Carving through the emerald green moors in your classically designed English sports car with swooning music and gratuitous tweed is a romantic notion — like some kind of neo-Brontë scenario clashing with jet-set aesthetics and decadence. Appealing as this is though, this fantasy is fraught with complications.

Throughout the 1950’s, ’60s, and ’70s there was the baby boom we all know, but concurrently was the birthing of a class of vehicle that has long-been the benchmark for personal driving pleasure.

The influx of small British sports cars from Triumph, Austin, TVR, Jaguar, and the like heralded a movement of handling over raw power. Widely known for mechanical gremlins, these cars have been relegated to the niche enthusiast who still maintains a healthy dose of houndstooth in their wardrobe.

In the post millennial era, globalization has brought enthusiasm and nostalgia to all-time highs as the modern well-to-do motorist peruses their conveyance options. Along with the lust for old-world style has come the demand for modern reliability, handling, and of course insatiable horsepower.

The product of an English-born American by the name of Luke Richards, the Lucra LC470 is the embodiment of what we all yearn for — baggage free, and repackaged for the modern enthusiast. The LC470 is not a kit car in the sense that we are most accustomed. Lucra prefers to finish build each of their machines to the exacting preferences of the customer. Spending a day with the Lucra is like a voyeuristic glance into a different dimension of motoring — one between the gramophone and digital age.

An Anglo-American Union

Who is Lucra, are they an English maker you might ask? The answer is the underpinnings for the realization of this dream-car. “I was born and grew up in England, my Dad was English and I grew up around English sports cars. My idea of an English sports car is very much this (the LC470) — but I like big engines, power and V8s. As a kid I was told you could never have both — you need a little sh*tty English car to go around corners or you need an American musclecar to go fast down straight aways,” recalled Richards.

Wanting to make the best of both worlds brought about the stirrings of old memories while groping for the reins of some colonial horses. With America’s sports car a clear relative, Richards took to designing his car borrowing from a wealth of inspirational resources.

“What we did here is a combination of European styling — with a lot of influence from the old Jag-Lister, the old Aston Martins, Ferraris, and basically Formula 1 cars of the fifties. I started with all that influence and then put it together with American driveline — because it’s the toughest, most robust stuff you can get. I combined the weight of a Lotus with the power and drivability of a Corvette — and with the weight distribution of the Lotus, that was key,” Richards explained.

Coach-Building Reincarnate

The sinuous body lines of the LC470 are seductive and languid — flowing from the almost hyperbolic stretched hood through the trim doors and up to the aggressively contoured arched hips — terminating in a rear valence so tight and tucked there is no plastic surgeon alive who could improve upon it. A little bit of history can be found in the compound-curvaceous landscape, Jag, Ferrari, and Stingray have left their mark on this territory.

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“It’s hand-laid but it’s rolled and squeegeed, to get the excess resin out of the carbon cloth — it’s as good as it gets just short of pre-preg. The weight of the whole body is about 180 pounds. We coat the mold in a clear gelcoat or black gelcoat, laminate the whole car and then when we take it out we have a very hard primer surface to paint on so we don’t get any print through — the result is it’s UV-protected and won’t yellow,” illustrated Richards.

The paint and bodywork are all handled in-house at Lucra. The resulting surface evidences no cloth print through as Richards pointed out, and is a brilliant mirror finish in this rich, warm obsidian black.

In the illustrious tradition of European coach-building, the interior of the LC470 is appointed accordingly in bespoke diamond-stitched black leather, electronic controlled but analogue dial gauges adorn the dash, and the cabin is positively dripping in two-by-two twill carbon fiber. The center console, dash top, and interior door panels all glitter with this fashionable industrial textile.

“Ocean Beach Upholstery helps us with all the leather, and they do a great job. We make all the carbon trim parts here and we give them all the ones we want covered in leather.”

Despite sitting in thinly dressed racing seats and cam-lock 5-point harnesses, the cockpit is a comfortable place to be. “The ergonomics are probably better than any car I’ve ever had. I built it around me knowing that you can put a smaller guy in there and they’ll like it — I’m 6’5″ 250 pounds, and it fits me like a glove,” boasted Richards.

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Some of the most exquisite attributes this car has to offer are in the minute touches and trim. Lucra embossed carbon fiber rocker panels finish the flanks of the body behind the exhaust exits, suckers for a vintage flair — we could not get enough of the headrest fairing that extends from the driver’s nape down the trunk lid resembling a turn of the century aviation streamlining gesture.

Looking the Lucra in the eye is like staring down a LeMans prototype. With futuristic lighting, drivers will be able to navigate the backroads after dark.

“For lighting we went to Hella and got the parts of the lights for headlights so we can use a European or American spec xenon bulb. It has daytime running lights, fog lights, and LED taillights — it really makes it feel like a new, proper up to date car,” explained Richards.

Swelling With American Heart

The LC470 is available with an assortment of LS platform engines, most commonly the LS3 and LS7. This particular Lucra is graced with a built LS2 putting out 560 horsepower. Undeniably the most popular plug and play motor for limited number cars like this the Chevrolet powerplant offers reliability and parts availability second to none — character judgements aside for this attitude of sports car.

