The Petrolhead Lounge

mtm

zebrafish wrote: »

The image film for the Ferrari Roma has a definitive 60s vibe (with a definitively John Barry-esqe soundtrack) and probably unintentional references to the SP night chase...

Thanks, I'd not seen that, it's really is a stunner.

007InAction

Nice roma film, or was that a db10 film ? They both look so similar...... :)>-

Aston martin news after the Mercedes-Benz 20 per cent stake...Lagonda back in action ?

Coming just months after Aston was plucked from near bankruptcy by F1 team owner Lawrence Stroll, the deal is also mooted to give Aston access to Mercedes-Benz’s pure-electric car technology that could see the relaunch of the Lagonda brand as an ultra-luxurious all-electric car-maker back on track.

Lagonda Vision concept

CommanderRoss

007InAction wrote: »

Nice roma film, or was that a db10 film ? They both look so similar...... :)>-

Aston martin news after the Mercedes-Benz 20 per cent stake...Lagonda back in action ?

Coming just months after Aston was plucked from near bankruptcy by F1 team owner Lawrence Stroll, the deal is also mooted to give Aston access to Mercedes-Benz’s pure-electric car technology that could see the relaunch of the Lagonda brand as an ultra-luxurious all-electric car-maker back on track.

Lagonda Vision concept

To quite from a certain film:

'What the hell is THAT!'

zebrafish

That's what it is. The 4 seats are ultra-luxurious, as on a 1st-class flight. I guess it would be useful if you are going to inspect your oil fields on the way to a falcon-auction (or whatever).

zebrafish

What do real car-designers think about the design of the Ferrari Roma? Does it ripp off the design of the AM DB10?
Skip to 12:29 to hear Frank Stephenson's evaluation (the guy has designed several Ferraris, Maseratis and multiple McLarens, so he knows what he's talking about):

mtm

zebrafish wrote: »

That's what it is. The 4 seats are ultra-luxurious, as on a 1st-class flight. I guess it would be useful if you are going to inspect your oil fields on the way to a falcon-auction (or whatever).

Yeah it's a stunner.
And Hummer should take note: an EV does not need a long bonnet! :D

007InAction

The Roborace series has successfully hosted fully autonomous motorsport events since 2016 – however, on Friday not everything quite went to plan.

CommanderRoss

A bit like 2020, I'd say.

mtm

Would you believe Aston Martin have made a gaming chair?

007InAction

mtm wrote: »

Would you believe Aston Martin have made a gaming chair?

Would you believe Aston Martin Designs Gorgeous Home With 2,000-Foot-Long Driveway ?

Aston Martin revs up for $7.7 million luxury home

https://newatlas.com/architecture/aston-martin-sylvan-rock-planned/

zebrafish

Aston Martin as a company has enough problems already, I think it would make sense to finally focus on making cars again and earning money. This will not end well.

CommanderRoss

zebrafish wrote: »

Aston Martin as a company has enough problems already, I think it would make sense to finally focus on making cars again and earning money. This will not end well.

SOmething I mentioned before.... You can't make high-end everything. You'll butch up half of the products.

Revelator

The Clarkson Review: Alfaholics GTA-R 290

A blast from the past, rebuilt even better

By Jeremy Clarkson (Sunday Times, Nov. 8)

I think we are going to have to face up to the fact that the supercar is dead. They’re too big and they’re too powerful. On a normal road you cannot keep your foot down in first, second or third for more than a second because it’s like trying to fly a jet fighter through a shopping centre. And this means you are putting up with all the discomfort and all the shortcomings of that racing-car layout and then not being able to enjoy — or even use — the supercar’s raison d’être. Its power.

Plus, if you arrive at someone’s house in a bright orange, 8ft-wide, mid-engine two-seater, they will assume they are being visited by an eight-year-old Saudi Arabian who has spent all night driving round Harrods.

So, because supercars are now unusable and driven by ghastly people with no taste, wealthy petrolheads, who do have taste, are being driven into the arms of Eagle, which will sell them a beautifully restored and modernised Jaguar E-type. Or Jensen International Automotive, which can build them an Interceptor with the reliable engine and electronics from a modern Chevrolet Corvette.

