Volante Issue 4 - July 2015

VOLANTE

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PLEME N UP

TERRE A LA

A JOURNAL FOR THE GENTLEMAN DRIVER

JULY - SEPTEMBER 2015

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1962 Mercedes Benz 300SL disc brake roadster, DB353 Silver-Blue metallic with red, blue convertible top, S/N 19804210 003010, 3.0 litre in-line 6 cylinder engine, 4 speed gear box, factory disc brakes from new, European headlights, factory hard top, fitted luggage, tool roll and jack, original engine, superb Rudi & Company show quality restoration completed 2010.

Copley Motorcars 37 Chestnut Street Needham, Massachusetts 02492 USA Tel. +1 781.444.4646 | e-mail copleycars@gmail.com | www.copleymotorcars.com

1954 Ferrari 500 Mondial Pinin Farina Spyder, Serial Number 0426 MD, Engine Number 0426 MD, the 9th of just 22 Series 1 500 Mondial spyders, completed by Pinin Farina April 1954, Aurelio Lampredi 2.0 litre engine, raced immediately following completion by regular Scuderia Ferrari driver Franco Cortese in the 26th Mille Miglia May 1954, finishing 14th overall. (Signori Cortese known too as the driver with the most Mille Miglia finishes ever.) Raced again at the 1957 Mille Miglia by Alfredo Vaccari. 0426 MD is documented by noted Ferrari historian Marcel Massini and is matching numbers, a Mille Miglia Storica veteran, and undoubtedly welcomed at any concours or rallye worldwide.

Copley Motorcars 37 Chestnut Street Needham, Massachusetts 02492 USA Tel. +1 781.444.4646 | e-mail copleycars@gmail.com | www.copleymotorcars.com

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volante

04

f sur to

biA - A s rA

pleme n up

terre A lA

A JournAl for the GentlemAn Driver

July - September 2015

OMR4

red

AED40

BHD4

KWD3

bull

QR40

step into the ring with the most extreme v12 lAmbo ever

volante • july - September 2015

Power horSe

the All-neW ferrAri 488 gtB sets A neW BenchmArk for v8 turBos

Volante04 Cover.indd 1

Blue Charge

We hit the AscAri rAce trAck in the Porsche 911 tArgA 4 gts

Str eet k ing

An exclusive first drive of the 2016 chevrolet cAmAro

Cover image: Lamborghini LP750-4 SuperVeloce courtesy of Lamborghini Automobili

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7/16/15 11:32 AM

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or the staff at the Volante offices, it’s been a busy two months. We have been, quite literally, spanning the globe to deliver a cornucopia of fine motoring morsels for this, our fourth issue.

Up to the challenge, we start at Belle Isle, in the good ‘ol US of A, with first-time contributor Liam Nelson getting an exclusive look at the all-new 2016 Chevrolet Camaro. The sixth generation of the bow tie brand’s famous muscle car isn’t set to arrive here in the GCC for a while, so enjoy the sneak peek we’re offering, starting on page 38.

Cruising to Barcelona, we join Kevin Hackett in the Catalan capital, where he was tasked with facing down possibly the most vicious fighting bull ever to leave the Lamborghini pen, the mighty Aventador SuperVeloce. Fortunately, he lived to tell the tale, which he does with aplomb right here in Volante on page 44.

Keeping ourselves busy while Kev was squeezing himself out of his Ted Baker matador outfit was easy. I played the part of the horse whisperer in Maranello, Italy, behind the wheel of the fastest and most powerful – and, without a doubt, the most fun – V8 Ferrari ever. Get the “full salad with a dab of oppo” on page 50, where I give the epic, twin turbo-charged Fezza 488 GTB a full shakedown.

To Spain once again, where Mr Nelson applies his particular set of skills to piloting the new Porsche 911 Targa 4 GTS to the world famous Ascari Race Resort. Turn to page 56 to read his verdict on the all-new, retro-styled, open-topped effort from Stuttgart’s finest.

Helmets at the ready, we then join another Vo la n t e | J u l y - Se pt e m be r 20 1 5 |

first-time contributor, the mightily-monikered Raj Warrior, as he triumphantly rockets around the streets of Muscat aboard the biggest beast in Hinkley’s stable of iron horses. Innuendos about studs and bareback riding aside, turn to page 62 to see why the 2015 Triumph Rocket III is the “torque of the town.”

In search of a classic, we head Across The Universe from Oman to Liverpool, where Mr Hackett, With A Little Help From His Friends at Aston Martin, enjoyed a Day In The Life of Sir Paul McCartney, behind the wheel of the singer's 1966 Aston Martin DB6. It’s a story he’s sure to still be telling When I’m Sixty Four, but you can read it now on page 68. Trust me, he Won’t Let You Down.

Same could be said of another Volante regular, Phill Tromans, who, in our new feature section “Telemetry,” visits Bosch in Germany to discover that the future of motoring is being developed right now. Find tomorrow’s technology, today, on page 74.

Between all of that lot, you’ll find all of our regular dispatches on the news, fashion, style, grooming, gear and accessories to keep you on point as the summer months draw to a close.

You’re guaranteed to find something within the pages of this fourth instalment of Volante to whet your appetite for the life of the gentleman driver, whatever your tastes.

Ending on a musical note, in the words of Sir Paul and Co., while “you say hello” to all of the great content that lies ahead, “I’ll say goodbye.”

| I gn i t i o n | C o n t e n t s |

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ignition 20 | Contributors first gear 22 | The Auctioneer: James Nicholls reports from Villa d'Este in Italy 23 | The Restorer: Simon Thornley on prepping a Mille Miglia racer 24 | News 32 | Gear 34 | Calendar

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| I gn i t i o n | C o n t e n t s |

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the garage 38 | 2016 Chevrolet Camaro 44 | Lamborghini Aventador LP750-4 SuperVeloce 50 | Ferrari 488GTB 56 | Porsche 911 Targa 4 GTS 62 | Triumph Rocket III 68 | 1966 Aston Martin DB6 Telemetry 74 | Driving The Future: How German company Bosch is shaping the future of motoring

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grand tourismo 80 | Fitting Room 83 | Iconic Tracks: Imola 85 | Rev Counter 88 | Something For The Weekend driven men 92 | Victor Gauntlett The Club House 98 | Automobilia 100 | Books 102 | Exhaust Note Vo la n t e | J u l y - Se pt e m be r 20 1 5 |

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| E x h a u s t No t e s | C o n t r ibu t o rs |

contributors “They had holes to fill on every page and jammed in any vaguely newsworthy string of words provided it did not include expletives, which they were apparently saving for their own use around the office.”

- Tom Rachman, The Imperfectionists

We encourage you to raise a glass in salute of this league of extraordinary wordsmiths, without whom, this issue of Volante would not have been possible.

Kevin Hackett Kevin has been described as “the Ray Winstone of motoring journalism,” though whether this is due to his take-no-prisoners approach to reviewing cars or his sunny disposition remains unclear. He has been obsessing over anything with four wheels since he was eight years old, when his father bought a Triumph TR6 to use as the family car. Like father, like son, he has done exactly the same thing. A former motoring editor of The National in the UAE, he has also written for, among others, FHM (UK), The Times newspaper in London and Sur la Terre Arabia. When he’s not upsetting GM’s top brass, he plies his trade as the Publishing Chief at Dubaibased automotive creative agency, WSF

Liam Nelson Liam Nelson lives his life one meager letter away from a successful career in the movies and dreams of owning a husky Irish accent to keep kidnappers at bay. Despite his lack of screen credits and humble California intonation, Liam has enjoyed writing about motoring for the Middle East market for seven years. At some point, an optimistic PR let him drive on the track and he’s been hooked ever since. Liam’s work has appeared regionally in Wheels and Top Gear Middle East. In the US, his motoring musings often appear in the likes of Overland Traveler, among others.

Liam currently resides in California where

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he spends his time covering (mostly) the US automotive market and stateside car launches while trying to avoid being hit by a Google self-driving car.

James Nicholls James is a writer, lecturer and broadcaster based in Sydney, Australia. He specialises in writing about and photographing classic cars, boats and any of the other finer things in life. He has spent a great deal of time on the other side of the fence, too.

As well as running the Motorclassica Auction on behalf of Theodore Bruce Auctioneers & Valuers (Australia’s oldest auction house) he was head of the car department for Bonhams & Goodman and Sotheby’s Australia, which means he knows a good deal when he sees one and can spot a knacker from 200 yards, in poor light. A regular contributor to high profile magazines around the world, including Invictus, Rewind, Jetgala, Ocean, ArteNavale, he has now added this venerable organ to his list of literary conquests.

Phill Tromans Phill has written about cars professionally for the past decade, firstly in the UK and then over a six-year period in the Middle East. Formerly part of the editorial teams at Car Middle East, Evo Middle East and Crank & Piston, he now freelances on automotive and luxury topics for magazines and newspapers

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around the world. Highlights of his career include driving from the Nürburgring to Abu Dhabi in a Cadillac, spending three months crossing the US in a Buick, and drifting Bentleys on ice with rally ace Juha Kankkunen. He’s also interviewed numerous Formula 1 drivers, three different Bond girls and fought in a reenactment of the English Civil War. When he’s not writing, Phill enjoys lusting over fine watches that he can’t afford, building model cars from Lego Technic, and rollerblading. Why? Because, damn it, he’s an adult and can do what he wants.

Raj Warrior An avid biker, photographer and self-confessed gadget freak, Raj has run various car publications over the past two decades. He currently heads Automan, Oman's only car magazine.

Besides his passion for cars and motorcycles, he professes a love for travel and good food, which tends to fit in nicely with his job. Raj brings his engineering background to his reviews, building the technological base for the emotional connection with the test vehicle. This aforementioned emotional connection has, from time to time, manifested itself financially, with a series of vehicles he has positively reviewed now populating his personal garage. His current favourites are his bikes: a Triumph Bonneville and a Yamaha MT-09. Despite being under marital orders to reduce his collection, he still hopes that someday a Mazda MX-5 will join them.

first gear

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| Fi r s t G e a r | C o l u m n is t |

James Nicholls picks an unexpected winner from the thoroughbreds on show at the

2015 villa d’este in italy.

The Auctioneer

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erhaps the most glamorous, flamboyant and exclusive of any classic car event in the world, the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este was first held in 1929. The Second World War saw the demise of the Concorso, but it was revived in the 1990s. Since then it has become one of the showpiece events of the automotive calendar.

The verdant gardens of the neoclassical palazzo, the Grand Hotel Villa d’Este and the neighbouring Villa Erba right on the shores of Lake Como in northern Italy, hosted 51 outstanding and historically important classic vehicles, plus seven concept and prototype cars, to be judged by a jury of experts.

Twenty-four different marques were featured in this year’s beauty pageant, with the owners of the wondrous machines coming from 17 different countries.

Villa d’Este, completed in 1568, is itself a place of timeless beauty, and the cars on show in the nine different categories fully reflected this. The earliest vehicles on display were dedicated to pre-war coach-built luxury and included a monstruous-sized Isotta Fraschini and Mercedes-Benz including the 1937 540K,

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one of only 26 two-seater styled Special Roadsters, which was part of F1 magnate Bernie Ecclestone’s collection. Other fantastic pre-war cars on show also included a 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 with Spider coachwork

by Zagato.

In 1925 Rolls-Royce launched the first Phantom model, so, to honour the 90th anniversary of this, perhaps the most aristocratic of all motors, no less than five Phantoms, through the ages from 1929 to 1971 were parked on the luscious lawn. A host of stunning coach-built coupés were also in evidence, amongst which the 1952 Vignale bodied Ferrari 212 Europa caught one’s breath for its beauty as much as the 1952 Pegaso “Cupola” did for its audacity. The Pegaso is oft designated as the “Spanish Ferrari” and the bright chrome and yellow car with red side-wall tyres shown at Villa d’Este is surely one of the most remarkable of the 87 cars manufactured in its seven years of production.

Also in this class was the only Ferrari 250 not bodied by Pininfarina, and created for Leopold III of Belgium and his wife Liliana de Retry.

For any Jaguar lover, the sight of the unique Zagato bodied 1957 Jaguar XK140 was a treat

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and I still find it unbelievable that this was the only one ever made.

As well, of course, as cars of unbelievable style and luxury, there were also plenty of cars of speed, including a special category of gentlemen’s racers, so prominent in Italy in the post-war period. Among them was a 1954 Fiat 8V with its aluminium body and independent suspension on all four wheels, penned by Giovanni Michelotti whilst at the Carrozeria Vignale, which had committed to many a race, including the 1955 Mille Miglia.

Amongst my favourites were two classic sports racers. The first, a 1959 Maserati 60/61 “Birdcage,” whilst the second, a 1964 MacLaren M1-A that was driven by ace Graham Hill and also listed Elvis Presley as a driver, as it featured in film performances with him in 1966.

However, it is possible that the 2015 Concorso will be remembered for a car that is a true spiritual successor of the original concept of the event. Amongst all the incredible thoroughbred veteran and vintage machines on show, one car that stood out was not one from the past but possibly one from the future. The heritage, styling and unquestionable beauty of the 2015 Bentley “Exp 10 Speed Six,” was the equal to any of the great masters of elegance on display.

| Fi r s t G e a r | C o l u m n is t |

Simon Thornley offers an insight into what it takes to prepare a

1953

lancia aurelia

B20GT for the grueling mille miglia.

The Restorer

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bove all, we restorers believe it is our job to add value to our clients’ cars – not necessarily financially, but in terms of authenticity, beauty, longevity and above all driveability. So one of the first questions we ask the owner when a new project arrives is “What do you want the car for?”

There are many reasons to restore a car. You may have bought a dust-covered barn find to be restored to former glory (probably better); you may simply have worn out your favourite classic after years of hard use. Or perhaps you want to compete – historic racing is a fabulous scene, there are endurance rallies spanning continents, or you may want to grace the concours lawns of Pebble Beach or Villa d’Este.

Each answer will lead to a slightly different approach. Whilst the quality levels are the same in terms of general restoration, the emphasis changes according to use.

To prepare a car properly for a concours event requires hundreds of additional hours on the detail – screw heads lining up, all bolts showing to identical length, wiring beautifully routed and so on. The engine

bay and underside of the car will literally look as new with every detail correct, and everything historically authentic.

Restoring the car of your dreams for road use puts the emphasis on durability – underbody protection for example – and usability – you may want a bespoke air conditioning system or upgraded sound (music or exhaust). “Build me a fast road car” is a common request, leading to faster cams, porting of heads and special pistons.

One of the ultimate tests is the Mille Miglia, the famed Italian road race covering 1000 miles from Brescia, down to Rome and looping back to the starting point. Run over four days, for those who take it seriously it is a long, hard, fast event, with one day of over 12 hours’ driving at maximum speeds on public roads. It is exclusive (only cars that participated in the original event which ran between 1927 and 1957 are eligible), with several thousand applications for approximately 400 hundred places.

We have successfully restored, prepared and supported clients in Lancia Aurelia B20GTs in each of the past two years on the MM. This year we finished the

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restoration on a 2nd Series, 2-litre car, which had an interesting history in Mexico before being purchased by a Belgian enthusiast and shipped straight to us. Having researched the car’s factory specification we took it back to its original black nitrocellulose paint, added period correct rally seats, and literally rebuilt everything – engine, transaxle, brakes, dashboard and instruments.

Our client only learnt that his entry had been successful eight weeks before the event.

We then had to install timing and navigation equipment, upgrade all the exterior lights, put together an extensive kit of spares and run the car in – pretty hard – for 800 miles. The engine was also run on the dyno and put out 20hp more than in period. Long evenings were spent double-checking every wiring connection, every nut, bolt and component.

The preparation paid off. Nothing major failed – a relief as Parc Ferme check ups took place after midnight – and “our” car finished 120 places higher than its starting number.

The owner’s post-event SMS made it all worthwhile: “I have become a true Lancista… car ran great and support was perfect”.

That is what we restore cars for.

Simon Thornley is the co-founder of ThornleyKelham, one of the UK’s top restoration and sales houses for classic and performance cars. www.thornleykelham.com

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Audi

Audi Synthesises Petrol-Free Gasoline

Audi's partnership with Global Bioenergies will see the company push the boundaries of cleaner fuel development.

“e-benzin” uses no petroleum and burns cleanly with no emissions, the company claims.

T

he oft-perpetuated internet/movie/ book trope about a futuristic clean fuel derived from sunlight and seawater may just, er, hold water. At least, if Audi’s seemingly impossible claims are to be believed.

The company reported in May that it has synthetically produced a small amount of 100-octane fuel, called “e-benzin” without any trace of petroleum. Yup, you read that correctly. Not one ounce of artificially-added long-deceased dinosaur.

According to the German Car Maker, it is 100-percent iso-octane and, because “e-benzin” contains no sulphur or benzene, it burns very cleanly. So far the few precious litres of “e-benzin” that have been produced with Audi’s research partner Global Bioenergies, have been

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created from plant material, making the fuel carbon-neutral.

Audi is now working to tweak the process and figure out how to eliminate the biomass requirement altogether and to create the fuel, in greater quantities, using nothing but water, hydrogen, sunlight and carbon dioxide.

The company is now planning to start testing the new fuel in the lab and in test engines, which because of its high octane grade, will eventually enable engines to use higher compression ratios for enhanced efficiency.

"Audi is now working to tweak the process and figure out how to create the fuel in greater quantities, using nothing but water, hydrogen, sunlight and carbon dioxide. " Vo la n t e | J u l y - Se pt e m be r 20 1 5 |

Audi has been taking a broadbased approach to the development of CO2-neutral, non-fossil fuels in recent years and is already producing larger quantities of “e-gas” (synthetic methane) on an industrial scale for its customers. Research projects with various partners are dedicated to Audi’s “e-ethanol,” “e-diesel,” and, of course, “e-benzin.”

If Audi’s test results show that “e-benzin” can power an internal combustion engine effectively, then this could be the first significant step on the journey to find a viable replacement for traditional fossil fuels.

And that would be great, wouldn’t it? I know we’re getting ahead of ourselves here, but think of a world with a cleaner future for our children; no more worrying about your share portfolio falling off a cliff as the price of oil fluctuates and no more wars or disputes over lands that just happen to be the final resting place of longdecomposed brontosauri.

Best of all, though? There’ll be no need to ever have to buy a G Whizz as we can all have naturally-aspirated V12s.

Lexus Takes Us Back to the Future

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Lexus

O

k, so we’ve all seen the memes clogging up our Facebook news feeds, but this is the year that Marty McFly came Back To The Future and, so far, there’s not a sniff of a flying car, self-tying Nikes, shrink-to-fit jackets or – and this is the real disappointment – Hoverboards.

Well, until now. In our second Sci-fi-turned-reality-themed story, we doff our cap to the clever chaps (and chapettes) at Lexus who have, as part of a design and technology collaboration, created a fully working Hoverboard.

What’s that we hear you cry?

Great Scott, indeed!

The Japanese luxury car maker has teamed up with experts in super-conductive technology to create one of the most advanced Hoverboards the world has seen.

The device combines magnetic levitation with liquid nitrogencooled superconductors and permanent magnets. Which means

Great Scott! A Working hoverboard from Lexus!

that, while Griff Tannen would catch you in the end because his “Pit Bull” can glide over anything, the Lexus model, despite being limited to magnetic polished metal surfaces, will have a much better ride quality.

The corporate team have had their input into its design, too, with the board taking a few cues from the company’s cars, chief among which is the signature spindle grille and combination of modern and natural materials used in its construction.

Despite being the key to sciencefiction nirvana for many of a certain generation, the Hoverboard is only part of an international showcase for the brand’s creativity and innovation and will, sadly, not be offered for sale.

That’s heavy, Doc.

Ford Eyes Le Mans Victory

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ford

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n news that will come as no surprise to absolutely anyone, but will certainly be the cause of celebration amongst endurance racing fans, Ford has announced that it will once again race at Le Mans with a new Ford GT race car, which will be based on the road-going model unveiled at Detroit in January.

Starting next year, The Ford GT race car will compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in the Le Mans GT Endurance class for professional teams and drivers.

Both the production car and race car will arrive in 2016 to mark the 50th anniversary of Ford GT race cars taking all three podium spots at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ford went on to repeat the feat over the next three consecutive years.

Ford says that it will run the full 2016 schedules of the FIA World Endurance Championship and the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, making its competition debut in January 2016 in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Florida. Both series teams intend to compete with a four-car effort at Le Mans.

“As we developed the Ford GT, from the outset, we wanted to ensure we had a car that has what it takes to return to the world of GT racing,” said Raj Nair, Group VP of Global Product Development and Chief Technical Officer.

“We believe the Ford GT’s advances in aerodynamics, lightweight construction and EcoBoost power will make for a compelling race car that can once again compete on a global stage.” 

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24 hours of le mans

McDreamy Result For Dempsey hollywood-heart-throb-turned-racing-driver, patrick dempsey,

scored a le mans podium finish with porsche in the gte-am class.

P

news in brief

atrick Dempsey celebrated his greatest success as a race driver with Porsche in front of 260,000 spectators at the 83rd 24 Hours of Le Mans last month.

At the wheel of the Dempsey Proton Racing 470hp Porsche 911 RSR, the American actor, best known for his portrayal of Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepard in the hospital TV Drama, Grey’s Anatomy, crossed the finish line in

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second place in the GTE-Am class.

His teammates were Porsche works driver Patrick Long (USA) and Marco Seefried (Austria), all of whom put in a strong team effort, particularly in the final phase of the race where they grabbed their chance.

After falling back slightly in the field in the morning, around midday Patrick Long battled his way back to third place. Using the skill and routine from

Dempsey's number 77 Porsche on its way to a podium finish at Le Mans.

his twelve Le Mans starts, he laid the foundation for the success.

“Le Mans is a wonderful race. It’s always a great experience to compete here,” Dempsey said after the race. “For us, the last race hour was a particularly tough battle but the whole team did everything they possibly could. Luckily we were rewarded with a podium result.

“That alone makes all the hard work worthwhile. I’m proud of the team.”

Lambo Confirms SV Roadster

Alfa Museum Opens Its Doors

Tesla Drives A Billion Miles

Lamborghini has announced that there will be a roadster version of its insane Aventador LP 750-4 SuperVeloce.

Speaking at Goodwood, Lamborghini chief, Stephan Winkelmann, confirmed that production of 500 of the drop-top SuperVeloce is in the pipeline. "All 600 units [of the Aventador SV coupé] have been sold, with first deliveries starting now,” he said. “We will also produce a roadster version, which our dealers worldwide are now taking orders for." The Aventador LP750-4 SV coupé delivers 50 horsepower more than its “normal” stablemate, and is also 50kg lighter.

Volante contributor Kevin Hackett tells you all about how terrifyingly enjoyable it is to drive on page 44.

Alfa Romeo is celebrating its 105th anniversary by opening its historical museum in Arese, Milan, Italy to the public.

The museum is at the heart of an immersive brand centre which also has a bookshop, café, documentation centre, test-drive track, event venues, showroom and customer delivery area, seamlessly tying the past, present and future of the Alfa Romeo brand together under one roof. Inaugurated on June 24 during the world preview of the new Alfa Romeo Giulia, “La macchina del tempo – Museo storico Alfa Romeo” exhibits 69 models that mark not just the development of the Alfa Romeo brand, but the very history of the automobile itself. It opened its doors to the public on June 30 and it will be accessible to visitors every day, except Tuesdays. www.museoalfaromeo.com

Tesla has reported that its total vehicle fleet worldwide has driven over a billion miles. In just the three years since Model S hit the road, owners across the world have travelled the equivalent of over 4,000 trips to the moon, or almost 40,000 times around the Earth. By driving electric miles, Tesla owners have saved more than half a million tons of CO2. Tesla will kick off this fleet milestone with the launch of the “Next Billion Miles Tour” which will travel around North America, Europe and Asia offering customers the opportunity to experience the Model S. 

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| Fi r s t G e a r | N ew s |

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nautilus

'Extraordinary' Movie Car For Sale

The Nautilus Shore Car started life as a Land Rover fire tender.

finding nemo has never been easier. he’ll be bidding on this extraordinary movie prop car.

T

news in brief

hose of you who follow us on Instagram (@volante_magazine) will recognise this sixwheeled beauty as Captain Nemo's Nautilus’ shore car from the adventure movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which is set to go under the hammer.

Designed by production designer and art director, Carol Spier, and one of only two made, this fully functional and complete vehicle was used throughout the film and features heavily on the promotional posters. Its twin was rigged with scaffolding for filming the actor's close-ups.

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The vehicle started life as a Land Rover fire tender, adapted via a steel frame with the addition of a Rover V8 engine. The chassis is covered in an intricate ivory coloured fibreglass shell and features a wealth of elaborate embellishments in an aged gold effect on both the exterior and interior.

Inspiration for the decoration was taken from the Hindu god Ganesha and assorted flora and fauna. The interior is trimmed with faux leather and even features the original Land Rover dials.

The wheels each measure 72cm and, hidden within the arches, are hydraulics to adjust the ride height. The car retains most of its original functionality and shows signs of wear and evidence of running repairs from on-set use.

In spite of this, the car is in full running condition. While it is hoped that the car will bring up to $40,000, the new owner will also need a significant amount of private land in which to drive it, as the Nautilus’ shore car is not road legal.

McLaren Lands Engine Award

600hp! That's Some Kind Of Juke

Eagle Scoops Goodwood Design Prize

The M838T engine from McLaren Automotive has retained the prestigious “3-litre to 4-litre” title at the 2015 Engine of the Year Awards. This achievement marks a third successive victory for the highly-efficient twin turbo engine fitted to the core models in the McLaren Super Series, the groundbreaking 650S Coupé and 650S Spider. The 3.8-litre twin turbo V8 petrol engine has been designed and developed by McLaren in collaboration with Ricardo and has undergone significant changes further to the introduction of the McLaren 650S in 2014. Now in its 17th year, the International Engine of the Year Awards were presented at Engine Expo 2015.

The Nissan Juke-R, which made its debut in 2011 under the self-titled banner “the world’s first Crossover supercar,” has had a makeover. Marrying Nissan’s Juke with the engine and running gear from the company’s legendary GT-R sportscar, the Juke-R 2.0. was unveiled in the Supercar Paddock at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. As well as some beefed-up aesthetic touches, the car now has a staggering 600hp – the same output as the GT-R NISMO!

British E-type specialists, Eagle, took top honours at the Goodwood Festival of Speed’s Cartier “Style et Luxe” Concours. The company’s spectacular Speedster came top of its class: "Modern Classics - Improving perfection?" Once the esteemed panel of nine judges – which included Apple aesthetics guru, Sir Jonathan Ive, Viscount Linley and model-cum-racer, Jodie Kidd – cast their verdicts, The Eagle had beaten off competition from Pininfarina’s reimagined Ferrari Enzo, the one-off P4/5, a Singer Porsche 911 and the Morgan 3-Wheeler, among others, to snag the prize. 

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| Fi r s t G e a r | N ew s |

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land rover

One-Off Defender Marks 2m Milestone land rover uk’s two-millionth

4x4 will be one-of-a-kind.

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fter 67 years of producing the world’s toughest and most iconic 4x4s, a truly unique vehicle has been built to commemorate the production of the two-millionth Series Land Rover and Defender at the company's Solihull plant in the UK. In December 2015, collectors and Defender fans will be given the opportunity to own this unique piece of Land Rover’s history when it is auctioned by prestigious and globally renowned auction house, Bonhams. Reflecting Defender’s heritage, all proceeds will be donated to Land Rover’s humanitarian and conservation partners – the International Federation of Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Born Free Foundation.

The “Defender 2,000,000” vehicle features a plethora of distinctive finishing touches. A map of Red Wharf Bay – where the design for the original Land Rover was first drawn in the sand – is engraved into the aluminium fender, which contrasts with the exterior Indus Silver satin paint.

A unique “No. 2,000,000” badge sits on the rear of the vehicle, which is mirrored on the

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interior console and the design is finished with Santorini Black wheels and wheel arches, roof, door hinges, grille and mirror caps.

Inside, the leather seats also feature the “Red Wharf Bay” graphic and “No. 2,000,000” logos have been stitched on the headrests. A bespoke aluminium plaque, signed by everyone who helped to assemble the vehicle is fitted to the driver’s seat plinth.

On the front and rear, S90 HUE Vo la n t e | J u l y - Se pt e m be r 20 1 5 |

registration plates – a reference to the first ever pre-production Land Rover, registration “HUE 166” – complete this one-of-a-kind Land Rover Defender.

Production of the original Land Rover Series I began at the famous Lode Lane facility in Solihull in 1947, ahead of its launch at the Amsterdam Motor Show. For the seven decades since, the plant has built the company's Series I, II, III and Defender models.

| Fi r s t G e a r | Ge a r |

the best bits of kit for car and driver editor's pick

High Camp Trailers

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he perfect accompaniment to an overnight desert sojourn, this wonderfully retro “teardrop” trailer from High Camp Trailers is your compact home away from home. High Camp specialises in building classic, yet modern, camping trailers and only a limited number are built each year, with great attention to detail. Wrapped in a beautiful aluminium shell that protects a warm, inviting birch interior, it comes fully equipped. Drop the tailgate and you

have a fully functional kitchen, complete with cooler and cooking top, while inside you’ll find a comfy mattress, storage units and a custom iPad mount for watching movies in bed. Each trailer can be fully customised by adding a hot water delivery unit, shower enclosure, storage cover, battery monitor and a solar charging package, among numerous other options. For around $15,000, hitting the great outdoors just got a little more great. www.highcamptrailers.com

Rolo Travel Bag

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Cobra JumPack

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hile you probably have a set of jumper cables in the boot of your car, what happens when your battery goes flat and there's no other car in sight? That’s where the JumPack from Cobra comes in.

Despite its diminutive size, it still packs enough juice to jump most cars, as well as motorcycles – even boats – multiple times on a single charge.

In addition the palm-sized gadget features a built in LED flashlight with strobe and S.O.S. functions along with a powerful USB charger for mobile devices. A must for every glove compartment. www.cobra.com

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f you travel a lot then this may just be the Holy Grail of bags.

With the exception of laptops or iPads, fill the Rolo with anything you want to take with you and trust that it will condense your shirts, trousers and underwear into their most compact, most portable form possible. Unravelled, the Rolo takes the shape of a garment bag. It has a 360-degree swivel hanging hook at the top and extends into four military-grade nylon mesh zippered pockets for clothing storage. Once packed the bag spirals back together, condensing contents and buckling at the top to create an easily-managed 16-inch long, six-inch wide roll.

The Rolo exterior is made of PVC-coated nylon, so it's also waterresistant and ideal for being slung over your shoulder when, say, riding your motorcycle. www.rolotravel.com

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| Fi r s t G e a r | Ge a r |

Coleman Leather Coolers

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hen your car has such a beautiful leather interior, why not match your picnic accessories, and with temperatures steadily rising, lugging a cool box on your day trips is a necessity, so why not do it in style? With these leather-covered coolers from Coleman, which are available online from Jayson Home, you get all the triedand-tested quality that the Coleman name brings, along with a cooler that would make Ron Burgundy jealous. Whether you need to keep your adult refreshments cool or tote around lunch and drinks for the family, there is a whole range of cowhide-covered coolers that will match the dashing interior of your motor. www.jaysonhome.com

Ninebot One Self-Balancing Scooter

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t might be a little daunting to look at, especially if you’re not a proficient unicyclist. However, fear not, much like the Segway, the Ninebot One self-balancing scooter is pretty simple to get to grips with and is ideal for situations where a bike is impractical and a traditional car even more so. A fine option for urban transportation, the Ninebot One’s electric motor offers a top speed of roughly 13 mph and, thanks to a sizeable battery, it has a range of up to 18 miles. It has a number of optional shell colours and designs for you to personalise your ride and its trip computer can sync with your phone. Its pedals fold up for storage and, with a built-in handle and a weight around 13kgs, it's easy to carry once you've reached your destination. Your wallet will be even easier to carry though, with it being $999 lighter. www.ninebot.com

the cool way to pack supplies

Vintage Electric Cruz E-Bike

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K, we know we had bikes in the last issue as well, but when this one came across the desk it had to be included.

Because look at it. This limited edition e-bike is one of only fifty that will be built and is a classic California cruiser with design elements reminiscent of the American Art Deco movement.

The company says it drew its inspiration from the outlawed board-track motorcycles of the early 1900s. The Cruz delivers a top speed of 36mph in race mode, while regenerative breaking, coupled with Shimano Alfine hydraulic disk brakes, provides riders with stop-on-a-dime control. It has a sandcast aluminium battery box, powerful LED lighting, Phil-Wood front hub and a Brooks England Ltd leather saddle and grips. A powerful 52-volt battery gives the Cruz 30 miles of ride capability and requires minimal charge time – it takes just two hours to juice up. The stained alder wood frame inlay and cast pewter name badge adds the final retro signature to this $4,995 beauty. www.vintageelectricbikes.com

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| Fi r s t G e a r | C a l e n da r |

1.sturgis rally

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1 3

When: August 3 - 9 Where: Sturgis, USA For 75 years, American motorcyclists have descended on the small town of Sturgis in South Dakota to take part in one of the world’s largest motorcycle rallies. The first event was called the "Black Hills Classic" and consisted of a single race with nine participants and a small audience. In its Diamond Anniversary Year, however, anywhere up to and beyond 400,000 visitors can be expected to attend. Races, displays, stunts, hill climbs and even weddings form part of this all-American homage to the “Iron Horse.”

www.sturgismotorcyclerally.com

2.oldtimer gp

When: August 5 - 13 Where: Nürburgring, Germany With an audience of more than 60,000 and an outstanding starting field of classic Formula 1 cars, the Oldtimer Grand Prix is one of the biggest and most popular vintage car racing events in the world. Organised by the Automibilclub von Deutschland, the event is now in its 43rd year.

Held at one of the world’s most famous Grand Prix circuits, the Nürburgring, visitors to this year’s event will experience a spectacular and unique journey through seven decades of motorsports history.

www.avd.de

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3.rolex motorsports reunion When: August 13 - 16 Where: Laguna Seca, USA As we established in the last issue, Laguna Seca is an icon amongst American raceways and is home to the famed “Corkscrew,” a challenging descending turn feared and respected among racers for generations. Described as a museum springing to life, the

Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion is the largest event held during the famed Monterey Classic Car Week, and approximately 550 race cars are invited to compete.

Cars are accepted based on three crucial criteria: authenticity, race provenance and period correctness.

www.mazdaraceway.com

4.singapore gp

When: September 8 - 10 Where: Singapore One of the most exciting races on the Formula One calendar, the Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix is not only a street circuit, but also modern F1’s first night night race. The Marina Bay circuit always delivers a thriller – since it started in 2008, a safety car has been deployed at least once every race, suggesting that just one wrong move by a driver can be the difference between disaster and victory.

Once the driving is done, the party begins, with live music from A-list artists like Pharrell Williams, Maroon 5 and veteran rockers Bon Jovi.

