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A hundred-kilometre ring for enjoying the pleasure of driving along the curves of three iconic passes. Among breathtaking landscapes, cult places and a very, very charming surprise at the end. Words Alessandro Giudice Photography Alessandro Barteletti Video Andrea Ruggeri Swiss Grand Tour is a project to discover itineraries driving classic Alfa Romeo cars, in partnership with Astara, the distributor and importer of the Brand in Switzerland. Canton Ticino, Uri, Valais Route from Airolo and returns Distance 100 km Travel time 2h Driving pleasure 5/5 Panorama 5/5 While the summer is the season of sunshine, mild temperatures and brightly coloured nature, in Switzerland it is also the time in which the many passes crossing the huge Swiss mountain ranges are open to traffic. This is reason enough for placing the Alpine peaks at the centre of the fifth itinerary of the Alfa Romeo Swiss Grand Tour, a route that, now customary, is covered by a historical star of the Arese-based car manufacturer. [click to watch the video] This time, the choice fell on the Montreal, a masterpiece of style designed by Marcello Gandini for Bertone and equipped with an extraordinary V8 engine with mechanical injection that ideally combines this elegant sports car with the iconic 33 Stradale. Driving the car with punch and precision is Valérie Navez, accompanied by her son Alexandre, an authentic “Alfa Romeo addict” despite his young age. With them on board, the Montreal climbed the St. Gotthard, the Furka and the Nufenen passes, which have always been popular with drivers for both the driving pleasure they offer and the uniquely beautiful views that can be admired from the top. Three passes for three cantons, the crossings of which also represent both the natural and administrative borders, distributed along a ring itinerary that starts from Airolo, in Ticino, and returns there after a hundred or so kilometres through Uri and Valais. Roads that saw the more understated yet essential presence of another four-wheeled Biscione star: a white Tonale in the Veloce version, a practical and compact SUV which makes the ideal support vehicle for shooting photos and videos on the move. The whole team set out from Airolo on a beautiful sunny day with a cobalt sky and very little traffic. The spirit adopted to face the route is instantly clear in the choice of road to reach St. Gotthard: not the fast, futuristic “new” road but the 24 hairpin bends of the Tremola, the narrow and arduous road, considered to be “Switzerland's longest road monument”, that climbs for 13 kilometres to the 2091 metres of the pass. This thrilling route is made unique not only by the cobbles covering the bends, it is an authentic dive into the past that however demands special care in the rain, as the porphyry blocks guarantee a less-than-perfect grip for the tyres. At the top of the climb, a large clearing offers rest for tourists, and once also replenishment for travellers and carriages (in fact you can still travel up to the pass on a mail coach drawn by five horses). Here you can take a break at the travellers’ hospice or have a look round the St. Gotthard Museum, even though precedence should be given to the spectacular natural views, admired sitting on the edge of the small Piazza Lake that occupies part of the pass. Having got used to the Tremola, the Cantonale 2 that descends beyond the pass seems almost a motorway. After the small San Carlo Lake, along a straight road you will see a high-relief sculpture of a bull, the symbol of the canton Uri, which starts right here. The route descends as far as Hospental, then turns left along the Cantonale 19 towards Furkapass. A long, broad and scenic stretch of the road runs half-way along the mountains, parallel to the tracks of the Briga-Andermatt train line. The road becomes significantly narrower when it starts to climb towards the pass, with charming views of mountains covered in greenery, waterfalls and stone chalets, as well as a few areas where the snow manages to resist even the summer temperatures. For James Bond fans, a sequence from Goldfinger was filmed here on the bends just after Realp, with 007's Aston Martin DB5 duelling with a Mustang driven, of course, by a beautiful lady. With the same attitude as Valérie, who tackles even the narrowest bends naturally, nonchalantly using the Montreal’s gears and steering wheel as if it were a city car. The Furka Pass has a huge esplanade that focuses the attention of those arriving on the valleys below, distracting them from the extraordinary conformation of the rock face accompanying the road, a natural masterpiece behind those admiring the view. The broad, well-kept road accompanying the descent over the pass, which takes us into the canton Valais, is nothing like the climb. And here, on a left-hand bend, we have a view of the old (and decadent) Hotel Belvedere, an authentic icon for all driving enthusiasts who love to have their picture taken with their special car coming round the bend. Needless to say, taking a photo here is rather complicated, given the crowds of selfie fans, but if you can take one the result is usually worth the effort. The descent from Furka ends in Gletsch, a small Alpine village that is not only the ideal place for admiring the Rhône Glacier but also home to the station where the steam train climbing up to the pass starts from. At the first crossroads in the town, on the right, the road leads up to another crossing, the Grimsel Pass, towards the Bernese Alps: an itinerary that crosses a wilderness of gorges, dams and mountain lakes that we promise to explore another time. Our route on the other hand continues along the main road through a long valley bottom that, passing through Oberwald, reaches Ulrichen, where the Glacier Express, the railway line (reputed to be the “slowest express train in the world”) that joins Zermatt and St. Moritz, passes. And from here, the road takes us back to Ticino across the Nufenen Pass. But not before having taken a stroll among the wooden houses in the perfectly preserved ancient Valais village, an authentic open-air museum. The road climbing towards the pass is spectacular, both in its own right and for the landscapes it runs through. The wide bends climbing towards the pass, Switzerland's highest, offer a natural spectacle framed between the 3000 metres of Pizzo Gallina, on the left, and the 2866 metres of the Nufenstock, on the right. While the Nufenen Pass offers all the simplicity of an Alpine crossing, with the climb that flattens on the peak and descends towards the other slope immediately afterwards, what makes the difference here are the unique details. Starting from the 2478 metres altitude, looking over a vast panorama facilitated by its dominant position. And then, a surprise meeting, just a few metres from the road near a small lake, a large community of dozens of ibexes, grazing, fighting each other with their long horns, watching the people photographing them with no apparent fear, in an absolutely extraordinary symbiosis of humans and nature. This is the last “upper mountain thrill” in our itinerary before taking the long and practically straight road down towards Airolo, through Val Bedretto. Accompanied by the spring waters of the river that originates on the Nufenen and which gave its name to the canton from which this great adventure set out, the Ticino. THE COLLECTOR: Navez Family The "Montreal" For us, Alfa Romeo is a family history, which began in the 1970s with my grandfather, who had a penchant for the Alfetta, and my grandmother, who drove an Alfasud. They handed down their passion to my father, who gave his future wife a Spider 2000 as a wedding present. The Montreal we took to the Swiss passes was made on 5 December 1974 and sold by the Swiss Alfa Romeo dealer in Agno, in the canton of Ticino, and was then sold to its owner, in San Gallen. The Montreal was the car my grandfather dreamed of, and my father bought it in his memory. Although my grandfather died a few years ago, when my father drives it he imagines having his father sitting happily by his side - Alexandre Navez. The Modern Alfas I have always been an Alfa Romeo fan. I love classic cars, with their timeless charm supported by technical and style solutions that created an authentic international legend. Today's Alfa Romeos maintain their distinctive and recognisable style and the top models, bearing the cloverleaf, also offer performances worthy of the brand. I would like to become a designer and give the Alfa Romeos of the future the character that made them unique in the past. An operation that has to look ahead, without seeking to copy the classic style codes, because the Alfa Romeo spirit has always looked to innovation and has to continue to do so - Alexandre Navez.

It is still the only four-door car with gull-wing doors today, and one of the most representative prototypes of the vast production of Giovanni Michelotti, the most prolific Italian designer in the country’s style history. A comfortable yet sporty sedan that easily seats four people, built on the Lancia Beta 1800, débuted at the 1974 Turin Motor Show, arousing great interest and curiosity. Giovanni’s son Edgardo Michelotti, who was personally involved in its creation, tells us about the car in detail. And with this article, he begins his collaboration with SpeedHolics. Words Edgardo Michelotti Photos and drawings Archivio Storico Michelotti ( http://www.archiviostoricomichelotti.it/ ) “For me, what counts in a car is its style.” My father had clear ideas about design, and the Lancia Beta 1800 Mizar, one of his last creations, is one of the most significant examples of his infinite production. In the early 1970s, Michelotti had already made his name in the international car world. Like both previous and subsequent projects, this was a fully-fledged part of his research into aerodynamics, passive safety and comfort, thanks also to the availability of specific technologies that didn't exist years earlier. Dad worked in a new 1800 m2 facility where all the phases of prototype construction were performed, with a 500 m2 engineering and style department and around 25 employees. This is where the Mizar was born, completely in-house. In 1973, I began to work in the coachbuilders as an apprentice aged 22. I remember my surprise when my father asked me what I thought about producing a four-door gull-wing car for the Turin Motor Show to be held the next year. A stimulating project that was to be a world first, something never built before. Initially I told him I was flattered that he had asked, but that I wasn't expert enough to express an opinion. But he insisted, as he was interested in the opinion of someone younger (even before I joined, he had probably done a survey among his colleagues). In the end, I said yes, it seemed like a good idea. My involvement began with a prospect view sketch of the car and a 1:10 scale drawing, which he told me to copy in pencil on tracing paper. It was not an easy task. In the end, he examined my work and complimented me, but one detail on the drawing was not perfect. So I had to draw it all over again, as his way of working didn't allow us to use a rubber. But the second, and then the third and many other copies also had defects. Substantially, I drew the same thing for days and days, accumulating a mountain of almost identical sheets. After two weeks, I finally managed to produce what he thought was the definitive drawing, having silently and obediently demonstrated my perplexity over his way of doing things. Pencil drawings of the side view of two alternative versions of the Mizar made in December 1973, when Michelotti was still trying to give the car its definitive style. Two of the drawings made by Edgardo Michelotti following his father’s instructions that would be used to create the 1:1 scale construction plan. And then we made a heliographic copy and with a few strokes of watercolour he turned the drawing into a masterpiece. He then allowed me to take part in the 1:1 scale design of the construction plan of the car. It was a great time for me professionally, and I still remember it fondly. Some of the life-sized scale construction of the Mizar with the wooden jig and panel assembly jig, all made in the workshop in Orbassano, just outside Turin. The car was made from iron sheet, following the typical methodology used for making single prototypes. The car was also painted and upholstered at the workshop. Only a few years later did I realise that his – albeit strange – behaviour had in fact put me to a test, of determination, perseverance, passion and character. Unfortunetely, I never found out if that first drawing was already acceptable or if the last one still contained errors. What he actually wanted to check was something else. Considering the period in which it was made, the car was something extraordinary. One of the things it included was also the classic front grille, which the parent company had abandoned years earlier (but returned to in subsequent production models). At that time, Michelotti collaborated with the Fiat Style Centre, working with Paolo Boano, style manager, and Giuseppe Civardi, in charge of the bodywork. But there was no particular contact between them and my father in the definition of this exclusive model, aside from purchasing the chassis and the mechanics. Some photos of the finished car taken in April 1974 opposite the entrance to the office building and in the courtyard in Orbassano. The Mizar was an instant success among the general public and received favourable reviews in the specialist press. The four-seater car had retracting headlights, polyurethane bumpers (previously tested on the prototypes of the 1971 Fiat 128 Coupé Pulsar and the 1972 Fiat 132 Coupé, both presented at the Geneva and Turin motor shows) and extraordinary aerodynamics. The Michelotti stand set up at the 1974 Turin Motor Show where the Mizar was presented to the public for the first time. On the final road test, I remember it seemed like flying a glider: not a draught or tiny whistle of air. The visibility was exceptional and the upholstered seats assured comfort even on long journeys. The gull-wing doors, the other great novelty of this new design, were driven by a large piston mounted on the central steering column, one for each door. The doors opened individually, although to add a touch of the spectacular, in the photos they are always shown both open. This made the construction even more complex, but the end result was way beyond all expectations. The car was completed in time for its world preview at the Turin International Motor Show in spring 1974, and later also at Geneva and Barcelona the following year. Unfortunately, due to its design the Mizar could not be type-approved, as the gull-wing doors couldn't open if the car overturned. In the end, it was simply an interesting style exercise, which ended with the production of a working prototype. Images from the Lancia Beta 1800 Mizar press folder taken at Avigliana Lake, near Turin The project did however have a happy ending: the Swiss high-end car importer Willy Felber ordered a modification on seven Lancia Beta 1800s, proposing the same front as our Mizar and the rear with the opening rear hatch window. The passenger compartment and doors remained those of the originals. In 1978 my father sold the car to a Japanese collector who I didn’t have the chance to meet. I believe that it is still being admired in the Far East, although I recently heard (but have not checked) that due to his age and health the owner wants to sell it, but that’s still to be confirmed. What is certain is that it is the only car ever built with four opening gull-wing doors and the rear hatch window as a fifth door. About tha author Edgardo Michelotti: Born in 1952, I hold a diploma as a surveyor and pursued a degree in Architecture in Turin. I began working alongside my father in 1973 until his illness and passing in early 1980. I continued his work until 1991, when I transitioned away from the automotive industry. For the next 15 years, I focused on industrial design, while also engaging in photography and archival digitization from 2003 to the present. This allowed me to manage an extensive archive, including the specific cataloging and complete digitization of approximately 6,000 graphic units, 20,000 photographs, 7,000 kg of full-scale design plans, as well as scale models, tools, correspondence, and periodicals. The archive spans over three decades, covering the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.

