Scottish Driver, Anthony Reid to race Polish supercar in the 2017 race season.

• Scottish veteran “excited” by Hussarya GT following test drives
• Successful test sessions at UK circuits end development
• Build slots for 2017 now on sale
• Reid plans to race Poland’s new GT contender during 2017 season
• He endorses the car as a potent safe and fast option for amateur racers

Experienced racing driver Anthony Reid is fired up with enthusiasm for Arrinera Racing’s new GT following his tests in the Hussarya at Donington Park and Snetterton – and has revealed plans to race the car in 2017.

Reid is best known as a British Touring Car Championship frontrunner with Nissan and Ford during the series’ heyday in the 1990s. The Scot also finished on the podium at Le Mans in a Porsche 962 and beat future Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve to a national Formula 3 title during his successful career racing in Japan.

Now Reid, who remains as active as ever racing GTs and historics at the age of 59, has been contributing his vast experience to the test and development work of the Polish Arrinera GT, which is due to make its race debut next year.

“I’m very impressed by the project,” he said. “The personnel Arrinera have hired are the right people – very professional and of great quality. Engineer Mike Rowe I remember from way back in the 1980s and we speak the same language. He’s great to work with.

“The quality of build is also very high and the Polish team of designers behind the car are clearly highly qualified and a credit to the standard of engineering education in Poland.”

Reid is optimistic that the Hussarya can achieve Arrinera’s target of becoming established as a strong, safe and fast alternative to used premium-brand racing cars for amateur racing drivers.

“The car is very quick,” he said. “I’ve tested in the dry and in the wet, most recently at Donington and Snetterton, and it went really well. Because it is mid-engined, it has the kind of handling balance I really like. It is stable and predictable and is perfect for amateur drivers who want to jump in and go quickly straight away. Porsches and Ferraris require time and experience to drive properly, but this is much more straightforward and all for a price significantly less than a GT3 car.

The car is priced at US$229,000, with an obligatory spares package for an additional US$69,000.

“I’m very excited to be involved in the project and the plan is for me to race the car next year, although in which series and where is yet to be decided,” Reid added. “There are plenty of series for which it will be eligible including the GT Cup and Britcar in the UK, and in national series around Europe.”

The Hussarya is powered by an LS7 V8 engine pushing out 500bhp and is mated to a six-speed Hewland sequential racing gearbox operated by paddle shifts. It features a modular steel spaceframe chassis, bespoke pushrod suspension with Öhlins four-way adjustable dampers, Alcon brakes with 380mm discs and six-pot mono bloc calipers all round. Bosch racing ABS and traction control are standard equipment. The car is built to FIA GT3 specification.

Piotr R. Frankowski, Arrinera Racing's CEO, an experienced race driver and multiple Goodwood Festival of Speed participant, has also tested the car at Silverstone and Snetterton. He said: “We definitely want this car to inspire confidence, to give amateur drivers a more shallow learning curve. Simultaneously, the Arrinera will reward the superior skill of professional drivers, especially in difficult conditions where our superior balance and predictable handling will allow them to safely push the envelope.”

The Arrinera Hussarya GT made its world debut at the 2016 Autosport International Show in Birmingham and became the first Polish supercar to run at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. The car’s body is designed by Pavlo Burkatskyy with aerodynamics by Professor Janusz Piechna of Warsaw Technical University, and the mechanicals are engineered by Krzysztof Stelmaszczuk. It is built in Cambridgeshire with many components manufactured in Poland, including the carbon fibre skin.

Beyond Arrinera’s racing ambitions, a road-legal track day version is in the pipeline and will be launched later next year.

Build slots for the GT3 race car are on sale as of now. 

Arrinera Racing inspired by Anglo-Polish sporting and historical ties produced a 7 litre V8 Hussarya GT.

• Arrinera Racing inspired by Anglo-Polish sporting and historical ties
• New GT powered by 7-litre V8 in modular spaceframe chassis
• Plans forming for Polish-designed supercar to race in 2017
• Road-legal Track Day version of Hussarya GT to follow

Polish supercar manufacturer Arrinera Racing headed to Brooklands in the past week to present two of its new Hussarya GTs that have been inspired by its nation’s unique historical and sporting ties to Britain, as the company pushes ahead with plans for its competition debut in 2017.

The GT, which became the first Polish car to spin its wheels at Goodwood’s Festival of Speed in the summer, offers high performance through an attractive, uncomplicated, easy to drive and maintain concept that will appeal to amateur drivers looking for a strong and safe new alternative to used premium-brand racing cars.

The Hussarya is powered by an LS7 V8 engine driven through a six-speed Hewland sequential racing gearbox. Its modular steel spaceframe chassis mirrors the structures of Hurricanes and Spitfires in which Polish pilots made such a significant contribution to the allied air campaigns of World War II. But inspiration has also been drawn from Polish-related feats on the world’s race tracks, too – particularly from the pioneering days of motorsport at Brooklands.