“I always tell everyone get the LS3 or the LS7 — the LT1 is coming on line and we’ll be able to do that soon. We use a McLeod twin-disc RXT clutch — I tried 100 clutches and that was the best one! It feels like a Honda Civic to drive but it’s twin-disc and good to 1,000 horsepower — indestructible and we’ve never had a problem with them,” recommended Richards.

“For the headers we went to Magnaflow — they developed it all for us. They put a lot of work into it, they jigged, designed, and tested it on their dynos. Richard Waitas probably spent $150,000 developing our exhaust system,” he continued. The exhaust note of through the short, equal length, 2-inch diameter headers is coarse to say the least. Despite merge collectors and compact racing Magnaflow mufflers the growl is scarcely muffled — which is how it should be.

In order to make sure all the power makes it to the wheels in a reliable manner Lucra employs drivetrain proven to tolerate the thrashing of the V8 and a little belligerent driving. With performance ratios in mind, just any old Pro Touring gearbox would not do.

“Behind that we put the Tremec TKO600RR with the road race ratios in it so it has a really tall first gear — it will go 65 mph in first, and 200 mph in fifth. We usually use a Dana 44 rear end or if the customer desires, we have an E-track for your choice of a posi or limited slip,” affirmed Richards.

Mechanical Grip To Rival Most

One of the most praise-worthy features of all the Lucra cars is the pride in craftsmanship of their chassis. Unlike many limited run “kit” cars the LC470 is 100 percent TIG-welded. Relaying our disappointment at how some similar cars are constructed, we asked Richards for his perspective. He replied by stating that it takes the same amount of time and effort to do it right. A measure of business ethic and pride in fabrication that is seldom found.

“There’s no give and take on the chassis, it’s absolutely rigid — it’s super triangulated and the guy that helped me develop it built CanAm cars in the ’60s so it has that kind of geometry built-in to it. It’s a perimeter 4-inch round steel tubular chassis — extending all the way around you, the engine, and the passenger, it’s very safe. You’re sitting in it so your center of gravity is all the way to the ground — but you still have five inches of ground clearance, so it goes anywhere a normal car goes,” described Richards.

The road version of the LC470 does not announce itself visually with aerodynamic cues, rather it relies on old-fashioned mechanical grip to stay stuck to the roads under spirited driving. On normal roads, under casual conditions, the ride does not foreshadow the acute handling contained therein. Freeway slabs are ironed out, and bumpy roads inconsequential.

“The front suspension is independent on unequal length arms, and the rear is an independent five-link. We spent a lot of time on all the geometry but specifically the front end geometry — we got it down to zero bump-steer, zero scrub radius, and exactly the castor we wanted (about 8 degrees). We’ve tested on the track thoroughly with temperature gauges on all points of the tires to get it to the point where the track and street alignment are the same,” explained Richards.

While most of the running gear is Lucra, certain components are borrowed. “There are three parts from the C4 Corvette in there. The C4 was all made by Alcoa, which are fantastic forged aluminum parts, all serialized like an airplane part. We changed out the parts we didn’t like and made Heim-linked sections for freedom of movement. It’s coilovers in the front, in the back we just kept the carbon monoleaf,” concluded Richards. 

Bringing the featherweight (2,000 pound) Lucra to a halt are Wilwood disc brakes. The same volume front to rear but four pistons out back and six in the front. Actuated by a Tilton pedal box, car owner Bob Bovino relayed the ease of heel-toeing the LC470 with the racing controls. Rolling on generic wheels would be a disservice to a ride of this caliber. For custom wheels Richards contacted Steve Schardt of Forgeline Wheels.

“He had something that he envisioned would give it a vintage look but also a modern look. Most of the design came from Lucra, we just had to make sure it was sound for minimal deflection and as light a weight as we could manage. They’re all 6061 T6 forgings, 18×10 in the front and 18×11 in the rear,” explained Schardt.

After a spirited jaunt around some Southern California B-roads, we cultivated a favorable opinion on the manors of the Lucra. Shockingly a car so light and so overpowered can put the horses to the ground without any wheelspin, squirrelyness, or pucker factor. Riding down the highway there are no undesirable harmonic vibrations or quirks. The car feels as refined as it looks.

“The street version of the car is about 56 percent tail-heavy — and that’s one of the reasons it drives so well and handles so good. It has a very nice disposition, it’s very forgiving and doesn’t really try to do anything bad. It gets better traction than my Audi, and my Audi has AWD and 10 computers to keep it under control,” Richards relayed humorously.

Race Car Options?

While this LC470 is a street version Lucra also caters to the racing market. To accommodate the increased demands of the racer full splitter and diffuser aero packages are available — as well as a modular body system allowing individual panels to be replaced in the event of damage.

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A unique option for the track day enthusiast Lucra tailors each car to the owner, and eases them into the driver’s seat with professional training — before finalizing trim and paint. Talk of a drag racing version is also in the works.

FIN

While we are still wiping the wind burn from our faces and tears from our eyes after our tour of the figurative English countryside — it is worth mentioning the sense of the sublime with this car. A supreme beauty coupled with an underlying terror. Edmund Burke, a philosophic neighbor to this cars’ spiritual birth place, wrote extensively on the topic.

We are left with a feeling of unbridled power and awe-inspiring majesty, while helpless and exposed in this open cockpit roadster. With a blistering power to weight ratio, gobs of mechanical grip, and styling worthy of Pavlov, we find ourselves asking where do we sign?