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Car designer Sasha Selipanov, known for his work on the Bugatti Chiron, the Koenigsegg CC850 and the Lamborghini Huracán, has designed its own hypercar, the V-12 Nilu.
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The Nilu’s 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V12, manual transmission and limited screens reflect the simplified driving experience currently popular among luxury car collectors.
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The Nilu will make its public debut on August 15, during the 2024 Monterey Car Week.
As forced-induction and hybrid horsepower numbers skyrocket at a rate matched only by the sophistication of traction-control programs and square inches of interior surface area covered in touchscreens, the new outliers seem to be high-end performance and fancy manual transmissions and free-breathing, naturally aspirated powerplants. Such is the case with Nilu27’s self-styled hypercar, the Nilu. The wide-body two-seater, with its NACA ducts, exposed V-12 engine and seven-speed manual transmission, blends classic supercar styling and handling cues with lightweight tubular frames and a composite monocoque.
Nilu27 is the creation of Sasha and Inna Selipanov. The name is a combination of Selipanov’s childhood names, Nica and Lucia, with the racing number of Formula 1 driver Gilles Villeneuve, a photo of whom inspired Sasha to get into car design as a child. His best-known work in the automotive industry has been with Koenigsegg, Lamborghini and Bugatti, where he worked on the Gemera, CC850, Huracán and Chiron, to name just a few of his biggest hits. For Nilu, he left the security of an established brand to create his own vision of the perfect hypercar.
Wild looks
The Nilu sits low to the ground with a wide double scoop that looks a bit like Jeremy Clarkson driving the BAC Mono Highest gear (Season 20, Episode 2). The body rises steeply over 20-inch, five-spoke wheels, then drops like a ski jump into a wide rear scoop over a NACA duct before smoothing out over the 21-inch rear wheels and settling around the exposed engine with its GT40-like “snake well” of center-mounted exhaust pipes.
Beneath the exterior’s active curves is a carbon-fiber monocoque bolted to aluminum tubular subframes that support a forged double-wishbone pushrod suspension, shod with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires (265/35R-20 front and 325/30R-21 rear) on wide Nilu27-designed, AppTech-manufactured center-lock wheels. Stopping duties are handled by Brembo carbon-ceramic discs and new sneaker-white brake calipers, which should have no problem bringing the proposed 2,600-pound (dry weight) car to a halt.
Inside the gullwing doors, the Nilu seats two people in a fixed side-by-side position. Following a growing trend among supercar startups, you won’t find any large screens or button-adorned steering wheels in the Nilu’s cockpit. Instead, the focus is on the open, gated seven-speed manual shifter, billet-milled shifters and a floating bridgework gauge cluster.
Free Air V-12
There are no electric motor assists, turbochargers, or superchargers involved in generating the 1,070 horsepower and 634 pound-feet of torque from the 6.5-liter V-12. Instead, Nilu27 worked with Hartley Engines in New Zealand to develop a big, 80-degree hot-vee mill with 12 throttle bodies, a redline above 10,000 rpm, and a striking, thundering 12-into-1 3D-printed Inconel exhaust system that forms the centerpiece of the car’s open rear end.
According to Nilu27, the car should have a top speed of almost 400 km/h and an acceleration of 0 to 100 km/h in well under three seconds.
Planned production
Nilu27 plans to publicly launch the Nilu hypercar on August 15 at Pebble Beach during Car Week. The initial production run will be limited to 15 cars, which will be assembled by Aria Group in Irvine, California. Future plans include a run of 54 cars of road-legal variants. Pricing and delivery have not yet been announced, but impatient buyers can expect to see the Nilu in the CSR Racing 2 mobile simulator app in November.
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