Yes, these restored cars cost as much as a Ferrari or a McLaren, but you can use all the performance all the time, and when you drop round to see friends they won’t draw the curtains and pretend to be out.

All of which brings me on to the car you see in the photographs this morning. It started out in life as an Alfa Romeo GTA but has been restored, redesigned and rebuilt by a family-owned company in Bristol called Alfaholics. The result is called the GTA-R and if you want one it’ll cost you £320,000.

Now, you would probably pay six figures for an E-type or an Interceptor because Jags and Jensens have that kind of kudos. But an Alfa?

The trouble is, Alfa Romeo has spent most of the recent past making dismal hatchbacks with the word “Fiat” crossed out and “Alfa Romeo” written in in crayon. So we have all forgotten that back in the days before the Arna and the 33 and the MiTo, Alfa was one of the most respected and loved car companies on earth. Enzo Ferrari worked there early in his career. And it dominated the Formula One drivers’ world championship in 1950 and 1951.

Back in the 1960s, a 1.6-litre GTA cost £2,898. That’s about £500 more than you’d have paid for an E-type. So, make no mistake, for older people the Alfa brand is very special.

There’s another reason why the Alfaholics GTA-R costs £320,000. The 3,000 hours of work that have gone into making it.

The original engine has been removed and in its place is a Twin Spark four-cylinder unit from an Alfa 75 that has been bored out to 2.2 litres. This now produces 240 horsepower, 200 torques and a noise that makes even your eyebrows tingle. On a visit to the workshop I wondered out loud why the company hadn’t fitted the V6 from an Alfa GTV, and those present looked at me as though I’d defecated on the office desk. The Twin Spark engine was chosen because — as anyone who knows anything knows — it can trace its roots and architecture back to the aluminium 1.6-litre engine that the original GTA had.

Alfaholics, then, does not just add what it thinks will make the car more reliable or more modern or snazzier. It makes sure whatever it changes, or does, allows the character of the original to shine through. It’s like the company has taken Julie Christie and rebuilt her so she’s 25 again. And given her optional air-conditioning. And Bluetooth. And new air vents with tiny Alfa badges in the middle. And I think I’m in love.

First things first, though: the interior. The car I drove was racing-car basic, but the driving position was — and this is a first for any Alfa — perfect. The steering wheel was high up, close to your chest and even closer to the gearknob. And the pedals were perfectly placed for double declutching and heel and toe changes. (I’m aware this might not make much sense to the under-40s.)

But while it felt like a racing car in there, it certainly didn’t feel like one when I took it for a drive. Because, unlike all modern cars, which are designed with one eye on the Nürburgring, it’s as comfortable as a Shackletons wingback armchair. And so easy to get in and out of, you know.

This is because modern suspension systems have to support the huge weight of the car, which gives them very little spare capacity for doing anything else. If you are giving a fat man a piggyback ride, it would be unreasonable to suggest you should be able to play the guitar at the same time.

The GTA-R, however, with its carbon-fibre components, weighs just 830kg. The suspension can prop that up without thinking, and so concentrate fully on what it’s supposed to be doing.

Like the original, it has a double-wishbone suspension at the front and a live axle at the rear, but all the pick-up points have been changed to give it a more modern feel. Sprinkle in telepathic steering and you end up with a car that doesn’t feel as if it’s from the 1960s at all. It feels as if it’s from that weird bit of your head where the concept of “perfect handling” lives. The brakes work too, principally because you get six-pot discs at the front, but also because all they have to slow down is something that weighs less than a cheese slice.

Here’s the best bit, though. You can accelerate — hard — through first and second and third. You can go from 0 to 62mph in less than five seconds and then keep on accelerating to 148mph, and not once will you soil yourself. This is not a frightening car and nor is it big. It’s an Alfa, and when you’ve driven it, you’ll understand what that means. They’re different. They feel alive.

There’s more too. In a modern supercar you are constantly aware that you’re not quite as good as the systems that are keeping you on the road. You are just meat in the room. But in the Alfa you feel like you’re part of a man-and-machine team. The handling limits are set not by the car but by you. That’s an important factor if you are a petrolhead. And it’s why racing used to be so much more fun to watch, because with a bit of red mist you could make your car do things it should not be able to do.

