The Rauda T04R, an Argentine track weapon

Posted by John Mellberg January 12, 2021

The Rauda T04R, an Argentine track weapon

The Rauda T04R is a high performance Argentine sports car, which is being built by racecar builder Héctor "Tito" Pérez, in his workshop located just 150 meters from the Galvez.
Pérez has built more than 600 race cars, which compete in categories as dissimilar as TC2000, Top Race, National Touring, Formula Renault and Rally. In the TC2000 he was in charge of manufacturing the cars of the official Ford, Volkswagen, Honda, Mitsubishi and Renault Teams.

However, Perez's dream was always to make a super sports car for the street, with the aim of offering a high performance car, with less than two kilos per horsepower. The idea of Rauda arose when the development of another Argentine sports car was halted: the Donto P1. That was a car driven by Laureano Campanera and designed by Lucas López, with Pérez in charge of much of the project.

Track testing the Rauda T04R chassis

Like the Donto P1, the Rauda T04R adopts the classic architecture of mid-front engine, two seats, with rear-wheel drive and no roof. It is a type of extreme vehicle, now fashionable again all over the world in recent years.

The Rauda T04R was presented in the Gálvez without bodywork. The shell is still in the development stage, based on an original design by Luciano Cianni. The first prototype, in its naked guise, put the tubular chassis and engine, manufactured by Ford Performance, on full display.

The engine is a V6 3.5 liter twin-turbo, with 365 horsepower and 570 Nm of torque. It is derived from the same aluminum block found in the F-150 Raptor, but with other performance and electronics hardware. That's why the Rauda T04R promises to be a beast on the track: it weighs only 800 kilos.

The milled buck of the Rauda T04R, work in progress

The engine is mated to a six-speed Tremec manual, with a Shelby American differential. Beyond these imported components, Rauda is responsible for manufacturing the vast majority of the car: the chassis, bodywork, radiator, intercooler, pedalboard, seats and fuel tank are all made in Argentina.

Pérez's objective is to homologate the T04R for the street, but its performance is well suited to track days, as one might expect.

The Rauda Discolo

Rauda is already registered as an artisanal automotive marque with the Argentine state and the T04R will not be its only model.

Pérez and his team are also working on the Díscolo Project: a two-seater off-road vehicle with rear-wheel drive and Ford 2.0 Ecoboost central engine as well.

Sources:
Autoblog Argentina

Rauda Automobiles (Facebook)