About Gillet
Gillet is a Belgian automobile manufacturer, started in 1994 by Tony Gillet, which produced the 'Vertigo' sports coupe powered by a 3.0lt Alfa Romeo V6. Tony Gillet is a former racing driver.
How the Vertigo was born
As a racing driver, the first part of his career, he constantly pursued perfection. Hill climbing races champion of Belgium for several consecutive years, builder and driver for two Paris-Dakar rallies, he came to the automobile industry in 1982, when he became the Belgian importer for Donkervoort (a Dutch Lotus Super Seven-styled car). He broke the record for 0 to 100 km/h, in 3.85 seconds, in January 1990 with a specially modified Donkervoort. More recently, the Vertigo holds the current 0-60 time for regularly produced autos, with 3.1 seconds.
The production Vertigo differed from the first prototype in several points. First of all, the chassis was now made of carbon fibre and honeycomb materials (a technology directly borrowed from Formula One), insuring a greater strength and resistance, while being lighter (58 kg for the bare chassis).
Secondly, the design was changed to be more fluid, with higher side windows and retractable headlights, being now even closer to the designer's first drawings. The first Vertigo prototype, achieved during 1991, was unveiled at the 71st Brussels Auto Show in January 1992.
