Jimenez built the Novia as a tribute to the Porsche 917race car, starting work in 1985 with the help of a small team of engineers in his workshop in Avignon. France. Before building the car, Jimenez acquired the materials needed to fabricate his own carbon fiber composite panels from scratch. The Novia was finished in 1995 at the cost of. Jimenez continued to test and develop it, planning additional performance upgrades. He hoped to enter the car for the 24 Hours of Le Mans under the then current GT1 rules, and put the car into serial production with an expected asking price of. However, he wasn't able to as the French government mandated that a separate chassis be made for the purpose of crash testing. It is reported that Jimenez was also working on a possible off road version of the Novia for production at the time.
Performance
The Novia is powered by a mid mounted 4.1L W16 engine that was made by combining four Yamaha FZR1000 1.0 liter 4 cylinder motorcycle engines. It has 4 rows of cylinders with 4 cylinders in each row and a total of 80 valves. It also uses two crankshafts, unlike the W16 found in the Bugatti Veyron. Some sources argue however that the layout of the powerplant with four rows of cylinders arranged in two Vs wasn't a true W engine as it didn't fit the "broad arrow" layout of other W engines. The finished engine produces 417.6 kW at 10,000 rpm and 432 nm, with power sent to the rear wheels through a 6-speed manual transmission. During a speed run on a section of the A7 highway in France that had been closed by local officials, the Novia reached a verified top speed of 380 km/h. The car can reportedly accelerate from 0-60 mph in 3.1 seconds and complete an 1000 meter sprint in 19 seconds. Notably, the Novia was one of the first cars to be powered by a W16 engine, preceding the Veyron’s use of one by ten years.
Specifications
The Novia uses an aluminium honeycombmonocoque chassis, with a custom carbon fiber body designed to pay tribute to the first iteration of the Porsche 917K race car. The interior is accessed via scissor doors and features cream-colored Connolly leather, twin bucket seats with racing harnesses, radio/cassette player, ashtray and air conditioning. It also features electronic traction control and adjustable hydraulic suspension.
