Car Magazine by Mohammad Alauddin

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L u x M a r q ues

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a Ferretti Group brand

www.riva-yacht.com

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NOTHING ELSE

88’ Florida

Iseo • Aquariva Super • Rivarama Super • Rivale • SportRiva 56’ • 63’ Vertigo • 63’ Virtus • 68’ Ego Super 75’ Venere Super • 76’ Perseo • 88’ Domino Super • 88’ Florida • 100’ Corsaro • 122’ Mythos

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fpjourne.com 8

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“I invented it and made it”

signs François-Paul Journe; a guarantee of an invention entirely made in our workshops

Calibre 1510 18K rose Gold movement Manual winding

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CONTENTS

Contents 14

Chairman’s letter

Rolls-Royce Wraith

33 40

Showcasing their premier marque in all of her glory

Patek Philippe: 175 years We walk through 175 years of horological history

DB11 The new Aston Martin model, but does it deserve the hype?

Strange magic, investing in music

The Breadban

Riva: a boat by any other name

Enter the world of musical investment where passion and investing are inextricably linked

One of Ferrari’s more interesting models!

A journey through the rich history of a boating icon

The $28 million lady A 290 MM makes history!

Waterspeed Drophead Coupé

Steve Mcqueen’s 275 GTB4

Rolls-Royce celebrates a British adventurer who pushed boundaries

Celebrating an Icon in Maranello The Aston Martin DB11 makes its debut in Geneva, page 40

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Inside every story, there is a beautiful journey. Early evening, Buenos Aires. Argentina. 866-VUITTON and now on www.louisvuitton.com Sofia Cappola, Francis Ford Coppola and Louis Vuitton are proud to support The Climate Project.

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CONTENTS

Contents 80

Crossing Borders: Cuba

Triple Whammy

Bentley making it’s mark

Isaac Julien at Art Basel

Agnelli’s 166MM

The Mondial wows at Pebble Beach

Bentley showcases the new Mulsanne range at the Geneva Motor Show

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars exhibits Isaac Julien’s new work, Stones Against Diamonds

A supreme piece of mechanical art celebrated at Villa d’Este

100

Automobil Lamborghini

116

Steinway & Sons

121

The 290 MM wins again!

122

Ferrari 488 GTB

124

A celebration of a country wrapped in time

The unabridged history of an Italian icon

Instrumental Royalty: a look at the Steinway & Sons where craftsmanship is has its home

A winner at Amelia Island’s Concours d’Elegance

Extreme power for extreme driving thrills

Porto Cervo plays host An old friend returns to visit the island of Sardinia

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The Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime Ref. 5175, we say hello to a legend, Page 33

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How do we pass on our values? Will our money make our children’s lives easier? Or too easy? Being wealthy can have its benefits, and its challenges too. You’d like your children to have the best opportunities. And inherit your determination and drive. How do you get the balance right? We can help you pass on something even more precious. Your values. (We’ve been helping families for more than 150 years.) For some of life’s questions, you’re not alone. Together we can find an answer.

The price and value of investments and income derived from them can go down as well as up. You may not get back the amount you originally invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. In the UK, UBS AG is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and subject to regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority and limited regulation by the Prudential Regulation Authority. Issued in Australia by UBS AG ABN 47 088 129 613 (AFSL* No. 231087). *AFSL means holder of Australia Financial Services License. © UBS 2016. All rights reserved.

ubs.com /pass-on-values

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CHAIRMAN’S LETTER

LuxMarques CHAIRMAN’S LETTER Dear Members Welcome to the LuxMarques ISSUE 1 2016; the official printed publication for all our owners and members globally. With our membership stretching across the world through five international clubs, this edition is a culmination of all the hard work amongst the associations globally. For this endeavour alone, we salute you. Naturally, our first edition is very car centric, but our second biggest pursuit, globe-trotting, will play host to our next issue which is LUXURY TRAVEL ISSUE 2. Our next edition will focus on high end travel with particular emphasis on hotels, resorts and their high revenue aspects … enjoying the finer things in life! Rolls-Royce Wraith is our first stopping off point, where we get to grips with the majesty of owning a car many of our members believe to be the greatest car ever made. We take a trip back to Porto Cervo where Rolls-Royce played host to the glitterati of the Mediterranean. Finally, we take a look back at the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé Waterspeed Collection; an homage to a British legend, Sir. Malcolm Campbell. Aston Martin is a name many of our members have invested in and it is with great excitement that we are one of the first luxury print publications to have the complete guide to the brand new DB11. It may have many ‘never before seen’ features, but at its heart, it is unmistakably Aston Martin. Ferrari has been very active at the car shows this year. We take a look at their record breaking year and pay tribute to Agnelli’s 166 MM which dominated at Villa d’Este. Lamborghini has long been a favourite car of mine and we pay homage to them with a complete history guide, with a particularly respectful nod to their founder, Ferruccio Lamborghini. Bentley has finally launched the new Mulsanne Range and we have the complete low down on the series. With Bentley gearing up for new models, it is very interesting times at Bentley HQ. But as car owners, we do have other interests and it is with great please that we present to you articles on musical investment as well as focusing on a watch favourite of many of our member, Patek Philippe. As many of our Rolls-Royce enthusiasts will know, Vickers once owned both Rolls-Royce and Riva. We pay reverence to the Riva boat company with a complete history from its founding in the 19th century. With other focuses in art and culture, there is something for everyone in this edition. As ever, we value your suggestions in relation to the features and articles and as such, please contact us through your respective clubs. We firmly believe that this is as much your magazine as it is ours. As well as our editorial features, we have carefully selected a select few comparable commercial partners without whose participation this publication is impossible. Please look out for our next which is LUXURY TRAVEL ISSUE 2. I hope you derive as much enjoyment reading LuxMarques as all of us here have found in producing it. Without you, this publication remains silent and for that alone, your participation and input is most welcomed. Regards The Chairman

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. Au mur : Å&#x201C;uvre de Mike&Doug Starn.

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ARRIVE in STYLE Style is personal. That’s why the Gulfstream G550™ offers a variety of seating and sleeping options that accommodates up to four living areas and still has room for the largest, fully accessible baggage area in its class. Every aspect of the exquisite interior is designed to maximize the comfort of ultralong-range travel, so you can arrive feeling like you just left home. SCOTT NEAL | +1 912 965 6023 | scott.neal@gulfstream.com | GULFSTREAMG550.COM *At the typical initial cruise altitude of 41,000 ft

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CABIN ALTITUDE: 3,845 FT* • PASSENGERS: UP TO 19 • SIGNATURE OVAL WINDOWS: 14

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ROLLS-ROYCE WRAITH

ROLLS-ROYCE WRAITH: unashamedly built to deliver

Naturally, the starting point is luxury, refinement and exclusivity, traits that have made Rolls-Royce the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pinnacle luxury brand for the last 109 years. But this is also a car defined by a timeless elegance, one that encapsulates a sense of power, style and drama - and just a hint of the noir

The majestic Wraith

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ROLLS-ROYCE WRAITH

The launch revived one of the most famous Rolls-Royce names first used in 1938 and one which perfectly expresses the character of the car. Wraith alludes to an almost imperceptible force, something rare, agile and potent, a spirit that will not be tethered to the earth. And I can assure you that performance delivers on the promise of its dramatic exterior styling, while of course remaining steeped in hallmark luxury, refinement and exclusivity. “One is so accustomed to seeing Rolls-Royces slipping silently through Mayfair or purring down to Ascot in a 30 mph traffic stream that one is apt to forget that these cars are just about the fastest non-sporting proposition of their time.” – The Earl of Cardigan ‘Britannia and Eve’ May 1930 When Rolls-Royce Motor Cars came to update its Phantom family of models, the words of company co-founder Sir Henry Royce informed everything that designers, engineers and craftspeople set out to achieve: Take the best that exists and make it better. This historic cri de coeur came to represent the significant improvements made to the marque’s pinnacle cars when launched in 2012, and continues to resonate strongly from the design studios to the assembly hall at the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood today. But that was only part of Royce’s famous quote. Take the best that exists and make it better: when it does not exist design it. These words informed the development of RollsRoyce Wraith: nothing like it existed in the RollsRoyce portfolio, nor the wider automotive world. The expression of when it does not exist, design it is steeped in Rolls-Royce heritage. It can be seen in the pioneering spirit and vehicles that defined the company in the early 20th century. Adventures that took place on land, sea and in the air; that once led Rolls-Royce to three consecutive world speed records. And of course there was the company’s founding forefather, the Honourable Charles Rolls, a man whose appetite for adventure drove him to success in motor racing, ballooning and aviation. He became the first man in history to cross the English Channel and return without stopping in a powered aircraft, an achievement that earned him the highest praise of King George V. Wraith echoes the spirit of these historic endeavours, pushing the boundaries of design and engineering, challenging perceptions and delivering the most dynamic, involving driving experience in the marque’s 109 year history. It didn’t exist, so RollsRoyce designed it. In its design, Rolls-Royce Wraith presents a

Wraith interior

TAKE THE BEST THAT EXISTS AND MAKE IT BETTER: WHEN IT DOES NOT EXIST DESIGN IT.

Sir. Henry Royce

masterpiece of elegant simplicity, exuding poise and the promise of dynamism. There is a sense that this car is ready to move with purpose on its driver’s command. Grace and beauty define the exterior presentation. The swept lines of the fastback, a style whose origins can be found in 1930s automotive design, most clearly signal its purposeful character, one which hints gently at the noir. Performance complements the drama of exterior styling. A shorter wheelbase, wider rear track, 624 bhp / 465kW derived from the twin turbo V12 and a 0-60 time of 4.4 seconds (0-62, 4.6 seconds) give expression to the car’s dynamic looks. But Wraith is no GT bruiser; it is every inch a refined and luxurious Rolls-Royce, a car where the sense of arrival and joy of the journey are as important as the canvas upon which it is drawn. Step inside Wraith’s coach doors and there is the feeling of going aboard a luxury yacht. It is a serene space for four occupants, who will be cocooned in a striking and contemporary interior furnished in beautiful materials, surrounded by tactile Phantomgrade leathers. Wraith is a model that draws parallels with the story of founding forefather Honourable Charles Rolls. For like the pioneering Rolls, this car pushes boundaries, taking Rolls-Royce further than it has gone before, challenging then delivering on the promise of pace and adventure. In a similar vein, this car also embraces the very finest things in life, the elegance and refinement enjoyed by a new generation of confident gentlemen and women. It will establish a reputation as the

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ROLLS-ROYCE WRAITH

ultimate gentleman’s gran turismo – the car Charles Rolls would have chosen to drive from Paris to Madrid were he alive today. Or from New York to Washington. Or from Shanghai to Beijing. Or from ........ In terms of sheer presence Wraith is clearly cut from the same luxurious cloth as today’s Phantom and Ghost models. Yet it displays cues that can be traced through past generations; effortless poise with accentuated rear overhang, elegant coach doors and, of course, the Spirit of Ecstasy adorning the grille. But this is a very different model to those of the last century – and stands alone among Rolls-Royce models today. A wider rear track, longer bonnet, raked glass house and deeply recessed pantheon grille, unite in presenting a truly focused car, a Rolls-Royce with its own unique character. The consummate gentleman’s gran turismo, Wraith stands as a contemporary homage to the era of effortless spacious coupés and grand tourers. A time where pioneers and adventurers became legends and their masterful machines objects of desire. Developing from the masculine frontal architecture, the linear formality of the waist line gently dips to the rear providing a sense of stability and effortless poise. This combines with the expressive gesture of the window graphic that sweeps downwards to the coach door swage line and gives expression to that essential

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Charles Rolls at Yonkers, New York in the winning TT Rolls-Royce

A TIME WHERE PIONEERS AND ADVENTURERS BECAME LEGENDS AND THEIR MASTERFUL MACHINES OBJECTS OF DESIRE.

Rolls-Royce trait of waftability. Frameless coach doors and the absence of a b-pillar further augment elegance and drama. Perfectly sized to complement long front wings, these are the epitome of effortless entry and egress, but also impart a sense of theatre and occasion that are so important to RollsRoyce customers. Doors open to reveal an exquisite interior and are closed from inside at the touch of a button. With all four windows down, the side opening adds length and a sense of waftable debonair to Wraith’s character. The elegant chrome side finisher frames this graphic beautifully and pulls the eye seamlessly down

ROLLS-ROYCE WRAITH

onto the rear wheel. For further open view touring enjoyment, a fixed glass roof can also be specified, complete with leather sun blind. In Wraith’s design, every detail has been considered; stainless steel door handles for example conceal barrel locks maintaining clean exterior panels. Three new wheels have also been designed to fit like a tailored shoe. Confident yet understated, these include a standard 20” seven spoke design along with optional 21” seven spoke part polished and 21” five-spoke part-polished, bi-colour choices. The wide rear track reinforces the promise of Wraith’s athletic prowess and powerful intent. Prominent rear shoulders with powerful wheel arches nestle the tapered glasshouse, so beautifully accentuated by the raked rear screen. These design elements present the perfect three dimensional canvas for a two-tone paint scheme that further enhances the unique, architectural design qualities of Wraith and hints at a nautical theme. Wraith’s mellow interior is the perfect space to present the debut of a very special new wood treatment , Canadel Panelling, a beautiful open grain wood. Tactile and with a light satin finish that retains the material’s natural texture, this crafted wood contributes to the cabin’s warm, contemporary ambiance, evoking the interior feel of a fine, superluxury yacht. In this wood configuration, the car stands as a testament to the skills of craftspeople in the wood shop at the home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, England. Every detail has been carefully considered;

ECHOING THE WOOD CRAFTSMANSHIP OF ITS PINNACLE STABLE MATE PHANTOM, CANADEL PANELLING IS BOOKMATCHED THROUGHOUT.

the veneer gently curved to hug the contours of the doors, delighting the eye as well as increasing space for occupants. In orientation the grain is angled at 55 degrees increasing dynamic flow through the interior. Echoing the wood craftsmanship of its pinnacle stable mate Phantom, Canadel Panelling is bookmatched throughout, creating a perfect mirror image through the centre console and featuring a contemporary chevron pattern that runs through the centre of the car, adding to the sense of cutting edge dynamic. The Rolls-Royce principle of effortlessness has informed designers’ thinking throughout. Perfectly appointed storage compartments for two iPads add convenience for rear seat passengers, whilst automatic

39 pre-war Rolls-Royce Wraith

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ROLLS-ROYCE WRAITH

Photoshoot from the ‘Inspired by Fashion’ series

door closing buttons located behind the a-pillar aid those in the front. Warm and serene, Wraith’s interior lighting bathes occupants in gentle light. Beyond this, additional ambient lighting comes on request – courtesy of reading lights above c-pillars and waterfall roof lights that deliver increased but unobtrusive illumination with a hint of Art Deco influence. Under the stewardship of founding forefather Sir Henry Royce, engineering credentials that had been established through events like the London to Edinburgh top gear trial in 1911, were further reinforced by this astonishing achievement. A series of Alpine Eagle cars were subsequently produced by the company. Wraith is the most powerful Rolls-Royce ever to have played host to the famous Spirit of Ecstasy figurine. It develops 624 bhp, from a 6.6 litre twinturbo V12, an engine that features direct petrol injection to maximise efficiency and reduce emissions. Should they wish to take advantage of the extraordinary power at their disposal, drivers

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may choose to be propelled from rest to 60 mph in just 4.4 seconds (0-62 mph, 4.6 seconds) and on to an electronically governed top speed of 155 mph. Multiple inputs from sensors in and around the car are constantly processed by a complex computer system. Individual load calculations are made by the dampers every 2.5 milliseconds. The benefits are outstanding comfort but also poise and assurance for the driver. In addition, composure on virtually any surface is assured thanks to a series of electronic driver assistance systems. As one would expect this includes anti-roll stabilisation, dynamic stability control including dynamic traction control, together with cornering brake control and dynamic brake control. For over a century a Rolls-Royce motor car has featured technologies designed to operate discreetly, thereby delivering a driving experience that is as effortless and enjoyable as possible. These assist the driver when called upon, but are prepared to return without fuss to the background when no longer required. In the 21st century, the drive to improve the famous Rolls-Royce trait of effortlessness takes on a new

ROLLS-ROYCE WRAITH

Prince Charles aboard the original Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost

persona. For while advances in mechanical and electrical technology deliver systems like head-up display, adaptive headlights and Wraith’s keyless opening boot, improvements in connectivity have taken the human-machine interface to a new level of sophistication. Wraith presents the most comprehensive example of effortless connectivity in the Rolls-Royce portfolio, a network where communication between car, environment and driver helps lower the pulse, ease the journey and delight its occupants. It could almost be likened to a contemporary on-board valet, a service fit for the Honourable Charles Rolls were he alive today. Service starts – as one might expect – with a onetouch call button. Located on the steering wheel, this allows navigation, telephone and other commands to be directed straight into Wraith’s on-board computer. The car’s response is then displayed on a 10.25” High Definition screen – rich in depth and colour – located in the dashboard. In 2013, the famous Spirit of Ecstasy figurine celebrates her 102nd birthday. More than any other symbol of luxury, the flying lady stands as a genuine icon, one whose beautiful image continues to adorn the grille, but is now also reproduced within Wraith’s cabin, gently rotating on-screen when the engine is started. It is also depicted within the crystal glass surface of the new rotary controller. This Spirit of Ecstasy Rotary Controller presents a touch pad (rather than a touch screen which might leave unsightly fingerprints at driver and passenger eye level), with the ability to ‘write’ characters by finger, as well as the ability to scroll through function menus by turning the chrome dial and pressing down to select its functions. A pointer function allows menu options to be selected more quickly. The inclusion of inputs by written text, for example where a name and number

must be added via the telephone menu is an additional improvement. Rolls-Royce employs experts for all aspects of high-end craftsmanship, from hand-painted coach lines to finely-tuned audio systems. Today Wraith presents a bespoke audio system that has been specially optimised by experts for stereo and multichannel sources, that – naturally – incorporates the finest hardware and latest advances in connectivity. Wraith’s on-board hard drive holds 20.5 GB of

Wraith ‘Inspired by Film’ series

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ROLLS-ROYCE WRAITH

storage, meaning it can host approximately 5,700 items of music downloaded via the USB port located within the centre console or glove compartment. iPod and iPad connection allows the importation of music, but also podcast and audio book downloads. Bluetooth audio streaming is an option too, from one of two phones that can be paired with equal functionality. A number of music searches can be made via the Spirit of Ecstasy Rotary Controller, including a “play more like this” function while online Gracenote® access for CDs with hit selection make navigating music collections an easy experience. But it is the sound quality itself that places Wraith at the pinnacle of incar audio. Finely tuned by Rolls-Royce experts, the system takes the best features and components to produce a sound that is rich in quality and depth. DIRAC settings, ‘studio’ and ‘theatre’ guarantee optimal aural pleasure, for a pure, original sound or ‘larger than live’ sensation within the car. The fully active 18-channel amplifier delivers surround sound through 18 speakers. This

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AT 60 MILES AN HOUR THE LOUDEST NOISE IN THIS ROLLS-ROYCE COMES FROM THE ELECTRIC CLOCK.

includes two central bass speakers located in the boot, seven tweeters, seven mid-range and two ‘exciter’ speakers in the headliner bringing the sound sensation to ear level. Maximum power output is 1,300W. But the setup is also very sensitive. A microphone measures the ambient exterior noise, with the digital processing unit using this information to adjust volume and tone settings automatically, ensuring the system is always perfectly set-up. DIRAC technology complements this, with frequency and phase correction for individual speakers, eliminating potential loud and dead spots caused by reflections from windows. Wraith incorporates a selection of technologies designed to improve illumination at night, protecting occupants and improving safety for other road users. Night vision technology, for example, now includes warning messages, as well as automatic brake preparation to support evasive action should an accident be imminent. Infrared cameras located in the upper corner of the grille are used to project a thermal

ROLLS-ROYCE WRAITH

image on-screen, an image which highlights warm objects, but which also identifies specific hazards on the road between 15m and 200 m ahead. Pedestrians and animals such as cattle and deer are shown, and where a hazard is identified, they are accompanied by a yellow, triangular warning symbol on-screen and via the head-up display function. Depending on the position and movement of the hazard relative to the car, the triangular image turns red. An audible warning alerts the driver to imminent danger, and brakes are preconditioned to reduce the stopping distance if the situation becomes critical. When driving in dark conditions a camera monitors the road ahead, automatically dipping the headlights when a light-source is present – once it passes, lights will effortlessly return to full-beam. Wraith also comes with a groundbreaking third brake light, located above the rear windscreen. A first in the motor industry, this feature incorporates two LEDs at either end of a light bar and prism technology to deliver an unbroken, clear red light across its length. This illuminates more quickly and presents a brighter warning for drivers of following vehicles and contributes to the uncluttered simplicity of Wraith’s exterior design. Effortless cruising in the city and on the open road is delivered by Wraith’s Active Cruise Control system. Radar-camera sensors monitor the car ahead, increasing or decreasing speed to maintain the perfect gap. New to Wraith, ACC now also reacts to static vehicles, assisting in urban driving conditions. Effortless motoring in both the city and on the open road is augmented by a sophisticated series of

THE QUALITY WILL REMAIN LONG AFTER THE PRICE IS FORGOTTEN.

cameras discreetly placed around the car. Rear, front and 360 degree top view cameras ensure total ease of manoeuvrability. When working in combination, the cameras are able to provide a ‘fish-eye’ view at blind junctions, whilst parking is made more effortless through obstacle recognition and reverse path prediction on-screen. Designed to redefine boundaries, Wraith hosts the most powerful Rolls‑Royce engine ever. Wraith is an imperceptible force, inspired by the words of Sir Henry Royce: “Take the best that exists and make it better.” Unashamedly built to deliver, it challenges perceptions and offers the most dynamic driving experience in the marque’s history.

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PATEK PHILIPPE

175 years Patek Philippe: A big story in three chapters

The history of portable mechanical timepieces began 500 years ago. Tracing the arc from there to Patek Philippeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 175-year anniversary, this means that the Genevan manufacture has co-written, co- designed, and co-measured a third of the history in this category of timekeeping instruments

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PATEK PHILIPPE

The iconic Patek Philippe Museum

While there are watch brands that advertise earlier incorporation dates, most of them discontinued their business activities in the course of time and were reestablished at a different location with new people, often many decades later. Conversely, Patek Philippe has pursued its core business without interruption since it was founded on May 1, 1839, and has always been a privately owned company. To this very day, Patek Philippe is domiciled in Geneva and headquartered on Rue du Rhône in the heart of the city, in a building it has occupied since briefly after the company was first registered. From the very start, the manufacture has been a player in the very top league of watchmaking artistry – in haute horlogerie with opulently decorated and highly complex creations as evidenced by the exhibits in the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva’s Plainpalais

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PATEK PHILIPPE: THE HISTORY BEHIND THE WATCHES.

district. It not only displays a globally unique collection of timepieces spanning 500 years but also showcases a fascinating selection of horological masterpieces crafted in the manufacture’s workshops during the last 175 years. Additionally, with over 8000 books and documents related to time measurement, the museum’s library ranks among the notable institutions of its kind in the world. This heritage positions Patek Philippe amid the oldest and most distinguished watchmaking companies in Switzerland and the world. Since the mid-19th century, numerous regents, elder statesmen, clerical dignitaries, industrial magnates, and proponents of the arts and culture have acknowledged this standing by choosing Patek Philippe timepieces for themselves or as surprise gestures of largesse to delight others. The manufacture’s watches were always coveted throughout the past 175 years, be it

PATEK PHILIPPE

and on May 1 – together with Czapek and Thomas Moreau, his wife’s uncle – incorporated Patek, Czapek & Cie – Fabricants à Genève. Its business motto: to build the world’s best and most beautiful timepieces. The company was successful from the very beginning, thanks to the manufacture’s striking creations and Patek’s good relationship network. But the discord between Patek and Czapek prompted Patek to look for a new partner, whom he met at the 1844 industrial exhibition in Paris. Jean Adrien Philippe. The gifted French watchmaker had invented a mechanism for winding a movement and setting the hands without requiring a separate key. In 1845, Patek terminated his partnership with Czapek and together with Jean Adrien Philippe and Vincent Gostkowski, a third partner, established a new company with the name Patek & Cie – Fabricants à Genève. The city granted him citizenship and welcomed him to its fold. After all, by attending world expositions in Paris and London as well as international fairs in Italy and Germany, Patek not only acquainted the world with his watch brand but was also an ambassador for Geneva. Regrettably, his anemia worsened, and in 1875,

Patek Philippe Founder Antoni Norbert Patek

as brand new timepieces or as offerings from the best international auction houses, where they have topped the record lists for years. An extensive account of the history of Patek Philippe is currently being compiled and will be published in book form in 2015. This dossier merely presents an excerpt of the timeline with key protagonists, events, inventions, and creations from the manufacture’s 175-year legacy. It is subdivided into three chapters that correspond to three decisive epochs: Inception, accession of the Stern family, present. The company founders and the ascent of Patek Philippe – 1839 to 1932 In 1833, a gentleman arrived in Geneva who would be inducted into the hall of fame of Swiss watchmaking: Antoni Norbert Patek. In 1831, after the failed uprising against the Russian occupational forces in Poland, Patek and thousands of other patriots and freedom fighters embarked on the “Great Emigration” toward the West; two years later, he arrived in Geneva, a city known throughout Europe for its liberal spirit. As a man of style with a penchant for quality and fine arts, he was fascinated with Geneva’s watchmaking heritage from the very outset, and also with the complementary artistry of the engravers, enamelers, and jewellers. As a refugee, he sought the company of emigrants and made the acquaintance of François Czapek, a watchmaker who had fled from Bohemia. In 1839, Patek married an urbane local woman

Patek Philippe 5016A. Unique Grand Complication in Stainless Steel with Blue Enamel Dial for Only Watch 2015 which sold for a recordbreaking $7.3 million

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PATEK PHILIPPE

Philippe, driven by his horological aspirations, continuously stressed the refinement of the underlying technologies and the ongoing development of so-called complications. Both ambitions would characterize and accompany the brand throughout its history. In the 21st century, the philosophy of considering a timepiece to be a coherent whole was reaffirmed with the Patek Philippe Seal. In 1932, as a result of the global economic crisis, the company became financially distressed and sought a buyer.

Patek Philippe and the beginning of the Stern era – 1932 to 1989

Patek felt compelled to designate a successor to prevent his lifework – Patek, Philippe & Cie – from being endangered. Messrs. Cingria, Rouge, and Köhn – three employees – injected capital into the company and became co-owners of the manufacture, which now had five partners. This would soon prove to be a forward-looking solution. On March 1, 1877, Antoine Norbert de Patek died at the age of 65. His son Léon was only 20 years old and did not want to join the company. He ceded all rights against an annual apanage of 10,000 francs and lived on this annuity as a rentier until he passed away in 1927. Jean Adrien Philippe was born on April 16, 1815, in the French town of La Bazoche-Gouet. His father was a watchmaker and taught him the prestigious métier. In 1845, Philippe joined the company and from the very beginning focused on the quality of its timepieces. An avid observer of the watch industry, Philippe left behind a collection of notes and technical memos as well as newspaper articles and essays he had written. Patek actively encouraged artisanal perfection, the lavish decoration of watches with engravings, enameling techniques, and precious stones that transform them into luxurious works of art, while

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The 1st generation: Charles and Jean Stern October 29, 1929, when stock prices on Wall Street plummeted to bottomless depths within only one day, triggered a protracted global economic crisis and went down in history as “Black Tuesday”. Even the acclaimed Ancienne Manufacture d’horlogerie Patek, Philippe & Cie SA was not able to protect itself against this vacuum and suffered financial duress because many of its customers defaulted on their payment obligations. To avoid being taken over by a competitor or wound down, the directors contacted brothers Charles and Jean Stern whose company, “Cadrans Stern Frères”, produced top-echelon dials and ranked among Patek Philippe’s preferred suppliers. The two businesses entertained an amicable relationship, and the Stern brothers were so solvent that they not only helped Patek Philippe out but in 1932 also took a stake in the company and wholly acquired it within a year. This provided the company with much-needed fresh capital and at the same time

THE LEGENDARY PATEK PHILIPPE HENRY GRAVES SUPERCOMPLICATION.

