Trident’s new Iceni sportscar sounds like a dream machine – the Norfolk-based low volume carmaker claims its two-seater grand tourer can top 200mph, swings with a 550bhp turbo-enhanced punch for a sub-four second sprint to 60mph and can return up to 100mpg for a claimed 2000 mile range on a full tank of fuel! Oh, and did we mention that fuel is biodiesel?
What? That sounds amazing!
Hold your horses there. The Iceni has yet to go into production and after dropping £2.3million into the company, Trident’s founders are looking for financial backing to finally push the Iceni into production. Which means the Iceni’s £75,000 asking price will funds further development of the car, primarily because Trident’s requests for government funding have been met with silence. According to Trident Boss Phil Bevan, the company already has 500 interested parties in the car. And we have to admit, a big diesel-powered GT with excellent economy and range isn’t without appeal.
On come on – are those figures for real?
They do suggest a large pinch of salt should be suitable close at hand, but Bevan claims his figures are entirely realistic. “At 70mph, the engine is turning over at just 980rpm and in a mix of urban, A-road and motorway driving 85mpg is easily achievable,” he explains. Trident itself has some credence, too – it’s been around for some time, making its public debut a decade ago at the British motor show and has produced a small number of traditional petrol-powered versions of its coupe.Tell me how this car achieves that level of economy…
The Iceni is powered by an Isuzu-made 6.6-litre V8 lifted from one of GM’s commercial trucks. Breathed on by a variable vane turbo, it’s good for 550bhp at a lazy 3800rpm and a massive 950lb ft of torque at 1800rpm. The engine drives the rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic gearbox – essentially a Trident-developed four-speed box – with an overdrive for each gear.
So it’s the old big-engine-small-car approach, then?
Yes, in a word. By opting for a transmission that’s geared to keep the engine just ticking over, the engine – accustomed to lugging around a vast lorry, rather than a 1480kg sportscar – is able to achieve some excellent economy figures. Throw in a 120-litre fuel tank and suddenly that claimed 2000-mile range doesn’t seem quite so outlandish. Trident claims that at a constant 70mph the Iceni returns 68.9mpg, which climbs to 108mpg at a 30mph urban-crawl.
And it runs on biodiesel?
That’s right – Trident claims the GM engine can run on pretty much any kind of diesel – including biodiesel – without any need to recalibrate the engine’s ECU black box, a fuel choice that further boosts the Iceni’s well-to-wheel green credentials. And to underscore its economy, Trident is entering next month’s Britcar 24hour race at Silverstone, where it’s ability to run three-hour stints without refuelling will, Bevan hopes, play into Trident’s hands.
A small car company in Norfolk making these claims is sure to raise many circumspect eyebrows. Let us know what you think about the Iceni and its chances of making it…