Like any charming adventure, there is treasure to be found. Ours is called Engadin, and to find it we climbed two mountain passes, the Julier and the Bernina Words Alessandro Giudice Photography Alessandro Barteletti Video Andrea Ruggeri and Anthony Egas Swiss Grand Tour is a project to discover itineraries driving classic Alfa Romeo cars, in partnership with Astara, the distributor and importer of the Brand in Switzerland. The place to be in the Swiss Alps is called Engadin, a 90-km-long valley south of the Grisons, the largest canton in the Swiss Confederation. To get there, we decided to start from one of the busiest roads in central-eastern Switzerland, the A13 linking Zurich to Bellinzona, passing through Chur. Along the motorway, we came across Thusis, a small town of three thousand inhabitants built on the banks of the raging alpine river Nolla, which flows into the Hinterrhein, the departure point of the Cantonal Road no. 3 that leads towards Engadin crossing the Julier Pass. [click to watch the video] Before setting out, it is well worth taking a stroll among the narrow streets of Thusis, lined with buildings from different eras and a wealthy past; the beautiful houses in the Neudorf neighbourhood, partly rebuilt after the great fire in 1845, looking over the main road running through the town, bear witness to this. Other points of interest include the late Gothic Church of Our Lady, the Schlössli - a “small castle” in both name and deed, the fountain in honour of the works done on the spectacular Viamala Gorge, which runs along the Hinterrhein with sheer walls up to 300 metres high. In addition to the beautiful landscape and the wealth of foot- and cycle-paths which make it a popular destination for cycling and trekking fans, Thusis’s fame is also due to its fortunate, strategic geographical position, at the foot of some major mountain passes for both goods and humans, including the Spluga, the San Bernardino, the Albula and, of course, the Julier. The four-wheeled star of this Alpine adventure, the magnificent 1962 Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider that Ronnie Kessel, the enthusiastic young owner of Kessel Group in Lugano, put at our disposal after a thorough refurbishment. The fact of having this car as our travel companion also offers a curious coincidence with the Italian name of the Julier Pass, “Passo del Giulia”. Having said this, we set off early, and the fairly chilly climate made us keep the hood down, at least as we drove towards the Julier. We passed through a long series of tunnels dotted along the Cantonal Road no. 3 from Thusis to Tiefencastle, where there is a turn-off for the Albula Pass. Our route in any case continued along the main road for another 35 kilometres through sweeping, scenic valleys where long, winding roads run up and down hill, interspersed with some wonderful panoramic views. The peaks of Piz Spegnaz and Arblatsch on the right and, after Savognin, the Marmorera Dam and reservoir. A couple of kilometres after the reservoir we come to Bivio, a small town at the foot of the Julier, whose first steep and narrow bends can clearly be seen from a distance. From an altitude of 1770 metres we climb to the pass at 2200 metres, enjoying both the spectacular views and the pleasure of driving. The perfect scenario for celebrating the features of a car like the Giulia Spider: agile and comfortable, it is ideal for admiring the views with the top down, even though for the time being we still have the hood up. The driving rhythm of the Stelvio Quadrifoglio accompanying us was quite different: it climbed like a tiger, gripping every bend with its four-wheel drive charging along the tarmac with all the 520 HP of the V6 biturbo engine. The road is perfectly tarmacked, and our surroundings run from the peaks to the valleys, still white with snow. Having reached the pass, the downward journey on the other side is quite smooth, with wide bends and long straight roads. We quickly cover the seven kilometres separating us from Upper Engadie, along a kind of plateau that however becomes steeper towards the end when, on a left-hand bend, the last of the descent and just before a short tunnel, we find ourselves overlooking the spectacular Lake Silvaplana, one of the four in the valley. And here, with the temperature slightly higher, we are tempted by the Giulia’s spider soul and finally take the hood down. Running along the lake fed by the River Inn, we arrive just in time at the “pearl of the Engadin”, St. Moritz, the ideal place for showing off the timeless elegance of the two-seater Biscione. Since the mid-19th century, when the town was an Alpine village inhabited by livestock breeders, today it has become a chic location dotted with elegant luxury boutiques. During the period when the spa waters of the St. Moritz spring began to attract an international clientèle, two major hotels were built and are still a symbol of the town’s exclusivity: the Kulm, the oldest, and Badrutt’s Palace, today standing alongside the spectacular Kempinski Grand Hotel des Bains, on the banks of the lake. St. Moritz is known above all as a place of entertainment and sport. It has been home to two editions of the Winter Olympics, a famous bobsled run, a skeleton racing track, and snow polo tournaments held on the iced-over lake. This lake also hosts a famous classic cars event: ‘The Ice’, the most extraordinary Concours d’Elegance for classic cars on ice. In addition to these attractions, visitors should also stop at the Segantini Museum, dedicated to the famous Italian painter with the monumental Alpine Triptych. And, talking of great works, running through the town, along the stone wall of the railway station, you can admire the huge installation “Welcome” (29x4 metres), by the US graphic artist Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, who died recently at the age of 95. Leaving St. Moritz along the Cantonal Road no. 27, with the River Inn on our right and heading towards Celerina, we reach a roundabout that meets the no. 28, which takes us to the second pass on our itinerary, the Bernina. To reach the pass we set off from the slopes of Piz Bernina, which at 4,049 metres is one of the highest peaks in the Grisons, passing through the municipality of Pontresina to the Diavolezza area, which is perfect for skiing and trekking, at an altitude of 2000 metres, and where two cable cars take you to almost 3000 metres. Six kilometres separate Diavolezza from the pass, along a route encircled by the charming landscape of the Rhaetian Alps. After the Bernina Pass, we drive down towards Valtellina. The first border crossing to Italy is the La Motta customs post, the perfect place for ending our magical itinerary through Grisons. THE COLLECTOR: Ronnie Kessel The "Giulia Spider" The splendid shape drawn by Pininfarina for the Giulietta, is proposed again in 1962 with the Giulia Spider which distinguishes itself from the previous model for the wide air intake that crosses the engine hood, the adoption of larger rear lights and above all for the more powerful four-cylinder type 00112 of 1.6 liters and 91 HP. The specimen protagonist of our Tour in the Grisons has been completely restored by Kessel Classic division maintaining its fascinating and rare body color, that light blue so fashionable in the 60s. The Modern Alfas The history of my family has always been linked to the brand from Arese. It was an Alfa Romeo that brought my father into the world of racing in a career that then reached Formula 1, and it is with one of the six official Autodelta GTA's that I enjoy participating in some races of the Alfa Romeo Classic championship today. A passion and a strong bond that, analyzing the current models of the Biscione, especially the most performing ones, makes me say that Alfa Romeo has succeeded in the task of preserving the DNA and driving style of its cars.

