PIM

PIM was a small American exotic-car constructor that developed the VR-2, a one-off dual-rotary prototype. The company operated from Phelan, California and promoted the VR-2 as an American-built exotic undergoing extended track and dry-lake testing. Contemporary material described an ongoing development programme with testing at El Mirage Dry Lake in 2011 and an ambition to follow this with very limited production of a “streetable” version in the 2011–2012 timeframe, but no later evidence indicated that series production was actually realized, and the VR-2 remained known as a prototype rather than a catalog model.

The VR-2 itself was a mid-engined coupé on a tubular steel and chromoly spaceframe with composite aluminum and carbon-fibre structures. It used unequal-length double-wishbone suspension with coil-over dampers and adjustable anti-roll bars, and 15-inch disc brakes with six-piston calipers. The car’s defining feature was its proprietary Multi-Motor Power System: two 2.6-litre rotary engines coupled through a PIM-designed dual-input transfer case (MPS) to a longitudinal four-speed synchromesh transaxle. Factory specification sheets quoted a curb weight around 3,200 lb, a 115-inch wheelbase, 168-inch length, 84-inch width and 44-inch height, with a rear-biased 40/60 weight distribution and performance figures left “to be determined” pending testing. The VR-2 incorporated extensive in-house electronics, including a dedicated CPU-based management and data-acquisition system with remote-access capability, positioning the car as a technology-heavy, experimental supercar project rather than a conventional kit or replica.