The new 2012 Mosler RaptorGTR features 838hp accelerating only 2580lbs. The ultralight street missile is built with carbon-fiber LeMans Prototype construction concepts to keep the weight radically lower than any car in the hyper exotic category, while remaining extremely safe.
Edited to include some very interesting information from “The Car Show”‘s Matt Farah — JB
Warren Mosler is a man after my own heart; he builds cars which are simply designed to haul ass. From the original Consulier to a recent run of mid-engine bespoke GT cars which can be ordered in both street and ALMS configurations, his cars pretty much always outperform expectations… even if they aren’t always perfectly gorgeous. The new “Raptor GTR” hopes to be both fast and attractive. The specs indicate that it will be race-car quick, and if that’s not enough, you can upgrade the car for an additional $70,000 and put 1,212 horsepower to the rear wheels. (Completion of a Mosler driving school is, apparently, required to qualify for the upgrade.) Vipers, Vettes, and GT-Rs will all have to kneel to the Raptor, assuming the track is dry and the driver understands how to drive a car with a true aero package.
For more details, including the most bizarre music video you will watch before the end of 2011, click the jump.
I’m not sure who this girl is, but the folks at Mosler know I can’t afford the Raptor GTR. If they thought I could, they’d have put Harriet Wheeler in front of the thing. My guess: this woman has a devoted following among the global super-rich who do purchase and race Mosler products. More photos below. What can I say? If they’ll let me test-drive it, I will faithfully report whether it can outpace the fastest car I’ve tested on-track, the Switzer GT2. No prizes for guessing that it wouldn’t be close; in fact, I suspect even the people driving Riley Track Rat Mark 69s or whatever those pumpkin seed customer cars are called will find it tough to compete.
Update: Per a comment from Matt Farah, found in the comments section, it looks like the “Cubey GTR” is not an authorized Mosler product. I’ve included the LinkedIn profile of the fellow who contacted me. We’ll be getting the scoop directly from Mosler — JB
Rod ends in bending!
Would love to see this go up against a Veyron Super Sport for top speed bragging rights. Any word as to what the 1212 hp version tops out at?
Given the weight, something tells me this would win in an all-out race. 4,000 pounds and 1,000 BHP versus 2,500 pounds and 800 BHP. ;-)
With all the dirt hooning maybe they should enter the Baja 1000 with it
So here’s a good story for you, Jack.
I tested this very car on the season finale of “The Car Show.” The car’s owner and his “singer” girlfriend, pictured above, were in attendance. You may notice some of our footage from the show appears in the music video. Whether or not they actually got permission for this footage, I don’t know, since it looks like it was taken from YouTube. Well, on the 100 degree day at the Mojave runway where I was supposed to top the car out, the “Raptor GTR” took a crap and wouldn’t make boost. The car’s owner, who also claimed to be Mosler’s top engineer, blamed the heat. I was annoyed, since they build these cars in Florida, where it’s hot pretty much all the time. 20 minutes after the car crapped out, I was able to nearly top out a bone-stock Ford GT on the same runway, proving why factory-designed cars work better than small-volume exotics, even if the stock car makes 300 less horsepower than the Raptor GTR.
But that’s not the good part. This guy contacted us as a representative of Mosler saying he wanted to get the car on the show. We had no reason to doubt him, but we found it strange that we couldn’t find anything about the car on Mosler’s website. We figured that since it was so new, it wasn’t made public yet. A phone call to Warren Mosler revealed that this guy didn’t actually work for Mosler at all, he was just a guy who bought a standard MT900S and strapped the twin turbo’s on himself, hence the cooling issues: it’s an amateur hack job. At one point he did try to buy a controlling stake in Mosler using his father’s money, but it didn’t go through. The “Raptor GTR” thing is just a name he made up for this one car, which isn’t surprising, considering the lack of creativity. (Speaking as someone who owns a vehicle also called Raptor). The badges looked like they were hand-cut from double sided vinyl. If you watch the video, it’s not even referred to as an actual Mosler but the “Cubey GTR.” That’s the asian girl’s last name. And, every single time you start the car, the radio turns on and her awful “theme song” starts playing. Even if you shut the car down with the radio off. I heard the first 6 seconds of that song about 50 times that day.
So we’d been had, by a con-man trying to pass off his own homebrew tuner kit as a genuine Mosler product. Unfortunately we didn’t learn about the con until long after the segment had aired. I suppose it doesn’t matter, since the car will only go fast under the exact perfect conditions anyway.
