Normally the section ‘In the Wild’ is not really intended for supercars, but for this Saleen S7 we like to make an exception. The fact that it is here in the Netherlands is very special.
Whereas nowadays we are practically beaten around our ears with hypercars that reach or even exceed the 400 km/h top speed, that was different at the beginning of this century. Bugatti managed to capture the imagination with the Veyron when it turned out to go faster than 400 km/h, only a few years earlier there was a car that did not lag far behind: the hand-built Saleen S7. It eventually became the fastest street-legal American car ever.
The Saleen S7 was presented in 2000 and immediately caught the eye with its long (over 4.77 m) but only slightly more than one meter high body. You could immediately see that the S7 had to be bloody fast. He looked like a true Le Mans prototype. However, the S7 was suitable for the public road and could indeed achieve absurd feats there for its time. An aluminum naturally aspirated 7.0-liter V8, where Saleen took the design of Ford’s Windsor V8 as a basis, squeezed out more than 550 horsepower. That power went to the rear wheels and, thanks to the low car weight (1,300 kilos), ensured that the S7 accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.9 seconds. At 320 km/h the cake was only finished.
As if that wasn’t enough, Saleen announced in 2005 that it had fitted that same V8 with two turbos, making it even faster. Now the block was good for 760 hp power and the 0-100 sprint time shrunk to 2.8 seconds. The S7 Twin Turbo also had a significantly higher top speed: just under 390 km/h. That same year, a final step was taken with the obviously much-needed ‘Performance Upgrade’. That brought the power up to an insane 1,015 hp and with that the S7 also broke the 400 km/h limit. Not long after, the curtain fell for the special American.
In 2017, Saleen breathed new life into the S7 to some extent by transforming existing cars into S7 LM. This once again pushed the boundaries. Not only were the cars optically renewed, the chassis, chassis and of course the mighty V8 were also overhauled. The latter resulted in another huge growth spurt for wealth. The S7 LM in its most powerful capacity has managed to put in more than 1,500 horsepower according to Saleen and a top speed of 480 km/h has been reached in tests. As far as we know, the S7s that received the LM treatment can be counted on one hand.
Saleen S7
Okay, back to the car we have in front of us thanks to AutoWeek forum member 406c. This is an S7 from 2004 and so it is the most ‘mild’ version with the naturally aspirated V8 on board. Of course, that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a great spot. As far as we can discover, this is the only Saleen S7 in the Netherlands. And to think that it has only been there since May of this year! Although 406c appears to be the car at a track day or something similar, we were previously also tipped that the car can sometimes be found on the public road. Welcome!
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl