with intercoolers) running at rather light pressure. The outcome was claimed to be 625 horsepower and 630 lbft of torque. Good numbers, but don't expect the pushrod V8 to be as sweet and revvy as those Italian V12s. Worst of all, it was mated to a THREE-speed automatic transmission which used to serve GM's heavy vehicle because no existing manual gear box could cope with the tremendous torque. If this was not enough to ruin the driving experience, the old non-independent DeDion tube rear suspension must be enough to let you rethink Vector's commitment to handling. We know American muscle cars used to emphasis straight line speed while ignoring cornering ability.

Vector claimed it could top 218 mph. Considering its angular shape with a Cd of probably 0.55, I would be surprised if it could touch 300 km/h (186mph).

WX3

The next prototype, WX3, was even more controversial. Undoubtedly, it got a much smoother shape which was not only more wind-cheating but also looked more modern. The V8 grew to 7 litres, in normally aspirated form it was claimed to be delivering 700 hp (who believe a pushrod V8 could do that ?) and in twin-turbo form it output 1200 hp, nearly matching the most powerful tank in army. The claimed top speed was 260 mph, 0-60 mph in 2.6 sec .... Oh, my God ! I hope this monster V8 wouldn't burn itself out.

The management sacked the engineers in charge times and times because the Vector did not take off as a feasible production car. After 50 million dollars spent, nothing was achieved. Then, the company was bought by an Indonesian firm Megatech, which also bought Lamborghini earlier. Now Lamborghini's engineer arrived to put Diablo's 5.7-litre V12 into the lengthened engine compartment, and the car was renamed to M12. It produced "only" 490 hp and 425 lbft, not comparable to its predecessors, but who knows if it could beat the WX3 in real world ? However, it was too late to save Vector. After 15 years, no one is interested to buy it.

Specifications

Model	Vector W8	Vector WX3
Year of production	1985	1992
Layout	Mid-engined, Rwd.
Chassis	Aluminium space frame + carbon fiber body.
Engine	V8, ohv, 2v/cyl, twin-turbo.	V8, ohv, 2v/cyl, twin-turbo.
Capacity	5973 cc	7000 c.c.
Power	625 hp	1200 hp (claimed)
Torque	630 lbft	800-plus lbft (claimed)
Gearbox	3A	3A
Kerb weight	1506 kg	1380 kg
Top speed	218 mph (claimed)	260 mph (claimed)
0-60 mph	4.2 sec*	3.1 sec (claimed)

* Tested by R&T

Yamaha OX99-11 (1993)

Strange, a very strange supercar. Yamaha OX99-11 was a supercar built by UK's Ypsilon Technology under Yamaha's financial support, powered by a detuned Yamaha formula one V12 engine. Unlike Ferrari F50's engine, this one was really detuned from the racing engine, with the same 3.5 litres displacement, 5 valves per cylinder or 60 valves totally. Of course, in order to make it durable and reliability for road use, it was detuned to 400 horsepower "only", which occurred at record-high 10,000 rpm. It still offered a magic specific output of 114 hp per litre, which was still unmatched by F50.

The very strange styling was artistic, although not everyone liked it. Observe the bubble glass roof and you may confuse it with a F15 jet fighter. F15 has longitudinally-positioned seats, so did OX99-11's 1+1 seating plan. The front end just acted as an additional front spoiler for enhancing downforce, therefore no luggage space was incorporated. Like Formula One cars, an air box intake was located above the roof and rammed fresh air directly into the engine compartment. Overall speaking, body panels were beautifully crafted and painted.

We don't know how did it drive, although the 1000 kg kerb weight must ensure fairly well acceleration. Everything else was unknown because the car actually failed to find a single customer. Being priced at 0.9 million pounds and born during economic recession, in addition to many competitors like Jaguar XJ220, Bugatti EB110 and McLaren F1 around, it was not too strange to know that not a single car was sold.

Specifications

Model	Yamaha OX99-11
Year of launch	1993
Layout	Mid-engined, Rwd.
Chassis	Carbon fiber / aluminium honeycomb monocoque
Engine	V12, dohc, 5v/cyl.
Capacity	3500 c.c.
Power	400 hp
Torque	N/A
Gearbox	6 M
Kerb weight	1000 kg
Top speed	186 mph (claimed)
0-60 mph	N/A