Note to guy who built this thing: There’s a reason Veyron’s have ten heat exchangers. It’s so they work, even when it’s hot. This thing, with only two heat exchangers, will only work under perfectly optimal conditions, or on a dyno. And now we know you don’t work for Mosler.
And as an added bit of comedy, the owner requested that the girlfriend act as flag-dropper for the standing mile run. No kidding, it took her 7 takes to drop the flag properly on the “3-2-1-go” count. 7 takes. To drop a flag on “go.” That’s star quality right there.
I of course had to google Abby Cubey, and when the only reply comes back as her own website, I wasn’t terribly shocked. No Wiki page, nothing. Sounds to me like her boyfriend or whatever is throwing ALOT of money her way to try and make her famous. Good luck with that one.
That’s funny, the footage did look familiar.
On one hand Mosler should be pissed, because this music video is humiliating, and because this car, described as coming from Mosler, ran so poorly on your show. On the other hand at least the Mosler name is getting out, and any “Cubey GTR” sales will start with them having to buy a car from Mosler.
That was nice of Dan Neil to volunteer to break dance for them.
This is completely awesome. I was contacted by the fellow through Facebook and LinkedIn, where I’m also a contact of Mr. Mosler himself. How interesting…
I’m leaving it up!
Presumably, then, this is just an MT900 plus pimp appeal. I will contact Mosler tomorrow.
Jack, Matt,
In the Sept. issue of Classic Motorsports there was a full page ad from Mosler Automotive:
“Mosler Automotive is releasing the twenty Consuliers that have been in the Mosler museum for the past fifteen years. The Consuliers vary in mileage from 3 miles to 150,003 miles.
Consuliers are some of the best handling cars ever built. They feature mid-engine configuration wrapped in a high downforce / low drag composite body & tub. The majority of the cars are powered by a 2.2 L Dodge Turbo II engines which produce 200hp in stock form with Mosler’s low-restriction exhaust. Tuners can modify these cars to produce over 360hp. This is significant power in a 2100lb car!
The prices range as widely as the mileage of the cars. A collector can own a piece of composite automotive history in a near zero mileage Series 2 Consulier for $95,000. A budget enthusiast who wants to embarrass his friends on the track, can own a high-mileage Series 1 car that needs some care for as little as $12,000. There are a couple Consulier race cars as well.
Contact Jill Wagner at 561-842-2492 for more information.”
It should be left up as yet another reminder of what happens when not every fact is checked. When someone comes to you and says here, test my supercar, even though there is no real record anywhere of said car existing, then it still makes it on TV? It makes one wonder how much other stuff is reported or portrayed that is completely false and fictional that is presumed to be factual. I fear it happens much more than most of us know.
yeah I wasn’t trying to “call you out” or anything like that, but i just learned of the whole con yesterday and thought TTAC would be the perfect place to unleash the truth about the “Mosler Raptor GTR”
My intent was not to call either Jack or Matt out. I was just saying in this instance evidently both of you were duped by someone with a plan, and the people that were a tad too ambitious to report a new supercar were caught up in it. Such things happen, and you are correct Matt. This is, or should be, TTAC fodder. Many thanks to Jack for posting this particular article, and many thanks as well Matt for throwing a different light on the matter. Truly brilliant calling out of the situation when it comes down to “The Truth About Cars”.
I’ve updated the post with some additional information… The supercar business is so murky in general that it’s hard to know who is a real player and who isn’t. Even the biggest names out there are frequently plagued by allegations and unsatisfied customers with an axe to grind.
The fact that this fellow had an actual running Mosler virtually certified him by default; that’s a half-million-dollar investment and very few people have that kind of money to burn for the purpose of scamming car magazines.
As I alluded to in a previous post, this is “The Truth About Cars” in action. I have no vested interest in this car other than it being a “Supercar”, but the dialogue is absolutely fascinating. I don’t recall ever seeing an exchange of opinions with some facts thrown in between 3 people, specifically Jack who first posted this, then Matt, who chimed in, then the “Owner” of said car in question go toe to toe in a remote post on a car junkie website/blog. I knew I loved TTAC for a reason, and now I know why. This has been a truly EPIC article, and by far my favorite over the past couple years.
