A Birmingham businessman with a passion for cars and a commitment to UK manufacturing has fulfilled a dream to design and build a new generation of British sports car.
Nic Strong, owner and managing director of thermo forming specialists Team Spatz Limited, is about to launch the new Zolfe Orange at Autosport International at the Birmingham NEC, 11-14 January 2007.
The Zolfe Orange, which is designed for both track and road, has a lightweight tubular space frame chassis with integral roll-bar and composite body. It is powered by a Suzuki Hyabusa 1.3-litre motorcycle engine, which delivers 175 brake horsepower and achieves 0 to 60 mph in a nifty 4.5 seconds. Additional options include Ford 2-litre or 3-litre V6 engines delivering 145 bhp and 203 bhp respectively.
Nic's dream began around 18 months ago after a track day with clients and colleague Gary Collins, who has since sadly left the company.
“We looked at one of the kit cars, looked at each other and said 'we could build one better than this'," explains Nic. "We designed a car that unwittingly incorporated elements of our favourite sports cars and also demonstrated just what our core business could do."
Nic now believes this design fusion is one of the reasons that the Zolfe Orange gained so much interest when the prototype was introduced at Autosport International in January 2006.
He adds: "It pushes a lot of buttons. Enthusiasts see echoes of several classic sports cars within the design which is both retro and futuristic in its styling but, most importantly, the Zolfe Orange has a strong personality and appeal of its own.
"You can't help but smile when you look at it and that was our original goal - to build a car that would be great fun to drive, whether on the track or on the road."
The car has been developed with the help of financial support and consultancy from the High Performance Engineering (HPE) project funded by Advantage West Midlands and the European Regional Development Fund.
Ray Portman, business adviser with Business Link Birmingham & Solihull, said: "Nic's determination to bring this project to fruition is quite remarkable. While running a very busy manufacturing company, he and his team, which now includes businessman and fellow car fanatic Phil Johnson, have dedicated thousands of hours to develop a marketable sports car which we believe has a very bright future. It is very pleasing to support a new niche vehicle manufacturer with the potential to create new jobs and bring added value to the local economy."
Funding from the HPE project helped Nic to develop the original prototype and, following the definite interest from buyers, a second tranche of funding has been granted to conduct market research and hone the chassis design.
Nic explained: "Without this support we'd be much further behind in the Zolfe Orange's gestation. We are now in a position of being able to launch a fully-formed production model, which we hope to start manufacturing when settled into our new premises."
2006 was a momentous year for Nic Strong. Not only did he fulfil his self-confessed petrol-head fantasy, he bought a complementary plastics business in Redditch which saw turnover at Team Spatz soar from £1.2m to £5m and more than double employees from 12 to 30.
He also researched and bought premises in Redditch to which he will relocate his entire operation from West Bromwich during the first quarter of 2007.
The new 50,000 sq ft manufacturing site has an additional 6,000 sq ft building which will become the home of the Zolfe Orange, with a target of one car per day to be completed. On the road price for the basic model is intended to be around £25,000.
Nic concluded: "There's a huge amount of potential for the car. We're already in talks with a Belgian racing organisation keen to create a Zolfe racing class and have 200 firm orders from an American buyer. I am absolutely committed to building on the heritage of British sports car manufacturing and am extremely grateful to have been given help and support to get to this stage."
Autosport International is the world’s premier motorsport exhibition and runs from 11 to the 14 January at the NEC in Birmingham. Zolfe Orange is a member of the Midland Niche Vehicle Network Stand supported by Advantage West Midlands.
