Frosty Five Five

Sbarro Eight Concept - The Kids Are Alright

Franco Sbarro. A name regular viewers will recognise as a one-off car designer, a man of singular talent and mindset. While such genius can never truly be replicated, the essence of his design ethos is being passed to a new generation.

Tucked away in a back hall at the Porte de Versailles venue that hosted the 2012 Paris Motor Show was this carbon fibre hot rod, from the Espera Sbarro Montbéliard School of Design. 

Established 20 years ago by the Maître Concepteur, Sbarro School offers training in automotive technology, combining theory and practice; they must be pretty bloody good seeing this car was designed and built by the students.

Known simply as the Eight, after the Maserati-sourced V8 engine, this machine was taken from design to reality in just eight weeks. The stunning show car also incorporates a variety of new technologies provided by the students' sponsors and as such showcases some of the latest technology available to car makers, including a driver-facing tablet computer that occupies the space normally housing the dashboard. 

Applications such as sat nav, internet, Read & Go for books, Liveradio and Deezer for music and Cinéday for movies keep the driver connected while on the go. The Eight also features a Parrot Asteroid smart car radio powered by Android that features a 6.2" screen and can connect to their online Asteroid Market, mobile phones via Bluetooth, or display videos through auxiliary inputs. Not sure if a headset or PC that offers so many distractions from the road is a good idea, but at least they'll distract from the cheap door trims. Sorry, couldn't resist.

Well, all of this technology is well and good, but the irony (oh, the irony) is that 21st century technological showcase relies on distinctly 19th century technology to propel it; although to be fair, it's a very fine example of the Otto Cycle principle.

The standard-tune Maser V8 engine spins out 360bhp to the rear wheels; more than enough to propel the two occupants at a rapid rate of knots.

Who needs a touchscreen when you can touch the loud pedal and have so much fun? 

The Cutaway Diagram Files - 1969 Evinrude Skeeter

Chelsea Auto Legends, 2nd September 2012

Another year, another Chelsea Auto Legends. Although still a 'young' show in comparison with some of the brand names out there, CAL has made quite an impression; the publicity it gets has increased year by year and the quality of cars on show only seems to improve. For sure, a £25 gate price isn't doing it any favours ('early bird tickets, as I'd bought, were much cheaper), but with plans to make it a two-day event next year, CAL is surely only going to get bigger and better. That'll be something to see - 2012 was a great day out.

Lots more pictures here.

- Amazosan

She-Devil Racing flopper - a feast for the eye:

Brave man to take it out with possible rain forecast. I swear I could hear it fizzing...

We've seen this 'un before:

Brothers Of Destruction:

Another Maserati MC-12, this one a Corsa, the Maser version of the Ferrari FXX. Like Cleveland Brown would say, that's just nasty.

A Range Rover? Not officially. A Land Rover Velar, one of the prototypes. The Velar name was derived from the Spanish word 'Velar', and Italian word 'velare' meaning 'to veil or to cover'. To add to the deception, they were let out undisguised, badged as Velars, but also registered as Velars on the V5.

Car of the show for me; 1961 Citroen DS19 Le Dandy Coupe by Henri Chapron; one of only 50 built.

Cunningham C4R; Chrysler Hemi power and the origin of THOSE STRIPES:

Wolseley Hornet Special 'Red Henry':

Jaguar Sport XJR-15:

Ferrari 308 GTB Group B Michelotto. Delizioso.

De Tomaso Guarà. Body by Carlo Gaino (then at Italdesign), engines by BMW and Ford...

...interior by BMW's old E30 parts bin. Hmmm.

Onto the race cars. A regular at CAL, this Ferrari 365GTB/4 was 6th overall at the '73 Le Mans. And driven to the show:

Porsche GT1 Evo. This car never finished at the '97 Le Mans, but it's brothers-in-wheels finished 2nd and 3rd that year.

Porsche 962, Le Mans winner in '83. And holder of arguably the coolest sponsorship in motor racing. I'm just nipping out for a fag.

Matra MS670B; pole position and 2nd overall in 1972. I feel like another cigarette, curiously...

SAAB 93B; 2nd in class and 12th overall at the '59 Le Mans:

Gulf coast:

Mirage M-1. Cosworth DFV-powered, the Mirage race cars were built by J.W. Automotive Engineering as a non-works continuation when Ford pulled the plug on the GT40 programme.

Gulf Mirage GR7. The GR7 didn't win Le Mans...

...but the GR8 did, in 1975, with Jacky Ickx and Derek Bell driving.

And now some rally cars to balance up the motorsport scales:

Richard Burns/Robert Reid Safari Impreza:

Jimmy McRae/Ian Grindrod Metro 6R4. I feel the need, the need for nicotine...

Ex-Russell Brooks Manta 400:

Juha Kankkunen/Juha Piironen 205 T16 Evolution 2:

And here comes my favourite: the mighty Quattro E2. Every time I see a picture of one, I hear that growling 5-pot and chirruping KKK turbo in my head. Still a monster, still magnificent:

Back to pre-war stuff; a Type AC 1927 Austin 7 tourer:

We all know what it is, but it never gets boring to look at up close:

Two cars with a combined age of 210 years. On the left, a 1907 Berliet with a Curtiss OX5 V8 aircraft engine. On the right, a 1907 Wolseley-Siddeley Coppa Florio works racing car with a 10-litre 4-cylinder engine.

From the mighty to the petite; a Bugatti Type 13 Brescia with a 1.1 litre engine. The first true Bugatti car.

A Mini pick-up body. On a GTD (GT40 replica) chassis. The awesome is strong in this one:

Thirty-Two. Times Two:

Who you gonna call? Not Steve McQueen, alas.

'36 Ford coupé; the mods to this have been done to a few in the past, but they still look great:

FIN