Eliot Zborowski and his son Count Louis were both wealthy racing drivers with Polish family lineage who played key roles in British motorsport’s earliest days.

Eliot Zborowski, born in New Jersey, was an accomplished horseman before the growing tide of interest in automobiles swept him up in 1898. It is said that in 1903 it was Zborowski who suggested green should become Britain’s national racing colour – in honour of Ireland. The Gordon Bennett Cup, the precursor to Grand Prix motor races, was run in Kildare because of strict speed restrictions on British roads, and Zborowski is alleged to have made the gesture in tribute to the host country, which led to the foundation of what would become the world-famous British Racing Green. He was killed in the same year at La Turbie hillclimb in France driving a Mercedes 60 factory racer.

His son Count Louis Zborowski also caught the racing bug – and the sport claimed him, too. He died in the 1924 Italian Grand Prix at Monza when his Mercedes hit a tree. But his legacy had already been assured by the creation of two cars known as ‘Chitty Bang Bang’, which he raced at Brooklands. Zborowski and his aero-engined monsters inspired James Bond author Ian Fleming to write ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, his children’s book that was also turned into a popular movie starring Dick Van Dyke.

Piotr R. Frankowski, Arrinera’s Competition & Marketing Manager, said: “To see a pair of our Hussaryas here at Brooklands is a special moment, especially as they are resplendent in green. The feats of the Zborowskis and in particular Count Louis’ association with this true home of British motor racing is a fitting inspiration for a proud Polish company. In the Hussarya, we wanted to present a car that is beautiful, very strong and durable, easy to drive and maintain – and very safe.”

The Arrinera Hussarya GT made its world debut at the 2016 Autosport International Show in Birmingham. The car’s body is designed by Pavol Burkatskyy with aerodynamics by Professor Janusz Piechna of Warsaw Technical University, and the mechanicals engineered by Krzysztof Stelmaszczuk. It is built in Cambridgeshire and is expected to race in Britain and Europe next year ahead of the launch of a road-legal track day version.

For a video on the inspiration behind the Arrinera Hussarya GT, click here.

Technical specification

Engine: 7-litre LS7 V8, 420-650hp (depending on tuning)

Transmission: 6-speed Hewland LLS sequential with paddle shift

Brakes: Alcon brakes, with 380mm discs and 6-pot mono bloc calipers

Suspension: Bespoke pushrod system with Öhlins 4-way adjustable dampers

Aerodynamics: Honed in CFD analysis and real-world wind tunnel testing at MIRA

FIA Homologation:Built to FIA GT3 specification

The blue Arrinera Hussarya GT prototype, the Goodwood Hillclimb car has visited it's spiritual home of Poland.

The blue Arrinera Hussarya GT prototype, the same one which distinguished itself as the first Polish car to ever tackle the famous hillclimb at the 2016 Goodwood Festival of Speed, visited Poland during a road tour which consisted of several photo locations in beautiful Polish cities. 

The car, which is a GT4 racer with a tubular frame, carbon fiber body, V8 engine and a sequential Hewland gearbox, looked its best against the backdrop of various spots in Szczecin, Wroclaw and Warsaw.

In Szczecin the Hussarya GT visited the cobblestone-paved terraces overlooking the Odra river, with their flowing corners and monumental buildings atop the hill providing an unusual venue for a race car photoshoot, then the car appeared at a park in Szczecin which boasts Poland's largest population of plane trees. It looked positively awesome in the natural chiaroscuro environment. 

Then the Arrinera appeared in front of the Philharmonic in Szczecin, which in 2015 received the Mies van der Rohe prixe for the most beautiful building in Europe. 

Afterwards the car was transported to a secret location deep in Szczecin's harbor, and later to the newly rebuilt bank of the river, remodeled for the Tall Ships Races.

In Wroclaw our car caused a considerable stir in the fabulous Old Town Square when we parked it in front of the 13th century town hall, and was constantly besieged by crowds of people, both Polish and foreign, anxious to take pictures of the sleek racer transplanted to the centre of the town which in 2016 is the European Culture Capital.

Finally, in Warsaw, the historical heritage evident in the Arrinera bloodline was emphasized by the photoshoot in Pilsudski Square, named after our political leader who was instrumental in bringing Poland back to the map of Europe in 1918. 

The square, which until World War II was dominated by the Saski Palace, is now a parade ground surrounding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is the only part of the original palace that has survived. 

The photoshoot ended with our car being driven around the square and around the imposing National Opera House which boasts the largest theater stage in Europe. The prototype returned to the UK for further testing and development.