Patek Philippe’s Perpetual Calendar

PATEK PHILIPPE

introduced a new management philosophy which refocused the manufacture: it paired Patek Philippe’s unique watchmaking traditions and outstanding horological know-how with modern governance and marketing methods. In 1934, Charles Stern was appointed chairman of the board of directors. For the first time, a single family now owned Patek Philippe and focused all of its entrepreneurial decisions on the long-term prosperity of the company. While this statement may sound old-fashioned, the attitude behind it proved to be an inestimable benefit in the course of history. Before the year 1932 ended, Patek Philippe launched the Ref. 96, a watch model that would write history as the prototype of the meanwhile legendary Calatrava collection. Its case and dial design systematically reflects the Bauhaus doctrine that “form follows function”. Consequently, the case is round and the dial and hands are minimalistically functional so that nothing distracts from the display of time. Under the auspices of the Stern family, Patek Philippe evolved to become the leading maker of complicated timepieces in the wristwatch segment, reflecting their supreme skill in the domain of pocket watches. The 2nd generation: Henri Stern In 1934, Charles’ son Henri Stern (1911 to 2002) joined the company

Patek Philippe, Genève, Ref. 1518

A generational watch manufacturer, Philippe Stern with his son Thierry

at the age of 23 and nurtured it with dedication and passion until the end of his life. In New York, he established the Henri Stern Watch Agency in 1946. It was the sole US importer and served the largest and most affluent domestic market in the world at that time. He represented Patek Philippe so successfully that his father Charles appointed him chief executive officer and chairman after Jean Pfister retired in 1958 Henri Stern also began to collect rare and unique timepieces that were kept in the manufacture. They eventually constituted the foundation of the Patek Philippe Museum in Geneva which Philippe Stern built up in the course of 40 years. Today, it thrills all watch connoisseurs and admirers of those artisanal skills that add new dimensions to watchmaking. He knew that the classic mechanical watch stood a chance against the more precise and much cheaper quartz watches only if it was a genuine high-end product, or even better, a work of art and a collector’s item. It was the affirmation of the maxim of 1839 to build the world’s best watches. The legendary ultrathin Patek Philippe caliber 240 was presented in 1977. With its patented automatic winder and a 22K gold mini-rotor totally recessed in the plate, it was the ideal movement for extremely thin wristwatches

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PATEK PHILIPPE

such as the elegant Perpetual Calendar Ref. 3940 introduced in 1985, still one of Philippe Stern’s favourite models. In 1980, Philippe Stern launched a project that combined visionary marketing with the true entrepreneurial spirit, creative sensitivity, and an affinity with the arts: the horological fireworks on the occasion of the 150th anniversary in 1989. He recruited caliber engineers to transform Patek Philippe from a craftsmanship-driven to an industrial manufacture. The commitment to artisanship was preserved, but the watches were designed on the basis of detailed blueprints and the parts crafted with latestgeneration machines to assure the reproducibility of components and quality standards, and to safeguard the manufacture’s ability to service and repair all Patek Philippe watches henceforth. The engineers and watchmakers were encouraged to devote their attention to horological complications, those functions that go beyond the display of hours, minutes, and seconds: perpetual calendars, tourbillons, chronographs, time-zone displays, astronomical indications such as sidereal time, moon phases, and celestial charts, and of course the strikework models with minute repeaters, Grande and Petite Sonnerie, and Westminster chimes – deemed the nonpareil among complicated timepieces. Complications like these are extremely challenging, imposing a natural limit on how many of these watches can be completed. But technical virtuosity and rarity are the best prerequisites for desirability. Supreme quality in every respect is required to make a mechanical watch a treasured work of art:

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Queen Victoria’s pendant watch (Patek, Philippe & Cie, No. 4719)

YOU NEVER REALLY OWN A PATEK PHILIPPE. YOU MERELY LOOK AFTER IT FOR THE NEXT GENERATION.

Quality in the production and assembly of the parts, in the decoration of parts on all sides. Patek Philippe means: no compromise. To this day, Philippe Stern benefits from the fact that Patek Philippe is an independent, familyowned enterprise without any external stakeholders who could restrict its autonomy. His strategy involves an entrepreneurial risk, but as we know today, several other privately owned businesses that shunned the risk have meanwhile been liquidated or acquired by one of the large conglomerates. For Philippe Stern, however, the equation has worked out. To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the manufacture, Patek Philippe developed the most complicated portable timepiece in the world: the Calibre 89 with 33 complications. It is still unexcelled. Concurrently, the workshops developed the self-winding caliber R27 wristwatch movement with a minute repeater that tells the time with fantastic sonority: It boded well for 1989, the year in which Patek Philippe reconsolidated its future. The 150th anniversary of Patek Philippe was a total success, confirming the strategy of Philippe Stern who committed the manufacture to uncompromising quality with latest-generation engineering prowess, creative craftsmanship, and industrial high-tech production. The auction of the first Calibre 89 established a new record for timepieces under the gavel: it sold for 4.6 million Swiss francs. The limitededition anniversary wristwatches – the Jump Hour Ref. 3969 and the Calatrava Officer Ref. 3960 – were quickly sold out. Wristwatches with minute repeaters, deemed the queens of complications, deliver audible proof that Patek Philippe truly masters watchmaking artistry.

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THE ARTIST JEWELLER NEW YORK LONDON GENEVA FABERGE.COM

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DB11

Aston Martin unveils the DB11:

the latest in an illustrious bloodline A new chapter in Aston Martin’s history began at the 86th International Geneva Motor Show with the unveiling of the DB11. The first product launched under the company’s ‘Second Century’ plan, DB11 is the bold new figurehead of the illustrious ‘DB’ bloodline and an authentic, dynamic sporting GT in the finest Aston Martin tradition

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DB11

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DB11

Daniel Craig as James Bond in Skyfall

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The DB11 showcases a fresh and distinctive design language, pioneering aerodynamics and is powered by a potent new in-house designed 5.2-litre twinturbocharged V12 engine. Built upon a new lighter, stronger, and more space efficient bonded aluminium structure, DB11 is the most powerful, most efficient and most dynamically gifted DB model in Aston Martin’s history. As such, it is the most significant new Aston Martin since the introduction of the DB9 in 2003. Aston Martin Chief Executive Officer, Dr Andy Palmer said: “We aspire to make the most beautiful cars in the world. DB11 is the absolute embodiment of what an Aston Martin should be and we have worked tirelessly to ensure that DB11 combines both exceptional design with the latest technology throughout. A brand new bonded aluminium platform, clever aerodynamics, a new characterful twin-turbo V12 and class-leading infotainment systems are just a few aspects which make this the sports car that will proudly spearhead Aston Martin’s second century plan.” Heralding a new design era for Aston Martin, DB11 is the latest landmark in a remarkable aesthetic journey; one that gave us icons such as the DB2/4, DB5 and, most recently, the DB10 developed specifically for James Bond. DB11 re-imagines the relationship between form and function with a series of fresh design signatures. Foremost amongst these are the front-hinging clamshell bonnet, distinctive LED headlights and accentuated lines of the iconic Aston Martin grille. The profile is equally dramatic, thanks to the roof strakes that flow uninterrupted from A-pillar to C-pillar. The clean lines continue at the rear, with a sloping decklid that smoothly blends into boldly sculpted tail-lights to create a new and unmistakable graphic. Innovative aerodynamics play their part in this aesthetic revolution with clever management of airflow both over and through the bodywork aiding stability while preserving the DB11’s uncluttered surfaces. Front-end lift is reduced by the gill-like Curlicue which releases high-pressure air from inside the wheel arch via a concealed vent within the redesigned sidestrake. Meanwhile, rear-end lift is reduced by the Aston Martin AeroBladeTM; a virtual spoiler fed by discreet air intakes located at the base of each C-pillar. Air is ducted through the bodywork, before venting as a jet of air from the aperture in the rear decklid. Like every Aston Martin, the heart of the DB11 is found beneath the bonnet, though unlike any Aston Martin before it, the DB11’s heart is a 5.2-litre twinturbocharged V12. Designed in-house this new engine develops 608PS1 (600BHP1) and 700Nm1 of torque,

DB11

making DB11 the most powerful production DB model ever. Naturally, it’s the most dynamic and most accelerative too, with a top speed of 200mph1 and a 0-62mph time of just 3.9sec1. Thanks to intelligent bank activation and stop-start technology that potency is matched by greatly improved efficiency. To exploit the advantages of its new body structure and harness the immense performance of the new twin-turbo V12 engine, the DB11’s chassis, suspension, steering and electronics have been reimagined and key new technologies embraced. Multiple driver-selectable dynamic modes - GT, Sport and Sport Plus - progressively intensify the response of the engine, 8-speed automatic ZF transmission together with the new electric power steering and Torque Vectoring by braking while increasing the firmness of the adaptive damping for a greater sense of agility. The result is a driving experience that combines exemplary ride comfort and true sports car agility, for an extraordinary breadth of dynamic capability. As a true 21st century Aston Martin the DB11 combines the very latest technology developed in conjunction with technical partner, Daimler AG, with the finest quality and hand craftsmanship. Using a fullcolour 12” TFT LCD display, the all-new instrument cluster presents primary vehicle information with absolute clarity, while a second, centrally-mounted 8” TFT screen is dedicated to infotainment. Controlled via an intuitive rotary control, with an optional touchpad offering character recognition, multi-touch and gesture support, the new satellite navigation and audio system have never been more effective, sounded

better or been easier to operate. A newly implemented auto-park assist feature and 360-degree birds-eye view camera helps provide safe maneuvering at slow speeds and is also operated via the car’s infotainment system.

Technology and Craftsmanship Highlights: A FEARLESS DESIGN PHILOSOPHY HAS LED TO THE DB11’S ICONIC LOOKS.

As the world’s finest sporting Grand Tourer, DB11 immerses you in your own private world. One made from sumptuous natural materials, shining with the highest levels of craftsmanship and packed with state-of-the-art technology developed in-conjunction with technical partner, Daimler AG, for the ultimate combination of quality, comfort and convenience. Using a full-colour 12” TFT LCD display, the allnew instrument cluster presents primary vehicle information with absolute clarity using unique Aston Martin instrument graphics. A second, centrallymounted 8” TFT screen is dedicated to infotainment, including an all-new satellite navigation system. Controlled via an intuitive rotary control, with an optional touchpad offering character recognition, multi-touch and gesture support, the new satellite navigation and audio system (Aston Martin Premium Audio or Bang & Olufsen BeoSound system upgrades available) have never been easier to operate.

Design Highlights:

The work of Aston Martin’s award-winning inhouse design team - led by Chief Creative Officer Marek Reichman - DB11 pioneers a bold new design language. One that’s unmistakably Aston Martin, yet fresh from nose to tail. Respectful of the DB

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DB11

Engineering Highlights:

AMVOX2 Grand Chronograph Limited Edition inspired by the Aston Martin Racing driver Adrián Fernández

line’s immaculate design legacy, but energised by the challenge of creating a successor to spearhead Aston Martin’s ‘Second Century’ plan, Reichman and his team have produced an exceptional and exciting shape that incorporates countless new details and truly ground breaking aerodynamics. Two of the most distinctive areas of the DB11’s design are its striking new grille and clamshell bonnet. Combining familiar features with radical new ideas it gives DB11 a fresh yet unmistakable identity. In terms of Aston Martin design the front grille is a timeless and truly iconic signature. For DB11 it has been developed; amplified into a stronger and more significant feature. Exerting greater influence on the overall design, it is the source from which all the body’s form and surface lines emanate. As such, it presents a powerful symbol of DB11’s confidence and capabilities. The clamshell bonnet is a lesson in how complete co-operation between design and engineering teams creates smart solutions to major challenges. From an aesthetic point of view the pressed aluminium bonnet satisfied the design team’s desire for a sculptural form with a minimum of shut lines interrupting the surfaces. From an engineering perspective, the clamshell also provides a smart solution to stringent pedestrian safety regulations, thanks to the large one-piece panel’s ability to absorb and dissipate energy so effectively it avoids the need for heavy, complex active pyrotechnic safety systems. This in turn allows the bonnet line to remain as tight to the underlying hard points as possible, thereby preserving the taut lines the design team strive to achieve.

Lighter, stronger, more dynamic and space-efficient. These are the ambitious targets that were set when creating DB11. As leaders in bonded aluminium construction we achieved every single one. With its aluminium structure, front-mounted V12 engine and rear-wheel drive, DB11 takes the established Aston Martin blueprint and evolves it into the ultimate modern sporting Grand Tourer. Though many of these improvements and innovations are hidden from view, you can feel them at work in every facet of the car. Utilising a mix of new bonded aluminium pressings, extrusions and castings, DB11’s body structure sets new standards for mass vs stiffness. The body panels are made from a mix of pressed aluminium for the clamshell bonnet, roof and doors, composite material for the rear haunches, front wings and rear decklid assembly and injection moulded plastic for the front and rear bumpers, sills, front splitter and rear diffuser. The roof strakes are formed from extruded and pressed aluminium. Increasing the wheelbase by 65mm has enabled us to mount the V12 engine further back in the chassis to achieve near-perfect weight distribution and agile handling. Compared with DB9, front and rear track widths have increased by 75mm and 43mm respectively, while the overall width has increased by just 28mm. The front overhang has been reduced by 16mm and the rear overhang increased by 11mm, with an overall gain in length of 50mm

Powertrain Highlights:

Designed in-house by Aston Martin’s powertrain team - headed by Chief Powertrain Engineer Brian Fitzsimons - this new 5.2-litre twin-turbo V12 is the DB11‘s beating heart. Developing 608PS1 and 700NM1 of torque, the twin-turbocharged engine - a first for a

Sean Connery in Goldfinger and the first outing of the DB5

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DB11

series production Aston Martin - is the most powerful ever fitted to a ‘DB’ road car. A top speed of 200mph1 and the capability to accelerate from 0-62mph in 3.9sec1 confirm its performance credentials. Thanks to state-of-the-art variable valve timing, intelligent bank activation and stop-start technology it is also the most fuel efficient. By imperceptibly shutting down one bank of cylinders during periods of low demand - such as when cruising, lift-off or under light acceleration - significantly less fuel is consumed. To ensure catalyst temperatures remain within their operating range during periods of deactivation, when the dormant catalyst reaches its minimum temperature threshold the management system switches activation to that cylinder bank. This smart and seamless solution delivers much improved efficiency and lower emissions without compromising performance or driving enjoyment when the full power and torque of this exceptional engine can be utilised.

Driving Dynamics Highlights:

To exploit the advantages of its new body structure and harness the immense performance of the new twinturbocharged V12 engine, DB11’s chassis, suspension, steering and electronics have been completely reworked and new technologies embraced. The result is a driving experience of extraordinary breadth and capability. The most potent DB ever demands

THE STORY OF ASTON MARTIN’S RISE FROM A TWOMAN OPERATION WORKING FROM A SMALL LONDON WORKSHOP TO A GLOBALLY RESPECTED MARQUE HAS BEEN LONG, COLOURFUL AND OFTEN DRAMATIC.

the most sophisticated and capable chassis. To this end the DB11 suspension system combines with the latest generation Bilstein adaptive damping, Active Torque Vectoring via brakes and multiple driverselectable dynamic modes giving DB11 chameleonlike adaptability to the road and the ability to rampup its responsiveness and sporting characteristics on-demand. The key to this breadth of character are the three dynamic driving modes and the interaction between those areas of the chassis that contribute to classleading steering, ride, and handling. To achieve this, the chassis takes information from multiple sources to build a three-dimensional picture of the forces acting upon it. These sources include sensors monitoring vehicle speed, steering angle and steering rate, lateral and longitudinal acceleration and vertical movement. Painstaking tuning and calibration of the latest generation Bilstein adaptive damping, electric power steering and Active Torque Vectoring via brakes ensure DB11 delivers the appropriate feel and response for any given situation or style of driving.

Aerodynamics Highlights:

Led by Darren Coe, Aston Martin’s Aerodynamics Manager, the team explored ideas that not only mastered the airflow over and around its bodywork, but pioneered innovative ways of flowing air through its bodywork. The inspired results are two powerful,

The seminal One-77, winner of the design award at Concorso d’Eleganza in 2009

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DB11

yet beautifully simple solutions to the perennial problem of reducing lift, increasing stability and minimising drag. We call them Curlicue and the Aston Martin AeroBladeTM. Derived directly from our race cars and recently integrated into the Aston Martin Vulcan track-only supercar, Curlicue is a gill-like vent incorporated into each front wheel arch lining to reduce unwanted front-end aerodynamic lift. Neatly concealed beneath the clamshell bonnet, the Curlicue works by venting high-pressure air from the top of each front wheel arches though recessed apertures behind the iconic Aston Martin side strakes. Further high pressure air is extracted from the back of each wheel arch through discreet stirrup vents positioned aft of the front wheels.

Sonic Identity Highlights:

At its most basic level, sonic identity can be described as ‘bings and bongs’, but that undersells a powerful emerging automotive industry science. Perhaps the most visceral and celebrated element of DB11’s sonic identity is its exhaust note - a magnificently rich and potent soundtrack that can switch from mellow to malevolent with a squeeze of the throttle - yet everything you hear in the car, no matter how apparently insignificant, has given just as much thought. From the full spectrum of audible warning messages, including seatbelt alerts and low fuel reminders, to the particular click of the switchgear and the soft creak of the leather upholstery, each has been paid close attention so they have harmony and a proportionate context to one another. Nothing has been left to chance. Using the fasten seatbelt tone as an example, Aston Martin took the conscious decision to make the warning more melodic, to be suggestive rather than demanding. If the driver ignores it, there’s a second and eventually a third step transition in intensity, but it doesn’t reach this stage until the driver has clearly driven off and not put on their belt. It credits the customer with a level of intelligence and maturity. The fundamentals of sonic identity are matching the sounds the car makes to the visual identity of the brand. Sounds that express and encapsulate craftsmanship, solidity, refinement, engineering and design. It’s a holistic view of perceived quality. Sensory perceived quality is about understanding how every single interaction in the vehicle stimulates certain senses. If they’re all in harmony it elevates the perception of quality. Anything that’s not in harmony is sub-additive. We want everything from the simplest click of a button to be super-additive, so it builds on the experience.

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The DB11, a legend in the making

With wider door apertures, significantly increased occupant space - especially head and legroom in the rear - fully integrated rear ISOFIX mounting points for a pair of child seats plus a luggage compartment large enough to accommodate two large holdalls plus carry-on baggage, the DB11 is a genuine Grand Tourer. Thanks to an inspiring palette of colours and a vast array of detailing options, its interior can be perfectly in-tune with your unique personal style. From calming, carefully co-ordinated tones to sharp contrasts in hue and texture, your choices are virtually limitless. Nexus quilting and Celestial perforation add layers of beautiful complexity and intrigue, while ornate leatherwork, such as intricate brogue detailing, creates areas of visual and tactile delight.

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MUSICAL INVESTMENTS

By Marcia Adair

STRANGE MAGIC ON QUANTIFYING THE SOUND OF A STRADIVARIUS

I n December 1881, for its horror stories, printed what must surely be the world’s first instance of Stradivarius fan fiction. Over nine thousand breathless words, Hugh Conway, Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, a British monthly known an accounting clerk by day, unravels The Secret of the Stradivarius And now a strange thing occurred to me. After holding that fiddle a few minutes, I felt a wish — an impulse — growing stronger and stronger each moment, till it became almost irresistible, to play upon it. It was not a musician’s natural itching to try a fine old violin, as I am no musician… not only did I feel a positive yearning to pass the bow across it, but somehow I was filled with the conviction, odd as it was that all at once I was possessed of the power of bringing rare music forth. Luigi had been watching me attentively. Seeing me turn toward him, he sprang from his seat and, before I could speak, snatched the fiddle from my hands. “Ah,” said Luigi, as he placed the fiddle out of sight under the table, “so you felt it also, my friend?”

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INTERMINGLING OF FINANCIAL JUDGMENT WITH EMOTION.”

“Felt what?” “The…power, the sorcery of it.... I have only played upon it twice and the second time I drew my knife across the strings that I might never again be tempted to play upon it without due consideration. One night when I feel strong enough…I will play the fiddle to you. And then, if its music moves you as it moved me, I dreamt no dream. If not, I will say it was a dream, and I may at last be able to use this masterpiece of Stradivarius.” When we pick up the action forty column inches later, Luigi has deigned to play the fiddle one more time, and a Frenchman turns up, is spurned by a woman, commits suicide, and collapses upon the violin, destroying it. All the while, the music plays on.

MUSICAL INVESTMENTS

Though modern commentators rely less heavily on opium-assisted erotic hallucinations to advance their argument, the thrust remains the same: Strads are magic. Except when they’re not. Whenever a record-breaking sale of a Strad, Guarneri or other fine instrument makes the news, backlash stories pop up along the lines of this one from the New York Times: An instrument was left with a leading house in New York who were in the habit of selling only the finest violins. A professional musician, well known for his thorough knowledge of all the old makers saw this instrument, was attracted by its appearance and, on trying it, was amazed at its purity of tone, sweetness, sensibility and volume. It was a Guarnerius. There could be no mistake about it. An offer of $250 was made, an eighth of its value. The dealer asked the owner for his approval, to which the owner replied, “I have no objection to

selling it, only the purchaser should be informed that it is not old, but brand new, for I made it. The musician came back, tried the instrument again and was even more fully delighted with its perfectness of tone. When he was told it was a new American violin, he at once withdrew his first bid and offered $50. Even in 1878, the year the story above was printed, it was well known that confirmation bias is a slippery beast. In 2013, Claudia Fritz, a French acoustics professor, did her best to tame it — or at least give some scientific rigor to something professional musicians

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MUSICAL INVESTMENTS

have long intuitively known. Her double-blind study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that twenty-one blindfolded international soloists could not identify the Strad at a rate better than chance. Even more interesting, when asked to choose their favorite instrument from a field ranging in age from three to three hundred twentyeight years, the majority chose a modern violin. Similar results have been reported when studying wine tasting. If there is no empirical difvference in the sound, even for players, why then did everyone go crazy when the Schidlof family announced they were planning to sell their 1719 ‘Macdonald’ Stradivari viola? That it was a viola is mildly interesting — there are only ten Stradivari violas remaining. But what made the international news was the insane reserve price of forty-five million dollars. The previous auction record, the 1741 ‘Vieuxtemps’ Guarnieri del Gesu violin, sold in 2012 for a price in excess of sixteen million dollars. The most expensive Stradivarius, the 1712 ‘Lady Blunt,’ sold for $15.9 million at an auction to raise money for tsunami relief in Japan. Yet the higher price shouldn’t come as a surprise. The viola is, as the Daily Mail so helpfully noted in its bulleted coverage, “slightly larger than a violin.” It makes sense, then, that violas would cost more — or it would if the instrument market worked on a dollars-per-pound commodity system like wheat or goji berries. For better or worse, the fine instrument market is differentiated, which means that the items in the sale pool are not interchangeable. Put another way, one fiddle is not the same as another. Each instrument is the same weight, broadly the same shape, and made of the same six hundred dollars worth of raw materials. The differentiation comes into play when you account for each makers’ philosophy and skill (both in construction and marketing), the

players’ existing biases and technical ability, the bow quality, and listeners’ preconceptions, aural training and susceptibility to non-aural cues. That these variables can’t be stirred apart makes valuation complicated. The market doesn’t care if one item is better than another. It cares if you think it is. As such, the price of a fine instrument is based on its provenance and condition, the scarcity of similar work in the same maker class, the results of previous sales, the status that owning the instrument would bring to the new owner, and how badly the present owner wants to sell. Parents who routinely ruin their childrens’ lives by insisting that the lumberjack shirts at Target are exactly the same as those at Abercrombie & Fitch know well that brand-name products command a premium because humans don’t make rational decisions. The instrument market operates on the same principle with an extra large helping of scarcity thrown in to keep things fun.

1,116

The number of string instruments Stradivari crafted during his lifetime (1644–1737)

540 50 Antonio Stradivari: the most significant and greatest artisan in this field

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violins

cellos [and] violas survive today

MUSICAL INVESTMENTS

The first stringed stars were German Stainers, and then, in the early nineteenth century, Italian makers became ascendant. In 1878, a Strad selling for $4,200 ($100,000 present-day) was reported in the New York Times as absurd. By the 1890s, prices had moved to $10,000 and twenty years later they were nearer $20,000 ($495,000). By way of comparison, in 1910, a Porterhouse steak could be had for about fifteen cents per pound. A Model T cost eight hundred twenty-five dollars. The exponential growth in prices didn’t really start until around the mid-1980s. The ‘Lady Blunt’ Strad, for example, sold in 1976 for $200,000 and in 2011 for $15.9 million. Even after adjusting for 1970s dollars, it’s still a gain of $15 million or 1,600 percent. In recent years, the fine-instrument market has exploded. A 2013 study by Brandeis University economists Kathryn Graddy and Philip Margolis found that from 2007–12, rare violins significantly out-performed the S&P 500. Even before that, instrument prices were rising well above inflation. Returns of eight to twelve percent per year are not considered exceptional. Ric Heinl, a fourth-generation fine instrument dealer based in Toronto, tells Listen that he sold his

TIS GOD GIVES SKILL, BUT NOT WITHOUT MEN’S HAND: HE COULD NOT MAKE ANTONIO STRADIVARIUS’S VIOLINS WITHOUT ANTONIO.

first Scarampella in 1983 for twelve thousand dollars. “I was kind of curious,” he says, “so I looked through my notes and saw that in 1987 I sold one for twenty thousand and in 1992 fifty thousand was starting to happen. Today, you should be thinking one hundred fifty thousand.” David Aaron Carpenter, the violist in the pale blue Duke of Windsor jacket on the ‘Macdonald’ viola publicity video, also works as an instrument dealer. “It isn’t a secret that the fine musical instrument market has seen an uptick in prices,” he says. “In the past decade, tangible assets have appreciated because of global fiscal dynamics — inflationary risk, overvalued equities, et cetera — and have made fine musical instruments a stable asset class in and of itself.” Carpenter and his siblings made a bid for the ‘Macdonald’ Strad in 2013 for $22 million, which the Schidlof family declined. Simon Morris, co-owner of J&A Beare in London and the dealer responsible for selling the ‘Vieuxtemps’ Gaurneri, explains further: “An instrument can be bought in any currency and sold in any currency,” he says, “so it’s a good hedge against the market shifts with other investments or government bonds where

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MUSICAL INVESTMENTS

you’re stuck in one currency.” People who buy instruments often consider art as well. Rates of return aside, having a stack of stocks on the sideboard doesn’t have quite the same impact on guests as a wall full of Picasso or Richter. Or at least it didn’t. The art market is vulnerable to the whims of fashion, and these days, the art game is all bedazzled skulls and outsized balloon animals. But fine instruments have been in fashion since they were first commissioned. “Legitimate art has never gone down in price,” says Heinl, “even in times of trouble.” The three Ds — death, divorce and desperation — affect availability of pieces, but “even if families get in trouble and dump their instrument for pennies on the dollar, it doesn’t mean the market has gone down.” All this talk of hedging and asset classes reinforces the notion that the world’s supply of fine instruments is controlled by a cabal of rich schoolboys playing got it–got it–need it. The Atlantic Monthly, in an 1879 piece deliciously disdainful of collectors in general, reserves a special excoriation for those that choose to buy up instruments “and let them lie in their cases in shameful inanition. The violin collector rises to the sublime height of distinct immorality and is not a fit subject of anything short of unsparing execration.” Morris sighs with exasperation when I put this theory to him. A cellist for ten years with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields before becoming a dealer, he is sympathetic to the functional essence of an instrument.

$3.6M The 1697 ‘Molitor’ Stradivarius, once rumored to have belonged to Napoleon (it did belong to a general in his army, Count Gabriel Jean Joseph Molitor), sold in 2010 at Tarisio Auctions to violinist Anne Akiko Meyers for $3,600,000, a then world record. 52

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MUSIC IS A HIGHER REVELATION THAN ALL WISDOM AND PHILOSOPHY.

As it turns out, so are his clients. “If there’s one thing I could disavow people of, it’s the notion that investors buy instruments just to keep them in the cupboard.” Heinl has had much the same experience in Toronto. “[Instrument buying] generally starts with a philanthropic notion. In my forty-plus years, we’ve managed to convince several owners to keep their instruments in circulation. The days of hiding instruments away are gone, really.” Though much more open than in previous years, the fine-instrument market still has an old-world appreciation for merits of discretion. As such, it’s difficult to determine what type of person an average investor might be, aside from rich and male. Morris declines to fill in the sketch, but does say that, “I can’t think of a single buyer we’ve had that doesn’t have a friend of the family that plays an instrument or wants to make an investment and have a connection with a musician. There can be a wonderful mutually beneficial relationship between a sponsor and a musician.” Lending a fine instrument to a precocious young player is standard practice, though one that some teachers worry is like teaching someone to drive in a Bugatti. The owner gets the satisfaction of seeing his instrument be the star — smaller concert series often advertise the presence of the instrument as much as the player it’s attached to — and the player gets to take advantage of the imprimatur playing that such an instrument bestows. Since the loans are on short fixed

MUSICAL INVESTMENTS

The number of missing Stradivarius violins listed by The Art Loss Register, including two stolen in New York. Joshua Bell’s violin —‘The Gibson’ — has a rich provenance: It was stolen twice in its history. terms or a one-year rolling contract, the instrument can always be reassigned if the anticipated career doesn’t quite materialize. American violinist Caroline Goulding got her first brand-name instrument at fourteen. Now twenty three and working as a soloist with the world’s major orchestras, Goulding plays a Strad loaned to her by the London banker Jonathan Moulds, the former president of the Europe, Middle East, Africa division of Bank of America Merrill Lynch and a violin scholarship-holder at Cambridge. Moulds has been collecting instruments since the mid-nineties and has loaned some of his other violins to Nicola Benedetti, Giovanni Guzzo and Chad Hoopes. How much of a factor was playing on a top instrument from a young age in helping Goulding advance to the top ranks? It’s one in a series of questions with no good answer she gamely considers in the twenty minutes before her next rehearsal. “Perhaps it was at one point, but I choose not to pay attention to it too much,” she says. “I do put in my bio that I play the 1720 ‘General Kyd’ Stradivarius because it is a work of art, and to ignore that wouldn’t be fair. But it’s not as though I try to scream it out loud. There are so many people who aren’t playing these instruments and they are fantastic musicians.” Violinist Jascha Heifetz famously insisted that the beautiful sound he made had nothing whatsoever to do with his fiddle and students the world over know their teachers sound just as good when demonstrating on student instruments as they do on their own. Goulding continues, “These instruments do help the player understand themselves and the subtleties of playing an instrument, but to say that you have to have one to have a solo career is definitely false.” Lara St. John, a Canadian violinist , was also a precocious young player and now at forty-three has settled into a long-term relationship with her loan

INVESTING IN HISTORY, CULTURE AND RARITY.

fiddle. “Having been lucky enough to play on the 1779 ‘Salabue’ Guadagnini for some fifteen years now, I’d say the advantages to having such an instrument go beyond the magnificent sound. It’s kind of like carrying around a priceless two-hundred-thirty-yearold piece of art, which talks and responds to you, and you get to show it off and make it heard around the world. Pretty neat line of work, if you ask me.” As a paid-up member of the fine-instrument club, would she mortgage everything to acquire an equivalent should her instrument no longer be available? “I’m really lucky to have the violin I do, but if I didn’t have it, I’d certainly buy a modern one. I don’t really get the whole ‘buy me an expensive violin’ thing that folks do.” While new instruments of exceptional quality are produced every year, the rate of manufacture can’t keep up with the higher number of players competing for top instruments. “A big driver in the market is musicians who feel pressure to own something,” says Morris. “If you get to the New York Philharmonic, you can’t play on a five-thousand-dollar violin. It’s not going to work, so you will simply hammer on doors until somebody buys you one or will lend you the money to buy one. With art, it’s all about want, [but] violins are about need.” Want is binary and therefore easy to quantify. Need is a little more slippery. For the sake of argument, let’s agree that it is worth soloists splashing out for brandname instruments because their career depends on their sound. What happens, though, when we look at orchestral string players? They far outnumber soloists — in even the sparest Mozart, it’s ten-to-one — but their job is to blend in. Even if it seems reasonable that the concertmaster would have a top instrument, how does the argument change in the seconds, cellos or — gasp — violas? Though their role in determining if a chord

LUXMARQUES | ISSUE ONE 2016

MUSICAL INVESTMENTS

is major or minor is undeniably important, violas are, by a fair margin, the least sensitive of the string instruments to the lure of the Strad et cetera. Save your jokes. In this century, the viola has shed much of its third-fiddle stigma. The problem is that there are heaps of extremely fine players demanding ever-finer old instruments and there just aren’t very many old instruments available. Only one and a half percent of the remaining Stradivarii are violas and most of those aren’t in playable shape. Violists, particularly younger ones, are more open to trying instruments from modern makers than are their violin and cello colleagues out of sheer necessity. The Philharmonia, Esa-Pekka Salonen’s band, is easily London’s best orchestra and has, largely because of its punishing travel schedule and freelance structure, an average player age of thirty-three. Nicholas Bootiman has been a violist in the orchestra

THE WOOD’S POROUS QUALITY ALLOWS STRADIVARI INSTRUMENTS TO RESONATE WITH A RICH, POWERFUL TONE.

The ‘Lady Blunt’ violin is named after its first known owner, Lady Anne Blunt, daughter of Ada Lovelace, granddaughter of Lord Byron. The violin fetched a then-record £84,000 when it was auctioned at Sotheby’s in 1971. Back on the auction block in 2011 to raise money for disaster relief in Japan, the violin was sold for £9.8m ($15.9m) a modest . . .

11,500% return on investment.

LUXMARQUES | ISSUE ONE 2016

for six years. “I think they are just not even bothering [with old instruments],” he said, when asked what sort of instruments his colleagues buy. “People just don’t want to accept that something which has always been seen as incredible actually isn’t as incredible as they thought. It’s kind of frustrating. It’s not that these high-priced instruments aren’t great. They clearly are. It’s just that the price tag attached to them is not in any way a good indication of how good an instrument it is.” It’s a different story in Chicago, where America’s long history of European cultural hegemony, generous salaries and stable jobs has created what some view as the optimum institutional culture. The CSO owns several fine instruments outright and also co-signs bank loans for players. “Look, for [conductor Riccardo] Muti’s concerts you always want to play fine instruments,” says longtime assistant principal

MUSICAL INVESTMENTS

violist Li-Kuo Chang. “In 1988, when I entered the orchestra, there was invisible pressure in a way, you know? You feel you should have a good instrument. I remember I had a Fontanini in the mid-nineties. The bottom-line instrument here was a Gagliano. We have several Guadagnini... a few of the front players had Strads from the orchestra. Our concerts are often taped and later on released as a recording and so people are proud of using their instruments.” If Chang seems more idealistic than Bootiman, he can afford to be. The average salary for a CSO player in 2013 was $173,000, more than twice what his London colleagues can reasonably expect to make. When the cost of living is factored in, the gap yawns even wider. Some of Bootiman’s older colleagues do own fine French or Italian instruments, but they rarely play them in concerts. Most London orchestras are freelance and players must make their own pension and supplementary health care arrangements. In this scenario, the instruments are the world’s most elegantly carved nest egg. Chang estimates the value of all the instruments in his twelve-person section at a little more than five million dollars. In London, Bootiman’s best

A FAMOUS AND CURIOUS FEATURE OF STRADIVARIUS INSTRUMENTS IS THAT THEIR TONE SEEMS TO INCREASE WITH DISTANCE.

guess is somewhere around $400,000. Pro-rated to the Chicago section size, the London figure is approximately one tenth of their American colleagues. Put another way, an average-salaried Chicago violist could buy the whole of the Philharmonia viola section with less than two-and-a-half year’s worth of salary. The reverse would take sixty years. In both orchestras, the first three chairs account for about sixty percent of the total section value. I ask Chang if any of his colleagues play modern instruments. “One third are old, like mine. One third are middlerange like Carcassi or Gagliano and the rest late-nineteenth or early-twentieth century,” he says. “I think very few people actually play something after 1940. I mean, everyone has several instruments, but for the main instrument I cannot think of any modern ones.” In London, Bootiman estimates forty percent modern, twenty percent old and the rest “in the middle somewhere.” And by modern, Bootiman means modern. His viola was bought new in 1998. As the market matures and prices go up, instruments are becoming attractive to investors outside of Europe and North America. Morris reports that his company does far more business in Australasia and the Far East

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MUSICAL INVESTMENTS

To the left, the Stradivarius and the Guarneri is on the right

than they did twenty-five years ago, particularly in Korea. “China hasn’t really happened yet, but it’s well on its way to becoming a major market force.” At the moment, seventy percent of the world’s new violins are made in China. Most of these are intended for the low and middle sections of the market, and so don’t impact prices at the top end. What will have an effect is the number of Chinese players who have parents wealthy and motivated enough to buy expensive instruments. Though there are new instruments of very fine quality produced every year, there are not enough to keep making the fine instrument category essentially a closed market. When supply is fixed, demand drives the prices even higher. No tiger mother worth her stripes will have her child switch to the tuba just because it’s cheaper. Contrary to all the punchlines, it is the viola that will save the day. Because of its acoustic peculiarities, building a top viola has always required more research and innovation than a violin or cello. Longer bodies, carbon fiber backs to save weight, cutaways for easier shifting, double bouts, melted Dali-esque shapes — just about anything you can think of has been tried. Violists have let go of the Strad myth long ago and have come out the other side with the glass half full. “So many experiments have been done in the last twenty or thirty years with shapes,” says Bootiman. “The research that’s been done into what kind of dimensions create the best sonority means that the best modern violas...are better than pretty well any of the old ones I’ve come across.” Change is even more widespread in the bow market, where finding a quality pernambuco bow is becoming increasingly problematic. Even players who only own one instrument will have two or three bows, taxing the available supply even more heavily. Again, necessity forces change. Carbon fiber bows, which are often

LUXMARQUES | ISSUE ONE 2016

MUSIC IS THE ELECTRICAL SOIL IN WHICH THE SPIRIT LIVES, THINKS AND INVENTS.

better quality and considerably cheaper than their wooden counterparts, have already infiltrated many of the major orchestras. Not that any of the players would thank you for the rumble. As long as there are Strads, Guarneris and another old violins in good working order, musicians and those who love them will still be valued. And even if the existing, playable instruments degrade to the point where they can’t be on stage, there will always be collectors relieved to have The Atlantic’s permission to keep them in a cupboard. Three hundred years of reverence is a hard tide to turn, but as modern violas and carbon fiber bows become more socially acceptable in orchestras, so too will modern violins and cellos. In fifty years, it may be as normal to see a sea of graphite in front of the brass as it is for the players to wear straight ties. What of the ‘Macdonald’ viola? At press time, it remains unsold. Two of the bids exceeded thirty million dollars but that was still fifteen million short of the reserve. “There are maybe two or three collectors in the world who would consider purchasing this viola,” says Carpenter, a fact that makes the existence of the massive publicity campaign even more puzzling. Sotheby’s was clearly hoping to attract a buyer that was looking to complete a quartet. There are a few others in existence, but buyers are shrewd as well. This time around, completing the set wasn’t as attractive as the Schidlof family hoped. “The family is sticking with their number, and as crazy as it sounds,” Carpenter says, “the viola will eventually sell for the asking price.” Chang is twenty-five years into his CSO gig and for most of that time has played on a Guadagnini now worth more than a million dollars. Bootiman bought his viola when he started college and fifteen years later, it’s now worth triple the original price. Though he is

A century of violin making in Cremona culminated in the instruments from the workshop of Antonio Stradivari

MUSICAL INVESTMENTS

The reigning virtuoso of the violin, Itzhak Perlman

still happy with his instrument, Bootiman has lately been seduced by a Peter Greiner viola. “It’s the most responsive and most beautiful viola I’ve played,” he says, his goodnatured realism drifting ever so slightly into reverie. Greiner’s instruments are highly sought after and played by the likes of Kim Kashkashian and Christian Tetzlaff. In June last year, his first instrument to come to auction sold for $69,000, about half of the auction record for a living maker. Back in London, Bootiman is still waxing poetic. “I had no idea what it was about it that made it so resonant. It had an incredibly deep clarity and the strings responded immediately. On top of that, everything was so easy. There is a silvery sheen and a sort of electricity in the sound….” The spell was ended. So powerfully was I wrought upon by the last vision I had seen, that the moment

my limbs resumed their freedom, I rushed forward and fell fainting. When I recovered consciousness, I found Luigi bending over me, and sponging my face with cold water. He was pale and agitated, and seemed scarcely able to stand. I turned inquiringly, and seeing on the carpet a mass of small splinters of wood, mixed with tangled strings and pegs, knew what he meant. This, then, was the end of the masterpiece of Stradivarius. ‘I was simply an instrument,’ he said. ‘Indeed it seemed the whole time not I, but another was playing. But here is an end of it,’ Then, late as the hour was, we kindled a small fire, and consumed every atom of the violin, which held, in some mysterious, inexplicable way, the story of man’s love and death.