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4

www.singaporegp.sg

5.goodwood revival

When: September 11 - 13 Where: Goodwood, UK The Goodwood Revival is some serious fun! Held each September, a variety of road racing cars and motorcycles that would have competed during the circuit's original period (1948 - 1966) will be on both static and dynamic display. To really get into the spirit, most people who attend dress in period clothes, truly recreating the golden era of motorsport from the 1950s and 1960s. This year, a neverbefore-seen collection of Shelby Daytona Coupés will be on the track to celebrate the car’s 50th anniversary.

International motor shows, classic car meets, auctions and motorsport events that shape the industry and fuel our petrol-driven passion are happening every day, all over the world.

Now is a good time to start planning that summer road trip.

www.goodwood.com Vo la n t e | J u l y - Se pt e m be r 20 1 5 |

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the garage

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well defined first drive

gm’s new camaro is lighter, faster, and more

— but can it carry the momentum of its beloved predecessor?

Liam Nelson was at belle isle to find out. efficient on paper

Words: Liam Nelson Pictures: General Motors

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orman Schwarzkopf is either staring at or just past me— it’s difficult to know for sure, and I can’t exactly ask him. Also, he looks much more like Bill Murray than I’d been led to believe. Of course, the good General is merely a painting, albeit one applied to an unlikely backdrop: a generation five Chevy Camaro. It’s Memorial Day in America, or soon to be, and people are already referring to this country as ‘Murica without irony, and I’m cringing in my boots.

It’s not that I don’t have respect for the holiday; my maternal Grandfather barely made it back from Normandy and definitely didn’t want to talk about the war. Who can blame him? So I wonder what he’d think of this pony car, every square centimetre of its surface airbrushed with images of America at war. It’s an overwhelming tableaux that includes sweeping vistas of the Pacific, a stone-faced Douglas MacArthur in aviators and the sad, moribund trio of LBJ, JFK, and Nixon gazing out at the flaming jungles of Vietnam.

I’ll go ahead and admit that I find this – and all over-elaborate paint jobs – tacky but then, the American aesthetic is widely divergent and generally hit 

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or miss anyway. This is the place that invented Jazz, but also Miley Cyrus, so there’s plenty to celebrate, and plenty to bemoan.

There’s little of the latter, though, as I’m at Detroit’s Belle Isle Grand Prix, where the all-new generation six Camaro has been unveiled and, shortly, I’ll take it out for a run around the track. If American design has its low points (I can’t help but mention the pedestrian appearance of the fourth gen Camaro, of which there are several scattered around Belle Isle) the retro pony cars of recent years have been bright spots. The fifth generation ‘Maro is no slouch in the looks department, and has enjoyed an elevated profile thanks to its turn as Bumblebee in, er, those terrible movies. So how do you improve on success?

Before we get to find out by actually driving the new Camaro, allow me a quick word about the previous day’s reveal of the car here at the track.

Chevy had gathered over a hundred Camaros and paraded them across the Detroit River onto this island park. I arrived expecting a rich cross section of Camaro history but found instead that around four out of five of the cars on display were from generation five. It’s not like previous generations of the Camaro don’t have their audience, but what I saw on the tarmac was, at least conceivably, a sample set that speaks to the huge success of the outgoing car. About the owners of these cars: they’re positively beaming from ear to ear at the opportunity to be among the first people in the world to gaze upon the new model — the excitement is fairly infectious.

After a wander through the history of Camaro, we were herded into a large air-conditioned tent, a bit like the kind a circus might use, but less colourful. After the usual fanfare, a few words from Mark Reuss, and some hilariously dated ads for various generations of the car, it was show time.

Loud guitars (Detroit still loves Jack White), oscillating stage lights and, perhaps more telling, a wave of cheers from the assembled Camaro-faithful greet the arrival of three shiny new 2016s.

And new is the operative word here, as the car looks reshaped and less retro, but while retaining a family resemblance that is unmistakable. Great design is a moving target, as taste changes over the arc of decades, and yet we can look back at cars like the ’69 Camaro SS and say that some compositions transcend trend and the vagaries of passing fancy. Perhaps someday we’ll talk about the generation six Camaro as a classic too, it certainly makes the outgoing car look a tad outdated, a feat I hadn’t considered until the new car burned its image into my brain that afternoon.

Which is a good thing because as I approach the track for my first crack at driving the new car, one thing is clear: the gleaming models from the reveal are nowhere to be seen and we’ll be driving camouflaged production mules instead. The new car doesn’t particularly seem smaller than the last, but it’s about five centimetres shorter and 91 kilograms lighter, depending on model and options. And while it’s certainly identifiable as “the new Camaro” one of the most significant changes arrives under the hood of the base car, with Camaro’s first-ever turbo, a force-fed 2.0-litre effort that makes 275hp and delivers 400Nm, while sprinting to 60mph from dead stop in “well under 6 seconds,” as per Chevrolet.

Also new under the hood is GM’s 3.6-litre V6, soon to be appearing in several Caddy variants and claiming bragging rights for GM’s first go at cylinder deactivation in a six pot. This thoroughly modern, technologyenhanced engine is SAE-certified for 335hp and 385 Nm, giving Chevy claim to “the highest specific output of any naturally aspirated V6 in the segment.”

Obviously the Mustang is a notable rival, with the Dodge Challenger marching to a slightly different drummer, so it’s worth mentioning that Ford positions their four-cylinder Ecoboost turbo engine as their mid-level variant, while Camaro follows the more traditional path: the engines get

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The new sixth generation Camaro bests its predecessor's handling considerably.

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bigger as the price goes up.

Following that logic, it’s hardly shocking that the 2016 Camaro SS will be the most muscled of these cars, commanding a new 6.2-litre LT1 direct-injected Small Block V8 for 455hp and 617Nm. I’d love to tell you how all that power feels in this lither, better handling Camaro, but for now I can’t — Chevy only had a grand total of six 2016 Camaro production mules for us to drive, and then suddenly, there were five as some mug drove one of these rather controllable cars into the wall not long after I took my second lap.

But before that could happen, wreck and all, GM had us do a very smart thing — at least it’s smart if you’ve improved upon your product considerably; they had us take the generation five car out for a lap, affording a rare side by side comparison of old and new technology.

As luck would have it, and the intervention of some hack who can’t drive stick, I wound up with a manual — a definite must-have for many pony car pilots, but not generally popular here in the GCC. After sampling the various flavours of Charger, Challenger, and Mustang in recent memory, the gen 5 Camaro felt a tad spongey, with a bit more body roll than I remembered, although at levels that are hardly worth complaining about. In the pantheon of American Muscle, the handling of the outgoing car is quite good, but then these are the type of cars that gave Detroit its reputation for being exceptionally fast… in a straight line.

That’s all in the past now and, as I would soon find out, the new Camaro bests the old car’s handling considerably.

This new car’s multi-link MacPherson strut suspension claims Camaro specific geometry up front, meaning that a lot of thought has gone into the setup. According to Chevy, this double-pivot design offers “a more precise feeling of control, including more linear and communicative feel 

“This new car is a reason to be excited and is confirmation that the pony wars are hotter than ever, with a clear winner on the horizon: the consumer.”

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At A Glance

Gen 6 Chevrolet Camaro SS Engine: 6.2-litre Small Block V8 Power: 455hp @ 6,000rpm / 617Nm @ 4,400 rpm Transmission: Tremec 6-speed manual / Hydra-Matic 8-speed automatic Weight: 1,680kg (est) Performance: 0-60mph in “under 6 seconds” Price: TBC

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from the quick-ratio electric power steering system,” which strikes me as an eloquent way to differentiate between the old and new cars, both of which would prove nimble at Belle Isle.

The new car feels lighter, more planted, and sharper on turn in— all of which translates into more agility on the track. With the foreknowledge afforded me by my pass in the old car, I’m geared up for what will be my best lap of the day (I’ll explain why in a minute). With this more athletic version of the car and a bit more knowledge of the track I’m able to carry more speed through each turn, adding to my confidence as we approach Belle Isle’s most severe corner. Here at turn eleven, our lead car gets on the radio to caution us for basically the first time, noting that the morethan-90-degree right-hander requires shaving off a good bit of momentum, especially when you consider that Belle Isle is walled in at each side by cinder blocks, offering precisely zero run-off.

I actually don’t need much prompting, as turn eleven is the most memorable bend in this track, and I’ve already begun easing my speed down when the squawk comes through the ether. With one authoritative dab of the brakes the Camaro is settled enough to swing hard right, and I roll on the throttle, opening up as the steering comes back to true.

Honestly, it’s not that difficult of a turn unless, er, you’re trying to shoot a video for the web at the same time and manage to overcook it so thoroughly that you slam into the wall mid-monologue and are asked to leave the event

by GM brass. There’s no need to name and shame the outfit, because for one thing we all make mistakes and accidents do happen. But also, why give them more site traffic for bad behaviour? Here’s the thing — driver distraction is a huge problem out there on the road and, while video footage is the currency

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This latest generation of Camaro is lighter, sharper and more agile than ever before.

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of the net, you probably shouldn’t be trying to talk into the camera in the middle of a hot lap, especially with other cars on the track.

After the incident, the laps got a lot slower, and I never got a chance to fully open up the new Camaro close to its potential again. But I did get enough time in the car to begin to assess its overall driving dynamics and feel, and can tell you that driving this new Chevy feels very very good.

It was a pleasant surprise, despite my basically neutral expectations— the last time I’d been in a gen 5 Camaro GM had a posted speed limit of just over 44mph; I was relieved to see no such signage at Belle Isle.

This new car is a reason to be excited and is confirmation that the pony wars are hotter than ever, with a clear winner on the horizon: the consumer. The side-by-side comparison of the generation 5 and 6 Camaro was, for me, enlightening. So much so that I have a strong recommendation — someone needs get this car out on a track and drive it back to back with a similarly specced Mustang and Challenger, for my money there’s a worthy contender on offer from each of Detroit’s “big three,” and I’d love to find out who gets to wear the crown.

FAUCHON PARIS LAGOONA CAFÉ “OPENING SOON”

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Red Devil the aventador superveloce, the most extreme version of lamborghini’s most extreme model, leaves

Kevin Hackett weak at the knees. 

first drive

Words: Kevin Hackett Pictures: Lamborghini

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s I leave the hotel I’ve been holed up in for the past 24 hours, right at the far end of Barcelona’s main beach where octogenerians feel completely at ease walking around the sand in their birthday suits, it’s there; lurking, full of malevolent attitude and murderous intent. Avoiding eye contact with its menacing headlamps I keep saying to myself: “It’s just a car. You don’t need to be afraid of it. It’s just a car.”

Standing on its own, surrounded by a protective barrier and guarded by a security detail, I’m not sure if it’s all there to keep this Lamborghini safe, or the great unwashed that’s swarming around it, wielding selfie sticks and wearing moronic grins. Again I remind myself that it’s “just” a car and I climb aboard the coach that is taking us assembled hacks to experience it.

It’s. Just. A. Car. Two hours later and I’m sitting in the pit lane at Barcelona’s Circuito de Montmelo (Spain’s F1 circuit), the late morning sun is warming the tarmac and the door of my Lamborghini is wide open, as vertical as a flagpole. I’m attempting to gently extricate myself from its Spartan interior and I can feel that my legs are weak.

My pulse is racing and perspiration is glistening on my forehead, starting to make its way south, down the nape of my neck. I’m having enormous difficulty computing what just happened and, as I turn to look behind at the driver behind me in the next car, I can tell in an instant he’s feeling the exact same way – it’s written in big bold letters across his beaming yet confused face.

This isn’t “just a car.”

Any Lamborghini is special, but this brutal machine, the new Aventador SV, is beyond that. It is the most powerful, fastest and most focused road car ever made by the company that everyone knows as the really bad boy of the reprobate end of the motoring industry. If it were a person it would be legally forced to attend anger management sessions to work out its “issues” before being allowed back into society.

SV. It’s a moniker that was first attached to a Lamborghini in 1971, when it became the ultimate Miura. The wider track, the bulging rear, childbearing hips and the less fussy front end that managed very well without the pretty “eyelids” that surrounded the headlamps of the achingly beautiful original, along with deeper dish alloy wheels and fatter tyres, turned it into what, to my eyes at least, is the sexiest looking automobile that ever turned a wheel. It was more powerful, too, and many of the foibles that blighted the first

Miuras had been ironed out. It was, and still is, the finest iteration of the first ever bona fide supercar.

And while nobody could ever say with a straight face that the Aventador LP750-4 SuperVeloce (to give it its full nomenclature) is a thing of unspeakable beauty, it still is the ultimate version of a supercar that has come to redefine the sector – one that has no real rivals or peers. The Aventador, in so many ways, was already at the top of the food chain, but this thing is the T-Rex. It’s the Great White Shark. It’s The Terminator; the H-Bomb.

The reason, after managing to stand up straight, that I’m walking a bit strangely toward the garages, is that I was just privileged to be in the first group of just six journalists in the world to drive the SV in anger. And that’s a most appropriate word because I feel like I’ve tapped into a seam of pure, black evil and next time I might not make it out of that scissor door alive.

“It’s lurking, full of malevolent attitude and murderous intent. Avoiding eye contact with its menacing headlamps I keep saying to myself: ‘You don’t need to be afraid of it. It’s just a car’.”

I jest, of course, because help is at hand when it comes to taming the beast.

There needs to be because, as hinted at in its full model designation, there are 750 horses flexing their sinewy muscles every time the V12, naturally aspirated masterpiece of an engine is let off its leash. And there’s simply no way that amount of firepower could ever be deployed to any road surface by a mere mortal such as myself without some electronic wizardry keeping driver and automobile in one piece.

SV is short for SuperVeloce (say “sooopah-veloh’chay”), which translates into English as “pretty damned fast”, in this instance a fitting acronym – it’s among the very fastest road legal cars in history. It’s also destined to be extremely rare, with only 600 being offered for sale (they’re all sold, sorry), but that doesn’t seem to have stifled Lamborghini’s creativity when it comes to the way this thing has been engineered to differentiate itself from the “regular” Aventador.

For starters it’s 50kg lighter, thanks to more liberal use of carbon-fibre in its construction. The CF tub remains, of course, but the cabin is now

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almost entirely bereft of trim, with no carpets and precious little in the way of luxury. The specially designed seats are manually adjustable and fixed back, meaning adjustment is limited to fore and aft, and the whole vibe is one of no-nonsense, sensory overload. Especially once the 6.5-litre V12 behind you is ignited.

The numbers at play here are intimidating, even if the mad looks aren’t enough to cause sleep loss. A new exhaust system has liberated more power (50hp more, to be exact) and the SV pumps 750hp to all its wheels via a sevenspeed, single clutch robotic manual gearbox and a new Haldex four-wheel drive system. Maximum speed is electronically limited but is still quoted as “over 217mph,” while the zero-to-62mph sprint takes 2.8 seconds. Keep on it and the SV will hit 124mph in another 5.8 seconds, while 186mph flashes up on the bright yellow TFT display 15.4 seconds later. Make no mistake, this is one of the world’s least compromised performers.

It’s the way this car delivers its hit, though, that takes the breath away.

And as I’m beckoned back into the next car for the next few lap sessions, my willingness to experiment with the SV’s adjustability reaps huge dividends.

The gearbox, says Lamborghini, has remained a comparatively agricultural robotised manual to save weight and because it delivers a particularly brutal hammer blow when you’re shifting in Corsa mode. They’re right, too, because Corsa (which should be renamed “Mentale”) is initially almost too much to deal with when I’m attacking the track. Like a lightning bolt has just delivered its death-dealing voltage to the SV’s entire structure, it’s incredibly physical but, unlike the standard Aventador, the gearbox offers a degree of refinement

that its maker says is the result of changes that will be offered across the range within a few months’ time. Keep the revs high in Corsa mode and the changes are smoother while, thankfully, in normal “Strada” mode, there’s much less of a jolt than previous models.

The steering, too, is quicker than before and that makes the SV feel more nimble than the Aventador, which always seems to become difficult to trust the faster it’s driven. The suspension, too, combines magnetic damping with a race-inspired push-rod set-up, reducing diving under hard braking and all but eliminating body roll in tight corners – again, something that makes the  AT A GLANCE

Lamborghini Aventador LP750-4 SV Engine: 6.5-litre, V12 Power / Torque: 750hp @ 8,400rpm / 690Nm @ 5,500rpm Transmission: 7-speed clutchless manual Weight: 1,525kg Performance: Top speed “over 217mph” / 0-62mph 2.8 seconds Price: $499,958 (sold out)

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normal car feel unwieldy at times when you least want it to. It feels incredibly well resolved and more than different enough to warrant the higher price tag.

Another thing worth noting is that the huge, three-stage adjustable rear carbon wing is not there simply for show. Beautifully integrated into a newly designed rear section, together with the effects of diffusers and the sharply aggressive new nose section, it generates 170 percent more downforce than a normal Aventador. The net result is a car that feels utterly composed no matter how quickly it’s driven and that has been possibly my greatest surprise with the SV. It’s this composure that encourages me to attack corners faster, braking later than I might otherwise have done, all of which makes the experience even more of a rush.

Brake pedal travel is more excessive than I expected, too, and the retardation of the carbon ceramic stoppers is more progressive – less digital – than before, which makes for a less frantic experience on an unfamiliar track. While cornering at speed, there’s barely any detectable understeer or scrub from the front tyres but, at the same time, the rear feels totally planted – this is a machine that will hold on for dear life to whatever road surface it’s being hammered on. Switch off the ESC and yes, it will step out of line, but there’s more than enough play while in Corsa or Sport modes to keep all but the most psychotic drivers entertained.

