The sleepy little town of Monschau in the Eifel region of Germany is a picturesque, historic resort that features half-timbered houses and narrow streets, meaning it is popular with tourists. Behind the façade though it hides a secret - that of CCG Automotive; builders of road-going madness.

Case in point the customGT.

"The idea to build my own super sports car and bring it onto German streets with the TÜV's blessing started in early 2009," said Tom Gerards, Head of CCG automotive and creative director of the customGT. Over some schnitzel Gerards decided the best way to build his super sports car was to fit a 7.0-litre V8 engine (which would normally reside in a Corvette) to a tubular space frame chassis with either a fibreglass or carbon fibre reinforced composite body.

Before fitting the Chevy V8 it is fettled to produce 542bhp giving the customGT genuine supercar performance figures of 0-62mph in 3.3 seconds and a top speed of 199mph. For those in tune with Gerards way of thinking, an optional turbocharger can be fitted that boosts overall power to 730bhp and all in a car that weighs over 200kg less than a Ferrari 430 Scuderia.

All that power does not have to come at the expense of the environment though, as the two-seat customGT can be specified with an LPG system that not only cuts emissions but is also cheaper to run. Though given that the CCG customGT starts at the equivalent of about £98,500 that probably isn't high up potential buyers' list of priorities...

Paul Healy - 26 Oct 2011