LUXMARQUES | ISSUE ONE 2016

SECTION TITLE

LUXMARQUES | ISSUE ONE 2016

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LUXMARQUES | ISSUE ONE 2016

FERRARI NEWS

The “Breadvan” a unique model Ferrari SpA has recently issued an Attestation for vehicles of historic interest by the Ferrari Classiche department to the 250 GT Berlinetta passo corto (chassis 2819) nicknamed the “Breadvan”. The special document, which has been available since 2009, is dedicated to Ferrari cars that, although they do not comply with the strict Ferrari Authenticity Certification criteria, have been deemed, as a result of their competition and/or international recognized show history, to be of historic interest. Amongst the cars of historic interest from Ferrari, the Breadvan is probably one of the most emblematic models, considering its peculiar configuration. The car left the factory in Maranello in 1961 as a 250 GT Berlinetta passo corto (short wheelbase) “Competizione”, participating the same year in the Tour de France with Gendebien and Bianchi behind

LUXMARQUES | ISSUE ONE 2016

The legendary Enzo Ferrari

Ferrari SpA, by Ferrari Classiche, issues Attestation for vehicles of historic interest to “Breadvan”

FERRARI NEWS

the wheel, before it was bought by Count Volpi di Misurata, who fielded it in the 1,000 km of Paris with Trintignant and Vaccarella with the Scuderia Serenissima. In 1962 the Count instructed engineer Giotto Bizzarrini to re-design this car in order to compete with the 250 GTOs. Therefore the brakes and the suspension were modified and the car was fitted with an innovative and aerodynamic body, with a lowered engine, improving the car’s performance. The nickname Breadvan was invented by the British press, due to the characteristic shape. The first race the car participated in this configuration was the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Abate and Davis in the year of its transformation, although the car didn’t finish due to transmission problems. The Breadvan participated in several races with exceptional drivers like Scarfiotti at the 1,000 km of Paris until 1965 when it ran its last race, the Coppa Gallenga in Rome. This department was set up in 2006 to provide owners of classic Ferraris with maintenance, repair and restoration services, technical assistance and authenticity certification. Thus far, over 1,250 authenticity certificates have been issued. The certification process involves researching the cars’ original designs which are held in the Company’s own technical-historical archive. The Certificate of authenticity is aimed at roadgoing Ferraris of 20 years of age and over as well as all limited edition and competition cars, Formula 1s included, regardless of their year of construction. The certification document officially attests to the authenticity of the car for which it is issued. This acts as additional guarantee of the car’s status should

THE CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY IS AIMED AT ROADGOING FERRARIS OF 20 YEARS OF AGE AND OVER AS WELL AS ALL LIMITED EDITION AND COMPETITION CARS, FORMULA 1S INCLUDED, REGARDLESS OF THEIR YEAR OF CONSTRUCTION. THE CERTIFICATION DOCUMENT OFFICIALLY ATTESTS TO THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE CAR FOR WHICH IT IS ISSUED.

Count Francesco Baracca, standing by his SPAD XIII fighter with the prancing horse logo that later became the emblem of Ferrari

the owner decide to sell it on. In 2009, Ferrari also introduced the new Attestation for vehicles of historic interest aimed at Ferraris that, although they do not comply with the strict Ferrari Authenticity Certification criteria, have been deemed, as a result of their competition and/or international recognized show history, to be of historic interest. Of the restorations recently completed by Ferrari Classiche, five can be considered of particular relevance. The first two of these was the 250 GT (chassis no. 0419 GT), which won the Best Restoration prizes at the Villa d’Este and Cavallino Classic Concours d’Elegances. The second was the 250 GT Berlinetta passo corto (SWB, chassis no. 2735), driven to victory in four races in 1961 by Stirling Moss, who himself was present when the owner collected it from the Ferrari Classiche workshop. The other two were the 1955 750 Monza (chassis no. 0554), which was repainted in its original white livery with light blue central finish, and the Monoposto Corsa Indianapolis (chassis no. 0388), a unique 1953 single-seater developed as a prototype in preparation for the Indy 500 in which it never actually raced. It did, however, compete in several other events in the course of the 1950s. The most recent restoration work to be completed is the 250 LM (chassis 5845), year of construction 1964, winner at the 1965 Austrian GP held for Sport cars with a young and promising Jochen Rindt behind the wheel.

LUXMARQUES | ISSUE ONE 2016

RIVA BOATING COMPANY

Riva: the legend with an Italian heart

LUXMARQUES | ISSUE ONE 2016

RIVA BOATING COMPANY

For a myth to be born, a long, seducing story is first needed. Just like the one written during the 170 years of Riva boatyard’s life – a history marked by the technological and design innovations stemming from the ingenuity of Pietro Riva - who founded the boatyard in 1842 on the Bergamo side of Lake Iseo - and his successors: Ernesto, Serafino, and his son Carlo Riva, under whose guidance the brand has become a legend Today Riva is the synonym of quality and exclusiveness, the symbol of Italian excellence all over the world, and epitomises a unique heritage in the boating sector that conjures up the representatives of the international jet-set that chose to link their image to that of the brand’s yachts: Peter Sellers, Ingrid Bergman, Brigitte Bardot, Vittorio Gassman, Sofia Loren, Anita Ekberg, Jean Paul Belmondo, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton are just a few of the celebrities from La Dolce Vita, whose real protagonist was Aquarama, tested for the first time in 1962 in Monte Carlo by a very young Gianni Agnelli before becoming a myth. In the year 2000 the historical boatyard was acquired by the Ferretti Group: it was the beginning of a new era of growth and development. Flawless building techniques and craftsmanship were blended with the industrial pragmatism of one of the world leaders in the design, construction and sale of motoryachts, boasting a unique portfolio of prestigious, exclusive brands (besides Riva, Ferretti The Riva boatyard was established in 1842 on Lake Iseo, in Sarnico-Italy. It was a sudden and devastating storm - which irreversibly damaged the boats of the local fishermen, who were left shocked and powerless - that persuaded a young shipbuilder and craftsman who had just moved from Laglio, near Como, to perform a true miracle and repair most of the crafts, thus winning the trust of the locals. This was the beginning of the legend of Riva and that of a man, Pietro Riva, who - immediately after moving to Sarnico - became the master of his own destiny. This was the place where the first boats signed by Riva were launched and immediately stood out for their unmatched style and personality. Riva rapidly gained great respect and recognition; the boatyard flourished also thanks to the far-sightedness of Ernesto Riva, who had succeeded his father Pietro and introduced internal combustion engines on Riva boats. The era of large cargo and passenger boats operating on the lake thus began.

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RIVA BOATING COMPANY

After World War I Serafino Riva gave Riva products their final imprinting and turned the boatyard’s precious crafts into a real brand, allowing it to take a step into history: production steered from transportation to powerboating, which at the time was still dawning. Between the 1920s and the 1930s Riva, through its racing yachts, collected a large number of records and victories in national and international competitions. The 1950s were the years of Carlo Riva, who had been driven by boundless passion for boats and the family business since he was a child. Riva had by then everywhere become the synonym of elegance, status and perfection. Selected materials of the highest quality, a painstaking care for the tiniest details, unparalleled, long-standing expertise and craftsmanship. Riva’s creations became the object of desire for the aristocracy, award winning athletes, successful businessmen and movie stars. Even today, these jewels preserve intact all the charm of that time, made of paparazzi, movie stars wearing foulards and glamorous sunshades, celebrity love stories, luxury and timeless elegance. In the decade of the Italian industrial revolution, dominated by the myth of speed and racing cars,

LUXMARQUES | ISSUE ONE 2016

OF RARE BEAUTY AND REFINEMENT, RIVA YACHTS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A SYNONYM FOR ELEGANCE AND SIMPLE LUXURY.

l’Ingegnere, as Carlo Riva is called, sensed the importance of this phenomenon and created a series of wooden yachts characterised by unique, unmistakable design features. One of them was the Ariston, of which Carlo Riva says it was “designed with love, born pure and strong like a pedigree horse. Unforgettable! It was my Lord of the Sea”. The Tritone followed (the first two-engine yacht), then the Sebino (which marked the beginning of series production), and then the Florida, whose name evokes the American model that was particularly fashionable in those years. In 1956 Riva started cooperating with designer and architect Giorgio Barilani, whose graphic and design activities for the boating industry were then devoted exclusively to Riva, where Barilani was the design manager between 1970 and 1996. In November 1962 the myth was born: it was named Aquarama. Since its presentation, at the third Milan International Boat Show, the Aquarama became the symbol of Riva par excellence, almost “a brand within the brand”. The name of the yacht drew inspiration from the Cinerama system, the American experimental wide screens. The slogan the yacht was launched with contained several key-words: “Sun, sea, joie de vivre!” The prototype was the mythical Lipicar no. 1, the evolution of the Tritone. 8.02 metres in length, 2.62 metres wide, capable of sleeping up to eight people, two berths at the bow, two 185 hP Chris-Craft petrol engines, a speed of 73 km/h. The price: 10 millions 800 thousands liras. The year 1969 was another milestone in the history of the legendary brand: it was then that fibreglass production started. The first two Riva models in composite material were born: the day cruiser Bahia Mar 20’ and the cabin cruiser Sport Fisherman 25’. The new material was first accurately studied by purchasing the hull from the Bertram boatyard. The hull was subsequently redesigned and both models were then finished with wood details, in line with Riva’s tradition. Between the 1970s and the 1990s, more yachts

RIVA BOATING COMPANY

were created, including the St. Tropez - which was produced until 1992 - and the Superamerica, the first large cabin cruiser, which was available on the market for more than 20 years. In spite of the success met by fibreglass, Riva’s production of wooden runabouts continued until 1996, when the last Aquarama Special (hull number 784) was built. In September 1969 Carlo Riva, disappointed by the tense relations with the trade unions, sold the boatyard to the US Company Whittaker, maintaining his position as Chairman and General Manager, from which he however resigned in July 1971. his positions were taken over by Gino Gervasoni, who had been his partner since 1950. New and old models kept evolving and Riva’s tradition continued. In 1989, a year after one hundred per cent of Riva’s shares was bought by the British group Vickers (which also owned the Rolls-Royce brand) and after working 41 years with the Company, Gervasoni - who had married Carlo Riva’s sister - left the boatyard. No members of the Riva family were left with the company. In 1991 Riva presented the 58’ Bahamas at Genoa International Boat Show - it was the first yacht designed by Mauro Micheli. On 1 May 2000 the Ferretti Group took over the Riva boatyard, which could thus go back to flying the Italian flag. Norberto Ferretti had a strong will to relaunch Riva products and the brand by focusing on quality, design, and uniqueness. Riva celebrated the turn of the millennium with the largest rally of period boats in history: more than one hundred yachts, representing all Riva models, paraded on Lake

THE RIVA FAMILY’S BOAT-BUILDING HISTORY CAN BE TRACED TO 1842 AND PIETRO RIVA.

Iseo on 10 September 2000, led by the Aquarama carrying onboard Carlo Riva and Norberto Ferretti, bonded by friendship and mutual esteem. Following the acquisition by the Ferretti Group, a new era began for Riva, characterised by a strong focus on innovation that was however perfectly in harmony with the philosophy that had always driven the shipyard since it was established. Thanks to the experience of Norberto Ferretti, the founder of the Group in cooperation with designer Mauro Micheli from Officina Italiana Design, the studio that designs exclusively all Riva, the historical brand combined tradition and technology, giving life to an

LUXMARQUES | ISSUE ONE 2016

RIVA BOATING COMPANY

unmistakable contemporary style. In the year of the acquisition the 33-footer Aquarivawas launched, which encapsulated the genuine DNA of Riva and set the standard for future production: exclusivity, style, innovation. These attributes were concentrated in a product that was revolutionary in terms of mechanical features, reliability and performance. Over the last 13 years, Riva has developed an exclusive and diversified range of fibreglass yachts between 27 and 122 feet in length, which currently comprises of 12 models across 3 distinct product segments: Iseo, Aquariva Super, Rivarama Super, Rivale, SportRiva 56’, 63’ Virtus, 63’ Vertigo, 68’ Ego Super, 86’ Domino, 75’ Venere Super, 92’ Duchessa, 122’ Mythos. In 2012, Shandong heavy Industry Group - Weichai Group, one of the world leading industrial groups operating in the sector of commercial vehicles and building equipments, acquired 75% of Ferretti Group shares. The opening of the Sarnico shipyard, which was established in 1842 on Lake Iseo, in the area of Franciacorta, marked the beginning of Riva’s long history, from the construction of legendary wooden hulls all the way to today’s yachts, ranging between 27

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and 68 feet in length. The heart of the boatyard is the office of Mr. Carlo Riva, who personally designed it with a special care for functionality. Called “la Plancia” (helm Station), this office is located in the middle of the shed’s large dome and features a 40-metre wide arcade supported by two pillars which also sustain two bridge cranes, each of theme capable of lifting boats weighing over 20 tons. The innovative, futuristic architecture of this office, which is visible from as far as the opposite side of the lake and is protected - just like the entire boatyard - by the Superintendency for Cultural heritage, does not go unseen and still represents an impressive example of modern architecture. The boatyard extends

RIVA BOATING COMPANY

Ferruccio Lamborghini’s Riva Aquarama restored, maritime history

over an area of 36,000 square metres, 17,000 of which are sheltered, and can rely on 10 available mooring berths, 2 jib cranes, 4 painting booths, and a 50ton capacity trailer used to move finished yachts to the quays and for the handling of shells and large components. The La Spezia production centre plays a strategic role from an industrial, social, and environmental perspective. Built with the objective of widening the range while preserving the brand’s traditions, this boatyard was opened in 2004 and is now the most important technical, logistic, and commercial centre for the Ferretti Group providing access to both the Ligurian and Tyrrhenian Seas. Conceived to apply state-of-the art production technologies and systems, the boatyard covers a total area of more than 60,000 square metres, almost 13,000 of which are sheltered, and includes industrial sheds, office buildings, piers and pontoons extending over 400 metres overall, served by a 300-tons capacity travel lift. This modern plant, where the largest models are built, is also the leading centre for the testing, launching and delivery of the Group’s yachts. Customer care and marina services for all Group brands are also managed at this shipyard. Riva boast a highly diversified range in terms of both sizes and models: always appreciated by very demanding Italian and foreign customers looking for exclusivity, performance, safety and status, the brand manufactures vessels in fibreglass open, coupé, and flybridge segments measuring between approximately 8 and 37 metres in length. All models share several unmistakable details, the result of Riva’s century-old experience and long-standing tradition, such as fine woods, from mahogany to rigatino (vertical hatchings) and a careful selection of colour shades and grain. Even the cutting techniques and

the timber’s perfect seasoning bear witness to the brand’s unmatched historical heritage in this sector. The painting of wooden parts has not changed over time either: twenty-four layers are applied onto the timber, following Carlo Riva’s “recipe”, to ensure perfect polishing and flawless resistance to water and saltiness; moreover, all screws are installed in the same direction, and their head is painted in the same colour shade as the hull.

