Overview

The Superlite SL-C is produced by Superlite Cars based in Fraser, MI, a suburb of Detroit. Superlite Cars builds a number of cars, including the Superlite LMP, and the Superlite Nemesis.

The SL-C is a "superkit" component car that is an original design, but is loosely based on the IMSA GTP cars from the 1980s and 1990s, most notably the Kudzu GTP, as well as the current crop of Daytona Prototype cars that run in the IMSA United Sportscar series.

The first body buck was produced in 2006 and shown at the Carlisle Import and Kit Car Nationals in Carlisle, PA. The original orange buck had an aluminum monocoque chassis from the firewall forward, with a bolt-on tubular structure that was designed to fit popular 4 and 6 cylinder FWD drivetrains. There was no interior in the original buck, and while the car drew interest, no orders actually arrived. The major stumbling blocks seemed to be the lack of an actual car instead of a buck, as well as the absence of a V8 drivetrain.

Here are a couple of pictures of the original Orange buck along with the later black 2008 variant, both of which appeared at the Carlisle Import and Kit Car show:

You can see the evolution of the car, with significant changes to the rear, but a surprisingly faithful version of the front.

These problems were both eliminated the next year when RCR unveiled a new version of the car, with a proper V8, and the beginnings of an interior. The V8 was actually a bit of a change-up pitch, since instead of the expected domestic V8, the car had a 4 liter Lexus V8- with twin turbos, each pressurizing an intercooler fed by side scoops in the body.

With the advent of a more-completed car, complete with a drivetrain, the beginnings of an interior, - and a pushrod suspension in the rear- the car now began to attract deposits. In late 2006 or early 2007, the first kits began to come out of the RCR factory.

It was around this time that RCR was complemented by a new company- Superlite Cars, LLC, which was organized to contain the original-design cars that were beginning to come out of RCR, in contrast to the replicas that had heretofore been the entirety of the RCR business. Now, Superlite Cars has the SL-C, as well as the LMP and the Nemesis in their portfolio, with others in the pipeline.

Over the years the car has been extensively developed, and there are now variants with an open top (the LeMans) and two different tail options (the race tail and street tail, though both have been used in racing and on the street).  

The SL-C has become the most successful car in the Superlite line, and continues to see development, and builds by a wide range of customers.