If the Aventador stands alone in supercardom without natural peers, the SV does so even more starkly. You might think of it in the same terms as a Pagani rather than any current Ferrari but its half-million dollar price tag makes it an absolute bargain in comparison. So if you’re sufficiently wellheeled and want one of the most extreme road cars ever to set tyre on

“If the Aventador stands alone in supercardom without natural peers, the SV does so even more starkly. You might think of it in the same terms as a Pagani, but its halfmillion dollar price tag makes it an absolute bargain in comparison.”

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tarmac, your opportunities are limited to finding a pre-owned example or crossing certain palms with sufficient silver to buy your way into a build slot.

But that outlay will be worth it because, not only is this the wildest car ever to emerge from Sant’Agata Bolognese, but it could well claim to be the best.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I need to go and lie down for a while. What a monster this thing is.

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fast among

equos first drive

Managing Editor, James McCarthy, returns to Italy to drive the Ferrari 488 GTB, the turbocharged successor to the mighty 458 Italia.

Words: James McCarthy Pictures: Ferrari

A

ccelerate to around 155mph, brake hard, make sure you drop into third gear, then turn in tightly into the hairpin – the car will handle it,” Raffaele de Simone languidly explains, as he pulls the car into a perfect drift. “Fast through the first apex on the chicane, we sacrifice the second turn to get speed into the third,” he continues.

I’m desperately trying to take mental notes, but I’m too terrified to really absorb this information.

It’s not that I’m concerned about Raffaele’s driving, as a development driver for Ferrari, he knows the company’s Fiorano test track better than he probably knows the back of his own hand.

He could do this in his sleep.

No, I’m worried about having to take to the track unsupervised in the fastest and most powerful V8 Ferrari ever built. I don’t have a great record on 

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| T h e G a ra ge | Fe r ra r i 4 88 GT B |

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| T h e G a ra ge | Fe r ra r i 4 88 GT B |

unfamiliar race tracks, as Raj Warrior and Kevin Hackett, two of this issue’s venerable contributors, and my companions on the global press launch of the 488 GTB, will gleefully attest, and are always keen to remind me. As is Lamborghini, by simply not inviting me to events anymore.

So, the burden of past indiscretions weighs heavily on my shoulders as I climb into the driver’s seat for my crack at the legendary circuit.

My first lap is slow and tentative, as I reacquaint myself with the lines taken by Raffaele and his notes on gear, speed and braking points. I am amazed how much I actually remember. The second run is much faster and by my fifth lap, I’m flying. I even get some tyre-punishing sideways action on one of the hairpins.

I hit every line I’m supposed to, constantly repeating the instructions of Raffaele out loud as I

At A Glance

2015 Ferrari 488 GTB

go. The F1-style LED shift lights embedded in the steering wheel are jumping sideways and red-lining so quickly it’s like a DJ’s graphic equaliser at a dance festival. The gear changes come fast, and slip seamlessly with every flick of the paddle, thanks to the wonderful F1 seven-cog ‘box. Downshifting at speed into the corners can be done with one elongated pull with the right hand, allowing you to focus more easily on hitting the right line and maybe coaxing the tail of the car to wag.

By the time I pull back into the pit, I’m no longer shaking with nervousness, but with elation, excitement and adrenaline. A gamut of emotions so far removed from those I was in the grip of

“I’m completely amazed at the

agility of the 488 GTB; approaching a corner with pace, before sitting hard on the brakes, I simply point the car where I want it to go, and with no fuss whatsoever, it stays true to its line.”

Engine: 3.9-litre 90° twin-turbo Power / Torque: 660bhp @ 8,000rpm / 760Nm @ 3,000 rpm Transmission: 7-speed F1 dual-clutch Weight: 1,475kg Performance: Top speed 205mph; 0-62mph in 3.0 sec Price: $242,740

As well as sheer, crushing power, a lot of work has been put into the dynamic performance of the 488 GTB.

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24-hours prior, when I was struggling to stay awake at the interminable pre-drive technical briefing.

For two-and-a-half hours, we were subjected to a monotone onslaught of powerpoint slides, graphs, equations and diagrams, all explaining why the 488 GTB was the most accomplished V8 in the company’s history; how it would thrill and engage our passion and driving emotions to excite us like no other before it. Unfortunately, while these are all brilliant men, who are masters of their craft, their presentations really failed to give us any sense of the visceral excitement that the car inspires.

Apart from making certain attendees doze

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| T h e G a ra ge | Fe r ra r i 4 88 GT B |

off, it did allow the scores of engineers and designers to deliver the headline news, albeit in a convoluted way.

Pay attention, here’s the science-y bit.

The 488 GTB is the successor to the muchvaunted 458 Italia, a car widely considered to be the zenith of the Ferrari eight-cylinder evolution.

However, like last year’s California T, the 85 percent all-new 488 GTB continues the company’s push towards forced induction engines, employing two, short-scroll turbos at the heart of its powerplant.

That’s not what the “T” in “GTB” stands for, though, before anyone asks.

While this has reduced displacement of the engine from 4.5-litres to just 3.9-litres over its predecessor, the boffins at Maranello, despite being (probably) terrible entertainment at parties, have somehow exceeded just about every benchmark set by the 458. The 90-degree V8 delivers 660hp (100hp more than the Italia) at 8,000rpm with maximum torque of 760Nm. Heck, around Fiorano, it’s even faster than the Enzo, considered by many as the archetypal Ferrari supercar, by nearly two seconds a lap.

Revs are restricted in the lower three gears to 7,500rpm, but the torque curve resembles a sketch of Cape Town’s Table Mountain from just 3,000rpm, meaning that there is instantaneous full power available, pretty much all the time. It’s enough to catapult the 488 GTB to a top speed of 205mph, or to go from a standing start to 62mph in three seconds.

As well as sheer, crushing power, a lot of work has been put into the dynamic performance of the car. The size and weight of the new engine has enabled a lower centre of gravity, allowing Ferrari to develop greater response time from the steering and a new version of its Side Slip Control system – SSC2.

With this new system, the 488 GTB's magnetorheological shocks are controlled by a faster ECU that interprets yaw, roll, and pitch data from three sensors located on the car. Basically, it stiffens or slackens the electromagneticallycontrolled dampers to maintain grip in concert with the stability and traction control systems, as well as the electronic differential, to maintain driver control – even if the wheels are spinning and the car is sliding. While Ferrari claims this improves acceleration out of corners by 12 percent, in real terms, it means that the more exuberant driver, regardless of ability, can feel like Michael Schumacher when hurling the 488 around mountain roads or a race track.

Helping to keep the wheels on the ground, aerodynamics have had a heavy influence on

the design of the 488, from the flat underbody, with its curved “vortex generating” blades to direct airflow, the dynamic rear diffuser and the “blown” rear spoiler, vertical load has been increased exponentially. Given the wind tunnel diagrams the in-house centro-stile had to work with, Vo la n t e | J u l y - Se pt e m be r 20 1 5 |

the artists still managed to deliver a gorgeous car that pays a visual homage to the original Fezza rear-mid-engined V8 – the 40-year-old 308 GTB – while continuing the evolution from the 458-series cars and ensuring that the 488 remains as slippery as the wind tunnel dictated.

The only aesthetic element that really jars when you see it in the metal, though, are the door handles which, while cleverly designed to direct airflow into the massive intercoolers at the 488’s flanks, look kind of like an afterthought; like they are just poking out and flapping around. I would have preferred them flush against the window sill, but you can’t have everything, I suppose.

A lot of this might make little sense to the layman – it made little sense to a room full of seasoned motoring hacks from the GCC and Japan – but, when you get behind the wheel and hit the twisty, vertiginous roads of northern Italy, it all just kind of slots into place.

And that’s just where we started our day of hoofing the latest Maranello Stallion. After meeting outside Enzo’s little white house, set in the middle of the Fiorano test facility, it was time to hit the roads of the well-prepared route that would take us into the mountains and through sections of the famous Mille Miglia course.

The first thing you notice when you climb inside, is that the cockpit-styled interior remains relatively unchanged from the 458-series cars. The F1-style steering wheel, festooned with buttons and switches is familiar, as is the atrocious third party sat-nav system, which now shows you the wrong direction on a much improved 

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| T h e G a ra ge | Fe r ra r i 4 88 GT B |

“The AMG GT S is a tremendous alternative to the 911 - which is difficult for a Porsche fan to really admit.”

display. I was a little disappointed that the Turbo Efficiency dial that was so prominent on the California T has now been integrated into the myriad data readouts you can select from the 488’s trip computer, though.

In Sport mode, the 488 is rock solid at speed and in tight handling situations, even on the pock-marked surfaces of some of the appallingly maintained roads. The big blue comfort button that softens the dampers, when applied, ensures that the ride stays civilised and things don’t get too jittery at the back.

I’m completely amazed at the agility of the 488 GTB; approaching a corner with pace, before sitting hard on the Brembo, LaFerrari-derived brakes, I simply point the car where I want it to go, and with no fuss whatsoever, it stays true to its line. If I do find myself in a bit of bother, the surgically precise steering helps pull the car back into shape, while the grip from the 20-inch Michelins is Herculean, especially in the corners.

When the switch is flicked to Race mode, the 488 becomes a little more playful, allowing me to break traction just enough to get the back end to twerk like a Brooklyn hood rat. When it does start to get slippy, it feels utterly controllable and progressive. Instead of issuing an evacuation order to my bowels, it welds a cheek-aching smile to my face. That’s probably because the 488 is performing more calculations than you’d

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find in a Stephen Hawking thesis to calibrate its aerodynamics, dampers, brakes and torque – all in real time – to ensure that the 660 powerful Italian ponies aren’t going to suddenly rear up and bite me in the backside.

Even bumbling along behind one of the many big 18-wheeled trucks that are legion on these tiny roads, the 488 cruises comfortably. When that moment to overtake does present itself, however, the throttle is like a hair trigger for the epic and immediate power delivery. And thanks to the full beans only being available at the top of the gears, there’s still more to give when, in midmanoeuvre, I realise that nestled in front of that 18-wheeler is a tiny, previously unnoticed Fiat Panda, emblazoned with the word “Carabinieri.”

It’s a split-second decision as the corner is rapidly incoming, so I bury my foot and put the hammer down. Fortunately, Italy is the one place where you can go screaming past the local Rozzers in a Ferrari at full chat and get a free pass. In my rearview, all I can see from the rapidly receding police car is a smiling, blue-clad figure hanging out of the passenger window, waving his arms and wielding his iPhone.

I fully exploit the roads between Lioano and Pianoro with much of the same vim and vigour, and I cannot promise that all speed restrictions were adhered to, as the 488 begs to be played with every time the road opens up. To the backdrop of Vo la n t e | J u l y - Se pt e m be r 20 1 5 |

“I bury my foot and put

the hammer down.

Fortunately, Italy is the one place where you can go screaming past the local police in a Ferrari at full chat and get a free pass.” an apocalyptic soundtrack, miles of tarmac are devoured, in surprising comfort, on the return to Maranello, and I find myself thanking my lucky stars that I am a man of moderate means.

If I was in the unenviable position of having a spare $243,000 laying around to invest in an Italian supercar, I would probably go insane trying to decide between this and the Lamborghini Hurucán. I’ve driven both at the ragged edge, and they are, both of them, monumentally good cars.

Fortunately, my pecuniary shortcomings mean that, once I hand the key fob back to the Ferrari PR, the toughest decision I’ll have to make regarding hot Italian metal is what foil container to select on the flight home: chicken or beef.

BESPOKE PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY

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r i ve| nPoMe u re | 4 GTS | | T he G a| raDge rs cnh e| Fe 9 1a1 tTa rga

Targa Acquired Liam Nelson goes speeding towards ascari race

resort in the superb new

911

targa

4 gts

Words: Liam Nelson Pictures: Porsche / Carlin Gerbich

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| T he G ara ge | Po rs c h e 9 1 1 Ta rga 4 GTS |

ometimes it comes at night — a low throbbing hum in the back of the mind that keeps sleep at bay, a speculative whirring of the mind that can’t be easily silenced. Other times this unease arrives in the light of day, even under the optimistic sun of Málaga’s faded resort district, with its unexpected miscellany of napping retirees, outdoor art, and Irish pubs.

Maybe it was my upcoming flight to Moscow, as any Yank raised on Cold War fiction can’t help but feel a certain adrenal spike upon envisioning ten hours at Sheremetyevo airport.

Meanwhile it certainly didn’t help that I’d been studying up on Putin’s brutal rise to power. I’m not sure what I expected — it’s not like I’m a character in a John le Carré novel. More likely then, I was just excited and a little bit anxious about having my first go at a track you can’t help but know as a motoring enthusiast; Ascari Race Resort.

There’s a stretch of the A-366, not too far from Ascari, where the winding ribbon of asphalt narrows to a single lane, just as the gentler inclines of the mountain give way to sheer granite faces that should give pause to even the most ambitious drivers. Gazing over the side of this abyss, I was surprised to find that all the dread had been expurgated from my soul by some very powerful medicine; an hour behind the wheel of the 2015 Porsche 911 Targa 4 GTS on some of Spain’s best driving roads.

The first thing you’ll notice about the car is the terrarium-like expanse of glass at the rear, from which Targa draws its name. You would expect a suitably panoramic view out the back, but in practice the Targa affords you just a sliver of context in the rearview mirror. Perhaps there’s a message encoded in this bit of Porsche peculiarity, as in, “eyes on the road ahead, Bub — this is no time to be looking backward.” Of course, you can also put the top down, which is great if you like to create the impression that you’re

The steering in the Targa 4 GTS is laser-honed, giving the car a point and shoot simplicity.

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going about 20kph faster than you actually are at all times, while cultivating a Michael Richards hair style. Actually that last bit’s not fair, as the Porsche does a remarkable job of protecting the driver from the wind, all things considered.

Obviously, I prefer to keep the lid on, especially since the undulating Spanish highways are the perfect automotive appetiser for a track day, with switchbacks, long arcs, and the kind of fast, steady uphill driving that adds almost 900 metres from our sea level starting point, offering a helping hand from gravity when it’s time to step on the binders. And you will — the 911 features something like 1,000bhp of stopping power, because all that thunderous push must be met with a tremendous amount of force, preferably before you begin to initiate your turn.

The steering in the Targa 4 GTS is laser-honed, giving the car a point and shoot simplicity that leaves the driver feeling extremely connected to the car. The GTS body features tensile and torsional strength fit for high performance and flicking the car into Sport Plus mode tightens the damper settings via Dynamic Chassis Control for a track-ready demeanour. Sport Chrono is standard fare in the mighty Targa 4 GTS, although that makes it sound blasé — and it’s decidedly not. Instead, this package captains the car’s

“The Targa’s good looks trump those of the cabriolet in my book, but beauty comes at a price — the Targa is about 20kg heavier than the 911 Cabriolet. However, the performance difference is marginal.”

upgraded dynamic engine mounts in coordination with an integrated system that tunes the chassis, engine and transmission all at once for maximum performance. Meanwhile, as I’m in a PDK equipped GTS running in Sport+, the transmission likes to hang out between 3,500 – 4,000 RPM for peak ondemand torque and a thunderous symphony of intake noise orchestrated by Porsche Sound Symposer’s most Wagnerian setting. At the same time, PASM active suspension lowers the beast by as much as 10cm which is great for spirited driving, but will cause anxiety in the domain of sleeping policemen and steep driveways.

It can be hard, actually, not to drive the car in full-on Edward Hyde mode, but it is impressive how settled and serene the GTS can be if that’s what you’re looking for. I found myself flicking the performance bits off when slowing for the string of Spanish hamlets that dot the highways leading to Ascari— it was “siesta” time, after all. On its best behaviour (in the parochial sense), the car’s suspension is forgiving enough to pilot on a daily basis, although as a proper sports car it’s a little tougher to get in and out of than, say, a Hyundai Elantra.

There will be, of course, the odd naysayer who prefers the 911 S on the basis of in-use performance to price ratio and, to be sure, the S is a heady proposition. But then I’d be remiss if I failed to point out that there’s plenty of kit from Porsche’s epic option list packaged into the Targa 4 GTS. To wit, the car gets a sport exhaust, dynamic lighting, an exclusive black rear intake, stability management, torque vectoring, a wider rear track, lots of Alcantara inside the cabin, and an additional 30hp, bringing the GTS to 430hp, just shy of previous generation GT3 at 435hp. By most estimates the added value in a GTS package is around $20,000 worth of “extras” over the going price. Sure, it’s near the top of the pricing food chain, but the point is that Porsche has crammed a load of value into the car versus a la carte.

At A Glance

Porsche 911 Targa 4 GTS Engine: 3.8-litre DOHC 24-valve flat six Power / Torque: 430bhp @ 7,500rpm / 440Nm @ 5,750 rpm Transmission: 7-speed manual / 7-speed dual-clutch PDK automatic Weight: 1,579kg (manual) Performance: Top speed 188mph; 0-62mph in 4.7 sec (manual) Price: $133,795 (manual)

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| T he G ara ge | Po rs c h e 9 1 1 Ta rga 4 GTS |

Not surprisingly, the coupé is faster than the cab, handling the 0-62mph sprint in 4.2 seconds with the seven-speed manual (what’s a few tenths of a second to digital watch-eschewing luddites, anyway?) or 3.8 with the sevenspeed dual-clutch PDK automatic. The Targa isn’t quite as fleet footed, although the experiential difference amounts to splitting hairs — trust me, I’ve had a dastardly good amount of time in both, it makes the dash in 4.3 seconds with PDK and 4.7 without.

