Top 7 Fastest Accelerating British Cars

Britain has a long history of producing world-beaters in the automotive industry, be it the 1950s Jaguars tearing up Le Mans or the McLaren F1 with its 231mph top speed back in the 90s. We make some bloody quick cars for a small island, some of which will beat almost anything else that isn’t a fully-fledged racing car.

The rules are simple: the car has to be road legal and we are judging pace from the claimed 0-62mph (100kph) times. So without further ado, let’s see what the British Isles have to offer.

1. Ariel Atom 500 V8 (0-62mph in 2.3s)

Ariel has shown the car industry that it’s possible to keep a company afloat by selling an extremely niche, hardcore toy. When the original Ariel Atom was launched with a 2.0-Litre, 245bhp Honda engine, it set about tearing tracks and faces apart all over the UK.

With Ariel obviously not being content with its already ridiculous machine, it decided to force in a 500bhp V8 which gave a power-to-weight of over 900bhp/tonne. This thing will blow Veyrons, LaFerraris and Aston Martin Vulcans into next week using what is essentially two Suzuki Hayabusa bike engines strapped together. With a blistering 0-62mph time of just 2.3 seconds, the Atom 500 takes the UK crown.

2. Caparo T1 (0-62mph in 2.5s)

The closest you can get to having a GP2 car fit for the road, the Caparo T1 is a truly frightening prospect. £225,000 gets you a fully-aeroed single seater that happens to have headlights and indicators to pass any road legality tests. Producing 570bhp at 10,500rpm, the T1 brings together ground effect and power into a performance package that any mere mortal would struggle to evenly slightly exploit.

Plagued with reliability issues and gaining a reputation for extremely spiky handling, the Caparo T1 was part of another British car company failure, despite its world-beating potential.

3. Ultima GTR (0-62mph in 2.6s)

To call an Ultima ‘just a kit car’ would be a massive disservice to what is a genuine performance benchmark. Normally using an LS engine in their past cars, Ultima decided to produce a no f*cks given bruiser with a 720bhp American Speed V8 that has gone on to smash numerous records. With a kerb weight of under a tonne, the GTR smoked the 0-100mph-0 record and has a higher power-to-weight ratio than the Caparo, a Keonigsegg CCX and a Ferrari Enzo.

A popular sight at track days across the UK, an Ultima GTR will smite almost any supercar that money can buy and yet as a brand is virtually unknown to most. The Ultima is a supercar that harks back to the days of Can Am racing with its burbling V8, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a hybrid powertrain makes its way into one those chassis sometime soon.

4. Radical RXC Turbo (0-62mph in 2.6s)

Radical has been heavily involved with its own-make race series for the last decade and has therefore gained huge amounts of intel in terms of data to apply toits production cars. The RXC has taken the lightweight track racer and given it some taillights and a roof to slightly justify its selling point as a road car.

With LMP1 styling along with a twin-turbocharged 3.7-Litre V6, the RXC can accomplish GTR-troubling acceleration when combined with a semi-automatic sequential gearbox. Despite beating a P1 to 62mph, the V6 runs out of puff at 185mph, something that may detract buyers from a car asking for over £100,000. Despite the price, the Radical is yet another addition to the track car niche that the UK is currently dominating.

5. BAC Mono (0-62mph in 2.8s)

£110,000 may seem a hell of a lot for a single-seat track toy but in terms of an out-and-out time attack car, the Mono is one of the best. Employing a 2.3-Litre Cosworth engine with around 280bhp, BAC managed to trim the car down to create a 527bhp/tonne ballet shoe. Full push-rod suspension and grip levels that would scare a Formula One car make for a machine that has shredded many track and hill climb records while also gaining a reputation for good build quality and reliability.

BAC has followed in the footsteps of Ariel with its single-seater success but with a supercar price tag, this road legal bullet is very much a toy for the ultra-rich.

6. McLaren P1 (0-62mph in 2.8s)

The hypercar that all of us Brits root for, the McLaren P1 has taken over from the McLaren F1 as the pride of the nation’s automotive produce. Using the combination of a twin-turbocharged V8 and electric motors to produce 903bhp, the P1 is Britain’s answer to the Porsche 918 and LaFerrari hypercars.

With the instant torque of the electric motors in tandem with the 3.8-Litre powertrain, the P1 will complete the sprint to 62mph in 2.8 seconds; not a bad time for a car weighing 1547kg, almost double the mass of some of the machinery in this list.

7. Litchfield Nissan GTR (0-62mph in 2.8s but potentially much less)

Now before you all start, Litchfield is a UK-based tuning company that completely revamp Nissan’s GTR with tuning kits and therefore the company makes it into this British list. I can’t believe someone gets in a GTR and wishes it had more power (Adnan, I’m talking to you) but Litchfield will kindly uprate Godzilla to output truly mind-bending numbers.

Litchfield will provide six different stages of tune, with Stage One bumping an original 2008 GTR up to 570bhp to Stage Five which gives the four-wheel drive system something to think about with 750bhp. Stage Six is essentially unlimited as Litchfield will take the car are far as the customer is willing to go, implementing constant redevelopments of the R35’s parts to eke out ever last horsepower from bigger turbochargers, increased cooling and transmission improvements.

Considering the standard R35 is quoted as a 2.8s to 62mph car, it’s not hard to believe that the a Litchfield-tuned car will delve much lower into two second sector, mixing it up with the much lighter track cars.

As you can see from this list, British engineers certainly know their stuff when it comes to lightweight road-legal track cars. I suppose it’s not too surprising considering the amount of Formula One teams based in England as it won’t take much for that intel to spread to the much smaller firms. But I think us Brits should be proud of what can be achieved with a bit of weight shaving and some engine-pinching.

Do you have a car that could rival any of the machinery from this list? Comment below, I’m sure there’ll be some thousand horsepower Escorts out there!