RIVA IN HER ELEMENT.

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FERRARI NEWS

Winner of the Buenos Aires 1,000 Kilometres

$28 million lady Fangio’s 290 MM sells for dazzling figure. It was the most eagerly-awaited car of the evening at the RM Sotheby’s “Driven by Disruption” auction and it more than lived up to expectations When the bidding stopped, Juan Manuel Fangio’s famous Ferrari 290 MM had sold for 28 million dollars (25.8 million euro). The car, which belonged to collector Pierre Bardino, is incredibly rare as there are just four examples of the model in existence. The Indestructible. During its racing career, this 290 MM (chassis no. 0626) earned itself the nickname “l’Indistruttibile” because despite spending an unusually long eight years at the top of its game, it never had a single accident even after being sold by the Scuderia Ferrari to the Scuderia Temple Buell which competed it in the toughest races in the Americas. The list of famous names that fielded this particular 290 MM is quite incredible: Juan Manuel Fangio, of course, 1961 Formula 1 World Champion Phil Hill, the legendary Peter Collins, Wolfgang Von Trips, Eugenio Castellotti and Luigi Musso, all the way to endurance race supremoes of the likes of Olivier Gendebien and Joakim Bonnier. It was in the Scuderia Temple Buell colours, however, that the car delivered its single most important coup, victory in the Buenos Aires 1,000 Kilometres in the hands of Masten Gregory, Castellotti and Musso.

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SECTION TITLE

La Musicale. Classique wristwatch 7800BR in 18-carat rose gold chiming “La Badinerie” by Jean-Sébastien Bach.

B A L H A R B O U R B E I J I N G C A N N E S C H E N G D U D U B A I E K AT E R I N B U R G G E N E VA G S TA A D H O N G K O N G K U A L A L U M P U R L A S V E G A S L O N D O N L O S A N G E L E S M A C A O M I L A N M O S C O W N E W Y O R K N I N G B O PA R I S S E O U L S H A N G H A I S I N G A P O R E TA I P E I T O K Y O V I E N N A Z U R I C H – W W W. B R E G U E T. C O M

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WATERSPEED DROPHEAD COUPÉ

Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé Waterspeed Collection On the morning of 1 September 1937, at the height of the battle between the United States and Great Britain to be the fastest nation on water, British speed record pioneer Sir Malcolm Campbell headed out onto the calm blue waters of Lake Maggiore on the Swiss-Italian frontier

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WATERSPEED DROPHEAD COUPÉ

Pointing the nose of his Bluebird K3 hydroplane boat south, powered by Rolls-Royce’s R-engine, he established a new water-speed record of 126.32mph. The following day he went one better, piloting his craft to 129.5mph, emphatically breaking the United States’ five-year stranglehold on the world water-speed record. Campbell’s momentous achievement captured the world’s attention and reaffirmed Rolls-Royce R-engines’ record-breaking superiority after triumphs on land and in the air. Celebrating this incredible act of British ‘DerringDo’, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Bespoke department has created the Waterspeed Collection, 35 specially designed Phantom Drophead Coupés. Echoing the cutting-edge technology employed in the construction of the K3, only the finest contemporary materials have been used to furnish the Waterspeed Collection. Brushed steel perfectly complements an exclusively developed Maggiore Blue colour scheme. Perfectly book-matched open-grain Abachi wood veneer evokes the sense of a boat effortlessly gliding through water at pace, whilst the exterior coachline and laser etchings inside the car bring Campbell’s ‘Bluebird’ motif back to life. Sir Malcolm Campbell is the legend at the very core of the British love affair with speed. A journalist and a motor racing obsessive, he had already won three consecutive London to Land End Trials motorbike races by the age of 23. Two years later in 1910 he moved onto four wheels, racing cars at the now famous Brooklands track in Surrey, England. By 1928 he had won two consecutive Grand Prix de Boulogne in France.

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WATERSPEED DROPHEAD COUPÉ

Waterspeed Collection: Daring and Endeavour

Not satisfied with competing in and winning races; Campbell had his eye on a bigger prize. He wanted to be the fastest man in the world. His record-breaking endeavours began in the early 1920’s on land. He broke the land-speed record for the first time in 1924 on Pendine Sands in South Wales setting a speed of 146.16mph in a 350HP V12 Sunbeam built for him by the Sunbeam company. In 1927 he smashed this record by covering a flying mile at 174.224mph in the Napier-Campbell Bluebird, again on Pendine Sands. But it wasn’t until his Bluebird car was modified to accommodate the 2,300bhp 36.5-litre V12 Rolls-Royce R37 aero engine that he would put the land speed record out of reach of others. On 3 September 1935, Sir Malcolm Campbell broke the 300mph barrier on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah setting a speed of 301.129mph at the wheel of Bluebird. He was now the fastest man on land. It was in 1935, soon after setting the land-speed record that Sir Malcolm decided to make an attempt on that five year old world water-speed record. It was a matter of national pride to him. On the eve of the Second World War he wanted to secure the record for Great Britain.

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He commissioned Saunders Roe on the Isle of Wight to build a craft capable of breaking the record. The Rolls-Royce R37 engine from his land-speed record car was transferred to the craft and drove a dog type clutch up to a V-drive gearbox mounted at the front of the boat with a step up ratio of 1 engine revolution to 3 prop revolutions. After 18 months of hard work and innovation, the boat was ready for her first trials and was christened Bluebird by Lady Campbell and given

WATERSPEED DROPHEAD COUPÉ

The Rolls-Royce Waterspeed Collection

her international race number KZ30. This was later shortened to K3. One of Campbell’s mechanics, Leo Villa, was of Italian decent. He knew the lakes in Northern Italy were particularly calm and were not affected by cross winds because of the steep slopes that surround them. And so on the morning of 1 September 1937, Sir Malcolm headed out onto Lake Maggiore in K3 and took her to a new world water-speed record of 126.33mph, almost five years to the day since the last record had been set. Bluebird performed very well, although Campbell said she was a real handful and difficult to handle. However he was sure K3 could go faster and the next day he ran again and powered to a new record of 129.5mph. Sir Malcolm Campbell was now the fastest man on land and water. He and his team returned triumphant to England. As a postscript to this story, the team went to Switzerland again in July 1938 to try and raise the record as Campbell felt the margin between ‘Gar’ Woods old record and his own was very thin. On a smaller quieter lake close to the German boarder called Halwill, a modified K3 with Campbell at the wheel raised the record again to 130.93mph. Following this record it was decided that K3 had reached her limits, but the Rolls-Royce R engine could do more. Hence K3’s successor K4 was born and the Rolls-Royce R-engine helped Campbell set his final water-speed record of 141.74mph, fittingly but somewhat ominously on Coniston Water, back in Great Britain on 19 August 1939.

THE POWER OF NATURE AND THE POWER CREATED BY MAN LIE AT THE HEART OF ROLLS-ROYCE MOTOR CAR’S INSPIRATION FOR WATERSPEED.

“I think Charles Rolls would have loved this vehicle. He would have been fully in tune with Sir Malcolm Campbell’s spirit of endeavour.” – Giles Taylor, Director of Design, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The power of nature and the power created by man lie at the heart of Rolls-Royce Motor Car’s inspiration for Waterspeed. The calm surface and blue waters of the 42 mile long Lake Maggiore – the second largest lake in Italy – belie the power that created this Alpine fissure, whilst the legendary 2,300bhp 36.5-litre V12 Rolls-Royce R aero engine that rent its surface as Sir Malcolm set his water-speed record were the designer’s key influences. The final piece of the puzzle was the original concept for the Phantom Drophead Coupé – to “bring the outside in” by creating a social space enabling occupants to embrace the elements using sumptuous and relevant materials. Waterspeed is the most radical interpretation of this approach to date. The Maggiore Blue colour scheme, specially created by Rolls-Royce’s Bespoke team, flows like water over all the surfaces of Waterspeed, outside and in. It adorns the boat-like lines of the Phantom Drophead Coupé’s exterior – the closest of any car design to the classic Riva speedboats influenced by Pietro Riva’s earliest designs, themselves created in the Italian Lakes – and extends to the blue highlights on the 21-inch alloy wheels. A new imagining of a Bluebird logo has also been designed by the Bespoke team at Goodwood and becomes part of the coachline that adorns the sides of Waterspeed in a contrasting blue. Maggiore Blue also permeates the interior of Waterspeed. Rolls-Royce Motor Car’s first ever twotone steering wheel is enrobed in the blue leather, as are highlights around the cabin such as the piping

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WATERSPEED DROPHEAD COUPÉ

on the seats, dashboard top, cup holder surround and door accents. In addition, Maggiore Blue also brings a new twist to the famous power reserve gauge, another of those trademark Rolls-Royce design cues that raises a smile as it casually reveals the enormous power potential at a driver’s disposal. Blue accents on Waterspeed’s power reserve gauge invite the driver to go ‘into the blue’ as Sir Malcolm Campbell did many times in pursuit of his world speed records. But this unique colour treatment also creates the pièce de la résistance of Waterspeed, as it envelops its 453bhp 6.75-litre V12 engine – a first for Rolls-Royce. This echoes how Campbell’s engineers always painted Bluebird’s legendary 2,300bhp 36.5-litre V12 RollsRoyce R aero engine that smashed all those records on air, land and, of course, water. Contrasting the water-like flow of this vivid blue hue around the car is the viscous ebb of metal surfaces. Brushed steel bonnet, windscreen A-frame, cockpit surround and rear deck, as well as interior features, evoke both the sometimes steel grey skies over Lake Maggiore experienced by Campbell’s crew in those September days on the eve of war, but also the shocking modernity a craft such as K3 brought to the early 20th

Part of the seventh series Phantom collection

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ACCEPT NOTHING NEARLY RIGHT OR GOOD ENOUGH.

century. “Steel was itself used extensively on these groundbreaking craft so we wanted metal to be the dominant application,” comments Alex Innes, Bespoke Designer at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. Inside Phantom Drophead Coupé Waterspeed, the aluminium dashboard fascia, laser-etched door armrest cappings, aluminium transmission tunnel and centre console, ‘Windchill Grey’ leather upholstery and polished aluminium cupholders evoke the modernity of this endeavour and further highlight the capabilities of the Bespoke team at the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood. Finally, bookmatched Abachi wood veneer beneath the fascia on the dashboard evokes the sense of a boat effortlessly gliding through water at pace. Not content with simply evoking Campbell’s achievements through colour and materials, RollsRoyce’s Bespoke team has, in the grand tradition of Sir Henry Royce and indeed Sir Malcolm Campbell, gone many extra miles. For example, the steel rear decking for which each piece of material is individually beaten by hand for 70 hours and then hand-brushed for a further 10, until perfect for Waterspeed. Polished aluminium cup holders – in themselves a

WATERSPEED DROPHEAD COUPÉ

work of automotive art – the specially developed clock that features the infinity sign that adorned Campbell’s K3 and K4 craft and, of course, the inside of the glove compartment lid that features all four of Campbell’s water-speed records de-bossed in the leather lining, all highlight the extra lengths Rolls-Royce has gone to celebrate Sir Malcolm’s great act of daring. Furthermore, the steering wheel took direct inspiration from K3 and K4, which both had blue steering wheels. It was key to the Bespoke team that this first tactile experience of Waterspeed immediately evoked the world of Sir Malcolm Campbell for the owner. Phantom Drophead Coupé lends itself as the perfect platform for such a tribute to Sir Malcolm Campbell’s water-speed records. As originally conceived by the Rolls-Royce engineering team, an advanced aluminium spaceframe that is strong, lightweight

WHATEVER IS RIGHTLY DONE HOWEVER HUMBLEIS NOBLE.

and as rigid as a Formula 1 car sits at the Phantom Drophead Coupé’s core, serving as the foundation for the car’s extraordinary driving prowess. Epitomising the Rolls-Royce marriage of cuttingedge technology with fine craftsmanship, each spaceframe is entirely hand-welded, then finished as if it were a precision instrument. Every morning, skilled welders perform a 300mm test to check for atmospheric effects on the material with which they will work. More than 200 box sections of cast aluminium extrusion are then formed to create the frame, which is checked by laser for accuracy to within a millimetre. Finally, the largest computer-guided machining platform in the auto industry sets to work on the complete structure, milling critical points with pinpoint precision. Waterspeed’s exterior lines echo the timeless styling of the great Rolls-Royce cars: a long bonnet, large-

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WATERSPEED DROPHEAD COUPÉ

diameter wheels, short front and long rear overhangs and the quintessential dynamic line descending along its flanks. Inside, the design emphasises the airy openness of top-down motoring, embracing the elements and creating a stunning, social environment. Phantom Drophead Coupé has been carefully crafted to be aesthetically pleasing, yet practical too. It

COURAGE IS NOT BEING FEARLESS. COURAGE IS OVERCOMING AND SMASHING THROUGH FEAR.