Massimo Grandi brings us into the fascinating history of Giuseppe Furmanik’s Maserati Siluro 4CM Carenato, a record-breaking car in automotive engineering. The article traces the origins of the Maserati 4CM, highlighting its development by the Maserati brothers and its transformation into a speed record challenger. Furmanik's innovative work in aerodynamics and engineering is explored, showcasing how his modifications led to multiple world records. The Maserati Siluro 4CM Carenato exemplifies the blend of scientific principles and aesthetic design in early 20th-century racing. Words and Drawings Massimo Grandi The history of Giuseppe Furmanik's record-breaking Maserati 4cm is profoundly intertwined with the birth of the prestigious Italian brand Maserati. In the early 1920s, the brothers Alfiero and Ernesto Maserati were well-known and esteemed, both as drivers and designers, and in 1922 the prestigious firm Diatto called them to direct its racing team. In 1923, the engineer Giuseppe Coda, Diatto’s director and designer, built 2 experimental 4-litre straight-8 engines, coupling standard Diatto Type 20 blocks. Between 1924 and 1925, under Coda's guide, Alfieri Maserati designed and built a new engine, with a smaller displacement of 1995 cc. This was the first 8C Diatto built by Maserati, an aluminium twin-shaft straight cylinder block with 2 Memini carburettors and a Roots-type compressor. This engine was used in the now-legendary Diatto 8C Grand Prix with compressor, 160 HP and bodywork by Schieppati that saw the light in June 1925. When Diatto withdrew from racing in 1926, ten Type 30 sport chassis, equipped with gears and other mechanical parts, were purchased by the gentleman-driver Marquis Diego De Sterlich who, a huge fan, wanted to give them to the Maserati brothers, convincing them - also with financial help - to set up their own car racing firm, and thus in 1926 Alfieri and Ernesto Maserati set up the historical “Trident” company. The first racing car was named “Tipo 26”, after the year of manufacture. It was driven by a straight-8 1500 cc engine, meeting the new international regulation, and was supercharged by a compressor that produced 120 HP at 5,300 rpm. It was the very first actual Maserati. On 25 April, 1926, the Tipo 26 made its début in the Targa Florio. It was red, the Italian national racing colour, and wore number 5. Alfieri, assisted by the mechanic Guerino Bertocchi, won its class and eighth place overall, even ahead of two Bugattis. Three were made during the first year of production, with chassis numbers 11, 12 and 13. Production of the Tipo 26 continued until 1932, with constant technical improvements and different set-ups. Between the late 1920s and early 30s, racing cars with small engines - the so-called “Voiturette” class, gained popularity in the racing world, especially among private drivers. And so, in 1929 Maserati developed a 1100 cc version of the Tipo 26. Yet compared to the French Salmsone and Amilcar, the car was overweight, so after producing four cars, the Tipo 26C or 8C 1100 was abandoned and Alfieri Maserati started from scratch. One of the main reasons for the excessive weight of the Tipo 26C was the rather large and heavy straight-8 engine. It was replaced with the first 4-cylinder engine, much better suited to the small car. With two overhead camshafts and a Roots-type compressor, the new 1088 cc "quattro" delivered 90 HP. And so, in 1932, the small, single-seater Maserati 4CM was born. The 4CM was produced until 1938, in several series, with engine capacities respectively of 1100, 1500, 2000 and 2500 cc. Giuseppe Furmanik, a key engineer in the Italian racing world and famous driver from Rome, bought a Maserati 4CM 1100 cc in August 1933, #1120. Intending to join the world speed record challenge, Furmanik immediately began to develop the mechanics, and progressively also the body. In the mid-30s, aerodynamics was in its very early stages, and Giuseppe Furmanik's Maserati 4 CM was used as a laboratory car for the new experimental aerodynamic studies. The car developed rapidly as the studies progressed. In 1934, on the Firenze-Mare motorway, Giuseppe Furmanik set a new world flying kilometre record in the 1100cc class, reaching a speed of 222.634 kilometres per hour (over 138 mph), beating the previous record of 207.527 km/h held by MG. The car had not only evolved in its mechanics but above all in terms of aerodynamics. The front had been completely re-designed, reducing the front air intake to an oval opening in the profile of the old grille, now fully integrated into the body. The chassis and front leaf-springs were also hidden inside a shaped fairing. Two years later in Pescara, the car won the standing kilometre record in 27’’38/100 with an average speed of 131.483 and the standing mile in 39’’57/100 average km. 146.415. Twenty days later, on the Firenze-Mare it beat its own records, with the flying start over a kilometre in 14’’42/100 average 249.653 and over a mile in 27’’28/100 average 212.376. It also beat the records in class D with standing start over a kilometre in 23’’865/1.000 average 150.849 and over a mile in 35’’00 at an average speed of km. 165.532. In 1937 Furmanik went even further in his aerodynamic experiments, and at the Viotti Coachbuilders in Turin, designed by Mario Revelli from Beaumont and developed at the Experimental aeronautic research centre in Guidonia, came the Maserati 4CM 1500 LSR (Land Speed Record) more commonly known as the “Maserati Siluro 4CM Carenato". The engine was a Maserati 1495.7 cc (1500). The greater displacement was obtained by changing both the bore and the stroke. The larger engine also demanded a larger compressor and a Weber carburettor. The 4CM 1500 engine delivered 130 or 150 CV depending on the use of the fixed head. The supercharged engine further developed by Furmanik, with a 100 mm stroke and 69 mm bore, with Burgo pistons, reached even 200 CV at 7000 rpm. The original bodywork of the 4 CM was then completely changed, with a practically complete fairing, aiming to create increasingly fluid and continuous lines. A huge stabiliser fin sat at the back. It was designed by Mario Revelli from Beaumont, with the bodywork by Carrozzeria Viotti. The passenger compartment was closed by a dome that made the car look more like a torpedo - siluro in Italian - that gave it the name "Maserati Siluro 4CM Carenato". Even the front brakes were eliminated to lighten the car as much as possible in order to give it more speed. The underlying arrangement of this aerodynamic model was the classic one specified in Jaray’s 1920s patent, with a central body with a longitudinal winged section with a drop-shaped roof. A similar solution had already been adopted for a 1934 Maserati 4CM 1500, based on the design by the German designer Reinhard von Koenig-Fachsenfeld with bodywork by Vetter for the Swiss driver Hans Ruesch. With his Maserati Siluro 4CM Carenato, on 2 and 3 June 1937, on the Firenze-Mare motorway, he beat the class record for the standing start kilometre in 24’’935/1.000 average 144.3, and in the standing start mile in 34’’325/1000 average 168.8 and the flying kilometre in 15’’9/100 with an average of 238.6 km/h. Although he won these two major international records, Furmanik didn’t manage to beat Frank Lockhart’s record on the flying mile. This was a really exceptional record: Lockhart was not only a skilled driver but also a great engineer and manufacturer, who had developed his Miller Perfect Circle 8-cylinder 1.500 cc supercharged engine that delivered 240 HP at 7,500 rpm. In 1927, in California, he covered the flying mile in 21.95 seconds, at a speed of 263.946 Km/hour. Furmanik couldn’t get more than 6400 rpm from his engine, while at full power it was 7000 rpm. This is enough to explain why the attempt to beat the previous record failed. But his attempt did trigger a discussion on aerodynamic efficiency, and so on Furmanik’s Maserati CX and its exposed front wheels with only a rear fairing. As we know, exposed wheels offer higher aerodynamic resistance, and so a full fairing drastically lowers the drag coefficient. Right from the start, they imagined that perhaps with a full fairing, seeing as the Maserati weighed less than Lockhart's Miller at 800 kg, they would have been able to reach higher speeds. In fact, in the original rendering the fairing covered all four wheels, also using disc hubs. This solution was similar to the one adopted by Lockhart for his wonderful 1928 Stutz Black Hawk Special. We do not know why Furmanik opted for this choice, from the period photos of the record attempt on the Firenze-Mare motorway, the car appeared even without any fairing on the wheels. Also in an original Luce film of the event, the car appeared initially with the fairings on the rear wheels, and then racing without them. Whatever Furmanik’s choice of racing with or without the fairings, the original design of this car fitted out by Viotti remains very interesting. It represents an excellent combination of the scientific application of the principles of aerodynamics and aesthetics, seeking an elegantly harmonious model even for a car intended simply to beat a speed record. With its records and its design, Furmanik’s Maserati 4CM undoubtedly wrote a chapter in the history of car racing and car design.

In a region of empty roads winding through the forests, the pleasure of driving blends with the discovery of some charming and, at times, mysterious places. We stumbled upon them at the wheel of a 1969 Junior Zagato Words Alessandro Giudice Photography Alessandro Barteletti Video Andrea Ruggeri Swiss Grand Tour is a project to discover itineraries driving classic Alfa Romeo cars, in partnership with Astara, the distributor and importer of the Brand in Switzerland. This is the only one of the 26 Swiss cantons to have Italian as its only official language. This is why, imagining an itinerary through Ticino, we decided to start from its south-western border with Italy, following the river Tresa, an emissary of Lake Lugano in the municipality of Ponte Tresa which then flows into Lake Maggiore. Ponte Tresa is not only a major border crossing, it is also a lakeside town with beaches and tourist amenities that, in the warmer season, offer visitors a full range of bathing facilities and opportunities. A couple of miles from the town, heading towards Lugano, you reach the municipality of Caslano, a charming and colourful tourism and cultural outpost looking over the water with its characteristic peninsula. Here you can not only surf, swim and sail: there are also some interesting trekking routes on and around Mount Sassalto, a protected natural oasis with a variety of plant species, and then take a tasty break at the Museum & Chocolate Experience Alprose, or a cultural diversion at the Fishing Museum. [click to watch the video] Having explored the area, we start our itinerary from Ponte Tresa, taking Via Cantonale along the right bank of the river Tresa. In contrast to the rather impervious Italian bank, as soon as you leave the town the Ticino coast of the river opens into a large, sun-kissed plane criss-crossed by straight roads linking farms, small businesses and charming villages typical of the border areas, where the lasting presence of two close yet different cultures has created a curious mix of habits and traditions. With the support of Reto Sormani, Alfa Romeo collector and expert of the local area, we wanted the route through this part of Ticino to be marked by driving pleasure, on exhilarating yet possibly quiet roads. A pleasure that was crowned by the agility and power of the car Reto put at our disposal: a bright red 1969 Alfa Romeo Junior Zagato 1300, for the occasion assisted by a really special support car, the 520 HP Giulia Quadrifoglio. The first leg of the tour runs through Sessa, recognisable even from a distance by the size of the bell tower of the San Martino Church, dating back to 1200 and built by the local feudal family Sessa, which took on its current Baroque style in the 15th century. This pretty town has a characteristic urban structure, which has maintained its appeal as an ancient hamlet. Here we also find the Palazzo del Tribunale (Court Building), because, we should remember, Sessa was to all extents and purposes the capital of Malcantone, the region connecting Milan to Lugano and then to Northern Europe. There are several theories behind the name. One states that the strategic and disputed border region was inhabited by both traders and travellers and bandits and criminals, who robbed the wayfarers. Another states that it comes from the rather bad-tempered character of its inhabitants, rough mountain folk: both are sufficient reasons for adding the prefix “mal” (“bad”) to the term “cantone”. Departing from Sessa, the first part of the route runs through the chestnut woods covering the hills. The route runs uphill along wide, well-marked and enjoyable winding roads, where the GT Junior Zagato began to offer all the thrills it is capable of. By one of the bends you will see a minecart, telling of the mining tradition that made Malcantone one of the richest mining regions not only in Switzerland but in the whole of Europe. The minecart is but a clue to the location of the gold mine (along with the local silver mine) which lies a few miles ahead in Costa di Sessa. Following the signs, you will reach the entrance of the mining tunnel, recovered in the last decade and offering interesting guided tours, as well as the first leg of the Mining Park Trail, along which trekking enthusiasts (frequent visitors to Malcantone) can reach other sites telling of the special and somewhat unexpected history and economy of the Confederacy. Like the story of Domenico Trezzini, architect and town planner born in Astano, a village with 300 inhabitants lying three kilometres from Sessa, who studied in Rome and in 1703 was called by the Tzar Peter the Great to help design St Petersburg, the new capital of the Russian Empire. Trezzini, to whom an impressive statue was erected in the Russian city, designed the Summer Palace, the Peter and Paul Fortress and Cathedral, curiously the saints after whom the Baroque parish church in Astano, dating back to 1636, is also named. The route then continues on to Novaggio from where, running along the southern face of Mount Lema, reaches Miglieglia. In addition to the modern cable car that leads to the top of the mountain, here you can also visit the beautiful Romanic Church of Santo Stefano al Colle, inside decorated with brightly coloured late-Gothic frescoes: don’t miss this tiny gem. From here on the road becomes quite spectacular, with its harmoniously winding bends and scenic views that appear out of the blue. In Breno, the main town in Upper Malcantone, the beautiful blue and white Casa Cantonale welcomes visitors. Wander round its narrow streets, stop for a tasty meal in one of its “trattorie” and then visit the monumental Church of San Lorenzo, built in the 13th century, renovated two centuries later, its neoclassical façade added in 1912. And talking of religious buildings, the view from the Church of Santa Maria Juvenia, a beautiful complex dating back to the 9th century next to the Iseo cemetery, near Vernate, is quite spectacular. The church can be reached along a short diversion from the route, offering breathtaking view of Lake Lugano and beyond. And here in Vernate we begin to approach the lake. Descending into the valley, on a right-hand bend, take the road to the left towards Bioggio, an alternative scenic route that runs half-way along the hillside. Driving through almost uninhabited ancient hamlets, you will enjoy the genuine simplicity of mountain life, while the architecture of the houses and commercial activities dotted along the road clearly indicate that you are approaching more sophisticated places. Returning to the rhythms of nearby Lugano, marked by the bridge over the A2 motorway leading to the Gotthard Pass, you will drive through Breganzona, Muzzano and then Risciano, towards Agno as far as the left-hand turn towards Figino. This picturesque lakeside town is the point of arrival for this unusual yet appealing itinerary, through a Ticino in which Lugano is the main place of attraction and yet has some unexpectedly wild delights to be discovered amongst the chestnut-covered hills. THE COLLECTOR: Reto Sormani The "Junior Z" I chose the Junior Z for its classic mechanics, with a four-cylinder, twin-cam engine, housed in a unique body. For me, who has always loved Alfa Romeo sedans, it was an extraordinary choice that added some zest to my collection, as well as an investment in a model produced in limited numbers. From a dynamic perspective, I appreciate its exceptional road-holding, thanks to a combination of lightness and power that make it agile and easily manageable. The 90 hp engine, which may not seem like much on paper, performs excellently on a weight that doesn't exceed 1000 kg. It's very responsive to the load, and it's clear that you feel the difference when you have a passenger. However, it's a very enjoyable car and surprisingly fast: on the track, I've reached 180 km/h effortlessly. Not bad for a fifty-year-old car of only 1.3 litres. The Modern Alfas As an ardent Alfista, it's enough for me to get behind the wheel of a modern Alfa to find many things that make it unique and recognizable. I recently spoke with someone from the Centro Stile, and I was struck by the fact that even today, those who work at Alfa Romeo put their heart and passion into it. I have a Giulia that I use every day and a Stelvio Quadrifoglio: then I get behind the wheel of a 2004 GT 3.2 with a manual gearbox, and my heart opens up. Perhaps I am made for slightly old-fashioned, rough Alfa Romeos.

