Turin Italy - Via Gramsci

Street picture by Ambra Zamuner

Combining creativity with complete know-how and modern technology.

I would like to share with you this report recently published in Japan by Car Styling magazine. A special issue dedicated to the Italian Designers and “Carrozzeria”.

Within the territories of one-man-design-show, resisting in and around Torino, Paolo Martin keeps his creativity and design work running in many directions. As usual.  His hairs are whiter than ever but his genius is evergreen, just as it is the case for secluded Marcelo Gandini and public-persona Giorgetto Giugiaro.

He is one of the very few talents left that has a complete understanding of car design and body construction. One of the few men who can tackle any aspect of the process. As such he is a very precious heritage of the traditional art of coach building.

It is for this reason that he regrets that he receives less commission from the car, yacht and motorcycle industry these days of decline. He still has plenty of good ideas that could be turned into a successful project. Even more relevant he regrets he has few chances of passing over to the young generations his past experience, just as Maestro Giovanni Michelotti did with him when he was 16 years old.

On the other side, he is happy to take commissions from private investors and enthusiasts. He loves the human relations with them and the exchange of cultural input, be it from the Arabian Peninsula, the Far East or the Americas.

On the projects he develops for private customers he must keep the secret, unless authorized by his patron.

Recently, he was allowed to release some interesting design works he developed in the past couple of years.

Three projects he had a lot of fun to work with.

One for a multifunctional “Desert Running Suite” that combines a carry-on tent of some 100 square meters blossoming from a sort of very large 6×6 all-road heavy-duty vehicle carrying a small living room with all comfort and all the most sophisticated equipment that tycoons, VIP, government officials may want or need to take with them in the desert for a mission, a week-end excursion or a party.

One derivative also considers a sort of moving “ceremony hall on wheels for the desert”.

A sophisticated mechanism develops the huge tent in minutes and displays solar cell panels providing plenty of energy for the satellite communication centre and other amenities. The execution of the vehicle has been put on hold after the recent turmoil in Nord Africa.

The second project is a typical “coachbuilder” sportcar that is clearly inspired to the popular De Tomaso mid-engined V8 two-seater that the new “De Tomaso” company is to unveil at the Los Angeles auto show later this year. His project has not been commissioned by the company but by a private collector who was eager to see what could done at this time to revive the myth of the affordable supercar and have one built for himself.

The layout, dimensions and proportions are very modern and yet there is the de Tomaso DNA in this car.

This second project shows how Paolo Martin has kept up with the CAD and virtual modelling technologies and indeed he has developed the “2 Posti Sportiva 2012” in few weeks on his PC with all the technicalities integrated into the project and the basic data for quick and economical milling.

Probably Paolo Martin is the only star designer who emerged in the great old times (the 60ies and 70ies) of Italian coachbuilding and has developed his skill to confirm and visualize his design ideas through contemeporary virtual technology.

See his renderings for self-speaking evidence. Obviously we need not to comment on his own, very elegant and dynamic design for a modern mid-engined sport car.

We would simply add that we would love to see it in the real world.

We can show also a third project that Paolo Martin has developed on his own after the instigation of a journalist who asked him how he would design the Modulo of the third millennium.

In no time Martin penned what he calls the “Modulo Enzo”. A design that is absolutely up to the mythical name of “Modulo” and of Ferrari. Again, the project is not just a beautiful rendering created on a PC but a realistic vision (though futuristic, like he Modulo) of a super Ferrari. The car is feasible, with few concessions, and recently a famous connoisseur and collector has shown interest in having one built for himself.

That would certainly be a dream of millions enthusiasts coming true and a fantastic promotional vehicle for a high-tech company.

End of this report by Giancarlo Perini ©.

Paolo Martin, famous world-wide for just some of his many mythical designs of supercars, yachts, bikes and more has accepted to talk to young design in the “West meets East” Design Conference in Zagreb this week-end.

Martin is the designer who performer several one-man-show when creating stunning cars such as the Pininfarina F1 Sigma Grand Prix and the Pininfarina Ferrari Modulo and a number of Dino concept cars, including the yellow “Berllinetta” (actually named Dino Competizione) now owned by the famous enthusiast James Glickenhaus in New York.

