Jiotto CASPITA was unveiled at the 28th Tokyo Motor Show in 1989. WIKIPEDIA said that the car is a prototype midship super sports car designed by Jiotto Design Inc. in 1988. The car was billed as the F1 on the Road. The original design of the car was done by Kunihisa Ito, who was the vice-president and chief designer of Jiotto Design Inc.
The first car was powered by a Motori Moderni flat 12, a detuned Formula One engine and then in 1990 was stripped and then rebuilt with a Judd V10. Both engines were transversely mounted, and powered through a 6 speed gearbox built by Weismann. The car first made its debut at the Tokyo Motor Show in the same year, but the project would die out in 1993 due to the global recession which meant lack of demands for supercars. With the Judd engine, the Caspita is capable of 577 horsepower (430 kW) at 10,750 rpm and a top speed of 200 miles per hour (320 km/h), while producing 283 ft·lbf (284 N·m) of torque at 10,500 rpm. The Caspita also features a 6-speed manual transmission, a 0-60 mph time of approximately 4.7 seconds, and a curb weight of 2734 lb (1240 kg).Caspita's Design Development in 1988
Jiotto has created 3 different scale models and tested them in the Wind-tunnel. Retractable headlight at the first model were considered.
Steering wheel design
Head lump is a thought of " Submersible" one like a "Telescope of Submarine": At low speed the mirror provides a large field of vision. At high speed it "sink" into the door to low air resistance. There is the infrared ray sensor on that mirror for a pedestrian safety.
Built-in rear spoiler( also, front air-dam was builed-in) can be electrically raised with a stroke of 190mm.
CASPITA had the first twin intersected oval head lump before Mercedes and Smart car had.