Rage Buggies: Mad Performance Motoring Channel Staff - 25/February/2008 | 
The Rage Buggy R180T is madder than
a cut snake, able to reach 180km/h and
fly over jumps like an ATV quad, and will
be on display at the Melbourne Motor Show
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Melbourne, Australia — The high performance R180T Rage Buggy can accelerate from zero to 100km/h in 3.5 seconds. To
put the Rage Buggy's performance in perspective, that's faster than a
lot of exotic cars, such as the $416,000 Ferrari F430. Rage
Motorsport is a British-based company that will launch its new vehicle
range in Australia at the 2008 Melbourne Motor Show, from Friday
February 29th. Priced from $31,160 for the entry-level
single seater R20 buggy, which is powered by a V-twin engine, the Rage
Buggy range will top out at a staggering $78,409 for the 2-seater R180T - the insane model that scrambles to 100km/h in just 3.5 seconds. Powered
by a 1.0-litre (998cc) Honda Fireblade motorcycle engine that has a
high rev ceiling, the almost $80k R180T buggy outputs 134kW (180hp) and
uses a 6-speed manual gearbox to get the engine power to the ground. Top speed isn't quite to the Ferrari F430 standard (neither are the aerodynamics) but 180km/h is not slow. While
these desert scramblers look best suited to sand dunes and bush scrub,
but the local press release claims the insanely quick Rage R180T buggy "is designed to be road-legal as well as
off-road-worthy." We can only imagine the looks of other road users as one these amazing vehicles, which are computer designed and hand made in Bedfordshire, pulls up to the traffic lights, motorcycle engine keenly buzzing away. As the press release states, "Only
the Bugatti Veyron - on show for three days only, from Friday 29
February to Sunday 2 March - and a few top-end Ferraris and
Lamborghinis are in the same league [as the R180T]." Matching its fierce acceleration are powerful anchors: stainless steel disc brakes worked by high performance Brembo calipers at all four wheels. As well as its blistering speed, the rugged Rage Buggy is "as
much at home on the tarmac as it is on rough terrain, dirt tracks and
jumps," which suggests it could be the ideal vehicle for the MX rider
who needs a new toy (or has a busted leg). The
R180T will be the flagship model in the Rage Buggy line-up, and can be
seen at the Melbourne Motor Show in the aftermarket display at the
front of the Melbourne Exhibition Centre.
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