The international charm of a city where contemporary architecture blends with the wonderful views of the lake and the surrounding peaks Words Alessandro Giudice Photography Alessandro Barteletti Video Andrea Ruggeri Swiss Grand Tour is a project to discover itineraries driving classic Alfa Romeo cars, in partnership with Astara, the distributor and importer of the Brand in Switzerland. Among all the Swiss cities, Lugano has a strong and special personality. Its proximity to Italy and the short distance that separates it from Milan have helped develop a lifestyle where a taste for beauty, particularly fashion and design, and cultural opportunities, expressed through a packed calendar of exhibitions and events, have made Lugano the most Mediterranean city in the Confederation, as well as a top financial centre. [click to watch the video] In the light of these considerations, we imagined an intense and “short but sweet” itinerary around Lugano and its lake to take in the scenery. Continuing our exploration of Ticino, which began in the hills of Malcantone, we set out from Figino, a small municipality on the banks of the Ceresio, the point of arrival of our first itinerary through the canton. And here we met Giovanni Poretti, Lugano-born legal expert and economist, who for the tour lent us one of the most valuable pieces in his Alfa Romeo collection: a shiny pastel grey 2600 Coupé Sprint with its long front, ideal for housing the straight-6 engine. All in all, a very classy car and sufficiently glamorous for visiting the sophisticated and picturesque locations along the route. Starting from Morcote, an authentic lakeside gem, we pass through the village following the road keeping the lake on our right. Here the spectacle of the arcades adorning the luxury villas along the lakeside invites us to stop, even just for a refreshing drink while admiring the view across the water, with the Mottarello, Cascolo and Grumello mountains that draw the Italian coastline alongside the bay at Porto Ceresio. The village of Morcote stands on the bank. Strolling around the narrow streets, you take in some interesting architectural details and soak up the relaxing atmosphere; you really must climb the 400 steps at the back to reach the Renaissance church of Santa Maria del Sasso and the oratory next door, devoted to St Anthony of Padua. Right next to these two church buildings are the Scherrer Gardens, one of the amazing creations of Arthur Scherrer, from St Gallen, who in the early 1930s imaged a place that could contain all the wonders he collected on his travels around the world. Open from March to November and known as the “Garden of Wonders” (the naturalistic transposition of the “wunderkammer” that were so fashionable in the 19th century among aristocratic families), the park is home to numerous subtropical plants, bamboo forests and Mediterranean maquis, dotted with art works and reproductions of temples, villas and constructions styled to underline the eastern or western vegetation. Don’t miss it. Returning to the lakeside road, leaving Morcote, turn left up the slopes of Mount Arbostora towards Carona. This is a spectacular and really enjoyable road, even in the rather narrow stretches. The ideal place for making the most of the driving pleasure in a charming and very punchy car like the 2600 Sprint, as well as the technology that keeps the 520 HP of the red Giulia Quadrifoglio accompanying us at bay. It's quite hard to keep your eyes on the road without being distracted by the view, which in some points is absolutely breathtaking! Carona is a hamlet perched at an altitude of 600 metres above sea level, and is considered a neighbourhood of Lugano even though it lies 8 kilometres from the city. It is bursting with artistic expressions, with many houses decorated with sculpted friezes and fine details. The symbol of this pervasive refinery is the frescoed façade of the municipal Loggia and arcade: the building stands next to the church of San Giorgio (where you will also find a large 16th century painting inspired by Da Vinci’s Last Supper), with a bell tower in local pink stone and the sacristy above an arch over the road, all forming a beautiful square at the entrance to the village. Talking of religious buildings, the Madonna d’Onero sanctuary, with its porticoes and Via Crucis in front, occupies the top of the hill just outside the village. Driving downhill from Carona towards Lugano, we come across small hamlets and ancient villas looking over the lake to our left along the route. A large sign stating “Benvenuti al Paradiso” (“Welcome to Paradise”) should not be misconstrued: nothing supernatural, just the boundary with what is considered the most prestigious residential district of Lugano, but which in fact is a municipality in its own right. With its elegant and exclusive contemporary architecture, it is also the departure point of the funicular railway that runs 1660 metres to the top of Mount San Salvatore, a very popular scenic spot with breathtaking views over the lake and the peaks of the highest mountains in Switzerland and Italy. Lugano’s urban development, overseen by some of the greatest names in world architecture, is one of the most inspiring reasons for visiting the city. Starting from the buildings by Mario Botta, internationally renowned Ticino-born archistar which can be admired entering Lugano from Paradiso: the cylindrical Cinque Continenti centre, topped by a metallic structure, or, just outside the city centre in Via Pretorio, the red-brick Palazzo Ransilia, this time topped by a tree. The works of another Ticino-born architect, Ivano Gianola, include the spectacular LAC culture centre, which hosts exhibitions and artistic performances, as well as the MASI - Italian-Swiss Art Museum - , surprisingly built on pillars so as to not hinder the view of the lake. A suggestion: the centre of Lugano is quite compact with a large pedestrian area. It is worth visiting it on foot, maybe starting from the lakeside promenade. Visit the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, next to the LAC, with its wonderful Renaissance fresco by Bernardino Luini “Passion and Crucifixion of Christ”, and enjoy a stroll along Via Nassa, which under the 270-metre-long arcade once used by fishermen to dry their nets, today offers classy shops and boutiques, up to the historical Villa Ciani and its gardens. Back in the car, the itinerary sets off once more from Villa Ciani towards Castagnola, leaving the lake for a few kilometres before finding it again on the right, at Ruvigliana, and on to Aldesago, on the slopes of Mount Brè, which with its 933 metres dominates the eastern part of the city. From here, along 6 kilometres of straight roads and wide sweeping bends, we reach Brè Sopra Lugano (its full name), a small hamlet with stone houses and streets, dotted with frescoes left by numerous artists – from Aligi Sassu to Wilhelm Schmid and Josef Birò – on the houses during their stays there both in summer and winter. From the village, a partially unpaved road leads to the top of the Brè in just a few minutes. In this charming panoramic spot, a terrace looks over Mount San Salvatore and the gulf of Lugano below. Then, looking up across the Alps and Monte Rosa, it springs to mind that perhaps it would really be worth putting up a sign “Welcome to Paradise”. THE COLLECTOR: Giovanni Poretti The "2600 Sprint" Not a particularly famous car, many have never driven it, but this has fuelled its reputation as a car with heavy steering, which is not true, especially when seen with the eyes of today and in relation to the cars of its time. I find it very pleasant to drive, it’s not a light car as it was intended for a certain type of use, a large touring coupé, although some people did try to race it on the track. The 2600 is quite agile, but don't be afraid of its weight (1370 kg) and size (4.58 m long, 2.58 m wheelbase): the engine is sufficiently powerful and has enough torque to be entertaining. I agree with the tests conducted by Road&Track at the time: they said don't worry about entering a bend at high speed, as once it gets in there the 2600 Sprint is stable and safe, and holds the road well, despite the tyres of the time not being what they are today. The Modern Alfas I have always been a car enthusiast, and an Alfa Romeo fan in particular. While I loved all the cars of the 1960s and most of those of the 70s, from then onwards I have noted some kind of increasing banalisation, in the sense that the characteristics of each brand have been lost, in favour of uniform performance. The ties with Alfa Romeo make me like its models more than others. I recovered this respect after all the events that have marked and rather watered down Alfa’s history, but which today place the company in the centre of a development programme that, I hope, will help it to regain those unique features that made it a worldwide driving legend.

Designer Paolo Martin shares the story of his P33 Roadster concept. The P33 Roadster was created shortly after the famous Ferrari Dino Berlinetta Competizione, crafted at Pininfarina. Characterized by sharp lines and edgy contours, this vehicle was an innovative interpretation of the roadster type. Presented at the 1968 Turin Motor Show, the P33 Roadster combined bold stylistic elements and advanced technical solutions, embodying the essence of automotive design of the era. Preface by Gilberto Milano Texts by Paolo Martin Photos and Drawings courtesy of the Paolo Martin Archive Surviving less than three years, it was then destroyed and sacrificed as an organ donor. A decision that forever deprived enthusiasts of the possibility to admire a car that, in its short life, represented more than any other the link between two eras: that of the “curvy” cars typical of the 1950s and ’60s, and the “sharp edges” that were popular from the late ‘60s and throughout the following decade. But that’s how things were in the coachbuilders of the time, whether small or large. It was a shame that the one who paid the price was precisely her, the Alfa Romeo P33 Roadster (the “P” stands for Pininfarina). Two years after being presented at the 1968 Turin Motor Show, she was completely stripped of her bodywork and her chassis was reused for the Alfa Romeo P33 Spider, exhibited by Pininfarina at the Brussels Motor Show in 1971. All that remains of the Alfa Romeo P33 Roadster are a few archive images, the sketches done at the time by the author, Paolo Martin, and his personal notes. You will remember that Paolo Martin revealed to SpeedHolics how this car was born, telling of the behind-the-scenes and its special place in the history of design. It was built on a chassis sent to Pininfarina in 1967, directly from Alfa Romeo after the Milan-based car manufacturer decided to halt the production of the 33 Stradale. This was one of the 18 chassis built for that splendid supercar (designed by Franco Scaglione), of which 50 were originally supposed to be manufactured but which was suspended after the thirteenth to make way for the Montreal, for which too many investments had already been made to give up on the project. After this, Alfa Romeo decided to send the remaining five unused chassis (along with the engines, all 2.0 litre, 230 HP Alfa Romeo V8s) to Italy’s most famous coachbuilders. They were to be used to produce Alfa Romeo-based dream cars to be put on show at the most prestigious international motor shows. And that was exactly what happened. In chronological order, the first coachbuilders to produce a show car on one of the five chassis was Bertone with the Alfa Romeo 33 Carabo designed by Marcello Gandini, exhibited at the Paris Motor Show in October 1968. A month later it was the turn of the car designed by Paolo Martin, which we will talk about here, the Alfa Romeo P33 Roadster, presented by Pininfarina at the Turin show that same year. A few months later, in March 1969, at the Geneva Show, once again Pininfarina showed off his style skills with the Alfa Romeo P33 Coupé Prototipo Stradale, the show car designed by Leonardo Fioravanti, derived from a Ferrari P5 that Enzo Ferrari didn't like and then “camouflaged” as an Alfa Romeo. At the Turin Show in November 1969, it was Giorgetto Giugiaro’s turn to present his idea of a dream car, based on the 33 Stradale chassis, at the Italdesign stand la Iguana. Two years later at the Brussels Show of 1971, Pininfarina presented the Alfa Romeo P33 Spider, again designed by Leonardo Fioravanti, and christened the “Cuneo” due to its extremely sharp lines inspired by the geometrical wedge shape. And this was precisely the show car for which Paolo Martin’s P33 Roadster was sacrificed. Finally, in 1976, at the Geneva Show, Bertone presented the Alfa Romeo 33 Navajo, again designed by Marcello Gandini, the sixth Alfa Romeo dream car born from the last of the famous five 33 Stradale chassis. The reason for the “sacrifice” of the P33 Roadster was never fully clarified. As often happened in the coachbuilders of the time, it was probably dictated by the urgent need to put a new concept car on display at a new Motor Show. But Paolo Martin never forgave this: powerless before the decision taken by Sergio Pininfarina, he still wonders if it was really worth it. Here, in his own words, is the story of the genesis of one of his most interesting concept cars. -¦- The P33 Roadster was born immediately after another famous dream car built by Pininfarina, the Ferrari Dino Berlinetta Competizione. Two cars with totally opposite styles: one very “curvy”, the Dino; the other with straight lines and sharp edges. There was really no clear reason why, in just a few months, this style revolution came about. Even today I wonder what the reasons behind this metamorphosis were. Probably the desire to propose something new, the attempt to clearly break with the habits of the past. The clear-cut lines also had a practical motivation; as often happened with all coachbuilders, a new prototype had to be created for the Motor Show in a very short time, and this had to be both easy to build and modern and original in style. The fact is that all the stylists moved towards square lines and wedge shapes. Luck had it that I was given a real chassis with a functioning engine; a beautiful, special, very low tubular chassis