Skelta G-Force and Skelta Spyder in UK

The aesthetically challenged - but enormously powerful - Skelta G-Force

What on earth is a Skelta, you may quite reasonably ask. It’s a thug of a road-going track car from the Land Down Under is what it is. And it’s about to land on our shores to serve up some Aussie-style  thrills to buyers.

The Skelta is the brainchild of former Australian Rally Champion Ray Vandersee. His obsession with winning the 2000km Targa Tasmania Rally (Oz is a big country) lead him to create the Skelta to fulfil his wishes. He hasn’t managed it yet but he’s come very close. And when you look at what the Skelta offers it can’t be long before it takes the title.

With looks only a Mother could love, you won’t be buying the Skelta for show. You’ll be buying it for go. Power comes from either a Honda 2.0 litre with 340bhp or a 3.0-litre V8 Hartley engine with 460bhp. Both are equipped with a Honda six speed ‘box and the suspension comprises rose-jointed double wishbones front and rear, linked to inboard MCA Proflex spring and damper units. In short, enough to blow away just about anything on the road – or the track.

Not only is the performance startling (Skelta aren’t quoting any figures, but at a dry weight of just 720kg they will blow a Veyron off the road), the aerodynamics package exerts downforce of 2000kg at 90mph, which means you may have to go on a body building course to cope with the G-forces before you use a Skelta in anger.

The Skelta comes in two versions. The Skelta G-Force is a two seater with a detachable gullwing Targa top and costs from £66,500, and the Skelta Spyder is a wide-bodied, open-topped two seater starting at £99,000. Not exactly cheap, but huge value in pounds to performance. If you want to have a look at the Skelta in the flesh they’ll be on show at the Autosport International Show at the NEC.

And in case you’re wondering, the cars ended up being called Skelta because the Beatles track Helter Skelter was playing on the night the car was conceived. I suppose ‘Skelta’ is phonetically the Oz equivalent of ‘Skelter’.

Just don’t forget the rising inflection at the end to make it authentic.

By Cars UK