Tipping the scales at just 837 pounds, this car is a true featherweight.
The old saying that you can have too much of a good thing is actually true, even when it comes to lightweighting cars. In the video below you get to see a Light Car Company Rocket in action, and it’s a thing to behold. Not only does it weigh just 837 pounds, this little racer packs a Yamaha 1000cc engine with 140bhp on tap. Anyone who drives this thing will be white-knuckling it.
Basically, this car is a highly engineered go-kart. As the reviewer notes, it’s so lightweight it feels more like it’s floating over the road than driving on it. Whether you like that or not really is a thing of preference.
Under British law, this vehicle is technically a quadricycle and not a car, thanks to its incredibly low curb weight. That means it can skirt quite a few vehicle safety regulations, like those annoying rear fog lights you see on European cars.
Gordon Murray designed this odd car, supposedly to prove a theory he had about a central seat improving performance. Whether that’s true or not doesn’t really matter, but you should know Murray went on to make a career at McLaren and designed the venerable McLaren F1, which has a central driver’s seat.
There are some really interesting details of the Light Car Company Rocket which are highlighted in the vehicle. For example, the headlights stay tucked behind the nose until you, get this, pull them out manually. Yep, there’s no switch, no magic motion sensor you wave your foot under. You have to pull the headlights up and out with your hands. The design surely saves some weight and makes this rocket car much simpler.
Who doesn’t love a good car badge? Unfortunately, most of the ones available today are uninteresting, but the badge on this car is like what you find on so many classic cars.
That’s not to say this Light Car Company creation is a complete throwback to how cars used to be. It has a digital dash instead of analog gauges. Maybe that helps with lightweighting, but it’s most definitely a decidedly modern touch.