After eight long years in development and many trials and tribulations, new British car manufacturer Keating Supercars finally unveiled their SKR and TKR supercars.

The new cars were revealed in a tension packed ceremony at country manor Meols Hall, on the north west coast as part of a closed doors event attended by leading print, digital and broadcast media and a number of special guests.

SKR and TKR signify the road car and competition targeted track car respectively. Both variants share the same curvaceous fixed head two seat GT body, but the underpinnings and other options differ greatly.

Chassis options include both steel spaceframe and full carbon fibre tub, while the body itself can be ordered in GRP or carbon fibre. Power throughout the range comes in four steps from 400 BHP to 650BHP from V8 engines based on the GM LS2 and LS7 engines modified by Keating engineers. 400BHP and 500BHP are normally aspirated, 520BHP and 650BHP supercharged, while further TKR options include twin turbocharged 1000BHP and 1500BHP versions. All engines are mid mounted and drive through rear transaxles.

Quoted performance for the SKR 400 with spaceframe chassis and GRP body, which is the least powerful and heaviest in the range, is 0-60mph acceleration in 4 seconds and a top speed of 160mph.

All cars are built specifically to order. There is no colour chart because customers can have any they want. There is an option of three different instrument types; analogue, digital or digital wheel. Even the dash style will be customer specific.

Prices will vary depending on customer specification with SKR 400 in the region of £90,000 and SKR650 £125,000.

Before the launch, designer and company boss Anthony Keating said “As with any project of this magnitude, we have had to wrestle with many issues throughout the development period. Our high standards caused problems for some earlier sub-contractors but the successful shakedown session has vindicated our design, our engineering and the development we have done from first prototype to launch car. The car drove flawlessly right out of the box and I am looking forward to launching Britain’s exciting new supercar brand on St George’s Day”.