Trident Iceni Diesel Supercar production doubtful

Back in the day we had the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a Volvo Penta powered offshore ocean race boat. From that day forward there was no doubt as to the benefit of an industrial diesel engine applied to a racing application.

In the past, the weight of a Cummins 5.7 liter 6 cylinder or G.M. 6.2 liter V8 did not lend itself to sports car applications.

A couple of makers out there eliminated or lessened weight concerns with the advent of smaller displacement, aluminium block direct injection, turbocharged Diesel engines. We watched a Diesel powered Audi R10 TDI win Le Mans in 2006, so, have no doubts as to Diesel’s performance car viability.

Today, supercar class contender Trident Iceni has entered the segment with a fascinating and quite stunning concept coupe and roadster. However, it's not the rather retro styling that’s cutting edge here. Nor is it the engine being recruited for the task of pushing the Trident Iceni to a claimed top speed of 200 mph. What catches our attention is that the car attains these speeds at a relatively low rpm.

Trident Sports cars LTD, or is it Trident Vehicles Group?( we don’t know,) has taken a General Motors 6.6 L. Duramax direct injected 32 Valve 8 cylinder truck engine and carefully placed it under the bonnet of a custom one-off concept open roadster and coupe.

It’s a good looking car with historic British overtones.

Oddly enough Trident is pushing the “Green” environmental implications of the car by touting the flex-fuel burning capability of the Duramax and a yet to be verified average 55 mpg at 70 mph efficiency rating.

According to Trident, the Iceni has a stated range of 2000 miles.

Looking to the math: The fuel tank in this thing is as large as the stated base msrp. With a base price of L 96,000, the Iceni is positioned to take on some of the finest performance cars on the planet.

Trident looks to the extensive torque of the re-tuned Isuzu designed Duramax to take its car into the limelight of supercardom.

They further lay claim to a patented “torque vectoring” system that results in exceptional power output at lower rpm, thus exceptional fuel economy. While we find the stated 1000 ft-lb torque to be impressive, we doubt that the Trident’s extended range or fuel sipping capabilities will compel Europe’s wealthy to purchase the Trident; It will be the instant collectible status of this limited production supercar that will generate orders.

But then again, there is that Euro 6 emissions legislation. 6 years and counting gentleman. When will the Iceni be released for production?