Sneak Peek: F1 Supplier Mulholland Reveals V8-Powered Supercar
If you could pick the wrong time to start a car company now would be about the worst time in automobile history. That isn’t stopping F1 supplier Mulholland Group from branching out into supercar production. And it’s doing it with a somewhat brutish-looking coupe it calls Legend 480. The first thing about this venture is that it’s not another EV startup. Mulholland plans to use a 480 hp V8 under the hood. The origins of the engine have not been delineated. We don’t know whether it is sourced or produced in-house.
The Legend 480 is a lightweight coupe with V8 power and rear-wheel-drive
Mulholland has been manufacturing composite body panels and other bits for Formula 1 race cars and other supercar builders for 20 years. Now it wants to be part of the supercar party. The Legend 480 is a lightweight coupe with V8 power and rear-wheel-drive. The two-seater will come with a manual six-speed transmission. Both the body and chassis are carbon fiber as one would expect from Mulholland.
“As one of Europe’s leading advanced component engineering manufacturers, we have been a specialist supplier to most high-profile motor racing teams along with practically every premium branded niche-vehicle manufacturer which we will continue to supply,” Mulholland owner Graham Mulholland told Composites Media. “The Legend 480 however, enables us to showcase our technology, expertise, and capabilities to a much bigger global audience. Plus it enables us to celebrate the combustion engine before moving to emerging technology, which we want to help co-develop.”
The Legend will feature the same carbon fiber processes used for F1 and GT racers
The plan is for the coupe to be built at Mulholland’s factory in Derby, England. It will feature the same carbon fiber processes that the company uses for F1 and GT racers. The first produced cars will be available in August and Mulholland is taking orders now.
The fastback design has a great silhouette. Both the front and rear have a raw and brutish look to them. This is as a result of the front and rear looking like they were chopped off. In front, the opening created by the blunt bodywork is almost flat and the same can be said for the rear. It is like it has been chopped off and an almost flat panel with recesses for taillights fills the gap. For as softly sculpted as the rest of the body is the severe front and rear seem almost like a kit-car.
The Legend is more of a classic design with raw front and rear styling
The wheelbase is a bit short giving the Legend less of a supercar proportion and more like an early Aston Martin feel to it. There’s nothing wrong with that it is just that if it is competing with the likes of Bugatti and Lamborghini those cars have a certain proportion. They’re low and long.
The Legend seems more of a classic design with raw front and rear styling. Mulholland is big on hyping TVR of old as a model for producing the Legend. TVR is currently planning on producing a coupe designed by Gordon Murray and is also taking orders.
We don’t know where all of the customers are for all of the supercars currently in the works. We guess that those with the money have been able to keep it throughout the pandemic. So if that is the case the one-percent will have quite a variety of supercars to choose from over the next several years including Mulholland.