So why fuss with the glass-backed banger from Stuttgart? Well, because you get GTS performance in a package that is an aesthetic love letter to the 904 Carrera GTS, the retro-space-age work of art that won the 1964 Targa Florio, the open road endurance race from which the Targa takes its name. Sure, the 904 was a Carrera hard top, but history doesn’t always run in a straight line and, whatever circuitous path led to the establishment of the current 911 Targa 4 GTS, the results are quite pleasing to look at, if perhaps not quite as full on nefarious-looking as the vintage 904. I suppose the Targa doesn’t actually retain any cues from the ’64, at least none that are absent in the other GTS iterations, but for me there’s something about all that glass that feels just a bit more retro referential.

But then the comparison only goes so far, as this is a car that is able to be more civilised by design — and yet there is little doubt that this modern GTS would have no trouble overtaking the four-cylinder, 198hp 904, all things being equal.

The Targa 4 GTS comports itself quite well in civilian territory and, while I can attest to several aching muscles due to bracing myself against the cars enthusiastic yet unflappable lateral acceleration, it really is a very comfortable place to pass the time, which can’t be said of all premium sports cars — at least not if you’re tall.

The Targa’s good looks trump those of the cabriolet in my book, but all that beauty comes at a price — the Targa 4 GTS is about 90kg heavier than a 911 4 Coupé, and tops the 911 Cabriolet by 20kg. Still, the good news is that the car carries that weight well and the performance difference feels marginal at best.

The ride up to Ascari was so beautiful, and the car so deftly capable, that any hint of anxiety that had echoed in my mind the night before had given way

to the kind of tranquility that only an open road and a proper sports car can instill. There was a time, when the notion of a mid-life crisis sports car seemed far-fetched to me — isn’t it natural that a large portion of those lucky enough to own a serious driver’s car only arrive at the means to do so after decades of hard work? OK, so that’s not always the case here in the Gulf, but let us not eschew the palliative powers of Porsche’s brilliant flat six. Life gets harder (and, paradoxically, easier) as you go, and the GTS line makes for big medicine.

I’m surprised health care providers aren’t recommending them.

When I finally arrived at the storied automotive playground, the first thing I notice, aside from manicured countryside and the track itself, is that a Korean kid in driving gloves is entirely inscrutable — he’s wrapped up to his elbows in elaborate straps and mesh, but otherwise looks like he might be a clerk at a casual clothing retailer. Here again we have the trappings of age — I’m nearly 40, this kid isn’t even close to 30 yet, and all I can tell from his kit is that he’s either going to be very fast, or very incompetent.

Out on the track, it’s clear that the kid is much faster than me. That’s hardly a platform from which to launch a race career, but it’s not lost on me, and I endeavour to improve my craft with each track day. As much as I’d like to keep up with him, he has a much better sense of the line and there’s not much chance that I’d ever close the gap. I console myself that he’s probably been here before, but I don’t have the nerve to speak to him and he may not know English (although it seems most Korean journos I meet have prefect command of the language).

My slight disappointment aside, this is what’s so great about the 911 in general; it will never allow you to look like an overmatched enthusiast in a pair of ill-conceived driving gloves. Even though I know I’m bested by the kid, I’m learning the track lap by lap and the Targa 4 GTS is right there with me, rewarding every improved line and smoother input with the handling to carry more speed through the turns, and the brute acceleration to peel my face back in the straights. I wouldn’t say I’m relaxed now, as Ascari is a technical track that demands heightened awareness, but I can tell you one thing; the Targa 4 GTS is an excellent cure for this traveller’s anxiety — get behind the wheel and the prognosis is very good.

“The car’s suspension is forgiving enough to pilot on a daily basis, although as a proper sports car it’s a little tougher to get in and out of than, say, a Hyundai Elantra.”

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| T he G a ra ge | Tr iu m ph Ro c ke t III |

Torque Of The Town While many modern motorbikes can boast engines with an output to rival the fastest four-wheeled exotica, Raj Warrior discovers that the Triumph Rocket III is a victory for sheer volume.  Words: Raj Warrior Pictures: Elvis John Ferrao

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| T he G a ra ge | Tr iu m ph Ro c ke t III |

FIRST ride

You

go through various phases as a committed bike rider. Usually, during your greenhorn phase while you are gaining a degree of confidence, it’s all about getting into the flow of traffic, finding gaps, trying to judge space around you and hoping that you don’t end up doing something stupid.

Despite more than 30 years of riding experience, that’s exactly how I felt when I walked into the Triumph showroom to pick up the Rocket III for a test.

There is something about this bike, its mean black cast, the bulk of its three-cylinder engine and the width of its rear rubber that tells you it’s going to be too much. Also, knowing that it tops the scales at 367kg can do things to your mind. But then, across the course of a weekend, there was only one occasion to remind me of the side effects of trying to balance this 800-pound beast.

I am already in tune with the Triumph brand. A Bonneville already occupies the stable, perhaps one day to make way for a Thunderbird or a Lightning. But somehow, the Rocket III seems to sit just across an imaginary line of practicality winning over desire.

The company literature does make all the right noises. It’s a well-balanced bike, with narrow waist and low ride height so you technically don’t have to be too tall to ride it. But even the Roadster with its mid positioned pegs and relatively low seat aren’t really comfortable if you aren’t at least 5-foot ten. And you’ll need every bit of muscle you have in your biceps – and even triceps – when trying to move the bike when stationary.

“A Bonneville already occupies my stable, as will, perhaps one day, a Thunderbird or a Lightning.

The Rocket III, though, seems to sit just across an imaginary line of practicality winning over desire.”

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The stressed tubular frame has parallel members running vertically to cradle the weight of the engine.

I set out to do the test ride and had to oblige by getting the bike down the exit ramp and fuelled up at the neighbouring pump. It isn’t even every bike salesman’s cup of tea.

Being neighbours to a Triumph dealership didn’t lessen the admiration the fuel pump attendants were showing as they filled up the 24-litre tank. A good start, I thought, for a weekend on a 2.3-litre engine, as I capped it at half a tank and got close to 10 miles to the litre.

The Rocket III does not try to be beautiful.

The current iteration of the marque was reborn in the late 1990’s as a means to get into the large cruiser class that Harley-Davidson ruled in the US. The original attempt was to put out a 1,5001,600cc bike but the model finally settled into a revolutionary three-cylinder longitudinal layout with 2,294cc displacement. But there is inherent grace in the design of this monster – from the twin-headlights, blacked out tank and radiator cowl to the teardrop taillight sitting on top of the bulk of the rear wheel, it’s almost as if the twin stripes take your eye along a feline contour.

Anything this big will have to be built extra strong. The stressed tubular frame has parallel members running vertically to cradle the weight of the engine. The cylinders fire sequentially in a 1-2-3 order from front to back, with the pins evenly spaced out on the crank. The balance shaft, input shaft and final drive shaft all rotate contra to the crank direction in order to balance it out. The engine itself is used as a stress member to stiffen out the frame.

Activate the starter and you already expect the dull roar of the engine. The combination of the three large volume cylinders and the even spacing of the thumps as they come out of the 3-1-2 arrangement of the exhaust pipes seems almost metronomic until you twist the accelerator. That’s when the engine rocks to the right despite all the counter-balancing.

You can feel the torque trying to get away.

The only way this could be handled well is in the drive shaft arrangement, with a low travel stiff suspension at the rear and alloy housing for the gear and bevel arrangement of the transfer.

Gear shifting on the other hand belies the bulk of the bike. Shifting into first is almost as smooth as on the Bonneville and so is second gear. It’s only as you get into third that you get a bit of the Harley clunk come in, only to disappear in the higher two gears. Keeping the foot pegs at mid point makes for smooth shifting, both up and down.

This smoothness is as much a function of the Lamborghini designed 5-speed gearbox as it is of the rock solid engineering that underpins the Rocket III. Take off is all about the torque on the bike – all 224Nm of it. The engine is typically a low revving unit, happiest in the 3,000 to 4,000rpm range, another characteristic that compares with cars. That’s also the band when the torque is on full flow. If you are in a hurry you can make the tail

wag, especially as you turn and change road incline at the same time. You wouldn’t expect this heavy a bike to respond so well to a torque burst, but the Rocket III obliges at will.

The centre of gravity is so low that you can really manoeuvre the bike with comfort. If there is even a little forward motion the gyroscopic effect of the wheels tends to take the bike back to vertical, so the lean in can be perfected for the speed and intensity of curve that you want.

Initially you feel that the bike won’t take a curve, but then you realise that you just aren’t banking it in enough. All the greenhorn fears start rolling away and after a couple of quick sharp bends the bike melds with your natural bodyweight shift.

At speed, the Rocket III is all the roadster you want it to be. You hear the thump of the engine as a background score, you can carve the bike in and out of traffic, and torque and pickup are plentiful, even in third and fourth gear, while the stance of the riding position is such that you don’t actually Vo la n t e | J u l y - Se pt e m be r 20 1 5 |

feel the distance you ride.

It also helps that the ABS system on the bike is quick and almost imperceptible unless you are braking hard. The 17-inch front wheel is equipped with 320mm four-pot twin discs, while the rear gets an almost as large 316mm disc, albeit with a single pot caliper.

Hard stopping can also encourage the tail to wag a little, but the tyre on the 16-inch rear wheel is bulky and wide enough to do the job well.

The instrumentation on the bike is a mix of the best and worst of tradition and modernity. It helps that both the tach and speedo are analogue in layout, but the monochrome digital panels that sit at the bottom of the roundels try to cram too much information into the tiny space. The gear position indicator would have been useful if it wasn’t so small and the backlighting needs improvement. Either that or a revamp in design to clear out the digital displays from the roundels to a stand-alone panel under them. 

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| T he G a ra ge | Tr iu m ph Ro c ke t III |

“Riding the Rocket III on Muscat’s roads is a statement in itself. Barely 200 metres out of the showroom and we had already got our first hat tip. Cars honk at you and the Honda Goldwing rider who coasts alongside nods appreciatively.”

Seat shape is well done, with just the right amount of padding and the reach to the handlebars turned out to be just right too – horizontal from the shoulder point. On a personal level, the only change I would have liked would be turn indicator switches on both sides to reduce thumb reach.

The roads around Muscat are the perfect environment for this roadster. I prefer the stance over that of the Cruiser, and the weight isn’t communicated when you can plant both feet on the ground, albeit having to watch out on the right for the exhaust headers.

Only at one point did I have an issue and that was when the bike crested a small hump in the parking lot, almost at standstill. As the ground dropped out by a couple of inches from under the feet, I felt the weight shift onto the lower placed foot and a moment of terror dawned, bringing all the greenhorn fears back to top of my mind. A twinge and quick move ahead saved the situation but it definitely points out how exacting the height requirement is for the rider.

Riding the Rocket III through Muscat is a statement in itself. Barely 200 metres out of the showroom and we had already got our first hat

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AT A GLANCE

tip. Cars honk at you and the Honda Goldwing rider who coasts alongside truly appreciates your steed as well as your taste. As for the bothersome hot-rodder who thinks that he can bully you, it just takes the click, twist and surge of a quick burst out ahead to put him in his place.

No one expects this bulk to shoot ahead like it does, but with this much torque and the 148bhp of power delivering the quarter-mile figures in 12odd seconds at a top speed of over 124mph, like a fat kid chasing an ice cream van, it’s deceptively quick. In fact, it’s an absolute Rocket.

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2015 Triumph Rocket III Engine: 2,294cc DOHC liquid-cooled in-line three cylinder Power/Torque: 148bhp @ 5,750rpm / 221Nm @ 2,750rpm Transmission: 5-speed Front Brakes: Twin 320mm floating discs, Nissin 4-piston fixed calipers Rear Brakes: Single 316mm fixed disc, Brembo 2-piston floating calipers Weight: 334kg Performance: Top speed: 124mph Price: $14,999

Some thing

SheWay Moves

In The

Kevin Hackett takes his own “Magical Mystery Tour” in Sir Paul McCartney’s Aston Martin DB6

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| T he G a ra ge | 19 66 A s t o n M a r t in D B 6 |

Words: Kevin Hackett Pictures: Matt Howell

In 1966

stars didn’t come bigger than The Beatles. And in that year, while John Lennon was outraging conservative America by insinuating that his group was more popular than Jesus, his song writing partner, Paul McCartney, was just starting to enjoy his new car: an Aston Martin DB6.

This Aston Martin DB6, to be precise.

At the time a brand new Ford Cortina cost £670, so the Aston’s £4,998 price tag would have made it out of reach for all but the seriously wealthy.

Imagine then, what it must have been like to own a car like this at the relatively tender age of 23. The DB6 had been launched as a new model only a year before, replacing the iconic and visually flawless DB5, which had catapulted Aston Martin into the stratosphere after its star turn as James Bond’s machine gun-toting company car in 1964’s Goldfinger and then in Thunderball a year later.

For increased road stability it was made slightly longer in its wheelbase and, to liberate more headroom for rear passengers, the line of the roof ’s rear section was raised and extended down to a new, fairly flat looking and unresolved “Kamm” tail – something that had Aston’s party faithful rather upset. After the achingly pretty DB5 there was no denying it was a bit of a let down, like that other compromised 60s icon, the Jaguar E-Type, which suffered a beating with the ugly stick when its maker decided to make it a two-plus-two. It was, however, about as glamorous as cars got in the mid1960s and Macca took delivery of LLO 840D in March 1966, just a few weeks before he and his band mates headed into EMI’s studios in London to record the genre defining Revolver – widely regarded as the finest work The Beatles ever produced.

Clearly, this was an artist at the peak of his creative powers and there were few cars more fitting for such an entertainment luminary. Painted in a wonderfully subtle Goodwood Green with black leather upholstery, it marked out Paul McCartney as a young man who knew how to spend his rapidly accumulating wealth and he had some alterations made in order to personalise it to him. He fitted an eight-track tape recorder (complete with microphone socket) to the underside of the dashboard in front of the passenger seat, and he had the seats themselves reupholstered with musical notes embossed into the supple black leather.

It’s now owned by Aston Martin’s Works Service department, which is still based at the company’s former headquarters in Newport Pagnell. Purchased at auction in 2001, it spent twelve long months being meticulously restored from the ground up by the craftsmen and women that utilise their incredible skills to keep these classic cars on the road.

Knowing the importance of a good shop window, Works Service (now known simply as “Works”) decided to take McCartney’s DB6 back to the condition and specification it was in on the day he took delivery of it. Which meant no stone was left unturned and that, unfortunately, necessitated replacing (rather than restoring) that musical leather upholstery (I have it on good authority that it’s stashed away in the loft of one of the upholsterers) and ditching the tape recorder. The results are, predictably, staggeringly good and I’ve been privileged to take delivery of it and drive it around the north of  Vo la n Vt oel a | Jnutle y |- M Sea pt rc e hm 20 be1 5 r |20 1 5 |

“At the time a brand new Ford Cortina cost £670, so the Aston’s £4,998 price tag would have made it out of reach for all but the seriously wealthy.”

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AT A GLANCE

1966 Aston Martin DB6 Engine: 3.9-litre inline-6 Power: 282bhp @ 5,500rpm / 390Nm @ 3,850 rpm Transmission: ZF 5-speed manual Weight: 1,474kg Performance: Top speed 150mph* / 0-60mph in 8.4 sec* Price: n/a *Approximately

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| T he Ga ra ge | 19 66 A s t o n M a r t in D B 6 |

England and Wales for two whole summer weeks.

And so it is that I find myself on my own magical mystery tour, thundering through the Mersey Tunnel that links Liverpool to the Wirral in this lovely motorcar. The four-litre, straight-six engine’s deep bass baritone is bouncing off the concrete tunnel walls and into my ears – surely music to anyone’s soul. And it’s music that, legend has it, this car played a vital role in delivering and the reason for this Aston Martin being so revered in the classic car community. It’s a piece of bona fide Beatles memorabilia.

They say you should write about what you know and The Beatles knew Liverpool and all its foibles and undoubted charms. So the city has become synonymous with Fab Four folklore in a way that perhaps only Elvis’ Graceland could rival and that’s why I’m smoking around the still fiercely proud city looking for places that, thanks to the actually short-lived Beatlemania, have entered the world’s collective consciousness. But before I get to some of the city’s more famously name-checked landmarks, a bit about what makes this Aston Martin so special.

In 1968 John Lennon’s marriage with Cynthia was in self-destruct mode, mainly due to Lennon not keeping his rampant libido in check. They had a son together (Julian) and McCartney went to visit the Lennons when the infant wasn’t well.

That tape recorder fitted underneath the DB6’s dashboard with its microphone came in handy when, humming a suitable lullaby to make young Julian feel better, McCartney came up with a ditty he called “Hey Jules.” When it came to actually recording it as a song, however, a fleeting moment of artistic brilliance resulted in a name swap into “Hey Jude.” That rousing song became The Beatles’ biggest hit single, selling more than seven million copies.

Even today, nearly 50 years on, its majestic chorus never fails to impress.

That tape recorder might have been removed from the DB6’s dashboard but that doesn’t mean it is without a means of listening to music, should you tire of that magnificent engine’s soundtrack. One of Works Service’s aims when restoring this car was to prove to customers that they could incorporate more modern technology into their prized classics without doing anything to ruin the ambience and in this case a CD player was fitted, which ordinarily would look completely out of place in this environment.

So Works hid it behind the solo, central speaker mesh while plumbing extra speakers into the front foot wells. And as much as I adore the engine note, there are no prizes for guessing what’s being played as I exit the tunnel into the bright Liverpool daylight.

