North America may be in the grip of a brutal winter, but Canada is trying to bring in some heat with a homegrown supercar. At this year’s Salon International de Montréal, the Felino Corporation unveiled its Felino cB7 – a high-performance two-seater for the track that’s potentially street legal. Led by CEO and Canadian champion race driver Antoine Bessette, it marks the culmination of a four-year effort to bring a supercar out of Quebec.
Since the Felino Corporation was founded, it was known mostly for organizing corporate events, conducting advanced driving classes, and coaching top-level race drivers. But In 2010, it turned its efforts towards creating concept cars aimed at the track-day crowd. Building on lessons learned from a four-cylinder prototype that began testing in 2012 on the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve and other locations, the cB7 is Felino’s try at upping the ante a bit.
Billed as a second-generation prototype, the rear-wheel drive, mid-forward engined cB7 has an improved tubular frame chassis wrapped with composites. With a wheelbase of 2,451 mm (96.4 in), its 1,135 kg (2,502 lb) curb weight is distributed in a 50/50 ratio between front and back.
The body is made of composites with carbon-fiber panels, the wings are integrated into the bodywork, and there are HID performance headlamps. As far as style goes in that composite shell, it carries an air of aggressive, almost vicious fantasy. With flaring wings and a peculiarly high passenger cab, from some angles the cB7 looks like it’s all vents, air scoops, and through lines with a car slipped inside afterwards.
Under the bonnet is a 6.2-liter V8 engine with a cast aluminum engine block punching 525 bhp (391 kW) and 489 ft-lb (663 Nm) of torque. According to Felino, a four and six-cylinder version are also available. Backing this up is a six-speed manual, optional sequential gearbox. As to performance, the company says that those numbers won’t be available until tests are completed later this year.
The cB7 has independent, double-wishbone cast aluminum front and rear suspension with adjustable spring and compression rate. The aluminum alloy wheels have six-piston caliper front brakes and there are four-piston calipers in the rear.
Since this is primarily a track car, it isn't surprising that the cB7 features molded carbon fiber seats with six-point harnesses. There’s also a removable quick-steering wheel, the carbon-fiber dash has an on-board data acquisition system, and Felino also offers optional race suit cooling.
Felino says that the cB7 is aimed at the international market, but will also sell a limited number in Canada. The company is still finalizing some design details and will build two more concepts before production models start to roll out sometime in 2015. There are also plans for a possible electric car down the road.
Though the final price has yet to be determined, the Felino cB7 will be offered at under US$100,000.