with a rear engine. But we really weren’t particularly interested in having a real chassis at our disposal: the work was done on the drawings, we had a dimensional drawing with all the sizes and measurements, interior space and so on, and that’s what we used to develop our ideas. I remember that I was appointed to do the design because at that time I had less work on than the others. It had to be a quick design to implement. It was June, and the car had to be ready for the Turin Motor Show in November. As usual, we had to make do with what we had. So the theme we chose was a new interpretation of the roadster. The car was a compromise on style, a mix of curves and straight lines. I can’t remember how we got to that choice, but these are the kind of intuitions that come to you, and that day that’s what I decided to do. Maybe the day after I would have done things differently. The simplicity of the bodywork was expressed through the straight lines and the lack of doors and roof, but the whole car had a really strong personality thanks to some of its characteristic features, like the wedge-shaped profile and plan view, with very small front end. As can be seen, the wedge starts from the black rubber front bumper, a novelty for the time, and ends with the rear K-tail, cutting the front mudguard (rounded in shape to add a softer feel to the overall look) in half. To me it seems that by breaking up the wedge shape with curved inserts added personality to the car. The black rubber front bumper had a purely aesthetic terminal function, but helped to make both the front and sides more aerodynamic. In addition, it partly hid the wide front air intake at the bottom. The two small adjustable appendices, another feature of this concept car, should have offered a new solution for optimising the aerodynamic flow, but more than anything had an aesthetic function. Renzo Carli, Sergio Pininfarina’s right-hand man, came up with the idea, suggesting that they add them to the sides when he saw the design: “Let’s try and add something,” he said. The headlight unit, fitted in a single retracting, tilting module, was a forced addition: Leonardo Fioravanti was the one with a mania for single headlights. And so he was happy too. To reduce the complexity of the design and consequently increase the production speed, I reduced the size of the two doors to make them practically non-existent, hinged at the front and opening upwards. They had to be made this way because getting into the vehicle was complicated by the presence of the main spars of the chassis, which ran right beneath the doors making it almost impossible to get into the passenger compartment. The low, wrap-around windscreen had to be tiny to maintain the clean lines of the wedge. Initially I had thought of fitting Naca ducts in the side, as can be seen in a rendering, but then I took them out because they seemed over the top. They were just another complication, one of those solutions that seemed simple to apply but which then make your life difficult. Everything that was taken away made the car cheaper and easier to build. In the end the side had a clean line, the only thing protruding slightly were the rear wheel arches, which was necessary to house the very wide tyres. The most surprising innovation of this Roadster was the roll-bar with a hydraulically driven adjustable cast aluminium fin, which also housed the oil circuit. This style element had three functions: the fin, to adjust the downforce; as an air-air heat exchanger and a protection if the car overturned. It was aesthetically pleasing but there was no follow-up and the solution was never used on other cars. The idea was actually very spectacular, but also rather unrealistic: if the fin broke, there was a concrete risk of boiling oil pouring onto your head. The rear engine had eight intake trumpets that poked out of a rectangular opening in the rear, protruding just a little and without ruining the line of the boot, which ended in a vertical K-tail. This had four rectangular lights fitted longitudinally around an exhaust unit set in an aluminum finned frame to dissipate the heat. The interior was perhaps even more essential, but with some characteristics that make it unique, with two anatomic seats and the transversal frame supporting the dashboard and the controls. This transversal frame also served as the pipe for the internal air circulation. Its style was very similar to the ultra-modern steering wheel. The car was not only beautiful but apparently very pleasant to drive, as the racing-style mechanics borrowed from the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale worked like a dream. It’s a shame that it didn’t reach our times, at least not in this shape: the chassis was disassembled and reused for the 1971 Cuneo.

Our colleague the engineer Luigi Marmiroli has devoted a simple but fond tribute to the Master designer Marcello Gandini. Words Luigi Marmiroli Photography Courtesy of Luigi Marmiroli Archive Marcello Gandini left us on 13 March at the age of 85. His unmistakeable signature on the style of 20th century cars remains immortal. An infinite number of words, books, articles and web files bear witness to his style genius. His designs run from sports and road cars to trucks and even an original helicopter. Here however I will only mention the designs for Automobili Lamborghini. Having joined the famous Carrozzeria Bertone very young, from 1966 to 1978, Gandini designed icons including the Miura P400, Marzal, Espada, P250 Urraco, 400GT Jarama, Countach, Bravo and Silhouette. Going freelance in 1980, he was appointed to design the style of the future Diablo (technical code P132). For over a decade from 1985, Gandini remained Lamborghini’s stylistic and philosophical benchmark. Despite the corporate trials and tribulations and the style inputs of various shareholders, the Italian managers at Lamborghini always admired his work. This is why I’m sure that the fans of SpeedHolics will not mind if I devote these few lines to him. This tribute aims to recall Gandini’s huge contribution, especially to the Diablo project, which gave me the opportunity to have contacts with him for over ten years as the Technical Manager of the “House of the Bull”. His style genius, along with his in-depth engineering skills, made him unique. I was very pleased when Turin Polytechnic awarded him an honorary degree in Mechanical Engineering. I was present at the ceremony and listened to his “Lectio Magistralis”, which, who would know, was to be his professional testament. Unfortunately, he passed away peacefully just two months later. I recorded his speech, although the audio quality is poor. However, you can look for it online if you wish. I shall never forget his exceptional human qualities. Gandini was a real gentleman, and a modest man despite his calibre. Only after a lot of insisting he accepted to sign the design for the Diablo bodywork, the only design of this type. I promise that in future we will examine all the other designs for Automobili Lamborghini, including the sketches, models, prototypes and concepts. However, to conclude, let me highlight one of the 17 Diablo “children”. The Lamborghini Diablo Roadster Concept, showcases all of Marcello's stylistic quality. Historically, Lamborghini had explored open-top versions including the 350GT and the Miura Spyder, which Ferruccio Lamborghini considered too affected. However, the temptation to propose an open-top Diablo was irresistible. An extreme car, with no roof and a very limited windscreen, was not a mere exercise in style. The Roadster’s beauty concealed long engineering studies to maintain the rigidity of the roofless chassis. The oversized air intakes, the shorter gear ratios and the new engine electronics made the car easier to drive, with no overheating problems at relatively low speeds. The aerodynamics were not designed for very high speeds, but for those looking for thrills, with the 12-cylinder engine singing and the wind in their hair. Once again, Gandini exalted the mechanics while maintaining the Lamborghini design philosophy. Farewell Marcello, we will miss you.

When he invented the Magicflash in 1983, the world of automotive photography was changed forever. But this futuristic invention was only one way in which the German photographer innovated his way to the top of his craft, making his name shooting Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, among many others, along the way. In an exclusive interview with SpeedHolics, the celebrated photographer and founder of Staud Studios tells us tales of fortune, ingenuity, and relentless ambition Words Sean Campbell Photography René Staud Fuerteventura, Spain, 1972. A 21 year old René Staud is standing on a sand dune on the undeveloped, unfrequented island of Fuerteventura. He was about to take the photograph that would launch a tourism boom. Set against the glittering Atlantic ocean backdrop, a dune buggy launching off the ridge,  front wheels mid-air, the rear pair just grazing the surface of the sand. “The Leap over the Dune” sparked a sense of adventure and ignited the first major influx of international travelers to the now popular Canary Island. Just a day or two prior however, Staud was little more than a clerk in a photography shop in Stuttgart. Freshly trained as a photographer, he was making ends meet at Foto Krauss, when an ambitious real estate developer walked in. He boldly asked for the most expensive camera available. When Staud showed up to the man’s office that afternoon to deliver the camera, a chain of events were set in motion that would kickstart his career. Around a decade later, his invention of the Magicflash propelled Staud into the higher echelons of automotive imagery, and led to him becoming one of the most influential and important car photographers in history. But let’s go back to the beginning... “I came from an artistic family. My father was a wood sculptor. But this was post World War II  Germany, so there wasn’t a good income,” Staud offers. “He sold some small works from time to time, but there was a problem. When he sold a piece, he would have to describe it in words to the next potential customer. He had no pictures.” It was this necessity that led a ten year old Staud to pick up a camera for the first time. Even in those first moments, he had a fascination with lighting. “He bought a film roll and lent me his camera. I decided to make these offset images, contrasting light and dark effects. We used these images to sell works within weeks. That's when I realized you could use pictures to communicate or even sell. Over the next few years I became the photographer for all the makers and artisans on my street.” By the time he was 14, Staud had won his first photography awards. “There was a competition at my local youth center, where we went to learn about music and art, and in my case photography. Kodak had sponsored this competition to promote the new Instamatic camera, the first camera with a film roll, ready to shoot. 50 of us had to go out and shoot in one day – whatever we wanted, houses, people, etcetera.” “My theme was ‘industrial dynamic’. I took pictures on the street and at the station of trains passing by. I had no idea what I was shooting because we just handed the cameras back at the end. A few weeks later I learned that three of my images finished in the top 5. I came first, second, and fifth!” With his prizes, Staud showed his first flair for business and investment. “I traded the three small cameras I won for one SLR (single-lens reflex) camera.” And so René Staud the photographer was born. The conditions in which Staud grew up allowed him, or perhaps forced him, to pick up skills quickly, “Being born into this handcraft-oriented family, and in my neighborhood, where wood and steel and such things abounded, I had to learn things quickly. I used all the lessons at the youth center to get better. I built my own black and white lab at home – it was half a washroom and half a darkroom!” Armed with his trusty SLR and a place to develop his work, the teenage Staud began to seek an income from his passion. “There were these dance clubs every Wednesday and Saturday for young people. I went and took pictures every Wednesday. Then I’d develop them at home, and go back to sell them on Saturdays and take more to sell Wednesday again! It was great for me but not great for my school results.” It didn’t take long for Staud to meet his first challenge as a young semi-pro photographer – color images. One of the markers of his career is how he’s always managed to get ahead of the game and invest in the future, and it was the same in the late 1960s. “Color prints were now in big demand, so I needed a place to develop my images. This was the beginning of a good friendship with a local photo store I’d go to to develop in color. And this was how after school, I got my first job. The photographer in the store had fallen in love with this beautiful dancer who was moving to Melbourne, and he was set on following her! When I showed up on my last day of school, the owner said ‘You’re here early. Shouldn’t you be in school? I just told him ‘No more school. Forever’! Right then and there he offered me the photographer’s job, but only taking passport photos and things like that. I started a few weeks after that and started to do my photography training. He paid me very little but it was work, and I still shot parties on weekends.” The next few years saw Staud go on something of an early career odyssey which would bring him through the automotive world and right back to photography. Because of the low pay at the shop and the financial demands of his training, he took up a job at a friend's gas station, pumping fuel, cleaning cars and doing handiwork on cars. One gas station job led to another – one which was often frequented by VIPs. “I got great tips from them, but I worked all day and came home late at night tired and covered in oil. I went there for the money but I lost a lot of friendships because I couldn’t go out.” Tired of the lifestyle, Staud took his newly earned photography diploma and got a job at Foto Krauss, where this story began. “Just a few days after I started, that businessman – the Fuerteventura property developer – walked in.” In his personal essay “My First Car Shoot” which details his meeting with the developer and delivering the camera to his office, Staud writes: “As I sat there in the secretary’s office and the minutes ticked by, I was starting to sweat… after an hour, the man came out of his board office and just said in passing, ‘Oh, you’re still sitting there. I don’t have time now… come down to the car with me quickly.’ And I ran down beside him into the garage and was suddenly sitting in his Opel V8 Diplomat with all the cardboard crap on my lap, and he said, “Please don’t try to explain the camera to me now, I still have calls to make… Twenty minutes later we were standing at the airport, a barrier went up in front of us, and there I am looking up at this giant plane, his private jet… I don’t know how it happened, anyway, at some point the doors are closed, the engines start, the plane takes off, and four hours later we land somewhere in the Atlantic on an island that nobody in Germany knew about… I never went back to the camera store. Over the coming months, Staud spent time coming and going from Fuerteventura, photographing marketing materials for the developer’s company as he turned the deserted island into a powerful tourism hot spot. The most historic of these is the “Leap over the Dune”. Now a made-it, professional photographer, Staud spent the 1970s carving out a niche for himself shooting product images for a range of high end companies, but he was quickly becoming more and more interested in cars. “I had a Porsche and a Mercedes-Benz S Class. But back then, there wasn’t much really good marketing for these brands. It wasn’t until the post war recovery was almost complete that they really started to think about better advertising materials. So in 1982, I started to think about how I could make money in cars. These car companies now had huge campaign budgets – no questions asked, big money. But here is the problem I noticed: When you shot a car in the street or in the garage, it looked like anyone could do it. What style of photography could make cars so unique and sexy? I had to shoot cars like they were jewels. No more street, no more forest, no more supermarket family friendly.” This realization marked the beginning of a period of experimentation that would eventually lead to the invention of the technology that would take Staud into the stratosphere — the Magicflash. “I began studying with small scale models of cars, experiment with light effects. No spotlights or light cubes worked on reflective cars. The sexy, glossy look you can only create with very smooth, very direct light. You need a lightbox. The first one I made with a shoebox. I illuminated car models with it and it worked. But then I needed to adapt this in large size. And I would need one hundred thousand lights in my box! I was told I was crazy – that I’d use it two days a year only and go bankrupt. But if I wanted to follow my passion, I had to find a style that made me unique. That would give me access to the very best clients.” So Staud borrowed and invested in a huge lightbox that would put that now ubiquitous sheen on a car in the studio. This was the Magicflash. Staud was convinced that his invention would cause a huge stir, that it would excite people and make him a star in the industry. In 1982, he decided to throw a huge launch party for the Magicflash, forking out on catering, entertainment, VIP treatment. “Six weeks before the launch I met a videographer who wanted to shoot a whole film for big screens to showcase the Magicflash. I was sold, and ended up buying out five parking areas nearby, and screens on the street. I thought we could get 2,000 people to join! … In the end, 20 people came… It was a catastrophe. More screens on the street than people in the audience. I had catered for at least 600! I went to the office and shut myself away, deciding to quit this dream.” While Staud was laying low, hiding his shame and embarrassment, there came a knock on the door from an unexpected guest. “It was the marketing manager for Mercedes Benz. He asked me if he could book me for 80 days that year, and 250 days the next.” While virtually nobody had come to the party, the right people had come. It wasn’t only the Mercedes-Benz leaders that had come either…“30 minutes later, a similar guy came from Porsche.” With that, Staud was the photographer for the country’s greatest car manufacturers. Staud found himself in such high demand through the mid 1980s that he was barely able to keep up with his schedule. “In 1986 I had 1,000 shooting days in a year! How was this possible?” Staud had to get creative to meet demand, creating better workflows and being more efficient than any other photographer had ever been. “I needed a new studio. My architect came to watch me work for a few weeks and came up with his plan. We built Staud Studios in 1985 and opened in 1986. It was hard work. 12 hours shooting, six hours creating and developing, six hours planning the studio and directing the build.” “I thought I’d need four people to work there, but in the end I needed more than thirty! The only way I managed was to set up more workstations and break down the shots into different flows andsetups. I mean, BMW gave me 28 cars at once! How could we do this? So I set up these different stations and focused on different things – in this corner we’d shoot the dashboard, over there the front, over there the wheels and so on. We worked all day and night. In daytime we’d make the beauty shots, and at night we’d bring in junior staff and freelancers and go right through the night on the nitty gritty.” While Staud is most famous for inventing the Magicflash, a lesser known fact is that he was one of the first commercial photographers – if not the first – to embrace retouching and editing technology in his work, and at scale. What this meant for this work turnover was mega efficiency, mega scalability, and mega success. “In 1998 I was at Photokina (the world’s largest photography and imaging industries trade fair). I was asked what I thought the most important development or instrument was going to be in the industry. I said retouching technology – and nobody agreed with me. They all said it was too expensive to buy the machines, that it was a poor investment.” Just like he’d done before, Staud went against the grain and followed his instincts. “After six months I owned three machines and had nine people working them. My turnover was incredible.” What this retouching technology gifted Staud Studios more than anything else, was time, and as a result, access to volume. “There was a shoot I did for the S Class. 500 shots. But there was a mistake! The wrong grill had been installed on the model I’d shot, and this made it look like an E Class. Anyone else would have to go back and shoot the whole thing again – months and months of work. But we were able to retouch them and stay on track, while I prepared the next batch of work.” Staud Studios has kept up with, or stayed ahead of, the times, to the point where it is still one of Europe’s most respected studios, and Staud is still known as a legend in the field of automotive photography. His sons have taken over the majority of business operations, and the company has recently merged with the celebrated global creative production company Mediamonks. But Staud now has all the time in the world for shooting as a passion. Before we get off our call, he shows me what he’s up to today. A gorgeous Porsche 917 – the car that dominated sports car racing in the early 70s, including wins and Le Mans in 1970 and 71. Still fascinated by classic cars (like ourselves here at SpeedHolics, and our readers), I ask for one more minute of his time. I’m keen to hear his thoughts on classic race car culture, and how it stacks up against modern car manufacturing. “Nowadays everything is overdone,” He affirms,”The best period was in the 70s, when cars often had maximum 200hp. This was pure driving. The development back then was immense.” He wraps things up by explaining his gripe with modern cars. “They’re not so much fun. Cars today have everything, but they don't have identity. You can’t control a 1,000 hp car – it controls you. That’s why we’re so into classic cars. For mass mobility, more safety was a good thing. But for fun, it was bad.” We’re on the same page then.

Several years ago, I was at a major automotive event watching a lot of famous, big-name builders greet their adoring public and show off their latest builds. As is often the case I was in the back of the crowd studying the events at hand looking for photo opportunities that caught my eye. Standing a few feet from me was a man who was also watching, and he caught my attention. Something about the confidence with which he stood there and the seemingly kind and genuine aura he radiated made me notice. Words & Photography by Tim Scott (IG: Scott Photo Co.) I remembered seeing him a couple of times previously though I couldn’t recall exactly where, so I went up and introduced myself. His handshake was firm and confident, and he said that his name was Lynn Park. I really had no idea who I had just met but I was sure that there was something interesting to this man’s story. It was only years later that I would come to learn that Lynn Park was known worldwide as Mr. Cobra and had been deeply involved with the Cobra story, almost since the beginning, and was a friend and confidant of legendary men like Peter Brock, Mike McCluskey and even Mr. Carroll Shelby himself. This is a story of a man with a love and passion for the iconic Cobra that has lasted more than 60 years and is still going strong. Lynn Park grew up in Southern California during a time of immense optimism and prosperity following the darkness of WWII. Working at a service station meant that Lynn had to learn about cars, as in those days’ “service” meant more than just putting gas into cars. From fluids to tires to engines, Lynn was building the foundation of knowledge that would serve him for the rest of his life. When he got his driver’s license in 1959 his mom gifted him the ’56 Ford Mainline that had been her daily driver. With gearhead blood already flowing through his veins he went down to the local scrapyard and bought a 410 cubic inch Edsel motor to put in the underpowered Ford. Everyday he learned more about his automobiles as he and his friends worked to make them nicer, faster, and more fun. Soon he discovered that he could buy stripped and totaled cars from the same scrapyard, often very clean cars simply missing an engine or an interior or needing basic body work to make them road worthy again. He would buy, repair, and then sell them to fund his growing love for cars and was soon driving very nice cars himself. Lynn’s sister’s boyfriend, Joe, was also into cars at this time and owned a Lotus. Of course, this led to many spirited discussions about horsepower versus handling. One fateful day Joe brought the September 1962 issue of Road & Track magazine that had this new “Shelby AC Cobra” on the cover. A sleek, curvaceous, sexy body with V8 power? This one moment and photograph lit a spark in Lynn that was to become a lifelong passion. With curiosity overflowing Lynn drove down to Venice where the Shelby “factory” was at the time. By this point, after flipping many cars, he was able to drive a really nice automobile so when he drove up, they assumed that he could actually afford one of these hot, new sports cars. Carroll Shelby did his best to sell him one not knowing that he was unable to afford one. While Lynn didn’t buy a Cobra then, Carroll and the staff at the Cobra factory were so nice to him that he just started coming back time and time again. He befriended many of the people there and before long most people just assumed he worked there. Lynn really wanted a Cobra but couldn’t afford one, so he bought an AC, put a V8 in it and made, perhaps, the very first Cobra replica ever. From 1963-1967 Lynn raced his home-made “Cobra”, attended college at UCLA and enjoyed life in Southern California. In 1967 Lynn joined the Army and was honorably discharged in late 1969. It was now 1972, and Lynn was determined to get his first “real” Cobra. He found a wrecked one for $2,100, ordered parts directly from AC and started the rebuild. Before his first Cobra was even finished, he found another Cobra, the 10th ever built, which had also been wrecked and was now in parts. He purchased this one for $2,000. As was the norm for the time he bought a new, original AC body and completely rebuilt the car. This was just the beginning as he started buying every Cobra he could find. Working on his Cobras alongside a legend himself, Mike McCluskey, who has done all of the paint and body work on Lynn’s Cobras from day one, Lynn has learned every little detail of his cars with his own hands building priceless experience for use for the next 50+ years. L.P. "The yellow car is a 1963 Cobra. It’s the car that my wife and I have taken on thirty “Cobra 1000” tours over the years. I put a Tremec 3550 five speed transmission in it to reduce the RPMs during the long road trips. Otherwise, the car is very original and is a fun car to drive.” Lynn continued buying, repairing, and driving Cobras from that time on supporting his habit while running several successful businesses. He has never approached buying Cobras as an investment and will quickly caution would-be buyers against doing so. L.P. “I don’t look at them as money-makers or an investment. Don’t buy a car thinking of it as an investment. That means that you’re not going to use it. You’re going to park it and wait for the opportune time to sell it.” Lynn drives all of his cars. Some are street cars, and some are race cars. With many, many Cobras passing through his hands through the years, he currently owns 10 “real” Cobras, 10 replicas and 6 of them are race cars. Every single one has its own personality, patina and story and is “perfect”, to him. He explained to me that cars that are banged up often have more personality than a “perfect” car (ask him about his Cobra that he’s affectionately named “Dirtbag”). L.P. “The #12 Cobra is one of the five FIA Cobras that Shelby built to race in Europe.  