The Tata Nano was meant to be an affordable way to get India
off mopeds and mobile. The 21st Century answer to the VW Beetle, if you will.
Fair to say it failed in that grand ambition, the Nano managing a deplorable
10,200 sales during the first half of this year.
However, that hasn't stopped some brave men at JA Motorsport
from turning the wick up on the world's cheapest car, to create a harder,
faster and proper scary version.
In an extraordinary Liberty Walk-esque widebody,
negative-camber conversion, this innocent Nano has been stretched and slammed
within an inch of its life.
Maybe unsurprisingly, the standard car's 625cc, 35bhp
twin-cylinder engine has been binned. Replacing it (and the rear seats) is a
1.3-litre unit producing 230bhp. The result? This rear-engine, rear-drive setup
is apparently capable of 120mph, something you'd have to pay us a lot of money
to verify.
To cope with the increased power, the all-round drum brakes
that normally bring the Nano to a halt have been replaced with AP Racing discs.
Meanwhile, diddy wheels wrapped in sticky slick tires with plenty of negative
camber give the monster monobox some stance.
A standard Nano only weighs 600kg (1,323lbs), but that
hasn't stopped the Indian tuners ripping out the cheap plastic interior and
throwing in a lightweight carbon fibre cabin complete with Recaro bucket seats
and a full roll cage. Amazingly, they've even given it two - yes two - wing
mirrors, something even a £2.8m, 22 carat gold and jewel-encrusted Nano
couldn't manage.
How hard will all these changes hit your wallet? A hefty
£25,000 hard. That's a £23,300 mark-up on the standard car and puts the little
Nano in the same price range as an Audi S1, which just so happens to have the
exact same amount of power.
On the one hand, wouldn't this make the basis of an
excellent one-make race series? On the other, don't forget the Nano received a
zero-star adult protection rating and failed to meet even the most basic UN
safety requirements when crash tested. Would you dare drive it?
A version of this story originally appeared on BBC.com
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