The Tata Nano is widely regarded as the cheapest brand new vehicle in the world. It’s specifically made for the auto market in India, offering pure practicality and very little in terms of performance. That’s where JA Motorsport comes in.
JA Motorsport is usually responsible for creating dedicated open-wheel race cars and bespoke engines. But here the company decided to give the humble people’s car a big injection of high-octane performance and some cosmetic changes for a heavily pumped up look.
Starting with the engine. No longer will you find a 0.62-litre two-cylinder sitting in the engine compartment, chugging out 28kW. It has been replaced by a unique 1.3-litre four-cylinder producing around 170kW. Matched up to that is a six-speed sequential transmission, with paddle shifters for the driver – certainly not a feature on the standard Tata Nano.
Seen as though the Tata Nano only weighs around 600kg in standard form, the power-to-weight ratio of the Super Nano would be insane. The company hasn’t tested out the performance on the tarmac yet but says it should be capable of hitting about 190km/h with no trouble.
The fun doesn’t stop with the engine and transmission either. You’ve probably noticed the chunky wide-body bodykit with huge wheel arch flares bulging outwards. These encompass a set of heavily-cambered racing alloy wheels that are wrapped in MLF racing slick tyres. There’s also racing suspension to provide the stance, disc brakes all around, and a roll cage inside.
PerformanceDrive wouldn’t normally report news about vehicles like the Tata Nano, but we think this one deserves an exception. What a little beast. It was on display at the Autocar Performance Show 2014 in India over the weekend, as reported by IndianAutosBlog
