10.5
11-25-2009, 01:00 AM
I wouldn't mind having one of these hybrids, would you?
Italdesign Giugiaro Quaranta. It's a hybrid. It gets a just under 40 MPG. At 124 miles an hour.
To my right is Fabrizio Giugiaro, director of styling of Italdesign and the primary creative force behind the outrageous machine we're riding in. I'm the man in the middle. That's correct, because a central driving position is one of many fascinating design aspects of the Italdesign Quaranta.
"200K! Not bad for a concept car, no?" Giugiaro is engaging, passionate, fashion-model handsome, and funnier than Letterman. The engine blares and blats under full throttle, yet as we glide this futuristic, fighter-jet canopied doorstop to a halt, the expected guttural thrum from an idling four-cam V-10 is noticeable by its absence. The only noise I hear is the distant whir of a cooling fan mixed with miscellaneous electronic fizzes. "It's wrong. All wrong," Fabrizio says. "The car is running, but there is no sound. Crazy!"
As I ease the Quaranta toward the entrance to the track, all notions of the "photo speed only" mandate, so typical of concept car drives, go straight out the canopy, while Giugiaro instructs me to slam my foot to the floor. The gas engine lights and spins to max revs, the CVT feeding in power as speed climbs. We do a couple wristwatch 0-to-60 runs and get mid-to-high five-second runs with three aboard. It's not crazy fast, but impressively quick. There's none of the crashing and banging so typical of these handbuilt one-offs, as chassis insulation and such are seldom bothered with. The V-6 exhaust tone could pass for that of a V-12, but would never be mistaken for an engine with eight or 10 cylinders.
Italdesign put a considerable amount of time into the Quaranta's aerodynamics, and it shows. It's rock-flat stable at 120 mph, feeling well trimmed and exhibiting no lift and just enough downforce to keep it planted. Giugiaro admits that more is possible here, because of course it's not a production model, although it was treated much that way in the design process. The hushed sound, flat surfaces, and lack of exterior mirrors or wings mean wind noise is extremely low.
After lapping the bowl several times, the Quaranta's creator leads me toward the track's skidpad. G-force runs-in a concept car? Oy. I crank the wheel and begin running an imaginary 200-foot circle. This thing has major grip. No way could I get it to push out without destroying the custom tires. I then try some low-speed transitions. Next thing I know, I'm flinging it side to side like a kart. Wish Reynolds and Mortara were here-nobody would believe this.
...
I point the car toward a nearby transporter, but Giugiaro again waves me off. "I want to see it on the road. It has never been driven out in the world before. You drive it back to Italdesign." Wait a minute. Handbuilt concept car. What if I stuff it? No official license plates. No registration. What about insurance? This thing is as street legal as the Space Shuttle. "This is Italy," Giugiaro reminds. "The rules for such things aren't so clear here. So we do what we want." He settles into the left seat to help me watch the cameras, and the car's flanks as we prepare to hit the autostrada. As you'd expect, the locals went freako over seeing this four-wheeled spacecraft on Northern Italy's public roads. Kids jumped and pointed. Cell-phone cams clicked. Vehicles moved out of the way for us, then up, then back, then around. Soon we relaxed and drove it like a car, if not exactly a normal one. The most interesting moment? Pulling through a toll booth. The cointaker looked as if he was seeing Martians abducting Enzo Ferrari, but never said a word.
As we recover from the experience of piloting the Quaranta, Fabrizio Giugiaro's mind is racing ahead somewhere else. "After watching it in motion, I see things. The camera monitor locations are wrong. There are a few lines I wish I had changed. Maybe the surface of the paint should be different. Other things, too. It's time to do something new."
http://www.diseno-art.com/images_2/Italdesign%20_Giugiaro_Quaranta.jpg
http://www.diseno-art.com/images_2/Italdesign%20_Giugiaro_Quaranta_rear.jpg
http://www.diseno-art.com/images_2/Italdesign%20_Giugiaro_Quaranta_top.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o106/Doctor__No/JPNmagscans2-1.jpg
http://www.autofans.us/images/Lamborghini/Italdesign%20Quaranta%20Hybrid%20Concept%205.jpg
http://www.autofans.us/images/Lamborghini/Italdesign%20Quaranta%20Hybrid%20Concept%204.jpg
http://www.autofans.us/images/Lamborghini/Italdesign%20Quaranta%20Hybrid%20Concept%203.jpg
http://www.autofans.us/images/Lamborghini/Italdesign%20Quaranta%20Hybrid%20Concept%202.jpg
Italdesign Giugiaro Quaranta. It's a hybrid. It gets a just under 40 MPG. At 124 miles an hour.