Then there’s the noise. It doesn’t come from electronic witchcraft in the exhaust. It’s a joyful, snorty-rorty cacophony, and it comes from the engine. It sounds real and it made me feel very special, very nostalgic and very happy. I adored the GTA-R more than is decent, or even healthy.

It also gave me an idea. There are tons of people my age who’d love a 3-litre Ford Capri or a Lancia Fulvia or a Triumph TR6. But they are put off by the promise of all that incontinence and unreliability. So, surely, there must be a market for people to start doing them up and selling them to hedge-funded petrolheads who no longer lust after a Lamborghini.

One such man recently asked Alfaholics to make him a totally rebuilt and modernised 101 series Giulia Spider. He then took away 22 slightly different shades of light blue paint to see which worked best in the light in London. And then he took the best five to his house in the south of France before deciding.

I’d like to do that one day.


The Clarksometer: Alfaholics GTA-R 290

Engine: 2200cc, 4 cylinders, petrol
Power: 240bhp @ 7000rpm
Torque:: 200 Ib ft @ 5400rpm
Acceleration: 0-62mph: 4.9sec
Top speed: 148mph
Fuel / CO2: 23mpg / n/a
Weight: 830kg
Price: £320,000
Release date: On sale now

Jeremy’s rating: ★★★★★

zebrafish

Nice! The article makes even more fun when read out aloud in the voice of Clarkson.

zebrafish

Someone built an Aston Martin DB5 fully Goldfinger-gadget functional 1/1 scale model (no motor, no drivetrain) and sold it on "Bring-a-trailer" for $ 200.000!
Amazing to what ends some fans are willing to go to. Just 2 years ago it failed to sell on Ebay for the asking price of $ 165.000. Just goes to show that the NTTD anticipation is high and that the new proud owner might earn some of his money back through promotions next year.

CommanderRoss

Revelator wrote: »

The Clarkson Review: Alfaholics GTA-R 290

A blast from the past, rebuilt even better

By Jeremy Clarkson (Sunday Times, Nov. 8)

I think we are going to have to face up to the fact that the supercar is dead. They’re too big and they’re too powerful. On a normal road you cannot keep your foot down in first, second or third for more than a second because it’s like trying to fly a jet fighter through a shopping centre. And this means you are putting up with all the discomfort and all the shortcomings of that racing-car layout and then not being able to enjoy — or even use — the supercar’s raison d’être. Its power.

Plus, if you arrive at someone’s house in a bright orange, 8ft-wide, mid-engine two-seater, they will assume they are being visited by an eight-year-old Saudi Arabian who has spent all night driving round Harrods.

So, because supercars are now unusable and driven by ghastly people with no taste, wealthy petrolheads, who do have taste, are being driven into the arms of Eagle, which will sell them a beautifully restored and modernised Jaguar E-type. Or Jensen International Automotive, which can build them an Interceptor with the reliable engine and electronics from a modern Chevrolet Corvette.

Yes, these restored cars cost as much as a Ferrari or a McLaren, but you can use all the performance all the time, and when you drop round to see friends they won’t draw the curtains and pretend to be out.

All of which brings me on to the car you see in the photographs this morning. It started out in life as an Alfa Romeo GTA but has been restored, redesigned and rebuilt by a family-owned company in Bristol called Alfaholics. The result is called the GTA-R and if you want one it’ll cost you £320,000.

Now, you would probably pay six figures for an E-type or an Interceptor because Jags and Jensens have that kind of kudos. But an Alfa?

The trouble is, Alfa Romeo has spent most of the recent past making dismal hatchbacks with the word “Fiat” crossed out and “Alfa Romeo” written in in crayon. So we have all forgotten that back in the days before the Arna and the 33 and the MiTo, Alfa was one of the most respected and loved car companies on earth. Enzo Ferrari worked there early in his career. And it dominated the Formula One drivers’ world championship in 1950 and 1951.

