Click the Saleen S5S Raptor

A quarter century after Steve Saleen started building heavily modified high performance Ford Mustangs, the company that still bears his name, if not his direct involvement, unveiled a new concept car at the New York Auto Show. The S5S Raptor is the second ground-up design from Saleen following the S7R that debuted several years ago. The Raptor is the first car from Saleen specifically designed to run on ethanol. During the presentation CEO Paul Wilbur emphasized the use of cellulosic E85, which several cars in the American Le Mans Series are running this season. The Raptor is powered by a new supercharged 5.0L V-8 that produces 650hp when running on biofuel. Saleen is following many other high performance tuners and builders in switching to E85. It allows them to tune the engines for higher performance without having to use expensive high octane racing gasoline blends. The Raptor is currently a concept, but Saleen is evaluating potential customer interest before deciding whether to proceed with production. If Saleen does proceed it could be available within two years at approximately $185,000.


[Source: Saleen]

America's super car company Saleen is showing a little green. Autoblog reports Saleen's S5S Raptor, which debuts at the New York Auto Show this week, will run on ethanol and have a lightweight aluminum body. We only have an air brushed picture (above) to show you for now but will post pictures and more info on this 200 MPH beauty when we get to New York. The Raptor is a good example that petrolheads like Saleen (see video below the fold) can be green too.

Ethanol and aluminum technologies are green and, importantly, accepted by the super car community. Ethanol has lower energy and gets lower mileage than gasoline but a car can be tweaked to take advantage of the higher octane in ethanol to get more horse power. Use of lightweight aluminum saves fuel and it allows for higher speeds which is why sport car companies like Lotus, Ferrari and Tesla are using aluminum today.

We are still looking for a good, green reason why a car would need to go 200 MPH, though.

[Source: Autoblog]

What do Steve Saleen and Jesse James, of West Coast Choppers fame have in common? Both of the men have now been fined in California for selling vehicles which did not meet or were not certified for California's emissions requirements. In the case of Saleen, those vehicles started off as Ford products which met the emissions requirements before modification. You are surely aware that California has the strictest emissions laws in the United States and, to sell vehicles there, sometimes special modifications are required, which also means that additional testing is required. Apparently, Saleen is being made an example of, which sounds similar to what happened with Jesse James. The threat of a very large fine - in Saleen's case $700,000 dollars - is probably enough of a deterrent to keep smaller vehicle manufacturers in line with regulations or out of the California market entirely.

Related:

• Jesse James & West Coast Choppers fined $271,250 for smog violations
• More on Jesse James, his CARB settlement and his hydrogen-powered land-speed car

[Source: Mustang Evolution via Autoblog]