Barnard Supercar Born in South Africa

definitely not an FXX knock off. definitely not.

now actaully, having paid aclosser attention to the front shot, i see Enzo, merc headlights and probably a stolden engine to keep up with the Sa tradition

Well, if they can copy an Enzo for 100k, all power to them...my guess is that maybe some small things will have been overlooked, like making sure the wheels dont fall off etc...

Will this come with a Batman suit?

I see more Zonda than Enzo, but I know what you're all on about. Nevertheless, it's not a bad looking car, and for 110 big ones with performance like that I would sin for a car like this. And I thought the ZR-1 was amazing...I still love it though.

well, whatever car they may be copying, or whatever country they are coming from, a least they're not using a friggin corvette LS1 or LS7 engine like every other f!@#*&g limited built sports/supercar!

"Mumba, Tulu, get mah supercar... Im goin to chase the lion that ate your sister" No seriously, is SA really that bad (in terms of crime)?? ...Anyways, doesn't look that bad, but it reminds me too much of the batmobile from the "Batman Forever" movie. And no power steering? good luck with that.

Anthropos - Yes the crime is that bad over there. I could tell you stories that would make the hair stand up. plus when you have a government that is run by ex cons and was run by a mass murder, people get it in to their heads that they can take over.

Wow, a lot of ignorance floating around here! For those not on the know, South Africa has produced some of the most awesome talent in the automotive industry. From the top of my head: 1) Gordon Murray - driving force behind McLaren's 1980s F1 domination and the father of the roadgoing F1 supercar. 2) Rory Byrne - driving force behind Ferrari's recent string of world championships. 3) Keith Helfet - lead designer of the Jaguar XJ220 supercar. Superformance in Port Elizabeth, SOUTH AFRICA, still produces bang-on parts for the original Ford GT40. In fact, if you want to know whether a GT40 is an original, just check if one of the parts made by Superformance fits. If it does, it's an original. If it doesn't, well... I can name more, but let's leave it at that for now. Yes, SA is in a bad state at the moment, but don't throw everyone living in it and that still has some (vindicated) pride in calling themselves South Africans in the same basket as the African continent's dictators. For some reason, it's fashionable for some people to look down on the people that chose to stay in South Africa and try to make a success of things, DESPITE the odds. Tell me, you so-called ex-South Africans, what makes you such prizes? The going got tough and you immediately jumped ship, that makes you somehow better than the rest of us? And to anyone else that feel they have the right to look down on us South Africans, keep doing that. That's when we're at our best after all, when everyone expect us to lose.

Kooper- seeing you shooting you mouth off, I was from the hell hole. having been attacked twice and having to seen these butchers do to my friends, i saw no life there. And figured I better leave while I still am alive. The people you mentioned are from the time SA was still a county to speak off. XJ220 was in fact a failure and old, Gordon Murray probably could even drive a F! car today with the amount of advanced Tech, since those cars back then were not even half of what they are today. And the GT40 wow, who cares, again old news. So tell me again why SA is any better than Iraq or any other THIRD WORLD counrty. GIve SA 5 years and they will be in the same line as the rest of Africa. a waste land and not worth the time or the money. Period

i wonder whats happening to the red paint on the exhaust pipes when they get glowing hot!?

Sen82 - By the look of things, the red paint is actually on the intake tube. Stupid but hey, what can you expect

DManero So let me get this straight, lots of bad things are happening in South Africa at the moment (and granted, that's the sad truth of the matter), therefore anything from South Africa is bad as well and bound to be a failure? Because that's the impression you're creating. Shouldn't that make you a failure then? You're from this very same "hell-hole", are you not? Don't like my examples? OK, I guess Gordon Murray isn't all the automotive community (the INTERNATIONAL automotive community at that) makes him out to be. How could he be? He's Sef Efrican after all... I guess Rory Byrne's success at Ferrari as recent as the F2003GA is too old hat for you as well? Or Giniel de Villiers' Dakar victory means absolute f-all. You know, people like you said the same thing about SA being a complete waste-land in 5 years' time 15 years ago, and we're still somehow going. Imagine that. I'll tell you why SA is better than Irag, or the US, the UK, Oz, Canada or any other place for that matter. Because even in these trying times here are people willing to stick it out, try there hearts out, fight for all their worth, acknowledge the mess this place is in and still somehow manage a smile. While I'm on my rant, let me tell you the difference between people like you and other South Africans living abroad. I think you love SA. I really do. But when you left, it was in your solid belief that this country was going to fail. To validate you leaving, you desperately want to see SA fail, because why did you leave otherwise, right? That's just me guessing and I'm probably completely incorrect, but that's the only thing that makes sense to me trying to see things from your point of view. There are others living abroad that left for the reasons you hinted at: because crime is a huge problem; better opportunities overseas; better security; they don't want to see their loved ones get hurt etc. etc. Difference being that they would return in a heartbeat once things get better (and they will), they'll return once they can be given the chance to make it better. They don't want to see it burn down at any cost. But go on, keep spreading your nay-saying about anything South Afican, anyone living here and anything that comes from here. There are people out there that know better. EDIT: Actually, I'm not done yet. Since this is an automotive website, let's get back to cars. You say Gordon Murray's achievements are old news and that he "could[n't?] even drive a F! car today with the amount of advanced Tech, since those cars back then were not even half of what they are today". Err, no crap Sherlock. He never drove F1 cars, he designed them. He gave McLaren a 15 out of 16 victory tally in one year. That's not a major achievement??? EDIT #2: Just because all this happened back in the eighties, that makes it worthless? So Senna's 3 championships, that means nothing. Oh, we might as well erase Schumacher from the history books, he hasn't raced in F1 going on three years now. World War I and II? Never happened. The XJ220 a failure? How did you measure that, sales numbers? That would make the Bugatti Royale a flop as well then. Failure my back bottom. GT40, who cares? Well, quite a few international consumers, that's who cares! EDIT #3: Just because you don't care, doesn't mean no one else cares. You shot down this car immediately. Why exactly? Something about the pics provided, but mainly because it just so happens to be South African. Then you go on and suggest the designs were stolen, because that's what South Africans are wont to do, steal things. My problem with you isn't that you say bad things happen here, because that's the God-honest truth of the matter. By all means, warn any of your friends who might consider visiting of the corruption, the rapings, the theft, the hijackings, the murders and all the rest of it happening here. Heck, I'd even help you by mailing you fresh news-paper scans. But stop portraying anything SA as bad. We're not all criminals and murderers and rapists and corrupt politicians. And we know a thing or two about cars.

