There is nothing like the feeling of flying down an empty backroad behind the wheel of the sports car of your dreams, completely free from any cares, worries, or speed limits. It’s just you and the open road. If you’ve had the opportunity to really see how fast these crazy automotive machines can go, then you understand the draw and addiction to the world of sports cars. For years now, the automotive industry has been in constant competition with one another to produce the fastest car in the world. Each year the competition gets tighter as auto makers break through speed barriers and leave other manufacturers in the dust. 2020 was no exception to this, as we have already broken through what use to be unreachable speeds, delivering us the fastest cars in the world.
So just how fast is fast? While there are many good yardsticks to measuring speed, the gold standard everyone turns to is the 0 to 60 launch to determine the fastest car. There are many different conditions that could impact the 0 to 60 score including environmental conditions, track surface and temperature, tires, driver weight, and more. However, every fraction of a second counts when measuring 0 to 60 so auto makers work to make this measurement as clean as possible.
So what is the fastest 0 to 60 car in the world? Who has claimed the title? To determine this, we are going to focus only on production cars, or those being manufactured for retail for the personal use of the customer. In order to be considered a production car and be eligible for the under 3.0 second club, the auto maker must have produced at least 25 models as well as passing all government tests as a fully street legal car.
The Fastest 0 to 60 Car
The world’s fastest production car is one that is new to the market. Having only been under development since 2018, this hyper car built by Japanese engineers aims to be the fastest street legal production car on the planet. From 0 to 60 in only a blurring 1.6 seconds, the Aspark Owl has achieved just that. Surprisingly, the Aspark Owl is an all-electric battery powered sports car manufactured by the Japanese engineering team at Aspark. The Owl uses a mix of electricity from ultra-capacitors as well as batteries. Ultra-capacitors recharge extremely quickly making them great for the track, but they also discharge quickly. The production model includes a mix of both ultra-capacitors and batteries giving them a 280 mile driving radius before the next charge is required. Each charge only takes about 80 minutes total.
The Aspark Owl will be built and produced by Manifattura Automobili Torino (MAT) in Italy, with the plan to produce 50 vehicles for retail use. The Owl was first publicly revealed as a concept car at the Frankfurt Auto Show in 2017. Since then, the Japanese engineers at Aspark have been working hard to make the concept a reality. In November of 2019 at the Dubai International Motor Show, the Aspark Owl made its first appearance as an official production car. 2020 will be the first year the beautiful hyper cars will be available for resale. The price tag of one of these Japanese machines will start at about $3.2 million dollars although some added specs could cost consumers up to $4 million dollars. While the price tag may deter many, others are aiming to get their hands on one of these limited sports cars while they can. It is still unknown if there will be any purchased in North America, so we may not expect to see this on the streets any time soon.
Specs and Performance
For starters, the Aspark Owl is built with a carbon fiber body and carbon fiber monocoque chassis only weighing 265 lbs, and the car’s total weight only being 4,189 lbs – an extremely light body weight for any sports car. There is a stainless steel support structure in the roof of the car to increase strength and durability, but is built with aerodynamics in mind to keep speed and accelerations at an all time high. There were a few modifications to the production model than what we first saw in the concept model including additional wing mirrors and redesigned rear glass, but other than that, there were no major changes made. The car also features a double wish bone suspension system, hydraulic dampers, and torque vectoring to improve overall handling and make for a much smoother ride.
But we can’t fully admire the Aspark Owl until we can get a good look under the hood. The Japanese electric hyper car company has bragged that the four electric engines that makes up the Owl produce a whopping 1,984HP, 1,475 lb-ft of torque, and can go a blurring 0 to 60 in 1.6 seconds making it the fastest 0 to 60 car in the world. In addition to this, the Owl can reach top speeds of 249mph and can go from standstill to 186mph in only 10 seconds. This incredible machine comes with a massive 64kph lithium-ion battery that provides a driving range of 280 miles, although Aspark said they are already working on a larger battery for the future.
Final Thoughts
The Aspark Owl is quite the impressive hyper car machine. Reaching speeds of 0 to 60mph in under 2 seconds is unfathomable. For comparison, the fastest roller coast in the world, Formula Rossa in Abu Dhabi can reach 0 to 60mph in just over 2 seconds – still giving riders whiplash. The Owl puts even this record to shame reaching the same speed in only 1.6 seconds. While it may not seem like that big of a jump, 1 second can make all the difference in the world. The Aspark Owl plans to release their production car by the end of summer 2020. From there, it will be a race to see who can get their hands on the only 50 of these incredible hyper cars that will be made.
