Nagari 500 - Reinventing the high performance sportscar
‘Weight is the Enemy of Performance’
– Colin Chapman, Designer World F1 Championship racecars.
THERE must be a reason Colin Chapman was able to dominate F1 (and many other categories) from initially a small and modest engineering shop. There is….And it was this very philosophy based on a phrase he coined himself.
Bolwell Designer Graham Bolwell spent time working in Colin chapman’s race and road car workshops. . And he never forgot the lesson. Returning to Australia, he worked with his brother Campbell to create what became Australia’s most iconic sportscars – cars that set new standards for roadcars and cars that could take on the world’s best production sports cars (Porsche, Corvette, Healey, Jaguar and many others) on the race track….and beat them all.
Starting with the Elegant Mark 3 (a re-bodied Healey-Jag), the Bolwell Boys immediately started winning races… and hearts. The natural progression was to a road-capable sports-racer… and the Mk4 dominated its class, while providing essential sportscar transport for track-minded enthusiasts.
More comfortable, closed versions followed (the Mk5 Coupe), and even an all-out sports-racer (the Mk6).
But when they shoehorned a lusty Holden six into an ultra-light (less than 900kg) glorious, curvy sports-coupe called the Mk7… the Australian automotive world went berserk. Although it was only offered as a kit, owners quickly turned kits into superb road cars and then discovered it had no peers on the racetrack. More than 700 cars were built, roaded and raced to victory.
Moving and adapting with the times, Bolwell’s next iteration was the Mk8 -also known as the Nagari (Aboriginal word meaning smooth and flowing). This car revolutionised specialised sportscar building and set the world alight as the car took to the racetrack and demolished world-famous production sports cars worth four times the price.
Today, Bolwell has re-imagined that world-leading design with another breathtaking and breakthrough concept….
You’ve never seen a supercar like this before… the weight… LESS than 1000kg, power, 450bhp, power-to-weight ratio 500bhp+/ton…(similar to a LeMans sportscar) .Bolwell has drawn on 60 years of composites experience to create arguably the lightest, strongest core cockpit on planet earth … Less than 125kg for the complete central unit…. cockpit, floorpan, firewalls, roof, tunnel … the lot. Not only is it light… it is stronger than steel and arguably more torsionally rigid than any other supercar on the market (strength with safety).
Ultra-low central core weight facilitates weight reduction of virtually EVERY other component… a multiplier effect that enables a complete vehicle to be constructed in the strongest, lightest materials.
Yet performance is remarkable… 0-100 km/h in around 3 seconds, top speed in excess of 100km/h, with unheard-of levels of grip and braking.
The Nagari 500 will probably outbrake most other supercars by as much as 30%... it carries remarkable corner speeds without the need for elaborate aerodynamic controls, and it steers like a go-kart…
So what you are looking at here… is the Next Generation of Supercars.
Right now, Bolwell Technicians are utilising Covid19 Victorian shutdowns to install the latest state-of-the-performance-art electronics and comfort technologies in the Prototype behind closed doors in a secret ‘skunkworks’.
When the car emerges, it is expected to set new standards in performance, comfort, equipment levels, and economy.
You will be able to read about it here first…