To my right is Fabrizio Giugiaro, director of styling of Italdesign and the primary creative force behind the outrageous machine we're riding in. I'm the man in the middle. That's correct, because a central driving position is one of many fascinating design aspects of the Italdesign Quaranta.
"200K! Not bad for a concept car, no?" Giugiaro is engaging, passionate, fashion-model handsome, and funnier than Letterman. The engine blares and blats under full throttle, yet as we glide this futuristic, fighter-jet canopied doorstop to a halt, the expected guttural thrum from an idling four-cam V-10 is noticeable by its absence. The only noise I hear is the distant whir of a cooling fan mixed with miscellaneous electronic fizzes. "It's wrong. All wrong," Fabrizio says. "The car is running, but there is no sound. Crazy!"
As I ease the Quaranta toward the entrance to the track, all notions of the "photo speed only" mandate, so typical of concept car drives, go straight out the canopy, while Giugiaro instructs me to slam my foot to the floor. The gas engine lights and spins to max revs, the CVT feeding in power as speed climbs. We do a couple wristwatch 0-to-60 runs and get mid-to-high five-second runs with three aboard. It's not crazy fast, but impressively quick. There's none of the crashing and banging so typical of these handbuilt one-offs, as chassis insulation and such are seldom bothered with. The V-6 exhaust tone could pass for that of a V-12, but would never be mistaken for an engine with eight or 10 cylinders.
Italdesign put a considerable amount of time into the Quaranta's aerodynamics, and it shows. It's rock-flat stable at 120 mph, feeling well trimmed and exhibiting no lift and just enough downforce to keep it planted. Giugiaro admits that more is possible here, because of course it's not a production model, although it was treated much that way in the design process. The hushed sound, flat surfaces, and lack of exterior mirrors or wings mean wind noise is extremely low.
After lapping the bowl several times, the Quaranta's creator leads me toward the track's skidpad. G-force runs-in a concept car? Oy. I crank the wheel and begin running an imaginary 200-foot circle. This thing has major grip. No way could I get it to push out without destroying the custom tires. I then try some low-speed transitions. Next thing I know, I'm flinging it side to side like a kart. Wish Reynolds and Mortara were here-nobody would believe this.
...
I point the car toward a nearby transporter, but Giugiaro again waves me off. "I want to see it on the road. It has never been driven out in the world before. You drive it back to Italdesign." Wait a minute. Handbuilt concept car. What if I stuff it? No official license plates. No registration. What about insurance? This thing is as street legal as the Space Shuttle. "This is Italy," Giugiaro reminds. "The rules for such things aren't so clear here. So we do what we want." He settles into the left seat to help me watch the cameras, and the car's flanks as we prepare to hit the autostrada. As you'd expect, the locals went freako over seeing this four-wheeled spacecraft on Northern Italy's public roads. Kids jumped and pointed. Cell-phone cams clicked. Vehicles moved out of the way for us, then up, then back, then around. Soon we relaxed and drove it like a car, if not exactly a normal one. The most interesting moment? Pulling through a toll booth. The cointaker looked as if he was seeing Martians abducting Enzo Ferrari, but never said a word.
As we recover from the experience of piloting the Quaranta, Fabrizio Giugiaro's mind is racing ahead somewhere else. "After watching it in motion, I see things. The camera monitor locations are wrong. There are a few lines I wish I had changed. Maybe the surface of the paint should be different. Other things, too. It's time to do something new."
http://www.diseno-art.com/images_2/Italdesign%20_Giugiaro_Quaranta.jpg
http://www.diseno-art.com/images_2/Italdesign%20_Giugiaro_Quaranta_rear.jpg
http://www.diseno-art.com/images_2/Italdesign%20_Giugiaro_Quaranta_top.jpg
http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o106/Doctor__No/JPNmagscans2-1.jpg
http://www.autofans.us/images/Lamborghini/Italdesign%20Quaranta%20Hybrid%20Concept%205.jpg
http://www.autofans.us/images/Lamborghini/Italdesign%20Quaranta%20Hybrid%20Concept%204.jpg
http://www.autofans.us/images/Lamborghini/Italdesign%20Quaranta%20Hybrid%20Concept%203.jpg
http://www.autofans.us/images/Lamborghini/Italdesign%20Quaranta%20Hybrid%20Concept%202.jpg