I agree with you MrFixit. Story and comments of the year award. I saw the post by the ‘real guy’ yesterday, before anybody responded to it, and I just stared in amazement…
Unfortunately, since most of Matt’s posts have been removed, the whole ordeal loses some of the raw truth and honesty it had originally. Makes one wonder if attorneys have gotten involved.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:1ym4C3xmbFcJ:www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/11/we-interrupt-your-global-business-news-to-bring-you/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
I think they need the following tag-lines:
“Fast? Take it to the bank!”
“Safe? With a name like Mosler, it’s gotta be safe!”
I didn’t even read the article but wanted to comment anyways. Why do vehicles like this bore so many people? Seriously, how can one get excited about something like this?
Even If I had the money to buy one, I’d feel like a jerkoff just having one parked in my garage, let alone driving down the street.
Hi, This is Todd Wagner, owner of Supercar Engineering, Inc. SEI owns the Mosler RaptorGTR #001, and has been an engineering consultant to Mosler for over seven years. Further, SEI is a distributor for Mosler products.
Matt has been mis-informed regarding the “hack job” of the RaptorGTR. Matt has now been provided with the government certification documents for this new Mosler vehicle, and I am expecting a quick apology for his comments.
I am also expecting an apology for his disrepectful comments about a lady, who has been nothing but kind to him.
Hi Todd, thanks for responding. Just for clarification, you own Mosler Supercars of Riviera Beach FL and Warren Mosler is owner of a separate company, Mosler Cars of Lake Park FL – correct?
1) Do you currently work for Warren Mosler?
2) Are the “Cubey GTR” modifications that you made to the Mosler MT900 authorized by Warren Mosler?
3) Has Warren Mosler authorized you to use his Mosler brand to market your tuner version of the MT900?
4) Did SpeedTV authorize you to use its “The Car Show” video segments in the above music video?
Lol, Todd you are so full of horseshit, it’s coming out your ears! You couldn’t engineer your way out of a wet paper bag! Remember your shitty, LSX TT setup that had the catalytic converters BEFORE the turbos and then just open down-pipes? Yea, that’s a fucking brilliant way to pass emissions you fucking crotch nacho.
I used to work for Mosler Supercars/SEI/whatever they are jokingly calling themselves these days. NOT ONE of the cars we finished/ran right or was worth the money they were asking for it. Matt’s experience with the car on TheCarShow was a perfect example of this. If that is the kind of half-assed crap they give to shows with a budget and some fan-base, imagine how shoddy the final product to a customer is going to be. Todd Wagner is a fucking clown and this is his piece of shit clown-car.
Happy Motoring!
Wait a minute, is this a script to an upcoming soap opera?
LMAO
Really need the popcorn chomping emoticon for this one
Mosler’s Store (coming soon!) on their website seems to feature a asian-looking woman on the thumbnail click icon. The looks are similar, but the icon is too small to tell.
Readers of TTAC:
I have gotten an email forwarded from Todd Wagner, the owner of the car in question, and the subject of my above comment, and he’s not very happy with me. His email reads as following:
Please forward this email and the attached two documents to Matt Farrah. I believe he has been mis-informed about the RaptorGTR, and has made some public comments about Mosler and myself which are severely damaging. I am requesting that he publicly fix the situation this evening before this bit of press poisons our press launch. Other journalists may see this piece, and thus decide to not write an article, or worse propagate the damaging information.
Sincerely,
Todd
He included the following documents, to prove that the “Raptor GTR” is a genuine Mosler product designed for sale.
Certificate of Emissions
http://www.thesmokingtire.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/RaptorGTR-Certification-Certificate_CC3XV07.0086-001.pdf
Certificate of Origin
http://www.thesmokingtire.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/MSO-RaptorGTR-001.pdf
Now, it’s possible that the Raptor GTR is a genuine Mosler product that, so far, has been limited to 1 copy, but that’s not the whole story.
It seems that, at least as of June 3, 2011, Todd Wagner actually was the head of engineering at Mosler. But this morning, I called Mosler’s office, and a representative steadfastly claimed Wagner does not work there now, and should not be considered a representative of the company. According to my trustworthy source, Warren Mosler himself said that Wagner wanted to sell the Raptor under the Mosler name if his attempted buyout of the company was successful. It was not, and now he’s just trying to sell his own personal car, which is a modified MT900S
In my comment I referred to Wagner as a “con man.” Which may have been a bit inaccurate, since at one time he did work for Mosler and is an actual engineer. However, at the time he presented the car to us at the taping of “The Car Show,” he was no longer associated with the company, as I was led to believe he was.
