While seeing Lamborghinis or Ferraris is never something that gets particularly boring, seeing something like this is always a highlight.
On the 20th August @LEX spotted a Car Craft Cyclone, a rare British kit car built to be a modern interpretation of the Lotus Seven.
Before the Cyclone, Car Craft had built the CC Zero, a small roadster based on the Fiat 126, which was received well for its engineering quality. Development for the Cyclone started in 1994, with journalists who had been given early access describing the Cyclone as one of the best kit cars they had ever driven. Despite that, production didn’t go smoothly. Manufacturing faults in the production moulds caused ripples in the fibreglass body panels, delaying the project by over a year. Meaning that only about 32 Cyclones were ever built before Car Craft eventually shut down in 2000.
The bodywork was made out of fibreglass, finished in raw gel-coat finish for the customer to paint. It's a distinctive wedge shape with big square headlights, that remind of the Maserati Quattroporte 4 and scissor style "falcon" doors. The Cyclone weighed about 675kg, with a 45/55 front-to-rear weight distribution. Most mechanical parts such as the engine, transmission, brakes and instrument panel, were sourced from Vauxhall, with additional parts borrowed from Mini and Fiat. Car Craft offered a range of performance levels, the base entry option used the more modest 8-valve Vauxhall SRi engine paired with a standard 5-speed gearbox.
One option higher, you’d get Vauxhall's acclaimed 16-valve twin-cam 2.0-litre unit. Last but not least, the high performance Cyclone came with Vauxhall's 2.0-litre turbocharged C20LET engine. The output is reported to have ranged anywhere from 170hp to 220hp from the factory, with some owner-tuned cars pushing considerably higher. A well known example claims 265hp, paired with a 6-speed manual gearbox and rear-wheel drive, madness.
Despite the low production numbers, the Cyclone developed a cult-like following, dedicated to preserving the 32 units, with only 2 examples being destroyed.
While I couldn’t find any information on the original price of a Cyclone, one of the 32 examples is currently for sale, with an asking price of € 29,940.
Personally I love the kit car, mainly because its design is not generic. When you hear “kit-car” you either think Caterham 7, AC Cobra or Ford GT, with many kit cars trying to imitate the Caterham 7/ Lotus 7.
This though looks completely different, the taillights look like they were stolen from a BMW. The headlights remind me of a fourth generation Maserati Quattroporte.
Looking at it from the side, you notice the cars angularity, something else that is quite unusual for Lotus 7 adjacent kits.
This is the site’s first Cyclone, but the last Cyclone which was officially spotted was back in 2019. So I’d say this is anything but an average spot.