Despite the recent addition of power steering (another sympathetic update carried out during its restoration), this is still not an easy car to pilot around 

Aston Martin's "Works" department decided to take Sir Paul's DB6 back to the exact condition and specification as the day it was delivered to the former Beatle.

“The tape recorder fitted underneath the DB6’s dashboard came in handy when, humming a lullaby to make young Julian Lennon feel better, McCartney came up with a ditty he called ‘Hey Jules’. A fleeting moment of artistic brilliance resulted in a name swap into ‘Hey Jude’.”

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| T he G a ra ge | 19 66 A s t o n M a r t in D B 6 |

city streets. The dainty, elegant, wood-rimmed steering wheel is gorgeous to touch but is large in diameter, requiring plenty of heft to perform even the slightest of turns or lane changes. Still, I’m not complaining. The beautiful dash, with its instrument binnacle echoing the shape of that famous radiator grille, is class personified and the ambience is one of simple serenity, sheltering me from the horrors of Liverpool’s less salubrious areas. This city has come a long way since McCartney understandably uprooted for London and Scotland in the Sixties, but there’s still a long, long way to go. Decades of social decay have scarred this urban landscape forever – many parts look like war zones and, in fact, are when it comes to law and order.

But I’m looking for the hilariously named Menlove Avenue, which you’d be forgiven for assuming was an address in San Francisco when in fact, it’s a busy, broad, tree-lined road where John Lennon grew up and his old house is now open to the paying public. Finding the property, a couple of rotund American Beatles fanatics are being given a guided tour but I refrain from going in because, well, it’s just a house when all’s said and done. It’s not hallowed ground for everyone.

Just around the corner is the entrance to Strawberry Fields, name-checked on one of the group’s most psychedelic hits. I park up the DB6 in front of its graffiti-covered sandstone gate pillars and gawp at the Aston’s lovely lines.

We’ve not been here long before a huge coach pulls up and ejects its dozens of occupants onto the busy road. More Americans, more questions, more Beatles tales. Some ask about the car and I explain its significance but it seems lost on them. Apart from Tour Guide Barbie, though, who excitedly bounds over to tell me that she used to date McCartney “back in the day” – something no doubt thousands of ageing Scouse females tell anyone who cares to listen these days.

It’s a scenario repeated through the day as I seek out more landmarks.

Penny Lane, name apart, is completely unremarkable but there are still people pointing cameras at the street name signs. The house McCartney grew up in is, like the Lennon family’s old place, owned and maintained by the National Trust and is invaded by armies of yet more guidebook-waving Americans.

The only place I’m not surrounded by the effects of an unending Beatlemania is the church where Lennon and McCartney first met as young boys. In the graveyard is the headstone of one Eleanor Rigby and, as I read the inscription, a shiver runs down my spine.

This is indeed a very special place; a very special day. As I climb back inside this very special Aston Martin – possibly the most valuable piece of Beatles memorabilia in existence – to head for home, it’s time to reflect on what I’ve just experienced. While some of Paul McCartney’s recent judgement calls (musical or otherwise) may be questionable, his choice of car when at the height of his fame and artistic prowess was spot on. The incognito CD player is once again pressed into service as I revel in this surreal experience – one that’s unlikely to ever be repeated. There’s only one song fit for the occasion and I know you’ve got it stuck in your head already: “Laah, la, la, la la, laaah.

La la la laaaah…”

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Above and left: Taking the DB6 on a Magical Mystery Tour of the Beatles' old stomping grounds; Below left: A dapper Sir Paul McCartney with his beloved car in 1966.

telemetry

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| Te l e m e t r y | Ro a dm a p | B o s c h |

driving the future

you may be surprised to know that the same company that makes your electric razor, and your drill, has also been helping to

craft the evolution of motoring.

Phill Tromans heads to boschâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s german hq to witness the future of driving, today.

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Words: Phill Tromans Pictures: Bosch

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hat will the cars of the future be like?

Hovercars? Ever-increasing power? Well, maybe. But it’s unlikely, in the near-to-mid-future anyway, that you or I will be driving 1,500bhp flying machines. For the majority of the world, the future is perhaps less spectacular, but equally interesting.

Picture cars that can drive themselves, that are acutely aware of what’s around them, that can avoid accidents and traffic jams, and that move with incredible efficiency. Picture an electrified, connected and automated automotive landscape.

Mention the name Bosch and you get some interesting responses. “Ah, they made my dishwasher,” or “Oh yes, I have a Bosch drill. It’s very good.” But few people think of Bosch’s involvement with cars, with the possible exception of their spark plugs and windscreen wipers.

Which is a shame, as Bosch has been involved in some of the most important automotive developments in history. From the introduction of magnetos to the development of anti-lock brakes, electronic stability control, fuel injectors and sensors, Bosch has been – and remains – a leader in the field.

Perhaps then there’s a valid argument that their marketing could be a bit better, but on the other hand, maybe the good folk at Robert Bosch GmbH are too busy doing, rather than talking about it. As the world’s largest automotive parts supplier, the German company has fingers in just about every motoring pie, with plenty of new pies cooking in the oven.

“The major factor holding up the introduction of automated driving is legislation – the world’s law books currently prohibit taking control of a vehicle away from the driver.

But that’s changing.”

From selfdriving cars, to smartphone app-controlled parking, Bosch is rethinking the mobility solutions of the future.

Putting the tortured pie metaphor to one side, Bosch’s research and development is a seriously big deal. Its innovations will form a large number of technologies used by most of the world’s major car manufacturers. You’ll often hear people talk about the Mercedes-Benz S-Class being a window into what the future of motoring will look like; well, most of those Merc technologies will come from Bosch.

And, so, I find myself in the small town of Boxberg, a short drive from Stuttgart, at the headquarters of what used to be called Bosch’s Automotive division, but has now been renamed as the Mobility Solutions department. Why the change in name? Because Bosch is increasingly looking at mobility as a whole – not just cars, but other modes of transport and the infrastructure surrounding them all, in an effort to improve the way people get around.  Vo la n t e | J u l y - Se pt e m be r 20 1 5 |

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“Bosch Technology... avoids human mistakes, which are the root cause of nine out of ten accidents today.”

| Te l e m e t r y | Ro a dm a p | B o s c h |

Bosch technology will enable the cars of the future not only to autonomously accelerate and brake, but also steer.

Mobility Solutions is the Bosch Group’s single largest business sector, and it’s growing fast – up 8.9 percent in 2014, more than twice the growth of global automotive production.

I’m here to learn more about what Bosch has been up to of late, and therefore to get an insight into what we’ll see in new cars over the coming years. To understand the future automotive world, we need to look at things in stages. Bosch believes that the path to future mobility follows three main paths – electrification, automation and connectivity.

Whatever your personal opinion of hybrid technology, it’s here to stay. Manufacturers continue to plunge research into alternative fuels, hydrogen fuel cells and the like, but the combustion engine is unlikely to go anywhere soon. There’s still potential for petrol and diesel engines to become more efficient through higher pressure direct injection, cleaner combustion and optimised exhaust gas recirculation, among other methods.

That said, the increasing electrification of cars will continue as governments and society demand better efficiency, according to Dr Rolf Bulander, chairman of the Bosch’s Mobility Solutions department. He predicts that electric tech can reduce diesel engine fuel consumption by a further 10 percent over the next five years, and by 20 percent in petrol engines.

By 2025, Bulander expects 15 percent of all new vehicles worldwide will feature at least a hybrid powertrain, and many will be full electric cars.

Bosch is working to halve battery costs and double the energy output by 2020, by which time there are expected to be some three million electric car charging points installed around the world.

Now, let’s talk cars that drive themselves. If you’ve driven any reasonably high-end car in the last five years, you’ll have seen some of this technology already. Adaptive cruise control, for example, which uses radar in the front grille to keep pace with the car in front. Lane keep assist, which alerts you when you wander out of lane without indicating or, in some models, gently nudges the steering to bring you back in line. Technology that monitors pedestrians, and taps the brakes automatically if one strays into the car’s path. Automatic emergency braking. Automatic parking.

This kind of technology, using cameras and sensors around the car, is going to develop in a massive way. Last year, Bosch sold more than 50 million environment sensors for driver assistance systems, doubling the previous year’s total. That’s expected to double again in 2015. Bosch has more than 2,000 engineers working on developing driver assistance systems.

“Bosch technology will enable the cars of the future not only to autonomously accelerate and brake, but also steer,” Bulander says.

“It avoids human mistakes, which are the root cause of nine out of ten accidents today.”

By 2020, the company’s aim is to produce what it calls a “highway pilot,” allowing automated driving on motorways. You drive onto the motorway, tell the car where you want to get off, and let it get on with things. Speed, vehicle detection, lane-changing and so on are all taken care of while you catch up on Facebook or entertain your other passengers.

Once that system is introduced, the next goal will be fully automated driving, where – if you want – you don’t have to interact with the car at all to get to your destination. Type in a destination, and the car will drive you there.

The major factor holding up the introduction of automated

driving is legislation – the world’s law books currently prohibit taking control of a vehicle away from the driver. But that’s changing.

Manufacturers, many of whom use Bosch products in their cars, are testing self-driving cars around the world, and have persuaded local lawmakers to bring in legislation to allow it.

To get global laws to the point where automated cars are allowed to roam free, however, will take time; it’s a complicated issue. When an accident inevitably happens, who is at fault – the occupant of the car, or the car’s designer? What should automated cars do in a nowin situation where an accident is unavoidable? Aim for a ditch, for another car, for a pedestrian? What safeguards need to be in place to keep occupants safe if a system fails while in motion? These are all issues being considered by the United Nations, which oversees the framework traffic regulations around which most countries base their national laws. Bosch executive hope that by the end of the year, the UN will give the green light for automation to steam ahead.

One major concern among enthusiasts is that this move towards automation will result in further enjoyment being removed from the driving process. That’s not the aim at all, says Bosch’s chief of driver assistance systems, Stephan Stass. “We thought it was a good idea to ask the enthusiasts, and we’ve made quite a lot of research internationally 

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“Bosch believes a self-driving, self-determining automotive landscape must be optional, and that the thrill of piloting one’s own craft remains a key element of automotive transport.”

According to Bosch, having cars and devices that talk to each other opens up a myriad possibilities.

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to find out what our consumers think of all this,” he says. “People are saying they want to have the function and they’re willing to pay for it.”

The key, Stass says, is that it’s an optional function – if you want to drive yourself, you can. For example, you can have a day of blatting around the finest country roads, but on the way home, when you’re tired and there’s slow moving traffic along a dreary motorway, you can switch to autopilot. Who can really say that they enjoy the more humdrum side of motoring?

“We see a strong willingness to have this function in the car, as long as you can switch it off whenever you like,” summarises Stass.

So, the car of the future will have electrical assistance, and it’ll be fully aware of its surroundings. But what about capability beyond the individual car? That brings us to connectivity, the third main pathway to the future.

Increasingly in modern society, not just in automotive, things are talking to other things. Connectivity is thriving – phones talk to headsets, to watches, to the home to turn lights on or adjust the heating. Smartphone apps report traffic conditions and changes in speed limits to the cloud, which then beams it to other applications and users to optimise journey planning. That’s a trend that will explode in the future. It’s no coincidence that the key proponents of automatic driving include technology giant Google.

“Connectivity is the key to the success of electrified and automated driving,” says Bosch’s management board member Dr Markus Heyn, and it’ll be vital from within the engine bay to across

the global road infrastructure.

Having devices “talk” to other devices opens up myriad possibilities. Individual cars will be able to contribute data to the cloud and create multi-layered maps of the surrounding area, accessible by other cars, drivers and devices to build a hugely detailed realtime image of the road network and wider infrastructure. Traffic congestion, parking availability, weather conditions, accidents and so on will be instantly reported to all vehicles in the area, and each vehicle can optimise its route accordingly.

Bosch is already developing micromechanical sensors to fit in parking spaces, to that they can detect when they’re empty and broadcast that information. When combined with automation and GPS, your car can find its way to a destination, locate a free parking space and park itself.

The future of automation, then, looks set to be very clever indeed. Plenty of obstacles stand in the way of Bosch’s visions, but within the next 10 to 15 years, the notion of switching control to your car’s electronic brain looks set to be a reality. Crucially though, for those of us that revel in control and already bemoan the increasing insulation that modern cars provide from the road, Bosch believes a self-driving, self-determining automotive landscape must be optional, and that the thrill of piloting one’s own craft remains a key element of automotive transport. With a bit of luck, and a lot of work, we can look forward to the best of both worlds.

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Knot For The Want Of Tying the art of knot-craft can set you apart from the sartorial pack. here’s how to turn your simple tie into a statement.

The Bow Tie

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any chaps fall into the trap, when attending black, or white, tie soirées, of opting for a pre-tied bow.

These can be spotted a mile off, especially with a wingtip collar, because they are often too symmetrical. Any proper gent should be able to tie his own, so, to avoid any style faux pas in the future, visit: tinyurl.com/pzhyzey

To Be, Or Knot To Be

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rom the age of about 12, every boy should be able to competently tie a tie. It is an essential sartorial requirement for a gentleman to deftly pull together a decent “Four Finger” or “Windsor” knot for formal occasions, such as weddings and funerals. For many, it’s necessary for everyday endeavours such as looking the part in business meetings, power lunches and dressing for dinner.

Whatever your profession, social status or pecuniary circumstance, the occasion will arise where you’ll need to don a necktie, so why not do it with a little flair? It’s not always easy to make a sombre suit stand out, so, assuming that you, dear reader, know at least the basics, we here at Volante have selected two examples of elaborate ligature which, while they may take a little bit of practice to perfect, are sure to get your card marked as a sophisticated and snappy dresser.

The Eldredge Knot

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k, we’re jumping straight in at the deep end here. This is one of the toughest styles to create, but all of your hard work will be rewarded with a large, spectacular-looking knot that will instantly make a statement. Without the need to say a word, it will immediately project that you are not only outgoing, but you’ve a deft hand and both the patience and the character to persevere in the face of adversity; that you are someone who can commit to, and face, a challenge head on and that, most importantly, you are a skillful problem-solver. It’s a knot well suited to the more contemporary cutback, or spread collar, and it works well with brightlycoloured or pastel-toned silk ties. If you are wearing a three-piece suit, then a normal tie will do, as the tips will end up short, but can be tucked away. However, if you are attempting it with a two-piece, then you will need a long, or extra long tie, depending on your height. To see a step-by-step video, visit: tinyurl.com/ol9my89

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The Trinity Knot

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lightly less complicated than the Eldredge, this beautiful knot resembles the Celtic Triquetra, upon which many believe it is based.

The pattern converges at a centre point, producing a very eye-catching effect and will offer those with a little OCD some comfort in its symmetry.

In Celtic lore, the Triquetra has many meanings, including the intertwining of “power, intellect and love,” or, in some cases, “thought, feeling and emotion.” So, like the Eldredge, the mastery of this knot will project subtle hints at the quality of your character, as well as your sense of style. The moves themselves are pretty simple and once learned, this tie knot can be performed very fast, but still deliver a hefty sartorial punch. Also like the Eldredge you will need a long tie for this one, in a similar silk, cotton or polyester material as it is quite a weighty knot. Certain patterns work well with this particular style, such as diagonal stripes or plaid, as do spread, standard or wingtip collared shirts. To see a step-by-step video, visit: tinyurl.com/qh7dzgt

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| G ra n d To u r i s m o | Fit t in g Ro o m |

The ties have it the tie is quite often the lone splash of colour in a sombre suit ensemble, making it the natural focus of an outfit. make it count.

Head For The Bar

Drake’s of London

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here is no better place to start when looking for elegant, beautifully made ties than Drake’s of London. The company has been the go-to purveyor of gentleman’s fine neckwear since the late 1970s. The company’s well-crafted ties recently featured heavily in the bespoke-suit-festooned Hollywood spy blockbuster, Kingsman: The Secret Service, illustrating the requirement for a chap to always look his best, even in the face of global catastrophe, to a wider audience. The original Drake’s collection was comprised of men’s quality scarves. That evolved into a range of handmade ties and pocket squares, which became the heart and soul of the business.

The award-winning company’s ties continue to be entirely handmade in London’s East End with a constant attention to detail that is never compromised and truly sets Drake’s apart in this age of the numbingly ordinary and cheap mass-production. The Drake’s style, begins with a refined English discrimination, but has evolved with a touch of consummate French chic and a nod to the Italians for their abundant sense of style and colour. www.drakes.com

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ou’ve perfected the knot, your tie looks spectacular, but add that final dash of class to a two-piece suit with a tie bar. As well as looking stylish, they also serve a purpose: to attach your tie to your shirt to stop it flapping about, keeping it arrow straight under your jacket and, hopefully, preventing you from catching it in the shredder at work and asphyxiating yourself. However, there are a few rules. Firstly, wearing a tie bar that extends beyond the width of your tie just won’t do. Size really does matter, especially when it comes to that of the tie bar. You can get away with a clip sized between one inch of the width of your tie to the actual width of it, but three-quarters the width is optimal. Secondly, placement: too high, too low or at any angle other than completely horizontal, and you’ll run the risk of ruining the look. Ideally, it should be fastened between the third and fourth buttons of your shirt. Finally, they are not meant to pull the tie straight down, trussing you up with your shirt. Before you fasten your clip, pull your tie upward a touch, letting it billow ever so slightly. Not only does it mean that you won’t feel constricted when you move around, but it adds a visual depth to the ensemble. For the gent with an automotive bent, try these carbon-fibre efforts (pictured above) from Würkin Stiffs.

www.wurkinstiffs.com

Navy with White, Red and Yellow Handrolled Woven Shantung 8cm Silk Tie

Red with gold Handrolled Woven 8cm Silk Tie Pink Handrolled 8cm Wool Tie

fun fact

Rolled Gold

Blue with Ecru Woven 8cm Silk Jacquard Tie

Sky and Navy Block Stripe Long Length Silk Tie

Handrolled Woven Grenadine 8cm Silk Tie

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his falls straight into the category of what we here at Volante like to call Ridiculuxe™. In 2011, Swiss materials, science and technology company, Empa, developed a technique to permanently plate thread with precious metals. Along with its partners – embroidery specialist, Jakob Schlaepfer, and fabric weavers, Weisbrod Zürrer-AG – the company marketed and sold, through the latter, a limited number of 24-carat gold ties and pocket squares. Each item from this collection of gilded gear contained around 25 grams of pure gold and cost $8,500 a piece.

