NEW £35K BRIT SPORTS CAR

Exige challenger planned from ex-McLaren designer

A new British sports car is on the horizon which is the brainchild of an ex-McLaren Cars designer. Jim Dowle was involved in the design, development and testing of both the F1 road car and the SLR and mostly worked for Gordon Murray.

He is now working on the design of his own car and hopes to have a running prototype in 18 months. The car is being described as a competitor to the Lotus Exige and a number of engine options are being considered.

Mr Dowle tells PistonHeads that the car will have around 200bhp from a mid-mounted motor, and the whole thing will weigh 870kg. The car is not being built for out-and-out straight line speed; the priority will be on making the car fun to drive.

He currently runs JJAD, an automotive design & prototyping business, from a unit in Chobham, 

Surrey, and is now working on a quarter scale clay model. An important factor will be providing luggage space to make the car a useable GT. Chassis construction will be aluminium/carbon composite and the price will be around £35k