Back in the 1960s, a 1.6-litre GTA cost £2,898. That’s about £500 more than you’d have paid for an E-type. So, make no mistake, for older people the Alfa brand is very special.

There’s another reason why the Alfaholics GTA-R costs £320,000. The 3,000 hours of work that have gone into making it.

The original engine has been removed and in its place is a Twin Spark four-cylinder unit from an Alfa 75 that has been bored out to 2.2 litres. This now produces 240 horsepower, 200 torques and a noise that makes even your eyebrows tingle. On a visit to the workshop I wondered out loud why the company hadn’t fitted the V6 from an Alfa GTV, and those present looked at me as though I’d defecated on the office desk. The Twin Spark engine was chosen because — as anyone who knows anything knows — it can trace its roots and architecture back to the aluminium 1.6-litre engine that the original GTA had.

Alfaholics, then, does not just add what it thinks will make the car more reliable or more modern or snazzier. It makes sure whatever it changes, or does, allows the character of the original to shine through. It’s like the company has taken Julie Christie and rebuilt her so she’s 25 again. And given her optional air-conditioning. And Bluetooth. And new air vents with tiny Alfa badges in the middle. And I think I’m in love.

First things first, though: the interior. The car I drove was racing-car basic, but the driving position was — and this is a first for any Alfa — perfect. The steering wheel was high up, close to your chest and even closer to the gearknob. And the pedals were perfectly placed for double declutching and heel and toe changes. (I’m aware this might not make much sense to the under-40s.)

But while it felt like a racing car in there, it certainly didn’t feel like one when I took it for a drive. Because, unlike all modern cars, which are designed with one eye on the Nürburgring, it’s as comfortable as a Shackletons wingback armchair. And so easy to get in and out of, you know.

This is because modern suspension systems have to support the huge weight of the car, which gives them very little spare capacity for doing anything else. If you are giving a fat man a piggyback ride, it would be unreasonable to suggest you should be able to play the guitar at the same time.

The GTA-R, however, with its carbon-fibre components, weighs just 830kg. The suspension can prop that up without thinking, and so concentrate fully on what it’s supposed to be doing.

Like the original, it has a double-wishbone suspension at the front and a live axle at the rear, but all the pick-up points have been changed to give it a more modern feel. Sprinkle in telepathic steering and you end up with a car that doesn’t feel as if it’s from the 1960s at all. It feels as if it’s from that weird bit of your head where the concept of “perfect handling” lives. The brakes work too, principally because you get six-pot discs at the front, but also because all they have to slow down is something that weighs less than a cheese slice.

Here’s the best bit, though. You can accelerate — hard — through first and second and third. You can go from 0 to 62mph in less than five seconds and then keep on accelerating to 148mph, and not once will you soil yourself. This is not a frightening car and nor is it big. It’s an Alfa, and when you’ve driven it, you’ll understand what that means. They’re different. They feel alive.

There’s more too. In a modern supercar you are constantly aware that you’re not quite as good as the systems that are keeping you on the road. You are just meat in the room. But in the Alfa you feel like you’re part of a man-and-machine team. The handling limits are set not by the car but by you. That’s an important factor if you are a petrolhead. And it’s why racing used to be so much more fun to watch, because with a bit of red mist you could make your car do things it should not be able to do.

Then there’s the noise. It doesn’t come from electronic witchcraft in the exhaust. It’s a joyful, snorty-rorty cacophony, and it comes from the engine. It sounds real and it made me feel very special, very nostalgic and very happy. I adored the GTA-R more than is decent, or even healthy.

It also gave me an idea. There are tons of people my age who’d love a 3-litre Ford Capri or a Lancia Fulvia or a Triumph TR6. But they are put off by the promise of all that incontinence and unreliability. So, surely, there must be a market for people to start doing them up and selling them to hedge-funded petrolheads who no longer lust after a Lamborghini.

One such man recently asked Alfaholics to make him a totally rebuilt and modernised 101 series Giulia Spider. He then took away 22 slightly different shades of light blue paint to see which worked best in the light in London. And then he took the best five to his house in the south of France before deciding.

I’d like to do that one day.