It has been vintage raced since the early 1980s by a good friend of mine who sold the car to me about a year ago. As you can see it’s got a lot of “Patina” but to me that’s part of the charm of this car. No one mistakes the car for a replica, that’s for sure. In addition to being raced for so many years it has participated in the famous “Cobra 1000” tour for ten years or more.” To be clear, Lynn has no issue with replicas. Proof-in-point, he owns ten. Shelby officially stopped production of “real” Cobras in 1967 only to return years later and make replicas himself. The good thing with replicas available is that you can still get parts, which would likely be nearly impossible to come by otherwise. Having more Cobras out there allows more people to see and appreciate their beauty and uniqueness. “Real” or “replica”, these cars are meant to drive. Lynn and his family and friends have been vintage racing his Cobras since 1982, racing all over the country at tracks from Monterey to Willow Springs, to Lime Rock, to Watkins Glenn, to Kansas City and St. Louis, to Road America and more. To this day, Lynn and his sons, Steve, and Tim, race their Cobras twice a year at Willow Springs. They would often take “Cobra 1000” trips – 1,000-mile trips driving with a group of Cobras to destinations across the country. Just because “driving a Cobra is fun!” This brings us back to the big question of why Cobra? L.P. “You know what’s fun about Cobras? You meet the people that own them and almost without exception they’re nice people.” The more Lynn talked about his years with his Cobras the more it sounded like a family. His entire family was involved from the early days – from making 1,000-mile trips, to racing with his sons – to this day the Cobras are a family affair. Beyond that there is an entire extended family and close community built around the love for the Cobra – a community of friends built over the past 50 years that still gathers as friends, brought together and united by this car. L.P. "The maroon coupe is a 1959 AC Aceca. I have owned it since 1985 and it reminds me of the Aceca that I bought in 1963 when I couldn’t afford a Cobra. The Cobra was $6000 and the Aceca was $1500. I promptly swapped the original six-cylinder engine for a 289, added a four-speed transmission and had my own Cobra. When I bought this particular car, it had no engine or transmission so the decision to put a 289 in it was an easy one. This car has Cobra disc brakes all around, Cobra rack-and-pinion steering and Cobra suspension so it’s basically a 289 Cobra with an Aceca body. There were only 350 or so of these cars built and even fewer than that in the U.S. which makes it virtually unknown to anyone but an AC enthusiast." The Cobra has lived and thrived well beyond its relatively short manufacture period. Its essence is so much more about the car and the experience than some kind of perceived “status”. It’s a different kind of supercar. Even Carroll Shelby himself, while bold and larger than life, was always about the car and the people that loved it. Whenever there was a Cobra event, Shelby would show up. He was kind and accommodating to the crowds, signing autographs, and talking to them about the cars. A kind and genuine person attracting other kind and genuine people that would become part of the Cobra family. For many years the Cobra was the epitome of a performance car. It was doing everything better than what was being offered at the time. It’s noisy, it’s hot, it’s cold, it’s open to the elements and that’s part of what makes it special. When you drive a Cobra, you experience the world in a more immersive and memorable way. When is the last time you remember fondly driving your perfectly comfortable, soundproofed, fully enclosed car? This is a car for the pure joy of driving, for experiencing your journey in a way that no other can offer. It’s not for everyone and you may have to make time to wave and talk to complete strangers who may or may not know just how valuable and special this car is. L.P. “The silver 427 is a Kirkham replica. It was built by Mike McCluskey roughly thirty years ago.  It has a 427 engine and a top loader transmission and is as accurate in every aspect to an original 427 SC.  With its big tires and loads of power it is a ball to drive.” But to Mr. Cobra, the true value has always been in the friends he has made, the experiences he has lived and the joy of sharing that love and passion with all who will listen. Even with so many years of owning, driving and being involved with Cobras you can still see the smile on his face and hear the passion in his voice as he talks about his family of Cobras and friends. In his words, “Someone my age has grown up with the best 80 years of American history”. These days Mr. Cobra still drives each and every one of his cars. Whether on the track, or even just an 8 mile drive up the beautiful Angeles Crest Highway, these cars are loved and driven. People like Louis Hamilton, Jay Leno, Ashton Kutcher, and so many others from all over the world call him for information and his expertise – and of course, advice on buying a Cobra. The next time you are at a car event take a moment to look to see if there is a quiet, unassuming gentlemen in the back wearing perhaps a hat or shirt with a Cobra logo. If you see him, say hello, ask him about Cobra and enjoy some wonderful stories from a wonderful man. This is what the Cobra family is all about.

Prof. Grandi looks back over the style genesis of the three prototypes that Franco Scaglione made for Bertone on the 1900C chassis. The aim was to amaze the motor show audience and the Alfa Romeo management with solutions born from the Tuscan designer’s simple mathematical application of principles and solutions to reduce aerodynamic drag   Words and Drawings Massimo Grandi   In 1950, Alfa Romeo made its début with the 1900, a four-door sedan. This was a milestone in the Milan-based company’s history, as it was the first Alfa Romeo mass produced on an assembly line, the first Alfa Romeo ‘unibody’ and the first Alfa Romeo with standard left-hand drive.   The car met with some success among the specialised press, but some of the Alfa customers wanted more power and the gear lever on the floor. On the other hand, the coachbuilders complained that it was impossible to fit out custom builds because of the unibody frame. Finally, neither coupé nor cabriolet versions were planned.   And so, to meet these needs, less than a year after its launch Alfa Romeo presented the 1900C chassis (the C stands for "Carrozzieri", “coachbuilders”) on which Touring and Pinin Farina built the coupé and the cabriolet which were added to the price list and sold directly by the network of Alfa Romeo dealers, called the 1900C Sprint and 1900C Cabriolet. The same chassis was rebodied by many other coachbuilders, more or less successfully. The wheelbase on the 1900C was shortened by 130 mm, from 2630 to 2500 mm, and the 1884 cc engine was fitted with a Weber 40 DCA3 dual-body carburettor, larger intake and discharge valves, respectively from 38 to 41 mm and from 34 to 36,5 mm, with the compression ratio increased from 7.5:1 to 7.75:1 to reach 100 HP at 5500 rpm. Axle tracks: front 1320 - rear 1320 mm. Bertone also worked on the new 1900C chassis, asking Franco Scaglione to design a car on which to experiment new solutions aiming to minimise aerodynamic drag while amazing the motor show audiences, and especially the Alfa Romeo management, with his pioneering design.   Scaglione was an enthusiastic aerodynamic scholar, and his designs were always based on the application of aerodynamic solutions and principles, and here Scaglione’s mathematical approach to design is similar to other great designers of the past, including Jaray, Komenda, Sayer and Savonuzzi.   And thus, the first of three cars marking car design and car history was born, the B.A.T. 5 (Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica no. 5). The B.A.T. 5 was a revolutionary car, the result of Scaglione’s talent: under the supervision of Ezio Cingolani, head of design development and production, he perfected the concepts inherited from aeronautics that he had previously expressed on the Abarth 1500 Biposto. This car, presented at the Turin Motor Show in 1953, aroused the wonder and curiosity of all the visitors. In fact, it was an authentic mobile experimental laboratory, its fantastic forms being none other than Scaglione’s mathematical application of aerodynamic principles and solutions. No element of its design was a self-referential end unto itself, there was a reason and function for everything in terms of aerodynamic performance. Starting from the main lines marking its side profile, designed based on geometric patterns including ellipsis, parabola and hyperbole, mathematical solutions responding to precise needs of maximum penetration and minimum drag.   But Scaglione’s solutions were already applied to the bonnet design and modelling, characterised by a large double air intake between the extended bumpers, without the typical triangular Alfa Romeo grille, replaced by a metal "nose" built into the body. Here we see the upturned W solution, previously experimented and applied to the Fiat-Abarth 1500. In front-engine cars, the air for cooling the radiator water is forced to pass through the grille, filtering through the very narrow gaps in the radiator to be centrifuged by the fan, when forced around all the elements and protrusions in the engine compartment and colliding with the rear bulkhead, leaving through the only exit point at the bottom between the bulkhead and the engine.   The upturned W design responded to the need to rationally convey the huge flow of intake air in the engine compartment to minimise the turbulence on the front and inside the engine compartment, also through the large air discharge apertures behind the front wheel arch.   A similar solution would also be applied by Scaglione to his Ferrari-Abarth 166 built by Scuderia Guastalla.   In the B.A.T. 5, the central headlight of the Fiat-Abarth replaced a “nose”, but the design was identical and this arrangement could later be seen in the 1961 Ferrari 246 P and 156 F1 and again in the 2013 Ferrari “La Ferrari”.   The most eye-catching part, however, which captured the public’s imagination, is certainly the tail, which has a huge window divided into two parts by a thin metal strip, a concept later borrowed by the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.   And especially the two large fins almost as high as the roof, each with a slit and curving inwards. In fact, these fins were far from sci-fi or pure fantasy, they were the result of a strict, thorough aerodynamic research. To understand this, we have to start from the beginning, that theoretical shape with CX equal to 0.0, the so-called “ elongated drop”.   This solid allowed the fluid stream to flow perfectly adhering to the surface, without creating any turbulence. The problem of practically applying this shape to a car lies in its proportions, which require a length around five times the width. Starting from the minimum width of a two-seater car, the final length of the car would be at least seven metres. The engineer Kamm had solved this problem if only in part using the famous K-tail, while Scaglione sought a solution for the pavilion of his B.A.T. 5 using these large fins.   In this drawing we can see how the pavilion of the B.A.T. is shorter than the virtual pavilion (in red), causing the fluid stream to become detached more or less at the height of the rear pillars. Introducing these large concave fins, the fluid stream was forced to realign to the virtual profile of the elongated drop.   The operational diagram of these fins is even clearer in the second drawing. So these amazing lines and shapes were merely the result of an aerodynamic solution that obtained a Cx of 0.23, which allowed the car to reach a maximum speed of 200 km/h, over 30 km/h more than the 1900 C SS with the same 100 hp engine. At that time, Bertone didn’t have a wind tunnel, and to obtain the precious aerodynamic information necessary for the design, they used a system commonly used at the time based on some woollen yarns. These were applied to the bodywork of the cars driven on the road at different speeds and photographed by another car driving alongside to observe the movements of the woollen yarns in the wind.   In the second experimental car, the B.A.T. 7, the solutions adopted in the B.A.T. 5 were developed further. In the B.A.T. 7, the general profiling of the whole front part was further extended and lowered by 70 mm. Here too we see the double front air intake which had the task of “guiding” the air flows in the engine compartment in a more regular manner. As seen for the B.A.T. 5, the air flows have an escape route through two apertures on the sides of the car just behind the wheel housings and in front of the rear bulkhead. In the B.A.T. 7, having eliminated the fan, given the exceptional nature of the car, Scaglione adopted two continuous tunnels running from the front air intake to the side discharge vents.   The radiators were placed in the tunnel in order to avoid parasite turbulence in the engine compartment. As with the B.A.T. 5, the four wheels were completely faired, the finned air vents of the radiator cooling tunnels were integrated into the front casings, while those in the rear had the profiled shape of the air intakes for the brakes. As concerns the design of the side of the B.A.T.  7, with the casing integrated flush to the body, the inevitable “weight” of the side panel is resolved exceptionally by a balance of solids and voids, a perfect hyperbole drawing the finned air vent of the radiator cooling tunnel here too, a hyperbole that splits into smaller parts in the shaped profile of the rear air intake for the brakes.   