User:RivenNZ/Saker Cars

Saker Cars is a manufacturer of sportscars, based in Bunnythorpe, Manawatu, New Zealand. Named after the bird of prey Saker Falcon.

The Saker is a sportscar, capable of filling a number of rolls. An exhilarating road car, of good comfort and ride, also an outstanding performer in most forms of motorsport, from track-day and club racing to all-out circuit racing, National Sprint racing, to Endurance, Tarmac and Targa events.

The first Saker SV1 was designed and built by Bruce Turnbull, of Turnbull Engineering, in Feilding, New Zealand. The car is road legal and registered in New Zealand, it was regularly used for touring and competition until sold in 19xx.

SV1
Steel spacefame chassis, fibreglass body panels, mid mounted V6 engine. 5 speed tranzaxle. Forward opening gull-wing doors, left or right hand drive.

A limited number of SV1 types were built. These cars were powered with a variety of engines, mainly V8 and V6.

SVS
The Saker SVS GT and SVS Sprint were produced from 1999. The Sprint being an open-top version. This model features updated chassis and mechanicals. The main changes were to the spacefame chassis, which is now able to accept a ‘boxer’ type flat 4 or 6 cylinder engine.

The poplar choice being the Subaru Impreza WRX turbo 4, or the 6 cylinder Subaru boxer engine and Subaru 2 wheeldrive, converted tranzaxle.

International
The Saker Sprint and GT are also manufactured under licence in the Netherlands, since 2004. These cars are built from original plans, specifications and full body mouldings supplied from New Zealand. These dedicated race cars form the base of a very successful one-make sports racing car series, the Saker Sportscar Challenge (Dutch). This race series is run using a number of European race circuits and is shortly to be introduced in the UK - Saker Challenge UK

A small number of Saker GTs’ were also manufactured under licence in the USA for a short time.

Future
An electric version of the Saker, the GS750V, is currently being developed by Greenstage.