The Dubai International Motor Show opened this week, and as we thought, the house was packed with displays of money, money, money. This is the United Arab Emirates, after all. If you're out there driving a plain old Mercedes-Benz S600, you're losing. People will look at that like we look at Chevy Cavaliers. That's because over there it's all about exclusivity, special editions and insane performance. Where else do you see so many Hamann, Brabus, and Gemballa cars?
As far as extravagance goes, we expected the debut of the pre-production 2014 W Motors Lykan Hypersport, which is Lebanese, to take the trophy. You can see why:
This is a car that has diamond-encrusted lights and has a price point of $3.4 million. Only seven are being made. It HAS to be the gem of the show, right? In a completely unexpected turn, we unfortunately have to say no, as every car blog is talking about a completely different hypercar that nobody even knew was coming. It's called the Devel Sixteen, and the claims made on the enormous walls next to it are 5,000 horsepower, a top speed of 348 mph and 0-60 in 1.8 seconds.
As you can see from the Hed on our original article, and the articles of every other major car site, nobody is buying it. Not for a second. Don't understand why? Do you think this is actually a possiblity? Let us show you why everybody is blurting out "BULLSHIT!"
1. There is nothing on the website, and they aren't responding to our requests for info.
We're currently unable to get a screenshot of the website, because it tells us that its reached its bandwidth limit right now, but before everybody heard about this thing we were able to log on to find a completely incomplete site that looked like it'd been designed in our high school web course. It was pretty bare bones, and everything you clicked on either was a dead link or said, "COMING SOON." The only thing it did say was "The Devel Sixteen is created with the passion of making this car a Legend in the history of Super Cars." It also has a slider that says "Simply Beyond Extreme," and "Unmatched Power and Performance."
Not to mention the description in Google is "Beach Resort."
2. Signs above the car suggest this might just be an exhibit for a car expected in 2020.
Step one, set the goals high?
3. Production car tire technology for going 350 mph isn't even close to existing yet.
Of course when we're talking about the fastest cars in the world, the Bugatti Veyron is going to come up. The tires that are on the Bugatti are the main reason that this car is electronically limited and can't go faster. The rubber would simply shred. A known fact about Bugatti's specially engineered Michelin tires is that they would technically last 15 minutes at 250 mph and cost more than $40,000. Any tires that exist right now that tried to get up to 348 mph would not be able to handle the heat from the friction and would be destroyed.
4. Where would you put the gas?
Bugatti fact numero dos: At its top speed, the 26.4-gallon tank is emptied in 10 minutes. We can't whip up a complicated formula that tells us exactly how much gas 348 mph would require, but we know that with a body like that, there's no way there's enough space to store the amount of petrol this thing would require to get up to speed. And speaking of space, that leads us to our next point ...
5. What's going to cool this thing?
Again, using Bugatti, the Veyron has a total of 10 "radiators." There are three heat exchangers for air-to-liquid intercoolers, three engine radiators, one for air conditioning, one for transmission oil cooling, one for differential oil cooling, and one for engine oil cooling. Now, of course we can't see under that cardboard-looking carbon fiber exterior of the Devel, but taking space into account, it's awfully difficult to imagine that there are enough ways to successfully cool a 5,000hp engine there.
6. This makeshift exhaust.
Just look at that photo. Look at the disheveled mess of pipes we see all shoved into those stupidly enormous "turbines" at the rear. Look at that welding! And you really think that the amount of air that needs to come out of a 5,000-horsepower engine can get through those tiny pipes that all have two 90-degree kinks in them? C'mon, son. It's honestly sad that these people actually expect people to believe this car has the capability to go almost 100 mph faster than any other production car on the planet with shotty work like that. We're not sure we'd even want to see what the engine looks like under that cover.
7. The plastic piece this guy knocks off at 1:00 of Shmee150's video:
This guy's probably already been fired. Take a look at this GIF from the 1:00 mark in Shmee's video, where the person who's wiping down the car, keeping it clear of any dust and fingerprints, accidentally hits the front piece of "hood aero" and knocks it completely out of place, quickly trying to move it back. FAKE, FAKE, FAKE.
8. The wing's three tiny bolts.
It's not like there's a lot of wind resistance at 348 mph or anything. This wing totally seems like it could provide enough downforce to keep those rear wheels on the ground without shattering ...
9. A Top Fuel dragster hasn't even reached 340 mph in competition.
That's direct from the NHRA website. And if you don't know, Top Fuel dragsters push upwards around 7,000 horsepower, run on nitromethane V8s, and are considered the fastest racers on the planet.
So that's our little rant. This car is just simply not plausible right now, with the car the way it is and the technology we have available. Two words for you Devel: PROVE IT.
RELATED: Dubai Car Company Devel Says Its "Sixteen" Supercar Has 5,000 Horsepower and Goes 348 MPH, We React, "FOH"
RELATED: Dive Into the Money Pits With Our Gallery of Cars From the Dubai Motor Show
[Images via Effspot Photography]