The upper arm of the first hyperbole runs perfectly horizontally along the whole length of the door, recalling the horizontal arm of the smaller hyperbole running along the rear mudguard to draw another hyperbole represented by the opening for the exhaust pipe. The curved design of the large windscreen is also very interesting, joining the 45° angle of the side windows to the 30° inclination of its midline. Also in the B.A.T. 7, the most eye-catching part is the rear, where the concave fins are even larger and rounded, indeed in the collective imagination they are reminiscent of the huge wings of the manta ray. In fact, the increase in surface area and therefore the size of the fin terminals is due to the fact that, increasing in height in the front, these had unwillingly moved the centre of pressure forwards, and this could only be compensated by increasing the rear surface area; in any case, in the B.A.T. 7, the function of the fins in the reconstruction of the virtual elongated drop was even more evident, and this further aerodynamic development of the rear fins gave it the lowest Cx value of the B.A.T. series, 0.19.   The B.A.T. 7 was presented at the 1954 Turin Motor Show, and like the B.A.T. 5 it aroused great amazement and admiration. Two years after the B.A.T. 5 and one after the B.A.T. 7, the 1955 Turin Motor Show saw the launch of the B.A.T. 9.   For this car, Nuccio Bertone asked Franco Scaglione to develop the aesthetic concepts of the B.A.T. 5 and 7, again on the Alfa Romeo 1900C chassis, to try to make it more similar to a car suitable for mass production, without however ceasing to amaze the motor show audiences and Alfa Romeo, which that year had planned to launch the Giulietta sedan and had begun working with Bertone to build the Giulietta Sprint bodies.   The B.A.T. 9 of 1955 was in some way different from the formal and conceptual path of the previous models. Here too, due to the direct intervention of Nuccio Bertone, the project aimed mainly to show how the developments of the B.A.T. project could lead to large-scale car production. Although developing the style code of the previous models, the B.A.T. 9 had far more subtle lines, just think of the rear fins: on the B.A.T. 5 and B.A.T. 7, these were very large and ostentatious, while here they were reduced to two far more discreet metal strips. Bertone abandoned all the most extreme features of the previous two cars, turning them into features that were more suited to normal road use: the non-retracting front headlights were now located on the bumpers. For the first time, the classic Alfa Romeo badge adorned the front of the car.   It is important to underline this “diversity of intentions” to better understand the formal solutions of the three cars in a comparative analysis. In the B.A.T. 9 we find all the elements characterising the two previous models, but in a more reduced form. The rear ellipsis is more open, and the shorter side profiles, originating from the rear cut of the door and with a constant progression parallel to the belt line.   A particular feature of the B.A.T. 9 is the ribbing and beading running along the whole side of the car, at the rear maintaining a straight horizontal line deviating from the narrow profile of the fairing, almost as if forming other horizontal fins. Setting out to maintain a low aerodynamic drag, the bodywork kept the large front and rear overhangs, faired wheels (only at the front), a very sleek “drop-shaped” passenger compartment with less angled side windows compared to the body and a large panoramic windscreen with an upturned pillar integrated perfectly into the almost-flat pavilion.   The large air vents behind the front wheel arches also disappeared. One curious thing about this car was Bertone and Scaglione’s decision to eliminate the fairing on the rear wheels but not the front ones. In fact, doing the opposite would have significantly narrowed the front of the car where the fairing, having to leave room for the wheel movements on the vertical axis, caused an inevitable swelling. The two solutions are compared in this drawing.   Of course, there must have been objective reasons for this peculiar solution, but to be honest I have no idea what they might have been. At this point we can look at these B.A.T.s for a comparison of their similarities and differences.   We have already examined the more general aspects the three models have or do not have in common, but it is perhaps interesting to underline the different solutions Scaglione applied to the front headlights. Aiming to eliminate sources of air flow disturbance at the front of the car, in the B.A.T. 5 and 7 the headlights are fully retracting in the B.A.T. 5, incorporated in the internal face of the bumpers. In the B.A.T. 7 they are again retracting, but are placed inside the two air intakes near the central “nose”. In the B.A.T. 9 on the other hand, the headlights are fixed and on show, but integrated into the bumper profile with a Plexiglas casing. Another special aspect marking the three designs is the pavilion. Talking about the pavilion design, Scaglione stated, “ It is certainly the hardest part, both due to the insufficient elongation ratios and the interference that this creates in the fluid stream on the main fairing ”. The solutions on the rear of the pavilion are particularly interesting, with the window and the central stabilizer fin with a different design for each of the three cars. As with the Fiat-Abarth 1500, the window is again very wide and divided into two parts. In the BAT5, the rear pavilion is particularly long, and tapers to create a kind of thick central fin with the two parts of the rear window running from the rear pillars almost to the top of the pavilion. In the BAT7, on the other hand, also in the longitudinal section the pavilion forms a more specific drop shape, connecting to the main fairing with a concave profile that continues onto two large curved fins which, separating the two parts of the rear window, create a thin yet evident central crested fin, limiting the formation of parasite turbulence created by the meeting of the two masses of air running along the sides of the pavilion as far as possible. In the BAT9, these forms are “normalised”, recalling more the BAT5 solution but in a smaller size. The pavilion follows the drop shape to the rear, regularly tapering into a just-hinted thin fin shape, with the two trapezoidal rear windows on the two sides. As explained above, the drop-shaped pavilion requires rear fins to overcome the insufficient length of the pavilion. As we can see, this special function of the fin requires that it be located in the point in which the fluid stream becomes detached from the curve of the pavilion, but in fact it is also necessary for the fin to be progressively aligned along the side of the pavilion both before and after the point in which the stream becomes detached. These aspects can be perceived immediately when looking particularly at the B.A.T. 5 and 7. In both profiles, the fins start at the height of the front edge of the door, rising progressively and following the sides of the cars and ending on the edge of the rear coupling. The concave-convex section of the fins creates a channel between the fins and the sides of the pavilion, drawing a kind of open ellipsis at their ends, which in the specific case of the B.A.T. 7, seems almost to close definitively. In the B.A.T. 9 we find all these elements, yet in a reduced form. The rear ellipsis is more open, and the shorter side profiles, originating from the rear cut of the door and with a constant progression parallel to the belt line. So, as we have seen, while the B.A.T. 5 and 7 seemed to be two authentic mobile experimental laboratories, with the B.A.T. 9 the designers attempted to translate these experimental elements into a formal synthesis suited for a car produced on an industrial scale.   Clearly an experiment, the B.A.T. 9 was never produced in series, but overall these three technical aerodynamic berlinettas contributed enormously to aerodynamic studies applied to cars, and the ability of these applications to generate new and advanced formal languages, as all Franco Scaglione’s works demonstrated to the full. -- Massimo Grandi , architect and designer, previously director of the Car Design laboratory at the Design Campus of the Department of Architecture at the University of Florence. Member of the ASI Culture Commission. Among his published works: “La forma della memoria: il progetto della Ferrari Alaspessa”, “Car design workshop”, “Dreaming American Cars”, “Ferrari 550 Alaspessa: dall’idea al progetto”, “Quando le disegnava il vento”, “Il paradigma Scaglione”, “La più veloce: breve storia dei record mondiali di velocità su strada” (with others).

This time, Luigi Marmiroli’s memoirs look back on the times when Lamborghini’s path met that of the “Designer of the Century”, leading to the style proposal of the first P132, the future Diablo, and the creation of the Calà prototype Words Luigi Marmiroli Photography Courtesy of Luigi Marmiroli Archive Among the many people I met during my professional life in the car world, and with whom I had the opportunity to work, Giorgetto Giugiaro occupies an important place. Not only ironically, he always referred to himself as an honest “pencil pusher”, and, as he started to work at Fiat at the tender age of 14, I think he must have consumed thousands of pencils during his career. These pencils helped him to influence the shape of cars in the last sixty years, and rightly so he entered the Hall of Fame of the Motor Shows in Geneva and Detroit. This article helps me to dust down my memory of when I worked with him on two projects during my time as Technical Director of Automobili Lamborghini. I refer precisely to the style proposal for the P132, the future Diablo, and the Calà prototype, which also had the support of his son Fabrizio. The P132 project was the first of the future Lamborghini car range to replace the Countach. I submitted a preliminary layout of the mechanics to Giorgetto Giugiaro's company Italdesign, and immediately he developed an original bodywork to go round it. We worked continuously with him and his engineers. I remember that we agreed to integrate a spoiler into the front of the car, with two functions: one linked to aerodynamics, to increase the car’s down force, and the other structural, to meet the US type-approval requirements in the crash test. Even the pole test, during which the mid-line of the car hit a vertical pole at high speed, would certainly not have caused any harm to the driver or passenger. Giugiaro produced a whole series of renderings and gave an original presentation to the managers at Lamborghini. He rested a full-scale cardboard cut-out of the car against the wall. Facing the wall as we listened to his learned presentation, I heard Patrick Mimran, the young Lamborghini shareholder who also owned his own splendid Countach, mumble to himself that he didn’t like it. I must admit that, while admiring the style proposal, I too felt it was closer to the philosophy of British sports cars than to the Lamborghini style code. Although it was thought that the project could have obtained the same commercial success as many of Giugiaro’s other works, nothing ever came of it. Exactly 10 years later, in 1995 and after many other not entirely positive adventures with Automobili Lamborghini, Giugiaro presented the Calà at the International Motor Show in Geneva. Like all the Italdesign prototypes, to demonstrate that their proposals were not merely inert models, the Calà was driven onto the stand. The Calà was presented as a research prototype, a 2+2 coupé that could be turned into a Targa top car simply by removing the roof. Designed for everyday use and therefore far more comfortable and functional than the supercars, the Calà was higher than all the other Lamborghini cars of the past. The bodywork was similar to a people carrier, although the effect at the rear was more one of a two-volume car with a short tail and a spoiler with high visual impact. The style was marked by an unusual windscreen that ran into the roof, with two grooves lying above the heads of the driver and the passenger. This solution brought more light into the passenger compartment, which could comfortably hold two adults, and two children on the rear seat. The original dashboard had a rounded ergonomic profile that  protruded towards the driver. The seats were hand stitched and, like all the panel work, were covered in an original and almost shocking bordeaux suede. I was personally very excited about the possibility to dust off the mechanics of the P140 with a design solution by Giorgetto Giugiaro. The chassis mechanics were in fact based on the ashes of the P140 project which should have become the successor to the Diablo. Unfortunately, after prototyping and even industrialisation involving international partners, the US Chrysler, shareholder from 1987, due to internal problems the project was aborted and even Lamborghini was sold to the Indonesian company Megateck. In any case, following the success of the Calà at the Geneva Motor Show, Mantovani, Giugiaro’s technical partner at Italdesign, sent Lamborghini a quote for the supply of the industrialised bodywork, complete with interiors and installations, to be sent to Lamborghini to assemble the mechanics and for the delivering. The proposal included the fitting out of 13 prototypes and, after the tests, the supply of 5 cars a day for a total of 4000 cars. The disappointment when the programme was not accepted by the new Indonesian shareholders was huge. Whenever I climb into the classic Panda designed by Giugiaro, which I keep in my garage, I am filled with nostalgia for this wonderful design that was not-to-be. -- Luigi Marmiroli was born in Fiorano Modenese in 1945. After graduating in mechanical engineering at the University of Padua, in 1970 he was hired by Ferrari to introduce electronic computing to Maranello for the first time. In 1976 he founded Fly Studio with Giacomo Caliri, designing and managing competition cars on international circuits. Their main works were for Fittipaldi Copersucar, Autodelta, ATS and Minardi, with whom they joined forces. The developments in the partnership with Autodelta led Marmiroli to manage the technical unit of the Euroracing team in 1983. Two years later he was hired by Lamborghini to design the heir of the Countach. Other projects came after the 17 versions of the Diablo, though due to the continuing changes of ownership of the Sant’Agata based company, they were never put into production. Marmiroli relaunched Fly Studio in 1997, providing consulting services. One of the projects of the last few years is the development of microcars, quadbikes and commercial vehicles, including electric versions.