The Drakan Spyder is an American-made, ultra-lightweight roadster powered by a GM LS3 E-Rod V8 turning out 430 bhp. It has a curb weight of just 2,000 lbs (907 kgs), resulting in a 0-60 mph time of 3.0 seconds – enough to embarrass many supercars.
This particular example of the Spyder is being sold as a project car, it’s largely complete but needs a little work to get it back on the road – the major issues are reported as being a clutch that won’t disengage and an LS3 engine that needs tuning.
Fast Facts: The Drakan Spyder
- The Drakan Spyder is a low-volume American roadster built with an extreme focus on weight reduction and driver involvement. It uses a mid-mounted, emissions-legal GM LS3 E-Rod V8 producing 430 bhp in a car weighing 2,000 lbs, delivering supercar-level acceleration and a remarkably high power-to-weight ratio.
- Developed by former GM engineer Shinoo Mapleton, the Spyder was conceived as a road-legal track car with formula-style immediacy and V8 torque. Rather than starting from scratch, Mapleton adapted the Palatov D2 chassis, working with Dennis Palatov to create a limited-production car aimed squarely at serious track-day enthusiasts.
- The Spyder has a tubular chromoly spaceframe, pushrod suspension with inboard Fox coilovers, Wilwood brakes, and unassisted steering. It deliberately avoids electronic driver aids, placing full responsibility on the person behind the wheel. A Porsche G96 6-speed transaxle sends power to the rear wheels.
- The example shown here is an unfinished project car originally assembled by Sector111. It is largely complete but needs mechanical attention, including a clutch that will not disengage, engine tuning, and cooling system fixes. Sold with a manufacturer’s certificate of origin, it offers a rare entry point into Spyder ownership.
History Speedrun: The Drakan Spyder
The Drakan Spyder is one of those rare modern production cars where mechanical simplicity, an analog driving experience, and sheer pace were prioritized over comfort, convenience, or any sort of broad-market appeal. It’s an American, road-legal track weapon built in minuscule numbers, and it wears its priorities like a badge of pride, with exposed suspension pushrods, minimal bodywork, and a cockpit that you sit in and then strap on.
Above Video: This is the episode of Jay Leno’s Garage that featured the Drakan Spyder, as you can see, Leno was quite impressed with the car.
The Drakan project was developed by Shinoo Mapleton, an automotive engineer who formerly worked at General Motors. Mapleton wanted to develop a car with formula-car-like immediacy combined with V8 torque, but without the fragility or complexity that can come with four-wheeled boutique exotica.
Rather than starting from a blank slate, Mapleton’s solution was to save time and development costs by taking an existing, proven lightweight chassis platform and developing it the way he thought a serious track day customer would want it.
The chassis platform he would use would be the Palatov D2, developed by Dennis Palatov and Palatov Motorsport. Mapleton found exactly what he wanted in the D2 concept, he then worked with Palatov to bring the package to life for limited, low volume production.
The heart of the Spyder is a mid-mounted 6.2 liter GM LS3 V8, the 50 state emissions-compliant E-Rod package. Output is 430 bhp and 424 lb ft of torque, sent to the rear wheels via a Porsche G96 6-speed manual transaxle.
The car offers a refreshing absence of electronic driver aids, there’s no traction control, no stability control, and typically no ABS, leaving the driver fully responsible for their own fortune, or misfortune, for that matter. It’s a decision that TVR and Lotus engineers of old would have recognized and appreciated.
The Spyder is built around a stiff, lightweight chassis – a tubular steel chromoly spaceframe, keeping weight in check while maintaining the rigidity and strength needed for the application at hand.
The car offers a refreshing absence of electronic driver aids, there’s no traction control, no stability control, and typically no ABS, leaving the driver fully responsible for their own fortune, or misfortune, for that matter. It’s a decision that TVR and Lotus engineers of old would have recognized and appreciated.
It has a wheelbase of 103 inches, an overall length of 156 inches, a width of 80 inches, a height of 44 inches, and curb weight of about 2,000 lbs (907 kgs). With that weight and the LS3’s power output, power-to-weight ratio is the name of the game – the 0 to 60 mph dash is completed in 3.0 seconds, with a top speed listed in the mid-160 mph range, though this can vary slightly depending on setup and gearing.
As you might expect, the Drakan Spyder rides on fully independent suspension front and back, it’s a formula car-style pushrod system with inboard-mounted Fox adjustable coilovers and Hyperco springs. Stopping power is provided by Wilwood disc brakes with slotted rotors at all four corners.
The steering is unassisted and direct, and the seating position is more race car than sports car. Once you get inside, there’s little pretense. You get the essentials needed to operate the vehicle, monitor its vitals, and stay planted under braking and cornering loads. Everything else is left out to shave down that all-important curb weight figure.
Originally very much a car only known about by serious enthusiasts, the Spyder became far better known after it was featured on Jay Leno’s Garage, where it was seen by a huge global audience for the first time (see the episode embedded above). It was also featured in a glowing, and well-written write up on Autoweek here by Mark Vaughn.
The car can be ordered in kit form or as a turnkey vehicle ready to hit the track. In kit form it sells for $130,000 USD, though this doesn’t include the drivetrain, and it can be bought ready-to-drive for $175,000 USD.
The Drakan Spyder Project Car Shown Here
The car you see here is a Drakan Spyder that was originally built by the experts over at Sector111 in Temecula, California. It’s being sold as a project car as it wasn’t completed before Sector111 ceased operating.
The car you see here is a Drakan Spyder that was originally built by the experts over at Sector111 in Temecula, California. It’s being sold as a project car as it wasn’t completed before Sector111 ceased operating.
The good news is that it’s almost 100% complete, with the key areas needing attention said to be the clutch not disengaging and the LS3 V8 running rich and needing a tune. It does have a leak from the external oil cooler, and the electric cooling fans need to be operated manually using a toggle switch.
It’s now being offered for sale out of Colorado Springs, Colorado with a bill of sale and a manufacturer’s certificate of origin listing it as a 2015 model. If you’d like to read more or place a bid you can find the listing here on Bring a Trailer.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