I’m not sure what those documents prove, because I’m not a specialist in small-volume cars, but I figured I would post the facts here and let the B&B help shed some light on the whole thing. And if it turns out that I’m proven wrong, I’ll be the first person to admit I made a mistake. But based on my conversation with the Mosler representative this morning, the lack of official Mosler badging on the “Cubey GTR,” and the fact that it still appears nowhere on Mosler’s official website on the day of the big launch and 5 months after the initial press release, I’m going to stand by my story with the exception of Mr. Wagner’s employment history with the company and referring to him as a con-man.
These are other items about my story which are unequivocally true:
The Raptor GTR didn’t run properly, and Wagner blamed it on heat.
The Ford GT ran just fine, and was not affected at all by the same heat.
Abbey Cubey’s song is horrible, and anyone driving the car is forced to listen to at least the first few seconds of it.
The flag-dropping story absolutely happened, and we have it on video.
Todd Wagner is not a current employee of Mosler Automotive.
If anyone wants to shed a little more light than this on the situation, I’m open.
The certificates appear to refer to the original Mosler MT900, BEFORE Todd Wagner pimped it into a “Raptor GTR”/“Cubey GTR”.
Here is some more information about the real Mosler and MT900.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosler_MT900
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosler_Automotive
Matt, don’t let him fool you, his “turbo” Moslers have not once passed emissions. He is such a good engineer, he thought installing catalytic converters in the up-pipe, pre-turbo would keep them clean enough to pass emissions. Not to mention that on 7psi(TT remember) it was only making 500whp. Out of an LSX, that’s a joke. I am running 14psi(same boost level in a single turbo as his TT setup was running) out of an engine with half the cylinders and am making 508whp. Todd is a moron and has never left his crappy little window-less office at the West Palm Beach location. You should see the hack-job of a rear-suspension he developed for his Ford Expedition. When engineers fail is what that car should be called!
Matt, don’t let him fool you, his “turbo” Moslers have not once passed emissions. He is such a good engineer, he thought installing catalytic converters in the up-pipe, pre-turbo would keep them clean enough to pass emissions. Not to mention that on 7psi(TT remember) it was only making 500whp. Out of an LSX, that’s a joke. I am running 14psi(same boost level in a single turbo as his TT setup was running) out of an engine with half the cylinders and am making 508whp. Todd is a moron and has never left his crappy little window-less office at the West Palm Beach location. You should see the hack-job of a rear-suspension he developed for his Ford Expedition. When engineers fail is what that car should be called!
I spoke with Warren Mosler today, who confirmed the Twin-Turbo conversion to the “Raptor GTR” Mosler MT900S will not pass emissions and is not certifiable for public sale.
@theGuru: Your posts reek of personal vendetta. Classy move, I have to say. Are you sleeping with the guy’s bitchy, backstabbing ex-wife? Or do you just have an angry red hard-on for the guy personally?
I’m just catching up on this story, and don’t know any of the people involved, but I felt compelled to post because I rarely see such personal venom in online article comments. I guess it should be expected… most of the people involved in these “supercar” businesses should have “Giant Douche” tattooed on their foreheads so normal humans can avoid them more easily. That goes all the way up the food chain.
“These are other items about my story which are unequivocally true:
…
Abbey Cubey’s song is horrible…”
FACT!
Yeah but Abbey and her friends look great in tight outfits. That’s what counts in the music business today
Warren Mosler’s a credible guy with substantial business assets, but still I’m guessing that Mosler Automotive is a bit of a hobby for him. After all, one of the subplots to this saga is that Mr. Mosler considered selling the company to J. Todd Wagner.
The business record of so many exoticar companies is such that I’m surprised that they can find customers in the first place. Perhaps part of the allure is the opportunity to buy something very rare that may turn out to be exceptionally rare because the company fails.
Where do you go to get service on your Vector M12 or your Saleen S7? Panoz seems to be an exception, but then I’ve never liked their styling.
Another question that I have is how can you have enough brains to make enough money to by a Mosler Raptor yet create such an execrable “music” video? I kept flashing to the scene in Boogie Nights where the porn stars decide they’re going to make a rock album.
That’s the second crappy music video TTAC has put up recently. I’d like to have the time back that I spent watching part of Test Drive the other day.
the video is private, what the phuck!?!
