You can argue with the technicalities and the details, but you can’t argue with bold, iron-cast facts. And the fact is that success is geographically driven and connected.
Let’s take association football as a prime example. English teams have won the European Cup, now known as Champions League, 12 times with five different teams and four of those teams come from the North: Liverpool, Manchester United, Aston Villa (Birmingham) and Nottingham Forest. The outsider was Chelsea (London). Let’s move on to Serie A, the top tier of the professional leagues in Italy, in 111 seasons so far the title has been won 74 times by the teams of Turin and Milan. It doesn’t change much when cars are involved. Eleven teams are currently competing in the 2016 Formula 1 season and seven of them (Haas, Red Bull, Williams, Force India, McLaren, Renault and Manor) have their operating HQ in the South of England, four of them in Oxfordshire alone. Same story with road cars. The supercar makers of Italy; Ferrari, Lamborghini, Pagani and Maserati, are all to be found in what is known as “Motor Valley”, a stone’s throw from Modena.
Except for one, Mazzanti, founded in 2002 by young entrepreneur Luca Mazzanti in Pontedera.
The Evantra (in classic Etruscan Language, Evantra was the Goddess of Immortality) is a rear-mid engine, rear-wheel drive, 2-door hypercar. It’s got a 7-litre V8 which produces 751 HP, (the original prototype had 701) which means that 0-60 is over in 3,2 seconds and then you keep on going to 217 mph (350 kph). It is, in technical terms, bonkers.
It isn’t a one-off but very close to it, only 5 a year are made according to the future owner’s specifications and desire which means that each one will be unique. The body can be made from aluminum or carbon-fibre and these are the things you already know. The things you don’t is that the Evantra spares you from some of the foibles that these cars usually have, it has a usable luggage space and, never mind the rear view which is always compromised, the side view and the front view through the windshield are good. You may take that for granted but actually one of the problems that most supercars have these days, is that is so difficult to see out of them.
We’ve seen it live and upclose and it does look very striking. This is nuts for car-nuts (with a large wallet), the engine (a re-engineered version of the V8 from the Corvette Z06) has to move a vehicle which, even with you at the wheel and a tank full of fuel, still weighs about the same as a pencil-sharpener.
Mazzanti will show the Evantra at the Top Marques (where it debuted in 2013) in Monaco (14-17 April) and at the Parco Valentino in Turin (8-12 June) so you can stay tuned for more.
I know that when it comes to speed and mobility Tuscany isn’t exactly the first place in Italy that springs to mind, but do remember that one other very important vehicle on wheels saw the light in Pontedera. It’s owned by Piaggio, but you know it by its name. The Vespa.
words & pics: Alessandro Renesis
copyrighted material© – please don’t steal it
twitter: @PrinceAle
instagram: @A_Lookingbackthewaywehadcome
facebook: /leavemeflabbergasted17
_Flabbergasted LF 