The Trident Iceni – The Diesel Supercar

Greetings, dear readers. A couple days back, I read up on (on Hybrid Cars) a supercar by a British make called Trident, dubbed the Iceni. This sleek t-topped-coupe combines svelte English bodywork (the kind you’d attribute to Aston Martin, TVR, or older Lotus cars) with an industrial grade GM Duramax-derived 6.6 liter turbodiesel V8. In top specification, this oil-burning speedster blasts out 660 horsepower, and a stupendous 1050 ft-pounds of torque. Could that be considered a half foot-ton? 3.7 seconds to sixty MPH, and the vehicle can almost kiss 200 miles per hour.
The truly fascinating part about this two-seater is the fact that it offers 68.9 (what I assume to be comparable to the US EPA Highway cycle) miles per gallon. This is achieved by having an extremely wide top gear, spinning that gigantic engine at a miniscule 980 RPM. While I’m normally skeptical about diesel, the idea of a clattery oil-burner with that kind of performance and efficiency makes me wonder.