Roadster / Tail Red

It’s the year 2007, and the S téphane R atel O rgsnisation, SRO in short, is trying to start a new racing championship. Following the success of the GT3 European Championship created by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, they created the GT4 European Series, a lower class racing more focussed on driving skill rather than the car’s performance. That’s why driver criteria are way tighter in GT4 than they are in GT3. It also promoted weight reduction for cars in order to create less CO2 emissions

The Smart Roadster is a sports car, with a rear engined, rear wheel drive layout, and a small three cylinder turbocharged engine producing 82 horses. And in my opinion it’s massively underrated, which can be shown easily in the aftermarket scene. And it’s quite small too, with a length of 3427 millimetres in total. Which made me wonder: Which cars are longer than a Smart Roadster?

Yup, I’ll take a Nissan Silvia S12, because it’s not really known and it looks like a AE86 Trueno

The Renault Wind is a two seater convertible roadster. But, the Wind was originally a concept unveiled on September 2004 at the Paris Motor Show as a 2+1 roadster. It had a 136hp inline 4 engine, but stats are unknown since Renault never released those

The Carver is a Dutch car/motorcycle thing made by Carver Europe (also known as Vandenbrink. It combines the comfort and controls of a car and the handling dynamics of a motorcycle. It drives on three wheels, and can be driven by anyone with a regular car driving license while being taxed as a motorcycle. It’s 3,4 meters long, 1,3 meters wide and 1,4 meters high, and weighs about 640kg. The Carver can tilt up to 45 degrees, and this is not based on steering angle, but on how much force is applied to the steering wheel.

A racing series where only Smart cars are allowed? You didn’t expect that, did you? The 4Two Cup for Smart cars was created in 2011 by smarts4youracing, a company that sells performance and race parts for Smarts. The series has strong links across Europe where the turbocharged 3 cylinder powered racer has a large following, with races regularly taking part at the likes of Spa, Brands Hatch and Zandvoort.

Oh the Smart Roadster. A little two-seater that is not really known in the car community since it’s overshadowed by the other two-seater roadster, the famous Mazda MX-5… But why do I like it more than the Miata and why should you?

In late 1982, SMH (makers of the Swatch watches) CEO Nicolas Hayek began developing an idea for a new car using the same type of manufacturing strategies and personalization features used for Swatch watches. He believed that the automotive industry had ignored a sector of potential customers who wanted a small and stylish city car. This idea soon became known as the “Swatchmobile”. Hayek’s private company Hayek Engineering AG began designing the new car for SMH, with seating for two and a hybrid drivetrain. Yep, you read that correctly: a hybrid drivetrain.