Backdraft Racing is a well known name throughout the United States and most noted in Florida for its reconstruction of the AC Cobra.

The car manufacturer has set up a racing division which continues to expand as time goes by.  What is more, there will be a Cobra lined up in this weekend’s Homestead-Miami leg of the FARA championship.

For this first round of the season, the car will be driven by a well-known French driver Mathieu Lecuyer. As part of the Team Endurance Challenge at the European Le Mans series last year, the « bordelais » finished last season behind the wheel of the BMW Z4 GT3 for DKR Engineering. His role developing Backdraft Racing won’t stop him from continuing with the GT this season.

We caught up with him on Ocean Drive, in the Florida sunshine to find out some more about the monstrous AC Cobra which should be appearing on the French circuits in 2015 before the possible arrival of a GT3 which honours the FIA regulations. A first attempt failed a few years ago due to a lack of funding.

Mathieu Lecuyer sheds some light on this new championship «  the French Backdraft Racing Cup sees itself as the first mono-brand based on the RT3 built by Backdraft. The factory will be giving its full support to this intiative. In 2015 there are 5 meetings planned which involve three 30 minute races. However, the race format has not yet been finalised. 3 drivers will share the cars. A presentation of the car should take place in France sometime during the month of May ».

The idea is to supply a great looking modern car at an affordable price. The car’s characteristics are the following

The price has not yet been fixed but it should come in at around 55,000 euros.

Mid term should see a FIA approved GT3 in the pipeline : «  the idea is to make the model available in GT3.  All car manufacturers make themselves known to the public via motor racing. The finished model should cost 140,000 euros, which remains a lot less than the other GT3. Why not put it to the test this year in the VdeV Endurance Series to see how it stands up to its competitors, and then entrust it to a team who would enter it in the French GT championship?”

With regards to Mathieu Lecuyer’s sporting schedule, we should find out fairly soon as a few days ago he was testing an Audi R8 LMS ultra.