Robin Wells hates being wrong.
He built a car. It was small, loud, and undeniably British. Then Autocar took it for a spin in March, pointed a finger at the 2.0-litre Ford Duratec, and called it out. “Occasional hiccup.” Below 2000 RPM. Wide-open throttle. Unforgiving.
So he fixed it.
The new Series 2 Vertige drops the two-liter motor entirely. In comes a 2.5-l Duratec. Not a tweak, a replacement.
The torque curve fills out. The hesitation vanishes. Wells claims you can actually “pootle about in third.” A phrase that sounds absurd on a light sports car until you realize it means the engine doesn’t stall when you ease off the gas. Power bumps from 205bhp up to 225. Smooth. Predictable. Less character perhaps? Maybe. But it works.
He also killed the Vertige R.
The R was supposed to be a rare track toy for people who owned proper supercars. A limited-run indulgence. Instead? It sold out. Everyone wanted it.
“I suffered a moral quandary… not including all owners.”
Fair enough. If you make a special car, don’t leave half your customers behind. It feels petty. So now every new Vertige gets the 2.5. The chassis was always up to it anyway, Wells says. Why hide the performance?
He’s been driving the new setup since early 2021. Daily. Rain, traffic, bad days. If it was broken, he’d know. He doesn’t want customers to be his test mules.
There is an option now: a Quaife limited-slip differential. Not because this is a track monster—Wells denies that’s the point—but because grip feels good on the road. “A new way of enjoying it,” he calls it.
But here’s the thing nobody expects in a sub-900kg kit car:
It fits taller people.
The shell is the same size. Externally. Internally? The front wall moved back. The rear bulkhead got scalloped out. Twenty or thirty millimeters of legroom here, twenty or thirty of headroom there. Total gain: 70mm.
Seems minor.
Try buying a modern supercar that accommodates your knees without contorting your spine.
It’s strange how the fixes aren’t all about speed.
The engine is smoother. The differential grips harder. But the car just sits better for you now.
Wells has his 860kg dream machine. It spins up faster. It holds its line.
Does it need more?
