‘Fastest car on earth’: Rodin FZero hits the track for the first time

Rodin Cars’ answer to the Aston Martin Valkyrie has undergone its first test with Rodin’s enigmatic founder – keen racer and technology billionaire David Dicker – behind the wheel.

The Rodin FZero, featuring a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V10 engine designed by Dicker, developed in the UK by Neil Brown Engineering and dubbed RC.TEN, is set to cost around £1.8million and arrive with customers next year.

With 1,013bhp, 700Nm of torque and a top speed of 224mph, the FZero is aiming to outpunch the Valkyrie and become what Dicker says will be “the fastest car on earth.”

Rodin has also revealed that the RC.TEN engine – in both turbocharged and normally aspirated form – will be made available as a ‘crate motor’ for other motorsport applications.

The first test of the FZero took place on Rodin’s own test track at the company’s new facility near Mount Lyford on New Zealand’s South Island, where final development work and build of the hypercar is taking place.

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Stepping out of the enclosed cockpit, Dicker commented; “The test went very well and we were able to work through our programme. We’re excited as the FZero project enters its next phase. It really is a car like no other.”

Dicker’s aim has always been for Rodin to build the ultimate track car with the company initially focusing on the FZED open-wheel single-seater, which started life as the ill-fated Lotus T125 project until it was rescued by Rodin.

The FZero is built to be faster around a track than a Formula One car as it has been developed free from any motorsport regulations. “It’s built for the track, it’s built to be quicker than an F1 car,” Dicker told Auto Express in 2022. “There are no limits, no rules.”

Dicker also confirmed to Auto Express that a road-going version of the FZero would be made once the first batch of 30 track cars had been built, while the company is also working on an all-electric model destined for road use.

Rodin had hoped to deliver the first FZero this year, but the company’s merger with British race team Carlin, and an unsuccessful application to become Formula 1’s 11th team, have delayed things.

However, Dicker and Rodin still support drivers including Liam Lawson, currently reserve driver for F1 team Red Bull Racing, who competed in five Grand Prix this year sitting in for Daniel Ricciardo at Alpha Tauri, and Louis Sharp, recently crowned British F4 champion.

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