A road-mincing beast (From Stroud News and Journal)

A road-mincing beast

A VETERAN Formula One engineer has created a new version of a legendary supercar to herald the birth of his Nailsworth business.

John Donnelly, 59, spent six months constructing the awesome Fast GTr, a version of the much-loved Ford GT40 racecars, as the first order for his company Fastcar Engineering.

Billed as the first roadster version of the rare Mk3 GT40, only seven of which were ever made by Ford, the road-mincing beast is truly one of a kind.

"I have been doing this for most of my life but this is still a great sense of achievement," said Mr Donnelly, who built the Gtr with engineering colleague Simon Farrell, 31. "We had to bring in all the bits from America. As this is the first time it was a hell of a problem finding out all the bits and who makes what.

"It took 18 months to make all the tooling for it and another six months for the two of us to build it. But with more staff we are hoping to make 50 a year."

Underneath the elegantly-styled body of the GTr lies a monstrous five-litre V8 engine capable of powering from 0-60 in 4.5 seconds and reaching a top speed of 180mph.

But any prospective owners will have a shock the first time they visit a petrol station as the thirsty beast has two eight gallon fuel tanks to keep it going. Mr Donnelly knows a thing or two about building fast cars.

After an apprenticeship with Jaguar he worked his way up to the Brabham Formula One team before working with sports car businesses in South Africa and the USA. "I have built quite a few of these," he admitted. "But this one is a bit special."

The 380bhp sports car comes with a hefty £59,950 price tag but any anyone tempted by the prototype is bound to be disappointed as it is already bound for a client in New York.

And with the Big Apple being less than sun-drenched the two engineers have come up with a plan to keep the rain out of their open-topped treasure. "We are going to make a roof for it," said Mr Donnelly.

For more information on Fastcar Engineering or ordering one of the bespoke monsters, call 01453 839309 or email fastcarengineer@aol.com