BBC News turned its video cameras on Russia's homegrown supercar, the Marussia B2, as it rumbled around the company's ex-Soviet factory in northern Moscow. Marussia Motors just bought a controlling stake in Virgin Racing too, so you know it's well-endowed.
The Marussia B2 will likely soon be the first high-end sports car produced in Russia. CEO Nikolai Fomenko, the guy in the video, says the B2 can get from zero to 62 (100 km/h) in 3.5 seconds and top out around 211 mph. At a price (converted from British Pounds) of around $133,000, it stands to undercut similarly performing cars by a significant margin. All but the British-built Cosworth engine has been developed and built in-house.
Fomenko says the company's received more orders than the 300 cars it's planning to produce over the next year. And by buying Virgin Racing—along with 2011 drivers Timo Glock and Jerome d'Ambrosio—he stands to get the Marussia Motors name out to millions of F1 fans, many of whom are Marussia's target audience.
Fomenko was a member of the former Soviet protopunk band Secret, before becoming a comic actor, a race-car driver and finally the supercar entrepreneur he is today.
Here he is singing that beloved classic "Dorogaya Peredacha"
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