Wolfrace Sonic, six wheels and two V8s
At first glance the Wolfrace Sonic looks like someone’s overconfident sketch that accidentally sprang to life. Yet this six wheeled, twin V8 oddity from 1981 is back in the spotlight, because its sole surviving example is hunting for a new owner. The price sits between 105 and 157 thousand dollars, roughly 97 to 145 thousand euros, which sounds almost modest for something this exotic. The phrase that defines the entire story is simple enough, a six wheeled supercar.
Wolfrace needed a bold publicity act in the early eighties. The company had a new line of alloy wheels and wanted a way to pull attention towards them. The solution came from an unexpected corner. They called in Nick Butler, the well known British custom builder. He sketched a futuristic wedge with a low, sharp body, as if borrowed from a science fiction prop room, then built it on a chassis that hid bits of Jaguar and Triumph. The result carried the same name as the wheel being advertised, Sonic.
There was no restraint on the engine front. Butler fitted two Rover 3.5 litre V8s, each good for about 200 horsepower. Together they created an all wheel drive setup, because each engine powered a different axle. How the two units were persuaded to work in harmony remains politely undisclosed. The cockpit received a cluster of gauges that gave the impression of a high tech organism rather than a publicity stunt, which helped the public believe the Sonic emerged from late night engineering sessions instead of a marketing brainstorm.
The Sonic did not confine itself to motor shows. It received full road approval in the United Kingdom and managed real miles on real roads.
In the nineties the Sonic was sold to a private owner. At one point it was even offered for close to one million pounds. The car then slipped out of sight for years and has only now reappeared, this time looking rather worse for wear.
The current owner bought the Sonic in poor condition and began an ambitious restoration. More than 100 thousand pounds, about 118 thousand euros, went into reviving the bodywork, the engines and the interior. Progress was swift until life added its usual complications. The owner estimates the job is roughly 80 percent complete but cannot take it any further. The Sonic now heads to a Historic Auctioneers sale in the hope that someone will return this peculiar supercar to a dignified state.
Its arrival on the market captures a slice of eighties ingenuity, a time when manufacturers searched for ever brighter ways to promote their products. In an era shaped by electric supercars, the idea of bolting two V8s into one body feels like a message from another age. Even so, this rare six wheeled machine shows how far companies were sometimes willing to go to get noticed. Today the Sonic is not trying to compete with modern technology. It offers a nostalgic glimpse into a period when bold ideas were allowed to take flight long before a spreadsheet could declare them unreasonable.
