THE AUTOEXTREMIST

March 28, 2012

The magical automotive ingredients.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

(Posted 3/27, 5:00 p.m.) Detroit. A lot of people in this business comment about the best this and the best that when it comes to certain automobiles and their most stellar qualities. For instance, Audi is always singled out as having the finest interiors, BMW as having the best 6-cylinder engines, Porsche, the best steering, braking and handling, and so on. But if you were to start a car company from scratch and didn’t have the financial depth necessary to develop all of the components, what would you do? You would have to acquire these ingredients from other automotive companies and/or suppliers to start with, meaning you’d have to compose a wish list of what you liked and wanted for your new machine.

Me? Well, if I were to build my vision for an everyday sports car, a 3,000 lb., mid-engined machine that would make an indelible design statement (I’d call it the Bandini from Renzo Motors, by the way, as I’ve often stated), I would go shopping for the finest automotive ingredients available.

And where would I begin?

Well, since design is the Ultimate Initial Product Differentiator in this business and will remain so indefinitely, I would have to take my visionary sketch to someone I knew could assemble a behind-the-curtain team that would work on a double-secret design project of this nature after hours. I’d give Ed Welburn a call, because I appreciate his feel for what makes design work and what makes it exciting, and I’m confident that the emotionally compelling Bandini would come to life under his direct tutelage.

The power? This is an easy call and no, the Bandini won’t be powered by a 4-cylinder turbo. I’m into the fuel-economy thing for mass transportation and what not, but not here and not now. As good as the engines are these days from auto companies around the world, including Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Ford, McLaren, Mercedes, VW, et al, I’m going for normally aspirated magnificence as best brought to life by the 7.0-liter LS7 monster V8 from GM. All the torque I need and enough high RPM scream to make it worthwhile, it’s the perfect call for the Bandini.

The 6-speed gearbox would come from the Audi R8. Yes, I appreciate and sometimes love double-clutch automatic transmissions but if it’s my car with my name on it, I will happily be shifting manually, thank you very much. And I’ve never felt a better one than what’s in Audi’s mid-engine jewel.

The steering mechanism would come from the new Porsche 911 because its new electromechanical system is simply the best in the business. 911 purists may scoff (and I have been one of them on occasion), but after driving the new 911 in Santa Barbara last fall I am absolutely convinced that it’s the state of the automotive art.

The brakes would come from the current Porsche 911 Turbo. With all that power you need to be able to throw out a boat anchor if need be to bring it to a halt. Now admittedly there are countless outstanding high-performance braking systems in cars from all over the world, but the Porsche 911 has always been known for its braking performance and the Turbo especially so. To say this braking system would be more than adequate is an understatement.

For the suspension I’m going to call up McLaren and see if they wouldn’t like to sink their teeth into a little “project.” The design parameters? Lightweight, not overly complicated and compliant for real-world surfaces, especially as can be found in the crumbling amusement park rides we call “roads” around these parts. And McLaren will have input into the overall dimensions, wheelbase, etc., to make it all work heroically.

The wheels would obviously be designed specifically for the Bandini but that supplier is T.B.D. Too many choices to contemplate, but I prefer more functional than fussy.

The tires will come from Michelin. Again, there are outstanding tires being made all over the world, but the consistency and attention to detail that Michelin brings to the equation are simply unrivaled.

The lighting would come from Audi. Why? Because no one has spent more time and money developing LED lighting and no one does it better, either.

The interior design and execution would also be left to Audi. Yes, it remains one of this industry’s hoariest clichés, but still to this day no one does interiors better than Audi. So, even though the Bandini interior would be on the minimalist side, I’d still have Audi’s interior design stars do their thing.

The aforementioned sources for these magical ingredients represent car companies that are consistently doing the best work in the automobile business today. Any one of the machines that I’ve cherry-picked my ingredients from is stunning in their own right. And there are many other manufacturers out there who have magical ingredients of their own, of course, like the incredible V8 in the Ferrari 458 Italia or the V8 powering the BMW M3 just to name two.

Machines from Audi and Porsche in particular garner accolades and praise almost every day in this business. And yet the 2013 Corvette 427 Convertible (powered by the majestic, normally aspirated LS7 V8) deserves special mention, because it definitely belongs in the “great car” category as well.

But then again just having a couple of magical ingredients doesn’t guarantee success in this business, either. Because a random set of ingredients is just that, a mélange of good stuff that looks great on paper but doesn’t necessarily hang together as a unified whole.

The car companies who separate themselves from the pack are the ones that are gifted at tuning their particular set of magical ingredients to flourish together to the point that greatness follows.

The rest? They may score a few notable wins and superlatives here and there, but they never seem to get it together enough to achieve the top plateau.

And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.

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