Developed jointly by Steve Saleen for the initial concept, direction and engine, Hidden Creek Industries for resources and initial funding, Ray Mallock Ltd. (RML) for chassis, suspension and aerodynamics, and Phil Frank for the body and interior CAD design and development.

It is a bored-and-stroked derivative of Ford's 351 Windsor small block, with Cleveland-style canted valve heads which have been extensively reworked and modified.

Other features include an LCD monitor, rear-view camera, quick-release steering wheel and a 240 mph (390 km/h) speedometer.

[citation needed] The chassis uses a space frame design consisting of 4130 lightweight steel and aluminium honeycomb composite reinforcing panels.

Additional wind tunnel development lead to modifications in the exterior design which includes a full width rear spoiler, side skirts and under body channels along with new forged alloy wheels.

The interior comes with bucket seats, a digital tachometer, shift light indicator and a 240 mph speedometer.

Ferrari's then CEO Luca Cordero di Montezemolo was in attendance of the race and he admitted the S7-R's victory by saying "We were no match for the Saleen today".

[7][25] The Saleen S7 has been very successful in international motorsports having amassed many victories in professional racing in a number of different classes competing across the globe in America, Asia and Europe.

[26][27][28] The first S7-R assembled by RML was completed in late 2000 and made its racing debut in the American Le Mans Series event at Laguna Seca Raceway.

The S7-R quickly showed its capabilities, when Konrad finished in sixth place at the 12 Hours of Sebring, earning their first class victory.

Konrad Motorsport however struggled against the faster, higher-budget Corvette Racing team and could not score any victories, but were able to finish second in the championship.

For 2004, Saleen would have a resurgence of teams as RML returned to run FIA GT, Dominique Dupuy's DDO team entered the FFSA GT Championship, Konrad assisted the new Vitaphone Racing, and ACEMCO Motorsports purchased two brand-new S7-Rs, modified to better compete in the American Le Mans Series.

This left ACEMCO to take second in the American Le Mans Series, while DDO earned the only Saleen wins that year with three.

Oreca was chosen to prepare new S7-R chassis with upgrades under the supervision of Saleen engineers William Tally, Derk Hartland, Randall Speir, Matthew W. Wright and William Kreig to make them more competitive, which led to the team earning two victories in the Le Mans Series and winning the 2006 FFSA GT Championship.

In 2010, the Oreca finish-assembled S7-R (chassis number 610) of Larbre Compétition won the final and its only LMGT1 class victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

[29] Initial fabrication and assembly of this chassis was performed by Saleen's Irvine, CA engineering team in 2006-2007 after normal business hours due to a shortage of funding.