Seeking Motoring Perfection - The Ferrari F40

The Ferrari F40 is much like Sir Anthony Hopkins : not really good looking , but full of masculinity , not really white-collar , but always elegant , not really a front page star , but still a charismatic character.

When it was first launched in 1987 , the F 40 was the fastest production car money could buy …And indeed you had to take a lot of money out of your piggy-bank to get one since the 200 000 pounds retail price was not realistic. The dealers would ask much more and some admitted paying almost three times the original price for it .

But then, the car was nothing you would expect for that amount of money. It had no stereo , no carpets , no electric windows, no AC , no door handles , no traction control . The interior felt like a minimalistic house of that period : it had two chairs…and nothing else . And there’s a very good reason for that : lightness . Add this to the carbon fibre bonnet and the result is a vehicle which could do 201 mph due to the atrocious 2.9 litre twin-turbocharged V8 .

It was so powerful that it could eat the straight on any Grand Prix track and then digest it in the first few corners . It was so light and well balanced that it could give any driver the confidence that he could push harder , go faster and aim for the next apex . In fact it was so good that , once anybody got behind the steering wheel , the only thing he or she could care about was drive…fast. The only reason for slowing down would be to watch the reflection of that beautiful Pininfarina body in some store’s window .( Scientists claim actually that the testosterone molecule looks exactly the same as the F40 ) .

And that’s why this car was and still is very special. You could sell some of your organs to buy one and even a priest would understand you .You could rob a bank to get the money for it and the jury would plead not guilty and offer you a ride to the nearest dealership…in a police car …Just because it’s a Ferrari F40 .

The New Maseratti Kubang

A new Maserati has been announced these days . It’s called the Kubang and it’s…well…big .

The Kubang is a new approach for Maserati , one of the biggest names in the sports cars industry , because it is their very first SUV . They’re probably aiming financial success since fancy named off-roaders appeal to the public ( see the case of the X BMWs and Porche’s Cayennes ) . But will it be good ?

Well it certainly is good looking , like all the Maserati range . It looks like a taller , meaner , heavier Granturismo and that can’t be bad . Under the bonnet there’s the same fire-spitting V8 , which is also a good thing . Probably it would not go off road like a Range Rover , probably not even like a Cayenne , but it will surely be a good cruising SUV , which is I think what they have in mind .

And if there’s a sporty highway off-roader what you’re after then why buy an ugly BMW X6 M ?

But this video putting the Kubang in the descent of Maserati’s racers ?..seriously now , you’re taking it too far folks…

Seeking Motoring Perfection - The Bugatti Veyron

There aren’t many brands in the world of motoring stronger than Bugatti . And that’s because they never really built a bad car or a car for everybody. Bugatti stands for exclusive perfection , it’s like a Marlin Monroe of cars (only without the drugs) or like the French cuisine : great but in small quantities . The exclusive car auctions sell Bugatties at astonishing prices , and that’s because a Bugatti is a car for a coneseur , a car for an art collector.

And then VW bought it and created the Veyron . When they first announced it I didn’t know what to expect : a Phaeton engine with Passat stearing wheel and Jetta headlamps , all strapped to a van chassis or a really great super-car . To be honest , I was pretty sure it would be the first, but I was wrong . What VW did was the greatest car in the world…ever.

I consider modern super-cars to be quite dull and lacking passion but this is not the case with the Veyron . Unfortunately , I also consider that in this bird protecting green world , we won’t get the chance of having a car that would be better as an engineering achievement than that. When it will be out of production , it would be like the Concorde : unpreceded and unlikely to ever happen again .

Putting 1000 bhp in a car ( 1200 for the SS ) sounds like total madness . You’d say that whether it has the power of a space shuttle , it would also go like one : in a straight line only at 400km/h. But it’s also greatly balanced in the corners , calm and forgiving when you push hard , comfortable and luxurious when you cruise along . It’s the perfect recipe and then it’s the looks : it’s exactly the modern Bugatti one would imagine : fancy , strange, scary , exotic but white-collared in the same time. If sex on wheels is more than just a stupid phrase , than that’s exactly what the Veyron should be . In these conditions the enormous price can be justified. Actually , for the first models, VW had to pay more for production than the price they asked . And it’s great they didn’t quit and turned the Veyron into an XXIst Century icon . A real icon , unlike the Prius or…Lady Gaga .

Speaking of price , the billion figure also makes it a real Bugatti because it’s what gives it exclusivity. It’s also not depreciating and this proves it actually is good value for money , if one can say that for such a car . That’s why you don’t get to see it on a daily basis like you get to see other supercars but when you do it makes you feel special …even if you are just a spectator…

It could be displayed in The Louvre actually…

Insignia

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Victor Uribe Portfolio 2011 Updated

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