Fast Thinking

Behind the wheel of Rodin’s Fzed, there’s no room for second-guessing.

- Jeremy Taylor

Normally, Only A fortunate few get to experience a Formula 1 machine, but New Zealand–based Rodin Cars is trying to change that. All that’s required, besides a trip to the island nation, are nerves of steel and some very good earplugs.

Rodin is the brainchild of Australian entrepreneur David Dicker, who named the company after the famed French sculptor as a tribute to the power of thought. Dicker and his team of engineers have developed the trackonly, single-seat Fzed after buying sole rights to the defunct Lotus T125 project a few years back.

Unveiled in 2011, the open-wheel T125 was a bid by Lotus to build a vehicle that offered as close to an F1 experience as money could buy,but at a cost that was substantially less than usual for keeping such a car on the track. A downturn in the global economy, however, resulted in the production of only a handful of examples before the British automaker let it go.

Now back as Fzed, the car has been trimmed in weight, mainly due to ubiquitous titanium parts (like the exhaust and steering wheel) that are 3D-printed at Rodin’s facilities. Power comes from a 3.8-litre Cosworth V8 engine producing 675hp and 9,600rpm. But a near F1-spec composite car requires someplace suitable to drive it. Not surprisingly, Dicker has created two private racetracks set on 550 hectares in New Zealand for that very purpose.