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| G ra n d To u r i s m o | Fit t in g Ro o m |

BACK TO BASIcS your closest has seen trends come and go, but how much does the well-dressed man really need? the list of essentials is not particularly long or complicated, as items like the perfect white tee or classic loafers constitute the building blocks of any successful wardrobe.

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1.Twill Blazer

by Alexander McQueen, available at Mr. Porter 2.Leather belt by Apolis, available at East Dane 3.Suede Driving Shoes by Todâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, available at Mr. Porter 4.Leather Sneakers

by John Lobb, available at Mr. Porter 5.Polo by Snow Peak, available at East Dane 6.Checked Shirt by Visvim, available at Mr. Porter 7.Indigo Jeans by A.P.C., available at Mr. Porter 8. White T-Shirt by Vince, available at East Dane 9.Knit Pullover by Carhartt, available at East Dane 10.Cotton Trousers

by Acne Studios, available at Mr. Porter

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8

the CLASSIC TEE

4

'S implicity

is

the ultimate 5

sophistication .'

- L eonardo V inci

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da

Compiled by Yara Jishi

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Iconic Race Tracks

44° 20' 27.96'' N - 11° 42' 47.88'' E

imola, ITALY

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Words: Kevin Hackett Pictures: Getty / Corbis

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Iconic Race Tracks

It’s more often associated with past tragedy than past glories, but Kevin Hackett explains why, despite hard times, Imola is still one of the world’s best racing circuits.

Photography: Getty Images

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hen you pull up outside what is known as Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, the reasons for its rather forlorn state might not hit you straight away. Appearing rather run-down from outside its perimeter fences, it’s a shadow of its former self and for good reason: there’s blood on the track and nobody seems able to remove it.

You’re probably more familiar with the name of the similarly down-on-itself small town that used to host the San Marino Grand Prix here: Imola.

Mention Imola to anyone with even a passing interest in driving, never mind motorsport, and two names cannot help but come to mind. For it was here, during the 1994 San Marino race, that Ayrton Senna, widely recognised as the greatest racing driver of all time, crashed and lost his life, just a day after rookie Roland Ratzenberger was killed during qualifying. And the day before that, Senna’s close friend Rubens Barrichello had been involved in a serious accident here, too.

Imola just can’t get rid of those ghosts and, as a permanent reminder of its macabre history, a two-metre high bronze statue of Senna nestles within the dense foliage adjacent to Tamburello, the corner that claimed his life. What was once a hive of excitement and home to one of the greatest races on the annual motorsport calendar is now forlorn and depressed, still hanging its head while other, newer and more technical circuits have taken over. Formula 1 hasn’t raced here since 2006.

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“…it felt like the sport had grown weary of being reminded of the tragedies that befell it here that weekend 20 years ago,” remarked motorsport journalist, Oliver Holt, in a piece he wrote last year. “There is nothing anyone can do about that. This is grand prix racing’s Dakota Building; its Dealey Plaza.”

He’s right, too, and it takes a determined mind to cast aside thoughts of tragedy when driving the circuit at speed. If you manage that, however, you will be treated to rush after rush of adrenaline on possibly the world’s most beautiful and scenic circuit. And while the overall layout is the same as it’s always been, a careful and prolonged programme of alterations has ironed out many of the dangerous design flaws and rendered it (relatively) safe.

Thankfully the Senna statue cannot be seen as you’re hammering through (the previously flat-out) Tamburello, which now forces you to drop a couple of cogs before getting back on the gas. So after a few laps you can stop thinking about death and start enjoying the time of your life. The previous lumps and bumps in the asphalt have been dealt with and the faster corners (such as Villeneuve) tightened up but you can still achieve plenty of straight-line speed thanks to the way it flows through lush green woodland and grasscovered hills.

It’s these natural visual reference points that add so much to the experience of going fast here, compared to circuits such as Silverstone or even Yas Marina, where vast open spaces provide little sensation of speed. Imola’s 4.909km track, with its 17 turns, feels faster Vo la n t e | J u l y - Se pt e m be r 20 1 5 |

than almost any other and its layout is simple to remember even after just six-or-so laps.

Look at a diagram of it and you’ll probably reason to yourself that you could recreate it with those old sections of Scalextric you’ve got hidden away in your loft.

The track was completely resurfaced in 2011 and it has once again been certified by motorsport’s governing body, the FIA, for Formula One racing.

While a revival of the San Marino Grand Prix is unlikely anytime soon, this has at least meant testing can take place here to complement the other events that are drawn to Imola, such as the World Superbike Championship and the European Le Mans Series endurance race.

And, should you fancy honing your skills on this incredible track, Lamborghini holds an annual driving academy at Imola but forget about thrashing around on a normal track day, because they aren’t held here.

If you’d visited Imola 2,000 years ago, you’d have found an amphitheatre built by the Romans for two-horse chariot racing, so you could say that going quickly in the name of competition is in the very fabric of this region.

If only the current circuit could look to the future rather its past, the curse that seems to blight this place might yet be lifted. I live in hope, because to experience it in the right car, in the right weather, is to experience track driving at its finest.

Opposite: The San Marino GP, held at Imola in its heyday, saw epic duels between the likes of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, before the former tragically lost his life at the circuit in 1994.

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â&#x20AC;&#x153;Even posthumously, McQueen continued to be pictured in Tag Heuer advertising campaigns wearing his Monaco Calibre 12, and, by popular demand, the Monaco was reissued with a new design in 1998"

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| G ran d To u r i s m o | Rev C o u n t e r |

Le Grand Prix Arguably the most iconic timepiece to be associated with gentleman’s motoring was famously worn by probably the most iconic actor and gentleman’s motorist of his generation: Steve McQueen’s Tag Heuer Monaco Calibre 12.

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teve McQueen made many great movies. He also played his part in making certain products iconic; Bullitt’s Ford Mustang, The Great Escape’s Triumph TR6 Trophy motorcycle, Persol's 714SM sunglasses from The Thomas Crown Affair and, of course, the Tag Heuer Monaco wristwatch in Le Mans.

The 1969 Tag Heuer Monaco was created to celebrate the Monaco Grand Prix and was a revolutionary watch in its own right, being the first square-cased automatic chronograph. However, after it was worn by McQueen in the 1971

Hollywood blockbuster, it became synonymous with the actor.

McQueen, who famously wore a Rolex Submariner most of the time, sought the advice of his friend and racing driver Jo Siffert to ensure greater accuracy of his portrayal of a racing driver in the film. At McQueen’s request, Siffert lent him his racing suit which was adorned with Gulf Oil’s logo and an embroidered "Chronograph HEUER" crest over the right breast. In order to complete the look, McQueen opted for the newly introduced B model Calibre 12 Monaco, which he wore during filming. Following completion of the movie he gifted it to his financial advisor.

The Monaco was discontinued in the mid1970s and as such, The McQueen Monaco has become one of the most sought after pieces in the international vintage markets. Only a handful of the original calibre survive, demand far exceeds supply and the actor’s untimely death in 1980 added even more value to the watch.

Even posthumously, McQueen continued to be pictured in Tag Heuer advertising campaigns wearing his Monaco Calibre 12, and, by popular demand, the Monaco was reissued with a new design in 1998. It was reintroduced again with an entirely new movement in 2003, and remained as tied to McQueen as ever, even when it was being seen worn on the wrist of British F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton.

While some of the newer models have a more robust appearance and have changed to reflect current fashion trends, you can still try and garner some McQueen magic by opting for the re-issued Calibre 12, 39mm Automatic Chronograph, reproduced in the same blue colour and style as the original.

Sadly, while you won’t suddenly become a better driver and you certainly won’t be able to jump a German POW camp’s fence on a motorbike, you are guaranteed to have the coolest-looking timepiece in the room.  The Tag Heuer Monaco Calibre 12 is possibly the most recognisable product that Steve McQueen added his iconic sparkle to.

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accessorise all areas! ever since prometheus stole the gift of fire from the gods, the barbecue has been a man’s culinary domain. here’s some gear to get you fired up this summer.

Don’t Lose your Cool

Licence To Grill

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hen scouting for the perfect tool to carry out your summer cooking duties, be sure to invest in the ultimate garden grilling machine: The Kalamazoo Hybrid Fire Grill. Why compromise on what fuel you use when this combination bad boy is a professional-grade unit, using four cast brass burners – each weighing around 6.5kg apiece – with enough output from each one to make this beast the best for dealing with

any gas or grilling task. The burners are also placed below a hybrid grilling drawer which helps to get your charcoal or wood alight when it's time to cook over a live flame. In this one manly bundle of hand-formed, welded and finished heavy-gauge stainless steel, you will have total mastery over the eternal flame, enabling you to grill, smoke, roast and otherwise cook nearly anything, using nearly any fuel. Time to get your grill on, chaps. www.kalamazoogourmet.com

There’s nothing more frustrating when you’re slaving over a hot steak than trying to keep your refreshing tinned beverage (whatever it may be) from getting warm.

With the heat of the grill, and the torrid summer temperatures, it can seem like an exercise in futility – those novelty foam can coolers do nothing but absorb the condensation and feel sweaty in your hand. However, now there is the Arctican from Corkcicle, a device that will help slake the thirst of even the most parched grill-master’s throat with ice-cool, fizzy refreshment. Yes, thanks to the Arctican’s ingenious design, featuring two-layers of vacuum insulated steel and an ice-filled “cooling core” that screws into the bottom, your drink will coldly go where no can has gone before.

Corkcicle says that drinks will stay up to three-times colder than a regular can cover for up to three hours in direct sunlight. Drink it in, gents. Drink it in.

www.corkcicle.com

Griller Tunes

Get To The Chopper!

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n this grill or be grilled world, every man needs an edge, and what has more edge than a machete? How about a machete spatula?

Machetes are usually the tool of Rambo-type mercenaries and jungle guerrillas, used for clearing paths through dense scrub.

This particular machete, however, is for clearing a path through dense grub by flipping cooked meat from your grill with ruthless efficiency. The finely crafted implement, available from Firebox, features a stainless steel “blade,” an oak handle and a trio of bottle openers built into its edge. That’s one more than two! It also ships with a bandana to ensure you look the part whilst wielding it. Now, you’re John Lambo: a trained griller who’ll do what it takes to save his family and friends. From hunger. www.firebox.com

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Music is the food of the soul, so it said, therefore no barbecue would be complete without a good soundtrack. Lugging the stereo onto the patio can be a bit of a headache, though, and it only takes one unsupervised child to knock it into the pool. Fortunately, we live in an age of magnets and miracles, where portable bluetooth speakers that can connect to the iPhone in your pocket are available for just such occasions. Take the Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay A2, for example. Shaped from a single chunk of solid aluminium, it features a large woofer and smaller tweeter connected by a passive bass radiator to produce 180 watts of premium sound. It also comes with a leather strap handle so you can tether it to something solid. That’s got to be music to your ears.

www.beoplay.com

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| G ra nd Tour i s m o | So m e t h in g Fo r T h e We e ke n d |

The Scent Of A Gent

French couture house, Givenchy, has become as famous for its perfumes and fragrances as it has for its fine French fashion.

Catering for men, the venerable institution has recently launched a new line of scents, entitled “Gentlemen Only.” With three fragrances in the range, Gentlemen Only, Gentlemen Only: Casual Chic and Gentlemen Only: Intense, we’ve decided to focus on the latter offering. Its dusky smoked glass bottle exudes mystery and a brooding elegance. Tracing its lineage all the way to the original "Givenchy Gentleman" from 1974, this modern scent is an intense woody-amber version of the new range, and one which Givenchy claims is “truly addictive and extremely sexy.” It is imbued with notes of peppercorn, tonka bean, leather and hide, creating a rich and distinctly masculine musk. One thing is for certain, whether you’re a gentleman or not, with this fine fragrance, you can certainly smell like one. www.givenchy.com

grooming gorgeous a little grooming goes a long way, as does a well-manicured gent. let volante be your guide to the essential kit required for the modern man.

Gear Box

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t’s not always easy for the busy gentleman driver to keep up with the latest potions and paraphernalia required for one to maintain a polished appearance and sophisticated lifestyle.

However, gents, we have the solution. Birchbox has been bringing chaps tailored shipments of grooming and lifestyle products for a couple of years now. There has never been an easier way to discover new products based on the stuff you need: facial hair care, apparel, shaving supplies – even gadgets and everyday items a gent should be carrying about his person. From pocket squares

to pomade, when you find something you like, you can stock up in the Birchbox Man Online Shop. Originally conceptualised by two friends, Katia and Hayley, as a way to help ladies better shop for beauty products by curating a monthly box of goodies, Birchbox Man is available for a monthly subscription fee and is tailored to the style and preferences of the customer. Shipped directly to your door, Birchbox is the easiest way to ensure your style is always on point, while earning discounts and rewards, as well as the occasional surprise gift. www.birchbox.com/men

A VOLANTE TOP PICK

A Cut Above A Strong Fellow

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ith the summer heat turned up to full blast, and with a deeply unpleasant dose of humidity on the side, keeping your well coiffured hair in good order can be difficult. However, if you want something that’s going to keep you looking cool in the face of the region’s calefaction, but not something that'll take multiple showers to remove, there is Fellow Barber Strong Pomade. Made by the proprietors of the eponymous New York barbershops, and available through their online store, it will maintain your look without mess or fuss, long into the evening. Since opening in 2006, Fellow Barber has been a trendsetter in reviving and popularising time-honoured barbershop traditions for contemporary men's styles. So, when it comes to a hair wax with a strength that would make Samson proud, which rinses out with a single wash, accept no substitute. www.fellowbarber.com Vo la n t e | J u l y - Se pt e m be r 20 1 5 |

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t’s widely accepted that the most manly type of razor, short of using a Bowie knife, Crocodile Dundee style, in the wilderness, is a straight edge, or “cut-throat,” razor.

However, most of us – and let’s be honest with ourselves here – wouldn’t trust the steadiness of our hands before our morning coffee with one of those. The next best thing is something like this beautiful Black Walnut effort from Ursa Major, hand-hewn in Vermont from a luxurious hunk of reclaimed wood from New York and the US southeast coast. It’s not going to give you a closer shave than your current Bic disposable, but it will feel ten-times better in hand, is compatible with Gillette Mach 3 cartridges and is sure to add a touch of class to the rest of your bathroom paraphernalia. www.ursamajorvt.com

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Driven mEn

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| D r i ve n Ma n | Vic t o r Ga u n t l e t t |

Kevin Hackett remembers

Victor Gauntlett,

the quintessential English gent whose personal fortune, unwavering dedication and canny business acumen saved Aston Martin.

Gauntlettâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

Run

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Words: Kevin Hackett Pictures: Getty

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ow many clichés can you come up with when describing the quintessential English gent? Bon vivant? Bon viveur?

Ebullient? Raconteur? Philanthropist? Malcolm Victor Gauntlett was all of those things. A man of boundless energy but not a bounder, his was a life lived to the full. He was the kind of man who would drop the kids off at school while driving a Blower Bentley, dressed as an English gentleman used to be dressed: in tweeds, cravat and flat cap, with a pocket watch nestling within his jacket. He was the kind of man who would get things done and the kind people naturally warmed to, no matter their social standing. The world needs more like him.

Victor Gauntlett: what a fantastic name that is. At once strong with a sense of derring-do, it perfectly encapsulates the man who became practically a household name in the 1980s as Chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda. It wasn’t just that he was the boss of one of Britain’s most storied companies that made him so unforgettable; it was the utmost style with which he went about business and his seemingly “seat-of-the-pants” approach to financial survival. It was also his unwavering sense of humour – another gentlemanly trait – that meant customers kept coming back, emptying their wallets in the general direction of Newport Pagnell and (just) keeping Aston alive in its most cash strapped times.

He was born in Surrey, on 20 May, 1942, and after leaving school he joined the Territorial Army for a short period of time, before training as a pilot with the Royal Air Force. In 1963 he left the military and joined British Petroleum, moving to France and then back to London, setting up his own independent oil company in 1972 – not bad going for someone who had just turned 30.

That business (Hays Petroleum Services) was known as Pace Petroleum and it supplied more than 450 independent fuel stations and garages across the UK with petrol and diesel manufactured by the main players but bought shrewdly by Gauntlett and his colleagues. So successful was Hays / Pace that, in September 1983, the Kuwait Investment Authority bought a stake in it.

Three years later, it had bought the entire company from him and Victor Gauntlett was an extremely wealthy man.

Vast wealth and a love of classic cars?

