Canada's new supercar a showstopper

DAVID COOPER/THE TORONTO STAR

The Quebec-built $395,000 Plethore LC-750 offers a "basic" 750 horsepower from its heavy modified 6.2-litre Chevy-block engine.

Bill Taylor

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

The sentiment that "nothing succeeds like excess" is not typically Canadian. It's something you'd more likely hear south of the border.

But to a small Quebec company producing Canada's first supercar, too much is never enough.

HTT Technologies calls its brainchild – to be seen on the 800 level of the Convention Centre's south building – the Pléthore LC-750. LC is for Luc Chartrand, who designed the car. And Pléthore?

"It's French for plethora, an over-abundance," says HTT president Sébastien Forest. "We want the car to be overwhelming."

As Carroll Shelby, creator of some of the most potent cars in the world, said when he was inducted last week into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame: "We were just a bunch of hot-rodders; there wasn't an engineer in the bunch."

The engineers have taken over the supercar industry. But there's still some hot-rodding ingenuity to be found.

The Pléthore, for instance, uses not only a Chevy engine block but also low-rider hydraulic suspension technology.

The car has 10 centimetres of ground clearance. But if, say, you're styling through Yorkville (part of the reason you own a car like this, admits HTT research and development guy Chris Mahoney) and you're faced with a speed-bump, the hydraulics raise the Pléthore another 10.

The beast will go from zero to 100 km/h in a sneeze under three seconds and the theoretical top speed is 388 km/h. That's the "basic" 750-horsepower model. The 1,300-horsepower version will be markedly faster.

The speed is theoretical because, while HTT is based at the Autodrome Saint-Eustache racetrack, there isn't a straightaway long enough to wind the car out.

HTT has been in existence for 10 years, mostly building replicars. But it's high time, he says, for a Canadian supercar. Even the carbon fibre for the Pléthore is made here.

"There are Canadian automotive engineers working all over the world doing stuff like this," Mahoney says. "But not in Canada. Until now."

It's not the first time someone has tried. Mississauga-based Motion Concept Vehicles had its 4.6-litre V8-powered supercar at three auto shows, 1992-94, but though it was in development for most of the 1990s, the MCV never made it into production.

Of this year's production run of eight Pléthores, six were sold at last month's Barrett-Jackson Autoshow in Arizona. The car, says Forest, literally stopped the show.

Three will go to the U.S., one to Britain and two to Spain.

"One of our Spanish customers is building a second home there," says Forest. "Or, rather, a second castle."

That deals with the question of whether this is the right economic climate to build such a car.

"A lot of people say no," says Mahoney. "But the fact is the people who have the money have the money."

The Pléthore carries a $395,000 price tag. Those are Canadian dollars but it's almost the same in U.S.

Mahoney says that's cheaper than the competition – from Bugatti to Spyker.

What do you get for your money, other than a super-sinuous shape that oozes a mixture of speed and sex?

Most obviously, the car is a three-seater with a central driving position, reminiscent of the McLaren F1 supercar from a decade ago. (McLaren is back to building conventional-layout two-seaters.) There's no elegant way to get in or out.

There are two cameras and in-car screens, one for rear-view, one for backing up.

The mid-mounted, supercharged 6.2-litre engine is red-lined at 6200 r.p.m. and develops its 750 horsepower at 4800. Forest calls the Chevrolet block "the best in the world – a reality we have to live with."

There are paddle-shifters on the wheel as well as a bump-shift lever. Also air-conditioning and a stereo. And luggage space?

Mahoney seems puzzled by the idea. "Well, there's a space in front where you could probably fit an overnight bag."

Delivery is scheduled for late October/early November. The plan is to build 25 next year and then 50 a year, 10 of which will be the LC-1300.

HTT believes the price makes the Pléthore a realistic proposition for GT3 class racing. The car has a built-in chrome-moly rollcage, meaning it wouldn't take a lot of extra preparation for competition.

"We absolutely want to see the car on the race track," says Mahoney. "It drives beautifully. Like it's on rails."

Not always. This production prototype has not only been driven hard but also crashed.

"Last December," says Forest ruefully. "It went off the track and damaged the left front side. But it didn't spin and hit anywhere else. We were lucky."

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