@ aesthetics: Thanks man, I'm relieved to have some intelligent conversation for a change. There were a few over the years, Wolf Barnato (one of the Bentley Boys), John Love (strictly speaking a Rhodesian), Sarel van der Merwe, Michael Briggs, Therry Moss, Jody Sheckter of course, Giniel de Villiers... I'm sure I've left out a couple, but that's my heroes I can remember off the top of my head.

HAHAHA, Kooper that for the good laugh I need that, SA been better that UK or States, Canada Maybe, and that's iffy. but Please be serious better than USA, and UK. It's sad really people like you who are keeping their eyes close and not see what the country really is. Well I guess more people are going to have to their daughter gang raped and the kids left on the side of the street because the theives wanted their car and it wasn't bad enough they wanted the car they had to killed their parents in front of them. Thanks for the laugh anyway, appreciated it.

Why don't you guys settle it with a good old fashioned hug, by the way the car looks like it would go hard for a decent price.

Dmanero, Yes The Crime in SA is horrific, and we've all been there. Robbed at gun point, high-jacked (Twice), smash & Grabbed etc. But that doesn't mean that there is no hope left for this beautiful country of ours. Every country has their Sh@t and issues. I bet you're in Oz now. a country who can't play rugby or Cricket anymore HA HA !!! Go BOKKE !!!! There is still people who remain here because they love their country and are willing to work at solving the problems it has. Many amazing talented people come from SA. Nelson Mandela, Dr. Chris Barnard, JRR Tolkien, Wilbur Smith, Charleze Theron, Gordon Murray, Rory Byrne, Jody Schekter, To name just a few. What have you ever done for your Country (all be EX Country!! - Besides B!itch, whine and complain.) SA Rules !!!!!

lets be honest. who cares if a car is built in denmark, mexico, southpole or whatever as long as its a proper racing car and i think this one looks pretty awesome!! just compare it to the koenigsegg concept shown this week which is really fugly and almost everybody agreed. the porsche engine fits really well too imho and imagine someone would put this baby in front of you and say "here, it's yours, have a nice day". would you still say "no thanks, i dont like cars from south africa"? .. i don't think so

Another article about cars that has turned into a political debate, i mean it's an item. Unless it comes with a swastika for a logo who cares where it's made, who cares how many starving children had to work at gun point on it, as long as it's the same quality for half the price. We live in a consumer world, buy whatever is better and cheaper, leave politics out of it, or religion. If you ran your own company and you had to choose between making your product in south africa for 1/10th of the price you could in the USA and it would be better are you saying you'd say nah screw SA, i will go with USA because i dont agree with their politics??? Most likely you would go where you could net the most profit from, buying is like a business, except you are not buying to resale, your buying for yourself. In which case you should be even cheaper and save as much as possible because you cant make the customer pay for the extra cost. Long story short if this car was better than the competition in the categories i find important and it was cheaper id buy it if was made on some island where they had never even seen a road or car.

Exactly right. It's a pity this article had to turn into a big political debate, but seeing as the car was judged based on it's country of origin, I felt I had to go on the defensive. I hate to do it, but sometimes there just is no other way around it. This car might very well turn out to be awesome or extremely dreadful, but at least let the scribes get their hands on it first, let's wait for bigger pics and more tech details, which is in essence what you said. And I agree wholeheartedly with you about the politics. If someone wants to talk politics, go elsewhere, leave it out of a car-related site.