Sunday Drive #10 - with a head in the (rainy) clouds
Sunday Drive #10 - with a head in the (rainy) clouds
Irregular biweekly automotive magazine
Falling behind
After a month-long break, I return to you, dear Readers, with the Sunday Drive. This break resulted from a surge of professional duties, but as a consolation, I can add that a lot happened in the world of motoring during this month. The upcoming weeks and months will be full of photos, meetings, and reports. For now, I'm catching up on the backlog, and today I will share some of the more interesting premieres, which every year in May share a common denominator, or rather a lack of one: the roof.
BMW Skytop
The Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este is a prestigious event held annually at Villa d'Este on Lake Como in Italy. Its history dates back to 1929 when the first car beauty contest was organised. Initially, this event aimed to promote new car models and innovative body designs, focusing on elegance and design.
After World War II, the contest disappeared from the motoring event map for almost forty years, only to be revived in the 1990s by Italian historian Tito Anselmi, in collaboration with Villa d'Este. Since then, the event has gained significance and become one of the most important meetings for lovers of classic and vintage cars from around the world.
The contemporary Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este attracts both historic cars and modern concepts, presenting a wide spectrum of automotive masterpieces. Since 1999, the organisers have been BMW Group, and as expected, they have made the event a place for the premieres of their concepts. Practically, every year, luxury coupés from Roll's–Royce and BMW appear.
This year the stage belongs to the Bavarians, who showed the stunning Skytop, built on the 8 Series, most likely the M8, as it was officially announced that it features the most powerful engine in the BMW range.
I don't know if there is another car manufacturer that makes more beautiful prototypes than BMW. But I know that for the fans of the brand, who are heated to the core, it is BMW that pours a bucket of the coldest water by showing production versions.
Morgan Midsummer
The United Kingdom, despite its roulette-like weather, is the undisputed capital of convertibles. Islanders have always had a penchant for roadsters, as evident in their numerous historical designs. Since the 1930s, British brands like MG, Triumph, Austin-Healey, and Morgan have stood out in the production of lightweight, sporty convertibles that have become style and performance icons. Models like the Morgan 4/4, Triumph TR3, and Austin-Healey 3000 gained popularity both on British roads and in international rallies and races.
In the 1960s and 70s, British motoring continued to dominate the convertible segment with models such as the Jaguar E-Type and Lotus Elan, as well as the Morgan Plus 8. The Jaguar E-Type, often regarded as one of the most beautiful cars in history, became a motoring icon due to its unique design. The Lotus Elan was praised for its lightness and excellent driving properties, while the Morgan Plus 8, with its distinctive classic look, remains a quintessence of Britishness to motoring enthusiasts worldwide.
The latest creation from Malvern was made in collaboration with Pininfarina. The Italian stylistic thought can turn any ugly duckling into a swan. It’s just a shame that a few elements weren't pushed visually (and technologically): the steering wheel and, for heaven’s sake, the gear lever. It immediately suggests who supplied the components of the powertrain (see premiere number 1). The inline-six, which can be found in the Morgan Plus Six, BMW Z4, and Toyota Supra, produces 335 hp. The car is limited to only 50 units. I hope that in the future I will be able to see it at one of the elegance contests.
Jon Wells – Morgan's chief designer was a guest on The Smoking Tire Podcast. An interesting conversation about Morgan's philosophy:
Mercedes-AMG PureSpeed Concept
I don't really know what to think about the look of the car presented by Mercedes before the Monaco F1 GP. It doesn’t thrill me like the two previously described cars. The HALO system is supposed to protect passengers from rollovers and accidents on the track. Whether it will ever hit the track at all, as the limited-to-250-units silver red arrow will probably be a collector's item. However, the story of the red colour is interesting, referring to a race exactly a hundred years ago. At that time, body colours were assigned to the countries of origin of the manufacturers (I wrote about this in the second issue of SD) and Germany had to use white paint. This was to facilitate the recognition of approaching teams by the judges. The system also worked among fans, who frequently obstructed teams from foreign countries in rallies. During the Targa–Florio rally in Sicily in 1924, Mercedes decided to deceive unfriendly spectators and painted the car red – the colour of the Italians. The car with number 10 won, and the commemoration of that team was placed on the fender.
May at least the engine of the Mercedes sound as good as always.
ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring 2024
At this time of year, the temperature in the world of endurance racing rises to its climax at two events. The first on the calendar is the toughest of the toughest, held in the Green Hell, among the mountains of the Eiffel region, and in constantly changing weather – the ADAC RAVENOL 24h Nürburgring.
In 2022 I went to the 50th edition to observe not only the competition but the community as a whole centred around the track. The atmosphere resembles a motorsport carnival: music, beer, and fancy dressers.
A comprehensive report can be read here:
As every year, thanks to ADAC's generosity, the race is broadcast live on YouTube and without additional fees. This link will probably be active only until the end of the race, but there will definitely be a replay (for marathoners) and a summary (for sprinters) on the channel.
UPDATE: The race was halted around midnight due to very thick fog. At the time of writing, it has been eleven hours since the red flag was raised. I hope they will be able to start for a few hours and settle the race in a classic way.
UPDATE 2: Unfortunately, the race was not resumed. At 1:30 pm the cars were released for five formation laps. As each took about 20 minutes, the cars crossed the finish line at full speed only. Thus, we witnessed the shortest twenty-four-hour race in this series – eight hours and only fifty laps completed.
A short summary can be found here:
BMW Art Car #20
The second, considered more prestigious race is, of course, the 24 hour marathon at Le Mans. More about the race in the next SD, and now we will deal with the premiere of the artistic painting of the Hypercar class car of the BMW factory team. The author is the performative painter Julie Mehretu, whose candidacy was selected back in 2018. The work was described as a “Performative work created from a painting motif and a racing car”. Hmm… As I don’t see a performance in wrapping a car in foil, the author's words that the process will be completed after the race at Le Mans seem interesting. Anyone who has had the opportunity to see a car up close after twenty-four hours of racing knows how much dust, sweat, insects, and damage changes the look of the car. Will the car be a canvas, speeding through the track and collecting elements of the composition? Is that what Julie Mehretu means by performative art? In this case, will the factory team drivers and everyone who comes into contact with the “Canvas” during the race be considered co-authors? Intriguing!
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Have a good one!