< p style=”text-align: justify;”>Still impressed by Brabus 6-wheeled G Wagon with the V12 700 horsepower, so we had to stop again before getting to the giant Mercedes hall to have a look to the S-Class Coupe concept, and comparing it to the E63 AMG, it still seemed huge. Now this concept reminds me of the old 500 and 560 SEC Coupes of the late eighties that Mercedes had produced and who were as well strangely similar to the big S Class of the time.
We stepped out of Mercedes-Benz’s hall to find ourselves face to face with a small tent which the british artisan Radical was using to present their little track lap-record road-legal cars. As I had never seen any Radical before, we went to have a look and I have to say that the only thing I had in mind while staring at these amazing machines was Colin Chapman’s famous motto : “Light is right”. They truly are the modern interpretation of this quote and their official record of the fastest street-legal car on the Nurburgring Nordschleife is no surprise.
We went back to Volkswagen’s giant hall, and were finally able to get in the Lamborghini stand, as before they were preparing the press conference. A quick glance at the Squadra Corse and we went to the stand’s first floor where there was a 50th Anniversary Edition of the Aventador Roadster. It stacks up with 20 more horsepower than the standard version, plus a few changes in the front and rear spoiler which could be inspired from the upcoming SuperVeloce Aventador coming very soon we hope.
While we were on our way to Porsche, we had a big surprise meeting Magnus Walker. What an amazing man ! It was really unexpected to see him here in Francfort, and a great pleasure ! Although he is to my eyes a modern living legend of Porsche, most journalists didn’t know who he was… If you don’t already know him, just check out how awesome he is with the movie that made him famous : Urban Outlaw.
Having a glance at the brand new Porsche 991 Turbo S, it is really a great looking machine but the side plastic air entries look very cheap. There is as well one other element I regret since the 997 on the Turbo 911 models : the turbocharger itself. While in the olden days turbos used to have a lag, Porsche has plugged in the variable geometry turbochargers making the engine behavior strangely linear. So now you can’t really spot the difference with a normally aspirated engine, apart from the sound, because the 997 Turbo make the sound of a Dyson. We’ll have to wait though a proper testdrive to see if the performances are really as biblical as Porsche promise, and if I’m still that much disappointed by these turbos.
We stepped into Bugatti to look at the amazing details of the Veyron Vitesse Legende Jean Bugatti and especially its amazingly detailed interior with references to the “Voiture Noire” all over it, on the door panels, between the two seats. The signature of Jean Bugatti is engraved on the fuel cap, and as well on a few elements in the interior. Only three Vitesse Jean Bugatti will ever be built.