The writing was perhaps on the wall but Gauntlett’s relationship with Aston Martin commenced long before he became an initial part-owner of the beleaguered company. As the boss of Pace Petroleum, obviously he was closely involved with sponsorship activities and, in 1980, there was a Stirling Moss “benefit day,” sponsored by Pace and held at the Brands Hatch racing circuit. There, Gauntlett met Alan Curtis, the then chairman of Aston Martin, and it turned out they both lived in the same town of Farnham in Surrey, south west of the capital, London.

Apparently they got on and, later that year, Gauntlett bought a 12.5 percent stake in Aston Martin for £500,000 (via Pace), with Tim Hearley of CH Industrials taking a similar share; the two taking over as joint 50/50 owners in 1981. Gauntlett assumed the role of Executive Chairman and led the sales team, opening lucrative doors to them thanks to his dealings in the Middle East with Pace and the Kuwaitis. So the wedge-shaped four-door Lagonda – a troublesome car that almost bankrupted Aston Martin (again) 

“I wouldn't be going into it unless I thought there was money to be made. I am quite convinced there is a niche for a high quality product. There will always be the people who want the super-duper.”

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during its development in the 1970s, found favour in countries such as Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and, of course, Kuwait. When the Lagonda was firing on all eight cylinders, it was actually the world’s fastest four-door production car, and to this day it enjoys a fanatical following in Gulf countries.

When he took over Aston Martin, Gauntlett said: “I wouldn't be going into it unless I thought there was money to be made.

I am quite convinced there is a niche for a high quality product.

There will always be the people who want the super-duper.”

Despite his best efforts, however, Gauntlett never managed to turn the business into a profitable entity. Indeed, when asked

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Above: The 1979 Bulldog concept signalled a brave new direction for Aston Martin; Below: Victor Gauntlett (centre) meeting HRH Prince Michael of Kent.

how he could “make a small fortune from Aston Martin,” he once famously quipped “start with a big one.”

Just how troubled was Aston Martin back then? In 1982, annual production came in at just 30 cars – an unthinkably small number even then – and Gauntlett knew that to turn things around with the limited development funds available, he needed to think outside the box. He took steps to resurrect the company’s former association with Italian styling house, Zagato, resulting in a limited production (just 87 were made) model that was essentially a re-bodied V8 Vantage. These sold for huge amounts of money and showed how canny Gauntlett could be as a business leader.

He also hounded the James Bond production team in 1986, to get 007 back into an Aston Martin, resulting in the star turn of the V8 Vantage in The Living Daylights. The car you see in the film was Gauntlett’s personal pre-production V8 and he managed to sell producer Cubby Broccoli a V8 Vantage Volante for use at his home in the US. None of this was enough, though, and he knew that for Aston to survive and bring new models to fruition, it needed to be in the hands of a much bigger company.

In May 1987, he was staying with Prince Michael of Kent (as you do), at the home of Contessa Maggi, the wife of the founder of the original Mille Miglia. Also there was Walter Hayes, VicePresident of Ford of Europe. Gauntlett had previously told Henry Ford II, three years previously, that “for a lousy $15

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million, I’d sell the whole thing” and one can only imagine the schmoozing that went on in Italy at the Maggi residence. Hayes didn’t take much convincing as he could see the potential of Aston Martin as a “halo” brand within the Ford empire. Just a few months later, Ford bought a shareholding, which enabled the launch of the Virage and eventually, after Ford took over the entire company in 1991, the DB7.

Up until this time, Gauntlett had remained as Chairman and still managed to get Aston Martin racing again at Le Mans – something that would have been impossible without Ford’s resources – attaining a not-to-be-sniffed-at 11th place overall in 1989. He was ecstatic at this result but the joy didn’t last long as Ford pulled the plug on Aston’s involvement in motorsports soon after.

Above: Gauntlett was instrumental in both rekindling the company's relationship with Zagato, as well as leveraging Middle-Eastern relationships to help make the fourdoor Lagonda a hit with the oil barons of the GCC.

As his involvement with Aston Martin dwindled, Gauntlett might have been expected to retire so he could indulge his interests in racing and flying (he owned a Mk1 Spitfire and a De Havilland Rapide) but no, he instead went on to found another petrochemical company called Proteus in 1988, which he ran until Texaco bought him out in 1998. Four years after that, he returned to the motor industry, being appointed Chairman of Automotive Technik Holdings, a military vehicle manufacturer with valuable British army contracts.

“Victor gave the impression of being a workaholic,” remarked journalist Michael Cotton, after his death, “but he and his wife Jean enjoyed a wonderful social life as well. If I wanted to speak to him, the best time was between six-thirty and seven o’clock in 

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the morning. I was one of the few who had the number of the phone on his desk; one ring and he would answer: ‘Vic-tah!’ with emphasis you wouldn’t forget.”

Gauntlett’s untimely death, on 31 March 2003, left behind a wife, a daughter and three sons, who obviously inherited their father’s love for, and fascination with, beautiful mechanical things. Mike set up, with Larry Preston-Smith, a sales and restoration business for vintage motorcycles in Gloucestershire, called Unit 56, while Richard opened the Gauntlett Gallery on London’s Pimlico Road, where he sells what the Financial Times described as “shamelessly masculine collectables for the aesthetically in-tune”.

Richard admits that he inherited his father’s love for luxurious things that hail from what might be termed a “golden age.”

“I remember his Vuitton trunk, a fabulous Prohibitionera Asprey cocktail cabinet disguised as a safe, and motoring posters,” he said in a 2011 interview with the FT. “Those who ‘get’ the Gallery,” noted the author, “might be asked downstairs, where a gentlemen’s-club atmosphere prevails and where the likes of Arki Busson and Sir Anthony Bamford have recently chewed the cud about subjects such as Churchill and Malcolm Campbell’s Bluebird. Most people who settle into one of the sofas leave hours later – often after purchasing a deliciously frivolous object they didn’t realise they needed.”

Mark, too, is carrying on with the traditions of his father, albeit in a more risk-averse fashion. He works for Aston Martin, in the company’s Q division, as Business Development Executive. This, in a nutshell, means he operates “front of house,” personally

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Above: Gauntlett can also be attributed with getting Bond back behind the wheel of an Aston Martin.

Timothy Dalton drove Gauntlett's own pre-production V8 Vantage for certain scenes in The Living Daylights.

Right: HRH The Prince of Wales driving his V8 Vantage Volante, which was presented to him during a visit to the Newport Pagnell factory.

liaising with Aston’s more select and demanding clients, many of whom have been loyal to the brand for many decades. How, though, does his famous surname impact on business?

Aston Martin has a long, rich history, and it needs to retain links to its past, so being able to deal with the “son of Victor” will be a bonus for some. “In certain markets, such as the Middle East,” he tells Volante, “clients remember dealing directly with dad. So the fact that relationship can still exist – that connection – is extremely good for business. It’s a cultural thing.”

The Gauntlett name will forever be associated with Aston Martin, as Victor’s steering of the company through some of its toughest times, his unwavering dedication to its survival and his brokering of the deal that eventually saw the company being bought by Ford means it’s still alive today. For anyone with a love of the automobile, the alternative is almost too much to bear.

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The clubhouse

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| T h e C l u bh o u s e | Au t o m o bil ia |

automobilia curios and collectibles that every deserving man-cave should have...

MAN CaVE MUST HaVE

Let The Record Stand...

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his is without a doubt the coolest mancave musical machine we’ve featured so far. When we first stumbled upon it, the audiophiles in the Volante office were practically swooning with a case of the vapours. Frankly, no-one can blame them.

It’s a record player that plays vinyl records vertically. It sounds weird, right? However, what doesn’t sound weird is the record player itself. At least, if its good enough to impress the finely-tuned ears of the chaps at legendary Chicago-based Earhole Studios, then who are we to argue? The Floating Record Vertical Turntable is the brainchild of Michigan company, Gramovox. Yearning for a visceral vinyl experience that showcased the

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record as both art and a medium to produce analogue sound, they came up with a highperformance turntable that plays records vertically — producing the illusion that the disc is floating. An all-in-one solution, it features built-in, full-range stereo speakers, so no amp is required, it uses an Audio-Technica AT95E stylus cartridge mounted on a fullyadjustable carbon-fibre tone arm, a DC manual belt-drive system to spin both 33s and 45s and has a high-mass acrylic plinth and platter on which to rest the disc. There’s a headphone jack for private listening and RCA outputs with a built-in preamp in case you want to integrate it into your existing system. With the resurgence in the popularity of vinyl, this device is a sure fire winner. In Vo la n t e | J u l y - Se pt e m be r 20 1 5 |

fact, the company’s Kickstarter campaign proves that it already is. So far the project has raised nearly $700,000, smashing its $50,000 goal. For a pretty modest pledge of just $349, you will be among the first to receive one, in either Maple or Walnut, delivered to you anywhere in the world. Deliveries start in December. However, if you wait until the company is in full production, then it’ll cost you an additional $100. Either way, it’s definitely time to dig out those old 1980s picture discs and limited edition coloured vinyls (See, Mum, I told you they were worth keeping! - M. Ed.) from the attic – it’s only been a 30-year wait, but the perfect record player has finally arrived. www.gramovox.com

| T h e C l u bh o u s e | Au t o m o bil ia |

Small Block V8

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ack in issue two, we wrote about Danish toy company Lego and its new collection of racing team box sets. We waxed lyrical how our inner child thought these were the coolest things ever. Well, it seems the company has upped its automotive game in the months since, announcing the availability of its Lego Creator Kits, which are incredibly detailed and accurate representations of classic cars. Among them is the iconic Mini Cooper, the kooky MercedesBenz Unimog, the much-loved VW T1 Camper Van and now this, the legendary Ferrari F40.

Priced at $89.99, the “expert”-level kit will be the most affordable prancing horse on the market when it is launched in August. It consists of just 1,158 pieces, measures 10 x 5 x 3 inches and is fully licensed by Ferrari. The Maranellobased maker even had input into the design of the kit. It does loads of cool stuff the real one does, too. The doors open, the headlights pop up, the clamshell hood opens to reveal a tiny

luggage compartment and the hinged rear hatch gives unfettered access to a ridiculously accurate brick-based twin-turbo V-8 engine – which can be lifted out completely or left on permanent display by holding the hatch open with the included prop rod. Even the NACA air ducts are spot on! If you’ve always coveted a genuine Ferrari-licensed F40 then, given the rarity of the real, man-sized motor, this kit is probably your best chance of owning one. www.lego.com

Big BOYS’ TOYS

A Bright Idea

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aking industrial-styled lamps is nothing new, but we’re pretty sure this effort from Andrew Ziec is amongst the most compelling. Ziec is a (clearly skilled) machinist and fabricator who specialises in creating prototypes and low volume production runs. In his spare time he works on motorcycles and occasionally creates furniture from spare and recycled components. The lamp pictured is based on a Yamaha XS650 Piston, with a custom light fixture embedded in it. XS650 connecting rods have been used to make the fully articulating arm, which is attached to a gear base that features a really unique touch, a Yamaha ignition switch. All of his work is custom machined and welded to fit together perfectly and go way beyond a ramshackle collection of bolted-together tubes and pipe fittings that usually pass for industrial lamps. Costing around $450 from his Etsy.com store (use the URL below), each item is made to

order, so the final product varies based on the parts available. As such, Ziec is also open to ideas and design suggestions, meaning that you can have something truly unique to brighten up your desk. tinyurl.com/onthfc6

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| T h e C l u bh o u s e | B o o ks |

word up... being well-read is the mark of a truly cultured gent, and hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a superb tome to add to your library of automotive literature.

Editor's pick

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The Impossible Book Of Cars

Author: Dan Neil Publisher: Assouline Books

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nless you’re Ralph Lauren, Jay Leno or The Sultan of Brunei, there are certain cars you’ll probably never get to see, let alone own. Most of us look upon the garages of these – and other – wealthy collectors, with great avarice and no small amount of envy. Well now, thanks to the fine folks at Assouline Books, you can, for a fraction of their actual market value, own the 100 most exceptional cars of the 20th century. Ok, well not actually own them, but this absolutely gorgeous coffee table compendium, The Impossible Collection of Cars, puts gorgeous high quality pictures of cars like the 1909 Blitzen Benz to a 1996 McLaren F1 in your hands. Drool over the images and enjoy the short, but pertinent insights into why the cars made the list, for instance, the aforementioned F1 was chosen for its revolutionary engineering, as well as its magnificent lines and head-turning

capabilities. Throughout the book, images are interspersed with wisdom from celebrity owners and notable gentleman drivers throughout the history of the automobile, and in some cases, this exquisite tome captures the beauty of their personal vehicles, such as cars owned by Marlene Dietrich, Mr Lauren, Greta Garbo, Pablo Picasso and Elvis Presley. This Impossible Collection volume is presented on cotton paper in a beautiful black rubber clamshell box with a cutout metal plate. All of the text is produced by Dan Neil, Pulitzer Prize–winning automotive columnist for The Wall Street Journal.

Neil has also worked for the Los Angeles Times, AutoWeek, and Car and Driver.

He hasn’t quite reached the dizzying heights of Volante, yet, but on this form, he could easily make the cut. This glorious 144-page opus, can be purchased from the Assouline online shop, priced at just $845. When you consider the priceless nature of some of the cars you’ll be getting your hands on, albeit only in picture form, I’m sure you’ll agree it’s still an absolute bargain! www.assouline.com

Be sure to follow us on Instagram: @volante_magazine

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| E x h a u s t No t e |

in this issue’s parting shot,

James McCarthy ruminates on the record-breaking evolution of highspeed rail travel in japan, while in the country of its invention, travelling by train is like stepping back into the past.

Pictures: Corbis

It’s Official: Nothing’s Faster Than A Speeding Bullet

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ritain's obsession with land speed records is well documented and, while plans are currently underway to attempt a 1,000mph run in the Bloodhound SSC rocket car, it seems that any interest that the UK has in speed no longer extends to its rail network.

In fact, the last time that the nation which made rail travel a viable form of transport held an official record was way back in 1934, when the steam-powered Flying Scotsman broke the 100mph barrier.

As I have spent the last few weeks of this issue’s production trundling around the UK on its crumbling railway network, amid strikes and delays caused by a spell of hot weather “buckling the rails,” I find it slightly sad that the country which mobilised the industrial world 200 years ago has fallen so far behind the rest of the pack.

Dubai can already boast one of the world’s most advanced metro systems and Qatar is soon to follow suit, while across Europe, the speed, cleanliness and reliability of numerous internal and interstate rail companies has long been envied by us Brits.

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However, it was reading about the record-breaking Shinkansen railway system in Japan on an arduous journey during a British railway union strike that really hammered home how far this mode of public transport has evolved, and how far the motherland of its invention has fallen so woefully behind.

In April, a Japanese bullet train smashed the world speed record for a locomotive following a test run that clocked a Veyron-smashing 374mph on a track near Mount Fuji. The train is what’s known as a “maglev,” meaning that its cars levitate above the tracks, suspended and propelled

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by electromagnets. A week prior, the same train achieved a speed of 367mph.

The tests were run as part of an all-new construction project for a high-speed track that will stretch from Tokyo to Nagoya by 2027, and from Tokyo to Osaka by 2045.

The infrastructure for such a system is not cheap: just the first section of track is expected to cost $100 billion but, when both legs are complete, commuters will be able to travel the full stretch in one hour – half the current time.

Despite the incredible capability of the new “maglev” bullet train, the top operating speed, when filled with passengers, will be “just” 314mph.

To put my point into perspective, that’s a staggering 250mph more than the 40-yearold “high-speed” diesel-electric train was doing on a 175-year-old stretch of Isambard Kindom Brunel’s Great Western Railway, and upon which I was travelling, when I first read about the magnificent Shinkansen’s recordbreaking test run.

A Journal for the Gentleman Driver

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A Journal for the Gentleman Driver

Director of Publications Mohamed Jaidah m.jaidah@firefly-me.com General Manager Joe Marritt j.marritt@firefly-me.com Regional Managing Editor James McCarthy j.mccarthy@firefly-me.com Creative Director Helen Louise Carter Finaliser Ronald Alvin Baron International Sales Director Julia Toon, j.toon@firefly-me.com Regional Sales Area Manager, Qatar Chirine Halabi, c.halabi@firefly-me.com Area Manager, UAE Nesreen Shalaby, n.shalaby@urjuan-me.com Deputy Sales Manager Masha Ivanova, m.ivanova@firefly-me.com Printing & Distribution Distribution Manager Azqa Haroon Logistics Manager Joseph Isaac Printer Ali Bin Ali Printing Press, Doha, Qatar Publisher: Firefly Communications, PO Box 11596, Doha, Qatar.

Tel: +974 4434 0360 Fax: +974 4434 0359 info@firefly-me.com www.firefly-me.com www.volantemagazine.com @volante_magazine

Š2015 Volante is published as a bi-monthly supplement to Sur la Terre Arabia by Firefly Communications in Qatar and Urjuan Media in the UAE. All material is strictly copyright and all rights are reserved. Reproduction in whole, or in part, without the prior written permission of Firefly Communications or Urjuan Media, is prohibited. All content is believed to be factual at the time of going to print, and contributorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; views are their own derived opinions and not necessarily that of Firefly Communications, Urjuan Media or Volante. No responsibility or liability is accepted by the publishers or editorial staff for any loss occasioned to any individual or company, legally, financially or physically, as a result of any statement, fact, figure or expression of opinion or belief appearing in Volante. Thanks to Lord Sebastian de Groot van Embden, for his unwavering support and sweet, sweet snacks. The publisher does not officially endorse any advertising or advertorial content for third party products. Photography and image credits, where not otherwise stated, are those of Getty Images and/or Shutterstock and/or Firefly Communications / Urjuan Media, each of which retains their individual copyrights.

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