Here is the happy couple in the Raptor:
http://www.exposay.com/celebrity-photos/abby-cubey-and-todd-wagner-jr-tommi-rae-brown-1h6ZiH.jpg
Here is another working link to the vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDLM8k5GHqc
“Abby Cubey – starring in “Feel My Fire” a monumental video based on the “CAR SONG of the CENTURY” written by Cubey-Drago-Rojaz-AmberIrish. Produced by Paul Drago/Omar Rojaz, a Cubey Entertainment Production and JOJOKID Music recording. The CubeyGTR (shown in the video) and car Sounds designed by J. Todd Wagner.
Shot on location in the Mojave Desert, LA, Hollywood, Beverly Hills. Music – Recorded in LA.”
Lol “a monumental” piece of crap just like Todd’s Raptor! lol
Matt Farrah was instructed not to post the private Mosler documents.
Hey, Todd! Does this piece of crap still have the catalytic converters before the turbos?
Who left who? I’d imagine Jill would not be very pleased to know you are running around with a cute little Asian named Abby Cubey making quite possibly the worst music video AND product plug ever created in the history of product advertising and music videos. I desperately hope that this video shows up on Beavis and Butthead.
This is the most epic thread on TTAC since Farago crashed an Enzo.
I found this post on autoguide.com
I have to say this. The fact that Matt was sent the documents about the required emissions tests etc, then when he posted them and Todd came back with the response that he wasn’t SUPPOSED to share them with us tells the lie. My thought is Todd thought that once Matt saw those official reports he would assume they were real, just like he and Jack assumed the car was real and approved. Well, you know what they say when you ass-u-me something. This also brings about the fool me once parable….
Why did Matt Farah pull his post’s?
I have been contacted multiple times by Mr. Wagner and Ms. Cubey regarding comments on this article. Be aware that, until otherwise notified, we don’t edit comments at the request of third parties. Commenters may moderate and delete their own comments.
The real story behind the “Raptor GTR” appears to have very little to do with its front fascia or power-to-weight ratio. If it’s worth sharing with TTAC’s readers… well, you all know what I will do, don’t you?
As much as I hate to do this, I find it rather humorous that yet another car enthusiast website has “pronounced” the car in this post, along with the video.
This link was the 3rd post offered by Google after searching for Mosler Supercars. The first link was Mosler Auto, then images for Mosler Supercars. It just keeps getting better, have to wonder if it will end up in an actual car, or just a whole bunch of bunk that 1 person was responsible for.
http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1068722_mosler-raptorgtr-unveiled-in-weird-video
Working on the Mosler MT900, was a project I was very proud of, as were all of the employees involved. Now, in the last couple years or so, Todd’s actions, and narcissism have seriously tarnished that, which is sad for all involved.
After reading Matt’s posts I have a little more respect for him than I used to.
This is truly fascinating
You guys ever post on a message board where someone got caught in a lie?
This is like that, but 100000000 times more epic. I’m at a loss for words.
It was a cloudy day in LA when Abby Cubey called me and asked me to drop over to her place to drive this exotic she had stashed in her garage to a friend’s house. I said sure. I’ve been producing her for over a year and released her first CD which was debuted at the House of Blues in LA.
Well the car turned out to be this fast supercharged black space car, which turned out to be the RaptorGTR. When I was pulling out of the garage I nearly drove it through the wall just by gently touching the pedal.
Long story short, Abby suggested a Title “Pump it Up” in honor of the car. I started working a bit on that idea when it came to me that we use an idea that appear in her dream and spoke more passion and desire. The song title was “Feel My Fire”. Well what started out as a love song ended up a hot sexy number, after partnering up with Omar Rojaz, who co-produced with me (an established international DJ), and his wife to be, the talented co-writer.
It wasn’t too long after the finish, when we ended up in the desert ( over 120 degrees – Mojavi) and video shooting begun as a campaign to introduce the Mosler GTR.
When we were recording the song, I thought it would be cool to have a car sound in it. I searched the internet for that. Then it was suggested that we use the real Raptor car sound. So at 2:00 AM, in the street, waking up the neighbors, Amber and I recorded the actual sounds of the car and we mixed them right in to the recording. So the turbo you hear is the real thing.
The composition was written by Abby Cubey, Paul Drago, Omar Rojaz and Amber Nicole Irish and is a Paul Drago/Omar Rojaz Production or JOJOKID Music. The song and video were released on CDBaby , iTunes and other download sites.