For additional information about the Zagreb Automotive Design Conference go to: http://www.automotivedesignconference.com/

Martin will recall how he built the full scale Modulo during the summer holidays and how his project had to compete with the alternative proposal of Filippo Sapino for the Ferrari 512 S. Both show cars were eventually approved by Sergio Pininfarina and his broche in law, Renzo Carli. Both were outstanting successes.

Martin will also present his Modulo II design, based on the Ferrari Enzo and will be open to questions from the audience.

Over more than fifty years, Martin has worked for Michelotti, Bertone, Pininfarina, De Tomaso, Fiat, Nissan, BMW, Subaru, Piaggio, Gilera, Ferretti and Dassault Aviation.

Yesterday, un Maranello, Ferrari has announced that its Scaglietti 612 replacement will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show on March 1st. First pictures and written statements from the Italian supercar maker confirm our previous report (http://autodesign.socialblog.us/2011/01/12/new-ferrari-in-geneva-architecture-by-giugiaro-design-by-pininfarina/). 

The new Ferrari comes with a hatch (and indeed is closed to an estate sport-car than to a berlinetta) and four wheels drive, which technical details remains undisclosed for the time being.

First reactions to the new design -  radical for Ferrari, but not innovative for the industry – are mixed and controversial.

Here the Technical Specifications published by Ferrari.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Engine
Type 65-degree V12
Overall displacement 6,262 cc
Maximum power 660 CV @ 8,000 rpm
Maximum torque 683 Nm @ 6,000 rpm
Dimensions and weight
Length 4907 mm
Width 1953 mm
Height 1379 mm
Dry weight* 1790 kg
Weight distribution 47% front, 53% rear
Weight/power ratio 2.7 kg/CV
Performance
Maximum speed 335 km/h
0-100 km/h 3.7 sec
Fuel consumption and emissions (ECE+EUDC)
Fuel consumption** 15.4 l/100 km
Emissions** 360 g/km
* European market version
** With HELE system

By Giancarlo Perini ©

Ferrari GG 50 by Giugiaro.

The replacement for the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, expected to premiere early next March at the Geneva Motor Show, will certainly break new ground on different fronts, according to well placed sources.

Which one is going to impress most the public and the prospect buyers is controversial but there is no doubt that the new architecture of the two-door, 2+2 seater coupe

Ferrari GG 50 by Giugiaro.

and the rumoured “4 wheel-drive” transmission resulting from the hybrid-drive propulsion unit, will be opening a new era in the history of the prancing horse.

As for the third and most obvious innovation, that is the new look by Pininfarina we can expect some more that just a classic and yet elegant and attractive design, still a secret.

Four wheel drive transmission is delivered when the electric motor(s) drive(s) the front wheels at start or when activated by the electronic intelligence governing the whole powertrain unit to dramatically improve the performance and active safety of the big V12, front engined Ferrari.

If the Kers derived Hybrid powertrain introduce a technological innovation, the body architecture represents a real revolution.

Indeed the new Scaglietti is the first Ferrari with a convenient rear hatch and expandable luggage compartment, ready to take with easy Golf bags of any size.

Ferrari GG 50 by Giugiaro.

The revolution has been originated by the one-off Ferrari GG 50 that Giorgetto Giugiaro of Italdesign designed and built for himself in 2005 to celebrate its 50^th year of design works. To create a Ferrari that he can drive anywhere and with all the stuff he fancies, Giugiaro re-engineered the architecture and repositioned the fuel tank to achieve a larger luggage compartment and thus created the prototype of an elegant Ferrari fastback, with a rear hatch.

In other words we can expect an outstanding Ferrari, created from the genius of Giorgetto Giugiaro and styled by the masters of Pininfarina under Ferrari direction.

Ferrari GG 50 by Giugiaro.

For quotations and to order your copy(ies) go to www.calendari-ufficiali-ferrari.it

Here is a preview for you to enjoy.