Russia’s first foray into the world of supercars is finally coming to fruition with the debut of the Marussia B1 hybrid at the Frankfurt Motor Show this week.
The B1 will be released via serialized production so you can expect that only a limited run will be seen out on the roads. Marussia is bringing two of these babies to Frankfurt, in addition to the company’s brand-new concept car, the Marussia B2. We’re veering away from making any references to ‘Bananas in Pajamas’ jokes because we think that the Marussia B1 and B2 deserve better than being compared to two over-sized bananas wearing nightwear.
In any event, the Marussia B1 is expected to cost around €100,000 – or $146,000 – and will most likely be released at the tail end of next year.
As far as the B2 is concerned, there haven’t been a lot of photos of the new car, apart from a couple of teaser shots, so your guesses are as good as ours as far as what the car looks like.
The good news is, we won’t have to wait long to find out!
Updated 02/12/2010: We just added new image of the new Marussia sports car. Check the picture gallery to see them all!
We don’t usually see a whole lot of those Russian rockets called the Marussias romping it up in the streets because, well, not a lot of people have them here in the U.S. Despite the apparent exclusivity of the Russian supercar, a lot of us have been pining for quite a while to see one of them, just so we know what these cars are really capable of when pitted against the more decorated cars on its segment.
Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long to see these babies in action after a recent video surfaced pitting not one, not two, not three, but four Marussia supercars - three B1 supercars and one B2 - out on the track in all their unbridled glory.
It must be noted that the B2 supercar is still in its concept phase so it might be a while before we actually see one in the flesh. In the meantime, we can settle for this video and watch exactly what the Marussia supercars are made of.
Ever since Marussia caused quite a stir at the Frankfurt Motor Show with the unveiling of their super quick – and terribly-named – supercar, the B2, the Russian supercar maker has gone off the radar, presumably to spend less time tooting its own horn and more time developing their cars.
So when word came out that Marussia has come to an agreement to become an official partner with the Virgin Racing Team in Formula One, quite a few eyebrows were raised, to say the least.
Reports have said that the Marussia and Virgin Racing have signed a partnership wherein Marussia will become a major partner of Virgin Racing and will “enjoying major [on] car, driver and team branding.”
In addition to that, the Marussia-Virgin marriage will also allow the former to partake in a partnership with Virgin’s engine supplier, Cosworth, which will help the supercar makers with developing newer drivetrain and engine technologies for its future models.
For those that aren’t aware as to how the Russian street racing scene is like, consider these videos of the Moscow Unlim 500+ as your introduction to the high-priced and tire-burning world of drag racing, Russian style.
For a brief introduction, the Moscow Unlim 500+ is a one-mile, timed drag racing event that features a set of cars that are far removed from the type we usually associate with drag racing here in the US. In what arguably is the sickest collection of some of the most exotic cars in Russia, the Moscow Unlim 500 + features a steady diet of Porsches, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Mustangs, Bentleys, Vipers, and just about any other supercar your imagination can think of.
Not exactly the type of drag-racing we’re used to, huh?
If you were a billionaire with too much money to last you a zillion lifetimes, would you spend approximately $6 to 15 million on a car that once belonged to the man responsible for the most destructive war in history?
Apparently for this Russian billionaire, the answer is yes.
The car is a customized blue Grosser Mercedes-Benz 770K, which – as a matter of fact – used to belong to no less than Adolf Hitler. Granted, this man has more money than a number of countries, but we figured that anything is off limits when it comes to Hitler himself.
Then again, we don’t have $15 million and this guy has them in his piggy bank so we really can’t tell him what to do.
Russia is fast becoming a player in the super car industry and from the looks of things, it looks like the superpower is just getting started.
We already know about the Marussia supercar that was introduced at Frankfurt, and now, Russia is bringing to the world sketches of another exotic in the form of the E’go Revolt.
The name may sound self-serving but the car sure as heck isn’t. With a Mitsubishi 3000GT chassis and a twin-turbo V6 engine capable of churning out as much as 550 hp, the E’go Revolt sure packs quite a mean punch. Likewise, the car’s design isn’t all that bad; it actually takes a reasonable approach and doesn’t go overboard with the aesthetics
No word yet if the car will ever make it past the concept stage, but nonetheless, you have to give credit where credit is due to the Russians. They’re slowly entering the super car industry and it looks like they’ll be around for a long time.
We’ve made enough fun of Marrusia’s car-naming decisions – B1 and B2, ladies and gentlemen! – but then again, we have to give props where props are due.
Judging from the spy shots we’ve gathered, the second Russian supercar after the B1 looks as good as advertised. Thanks to its 3.5-liter Cosworth V6 engine, the B2 can churn out as much as 420 horsepower. As far as how it looks, it’s kind of hard for us not to think about the Ferrari Enzo when looking at this Russian powerhouse, and if you’re keeping score, that’s a very good thing.
Nevertheless, if there are still people who are skeptical about the car, the Russian carmakers have released a number of computer-generated renderings of the B2. If you’re still cynical about the B2, then these renderings should make a believer out of you
At first glance, doesn’t this car look strikingly similar to a hippopotamus?
Jokes aside, though, this car is a design created by a Russian student from the Moscow University of Industrial and Applied Arts. As part of his conceptual design study for a school project, Fedor Stetskevich created a visual rendering of an old and legendary Italian car brand: the Iso Rivolta.
Now, we’re not trying to slam Stetskevich’s work; after all, the porporsal for the Iso Rivolta Marella – as he calls it – is still leaps and bounds better than some that we’ve seen in the past, especially considering that he used a pretty awesome car – the Chevy Corvette ZR1 – as one of his pegs.
Despite that, we still can’t take the picture of an African hippo out of our heads when looking at the car, especially at those two huge vents at the nose of the car, which, if your imaginations are working, looks a lot like the snout of the huge animal.
We’ve just barely talked about the secrecy surrounding the Marrusia B2 heading into the Frankfurt Motor Show when the company apparently forgot to put their new supercar under wraps as it was moving around Moscow in a trailer truck.
In their defense, the company did explicitly instruct the drivers of the truck to speed ahead and not stop while the car was being moved, although we figure that covering up the two cars would have served their purpose of secrecy much, much better.
As a result, a pastry young civilian was able to take a photo of the two cars, much to our good fortune.
Do you remember the drag racing video we brought you a few weeks ago that featured a Lingenfelter Performance Engineering tuned Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 walking all over an 800 HP all wheel drive Nissan GT-R modified by Switzer Performance, well here is the “revanche,” an old French world which means the act of retaliation or revenge and was brought to us by our Russian friends at Dragtimes.info. While last time the Nissan had a hard time puling away without jumping the gun, this time it is Godzilla who lays claim to victory on the icy highways of Moscow. Either way, both the Switzer P800 and LPE ZR1 are amazing cars capable of doing 202 MPH in traffic. What would be interesting to see is how both cars would fare from a launch. Sending 800 HP though the GT-R’s transaxle might be enough to make the affordable super car take a bow.
