Category: Design/Aerodynamics
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Meet your heroes
There has long been a hashtag in the automotive world that is #makelanciagreatagain. It appears with startling regularity and is usually accompanied by pictures of their great rallying past. Rally cars have always given us the worlds best drivers and their machines have typically been poster cars for a generation. Walter Rohl with his Audi…
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Where are the coach builders now?
A brief look at the life, death and rebirth of coachbuilding As with the watch industry, the art of coachbuilding has had its ‘quartz crisis’ moment. Bespoke, luxury and labour-intensive bodywork were phased out for similar reasons. However, there is hope yet for the coachbuilders evolve in the new era of automobiles. Where it all…
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The Hidden Homages in the Ferrari F8 Tributo
The 488 GTB’s successor is finally here: it’s a bit of a stunner and it’s called the Ferrari F8 Tributo. Well, I say “finally”, but really it seems like just yesterday we were all gawping at the press photos of the 488. However, with McLaren and Lamborghini breathing down Ferrari’s neck with the likes of…
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How does this F1 car have a 100% win rate?
In most cases you can argue that the success of a race car is down to one of two things: 1) Drivers skill 2) Engineering Every so often, a car comes along with such unrivalled success that you cannot deny that its engineering gives it such a strong advantage. The Brabham BT46B is one such…
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What the flip happened here?
I reckon there’s a good chance you’ve seen this infamous photo at some point: Mark Webber’s Mercedes CLR flying into the air at a 1999 24 hours of LeMans practice session. And this was no isolated case. Incidents like these were occurring more frequently among the LeMans prototype series cars in the late 90’s –…
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Forward thinking at Prodrive
Making your way through the revolving door and into the laboratory-clean reception area to be greeted by Colin McRae’s 1995 Championship winning Impreza, and an Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3, you can only be in one place; Prodrive’s headquarters in Banbury, Oxfordshire. This team of geniuses, founded by former Aston Martin chairman David Richards CBE,…
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Alfa Romeo GTA or GTAm?
In 1962, the successor of the very popular Giulietta series was introduced. This car was the Alfa Romeo Giulia, internally called the “Series 105”. The coupé of the 105 series, used the shortened floorpan from the Giulia Berlina and was designed by Bertone. The name of the car evolved from Giulia Sprint GT to Giulia Sprint and to GTJ (Junior) and GTV (Veloce)…
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„Only Flying is better“
The slogan was used by Mercedes-Benz to introduce the successor of the 300SL Gullwing, the 300SL Roadster. In 1957 open-top two-seaters were incredibly popular which lead to the decision to convert the legendary W198, Gullwing, into its roadster version. The production of Mercedes’ new highlight started in 1957 and ended in 1963. The main frame…
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“Why must art be static?” – AC
The BMW Art Car project started from the simplest and most elegant idea of using a race car as an artist canvas for their creation. Art aficionados appreciated the novelty and ambition of the project and critics received it rather positively worldwide. In 1975, French auctioneer and racing driver Hervé Poulain started the project by…
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Dream car of the 50’s.
The word Gullwing, was entirely new interpreted in the 50’s. Ever since then, Mercedes-Benz fans turn their heads with admiration as soon as the word flies through the air. The 300 SL is a 1950’s dream car and one of the most famous vehicles from the brand with the star. The roots of the legendary sports car…
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The one true icon…
Being the first Porsche to ever win first overall at Le Mans, the 917 for sure deserves its legendary status. Well, the 1971 movie “Le Mans” starring Steve McQueen certainly helped! The type 912 air-cooled flat-12 engine was designed using two racing flat-6 and a specific crankshaft design similar to those of V engines allowing…
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From coachbuilding to everything…
For any automotive enthusiast, the name Pininfarina is no stranger and generally correlates with quality work. He can be considered the godfather of car design because of the brand’s massive worldwide presence and that the name even rings a bell to non-car people. Battista “Pinin” Farina started working in his brother’s body shop since the…