The Clarksometer: Alfaholics GTA-R 290

Engine: 2200cc, 4 cylinders, petrol
Power: 240bhp @ 7000rpm
Torque:: 200 Ib ft @ 5400rpm
Acceleration: 0-62mph: 4.9sec
Top speed: 148mph
Fuel / CO2: 23mpg / n/a
Weight: 830kg
Price: £320,000
Release date: On sale now

Jeremy’s rating: ★★★★★

As I'm driving a recent Alfa I'm obviously not on par with his Fiat remarks. Now I've never driven a Fiat, but my current car has more fun, excitement and fury in it than far more expensive cars I've driven (BMW's, Audi's). That said, I can imagine driving a car like this is enormous fun. If I'd had the money to spare I'd probably buy one. Even my wife would agree.

007InAction

Lotus Esprit Twin Turrrrrrrbo V8

mtm

Great photo :)

https://twitter.com/AstonMartinWork/status/1326608131812519936

007InAction

Great photo but £3.3million for one ?
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-8709185/We-drive-Aston-Martins-3-3m-Goldfinger-DB5-007-gadgets.html

zebrafish

Nah, £3.3million is too much for me. I'll have Roger's car:
https://www.artebellum.com/en/classic-cars-for-sale/40338-1978-lotus-esprit

mtm

Very nice. That's a pricey one though, I guess they're going up.

007InAction

zebrafish wrote: »

Nah, £3.3million is too much for me. I'll have Roger's car:
https://www.artebellum.com/en/classic-cars-for-sale/40338-1978-lotus-esprit

I prefer this slightly modified Esprit :)>-


Aston and eon are milking the db5 till it's dry.
Time to retire the db5 ?

Ferrari F8 Tributo


There are better looking ferrari's around imo like the roma.

zebrafish

007InAction wrote: »

zebrafish wrote: »

Nah, £3.3million is too much for me. I'll have Roger's car:
https://www.artebellum.com/en/classic-cars-for-sale/40338-1978-lotus-esprit

I prefer this slightly modified Esprit :)>-

Time to turn your Tesla Model S into Wet Nellie:

CommanderRoss

zebrafish wrote: »

007InAction wrote: »

zebrafish wrote: »

Nah, £3.3million is too much for me. I'll have Roger's car:
https://www.artebellum.com/en/classic-cars-for-sale/40338-1978-lotus-esprit

I prefer this slightly modified Esprit :)>-

Time to turn your Tesla Model S into Wet Nellie:

That is fun! Cool thing to do!

007InAction

Tesla Model S From 0-60 mph 2.3 secs
Faster than a F1 car

zebrafish wrote: »

007InAction wrote: »

zebrafish wrote: »

Nah, £3.3million is too much for me. I'll have Roger's car:
https://www.artebellum.com/en/classic-cars-for-sale/40338-1978-lotus-esprit

I prefer this slightly modified Esprit :)>-

Time to turn your Tesla Model S into Wet Nellie:

Good gimmick

zebrafish

New fully electric BMW iX SUV for 2022.
It seems the beaver-teeth grille is here to stay across the whole range.

007InAction

zebrafish wrote: »

New fully electric BMW iX SUV for 2022.
It seems the beaver-teeth grille is here to stay across the whole range.

That grille looks too.... beaverish :)]

The Dbx grille looks better for a suv

CommanderRoss

Well, I've never been much of a fan of SUV's, except for the ones that are true ofroaders like the Landy. And those big teeth really don't help the design. I do like the back end though. Allthough you can probably see as much through that rear window as you see in audi A3. Which is to say: hardly anything.

007InAction

Nice option to have when drivers tail gate...... :)>-

007InAction

Toyota’s next-generation Mirai sedan has been confirmed for Australia, with the hydrogen-powered sedan due here before March next year


Meanwhile.........
Volkswagen has revealed it is expanding its focus on electric vehicles, investing billions to retool its factories.
In a call with investors and analysts on Monday, Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess said the car company was spending €73 billion (AU$118B) to convert two German factories to support production of electric vehicles, reports news outlet

Which do you prefer, hydrogen (betamax) or electric (vhs) ? :)]