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offers owners an unparalleled convertible experience, combining compelling driveability with exceptional engineering, technology and design – hand crafted from the finest materials to an exceptional level of quality. The interior concept revolves around the idea of an indoor/outdoor space; an all-weather passenger compartment that combines the practicality required for convertible motoring with the sumptuous elegance expected of Rolls-Royce. When designing Phantom Drophead Coupé, Rolls-Royce designers visited a boatyard in Southampton where one of the famous 1930s America’s Cup J-class yachts was being restored. They were struck by the variety and uses of different materials throughout, as well as its tremendous sense of purposeful elegance. Phantom Drophead Coupé has been created as a car in which to enjoy the elements. The all-weather surfaces of the interior have been designed to take everything that nature can throw at them. To this end, a number of notable features can be seen throughout the interior. For example, in place of traditional floor mats, wholly more practical saddle leather and metal mats are used on Waterspeed. The driving position is set deliberately high to give a commanding view of the road over the long bonnet, and the curved rear lounge seats offer an intimate, social environment for passengers. Rear legroom is

WATERSPEED DROPHEAD COUPÉ

excellent and marks the car out as a true four-seater. A lower centre of gravity, combined with the reduced wheelbase and incredibly stiff body, produces a ride that is refined, yet agile. Feedback from the wheels is informative but not intrusive. Imperfect road surfaces go unnoticed while feel through the steering wheel inspires confidence. New spring dampers and lighter anti-roll bars have been engineered to maintain comfort without loss of agility, whilst selflevelling air struts continuously adjust for increased loading in harder cornering, giving drivers the ability to place the car through turns with absolute precision. Ample power is supplied by a 6.75-litre, naturally aspirated, V12 engine. Developing 453bhp / 338kW and 720Nm / 531lb ft of torque at 3500rpm, delivery is smooth and abundant. Furthermore, with 75 per cent of engine power available at just 1000rpm, progress from a standstill is effortless and remains so throughout the rev range. The powerful V12 will accelerate Phantom Drophead Coupé to 60mph in under six seconds and on to a limited top speed of 149 mph / 240 km/h. It stops in equally impressive fashion, using 374mm / 14.7in ventilated disc brakes at the front and 370mm / 14.5in at the rear. Craftsmanship is a hallmark of Rolls-Royce. From the traditional wood and leather workshop skills to the complex welding of the aluminium spaceframe,

a 21st century Rolls-Royce is a blend of hand crafted expertise and high-tech materials and techniques. With more than 400 hours invested in each car, not including the time taken to build the engine, nearly right is never acceptable. The maxim of company founder Sir Henry Royce still resonates around the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood today: “Strive for perfection in everything you do.” From day-today production cars to the often complex Bespoke requests, Rolls-Royce has a skilled team adept at meeting the challenges of crafting the finest cars for the most discerning customers. In the case of Waterspeed, getting exactly the same look for the brushed steel on the grille surround, the bonnet, the rear deck and the A-pillar was a challenge. After a great deal of research and testing, handbrushing finished by hand-polishing was deemed the best way of achieving a uniform grain. Craftsmanship can be found throughout Phantom Drophead Coupé, from the largest, most visible parts down to the smallest, unseen detail. By constructing each car, whether standard or Bespoke, with the same enthusiasm and passion with which it was designed, Rolls-Royce ensures that each one will offer a unique motoring experience, both to its owners and to all those who will travel in it.

CRAFTSMANSHIP CAN BE FOUND THROUGHOUT AND PHANTOM DROPHEAD COUPÉ.

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FERRARI NEWS

An icon in Maranello

Steve McQueen’s 275 GTB4 Ferrari Classiche recently took delivery of one of the more interesting cars ever to leave the factory – a 275 GTB4 that originally belonged to legendary American star, Steve McQueen who took delivery of the car in San Francisco when he was on the set filming Bullitt The new owner brought the car to Ferrari Classiche for the company’s authenticity certification process, knowing that at some time during the 1980s, when under previous ownership, the car had been converted to a Spider. Under the provisions of the certification process, a Ferrari can only be authenticated if it is to exactly the same specifications as when it left the factory. To this end, the new owner wisely decided to return the car to its original coupé form and Ferrari Classiche has undertaken the restoration reproducing the roof and buttresses with hand-beaten steel panels. Ferraris continue to be an excellent investment, as has shown in a recent report by Business Week on a private treaty sale for $35 million of a 250 GTO built for Stirling Moss. A world record price that celebrates the 50th anniversary of the launch in 1962 of this homologation special (hence the designation Gran Turismo Omologata), of which just 36 examples were built, and which achieved a seemingly endless series of victories in GT racing in the early 1960s, culminating in three consecutive Manufacturers’ titles in 1962, ’63 and ’64. The Ferrari 250 GTO has been revered in classic car circles for decades for its combination of thoroughbred looks, performance and motor sports heritage and, in 1990, a 1962 example set a then record auction price of $10,756,833. This world record was to stand for 18 years until it was beaten in 2008 by another Ferrari, a 1961 250 California sold by RM Auctions in collaboration

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with Sotheby’s in Maranello for $10,910,592. That record was again beaten in 2011 by the sale in Pebble Beach of a 1957 250 Testa Rossa for $16.39 million. A considerable contribution to the interest for classic Ferraris in recent years has come from the company’s direct involvement, with its dedicated department providing certificates of authenticity which testify to the originality of a car. Set up in 2006, Ferrari Classiche has to date processed over 3,300 certification requests using the company’s exhaustive archive records and original designs.

FERRARI NEWS

Another important restoration by the Ferrari Classiche department debuted at the prestigious Villa d’Este Concorso d’Eleganza this weekend on the shores of Lake Como

Another Ferrari Classiche restoration attracts the crowds at Villa d’Este The car, a 1952 212 Inter Cabriolet (chassis number 0235EU), is historically significant as it is only the second car ever to have been built by Pinin Farina who went on to become Ferrari’s coachbuilder of choice. The 212 Inter Cabriolet was first shown to the public at the Paris Motor Show in November 1952 before being sold to its first owner, Tony Parravano of Rome, by the then US importer, Chinetti Motors. In August 1953 the car was famously entered at the Nürburgring 1000 km by film director Roberto Rossellini where it was driven by Maurice Gatsonides – the Dutch racing driver best known for inventing the Gatso speed camera – and Riccardo Vignolo, to finish an incredible 9th overall. Now in the hands of American Ferrari collector, Kenneth B. Roath and his wife Dayle, the matchingnumbers 212 Inter Cabriolet was returned to Ferrari in the autumn of 2010 for a complete and meticulous restoration in its original Azzurro over beige livery using both the factory’s archives and period photos. The department was set up in 2006 to provide owners of classic, veteran and historic Ferraris with dedicated maintenance, repair and renovation services, technical assistance and authenticity certification. So far over 3,300 certification requests have been processed. The certification process involves researching the original designs of the historic Prancing Horse cars held in the Company’s own Archive which houses details of all of the GT, competition and sports prototype cars built by Ferrari since its foundation. Any work done on the cars is carried out in compliance with those original designs. In all, 55 full restorations have been carried out in Ferrari Classiche’s dedicated workshop.

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A CUBAN DIARY

Crossing Borders; a Cuban Diary

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A CUBAN DIARY

THE BASILICA AND THE MONASTERY OF SAN FRANCISCO DE ASIS WERE BUILT IN HAVANA AT THE END OF SIXTEENTH CENTURY AS THE HOME OF THE FRANCISCAN COMMUNITY THEY WERE ALTERED IN THE BAROQUE STYLE IN 1730.

Sometimes composers wait for centuries to get a piece performed, even Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He wrote his Great Mass in C Minor K. 427 in 1782–83, and it finally received its Cuban premiere on October 16, 2015, to a standing-room audience. It took place at the historic Cathedral of The Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception, located in the heart of Havana’s historic district. Known for its curvy Baroque façade, colonial design and fading frescoes, the church was completed five years before Mozart began work on his Mass, which, incidentally, he never quite finished. The concert officially launched the Salzburg Mozarteum’s Festival Mozart–Habana 2015, the first Mozart festival to be held in Cuba. Held over ten days in October, the festival brought together a wide array of European and Cuban classical musicians to share and explore performing traditions. It also provided incentive for this American journalist to travel to Cuba, as diplomatic relations are being restored between between the two countries for the first time since 1961. Getting to Havana, however, was no small task. I applied for my working visa through the Cuban Embassy in Austria, as instructed. Approval came through two months later, but the embassy’s Austrian bank would not accept payment from a New York

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A CUBAN DIARY

bank. The embassy in Austria then forwarded my application to the newly opened Cuban Embassy in Washington, DC. More emails, more paperwork, more follow-up phone calls, more waiting. The visa at last arrived by mail, two days before the flight. En route from the airport named for 1890s revolutionary hero José Martí to Vieja Habana (Havana’s old section), I couldn’t help but notice the large number of classic vintage American cars zooming down the highway: old Buicks, big Plymouths, bulky Studebakers, sleek Ford Mustangs. In the pre–Castro years, Cuba’s strong middle class population coveted American cars. When the Communist Party took over in 1959, they cut off all American auto imports, leaving citizens no choice but to keep their old cars in good repair. A press conference was held in the Lyceum Mozartiano de La Habana, founded in 2009 as a joint undertaking between the office of the Historiador de La Habana Eusebio Leal, the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA, Cuba’s principal institute for musical training),

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EL CAPITOLIO IN HAVANA WAS THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT IN CUBA UNTIL AFTER THE CUBAN REVOLUTION IN 1959.

and the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg. The Lyceum occupies the two upper floors of a restored building with the Oratorio de San Felipe Neri. The latter started as a church in 1693, became a bank two cenutries later, and is now an active, acoustically superb concert hall. After lunch, our corps of international journalists and broadcasters went on a three-hour walking tour of Vieja Habana. While many streets and buildings are in disrepair, the four central plazas have been restored to varying degrees, and are magnets for both tourists and vendors who usher unsuspecting passersby to tables in nearby restaurants. We wound up in the terrace of the gorgeous Hotel Santa Isabel on the Plaza de Armas, taking shelter during a heavy downpour, drinking local beer and listening to a first-rate quartet with singers, bongos, flute and a cowbell played with a bass drum pedal. As I would discover, most tourist area bars, restaurants and hotel lobbies feature live music, albeit of highly variable quality, such as the comical flute– piano duo I encountered at the Hotel Ambos Mundos, where Ernest Hemingway lived during the 1930s for

A CUBAN DIARY

around a dollar-fifty a night. My all-too-brief time in Havana was filled with rainy weather, so I could enjoy only a minimum of sightseeing. I was lucky, however, that my slightly seedy yet friendly staffed hotel (the Park View) stood across the street fromthe Museum of the Revolution, housed in the former Presidential Palace that was home to all Cuban presidents from Mario García Menocal to Fulgencio Batista. The exhibits largely focus on the Revolutionary War of the 1950s that propelled Fidel Castro to power, and include artifacts ranging from myriad newspaper clippings and handwritten notes to military vehicles and a life-size wax statue of Che Guevara. For pure, unadulterated propaganda, El Rincón de los Cretinos is worth the price of admission, with large comic book caricatures of Batista, Ronald Reagan, and both Presidents Bush painted on a wall. I didn’t get to experience paladares — restaurants that people operate from the privacy of their homes. But I found a neat little bar in Calle Brasil called Art Pub. It’s far off the tourist beat and serves up great drinks and delicious food at very reasonable prices. Four speakers preceded the opening concert, including the vice minister of culture Fernando Rojas, who spoke to classical music as a crucial “unifying force” for Cuban culture. Matthias Schultz, artistic director of the Foundation Mozarteum Salzburg, enumerated the many projects leading up to this event, from music appreciation classes for young students to the Lyceum’s extensive media collection. In many ways, the ISA student ensemble

CUBA IS AN AMAZING TIME CAPSULE OF CLASSIC AMERICAN CARS.

(augmented by Lyceum professors) was the finest of the three orchestras I was able to hear during my time in Havana, no doubt due to conductor José Méndez Padrón’s penchant for excellent intonation and marked dynamic contrasts. Articulation tended to be overly legato and undifferentiated, most noticeably in the opening selection, the Flute Concerto No. 1 in G Major K. 313, featuring soloist Niurka Gonzalez, an ISA professor. This mattered less in the Mass, where the sheer visceral impact and textural clarity of the five combined local choirs truly impressed. The timbral allure and technical finish that young German soprano Claire Elizabeth Craig displayed throughout Et incarnates est revealed itself more tellingly in her intelligently contrasted, impeccably curated Mozart and Schubert lieder program the following day in the Oratorio San Felipe Neri. She transformed Mozart’s Die Zufriedenheit into a veritable mini-opera, while giving characterful and tasteful variety to strophic songs like Schubert’s “Heidenröslein.” By contrast, the following evening’s concert in the same venue was too much of a good thing. Even with world class soloists at hand, programming Mozart’s huge Divertimento for String Trio K. 563, the G Minor String Quintet K. 516 and the Sinfonia Concertante K. 364 in a single concert is akin to eating three gourmet entrées one after another. That said, violinist Renaud Capuçon, violist Gérard Caussé and cellist Clemens Hagen magically fused precision and poetry. In addition, Capuçon proved as welcomingly articulate in words as on the violin during his master class the following morning. He helped one young violinist obtain a sense of long line and continuity in Bach’s D minor Chaconne, while demanding more dynamic contrast and rhythmic bite from another in Beethoven’s Op. 12 No. 1 Sonata.

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A CUBAN DIARY

Other concerts underlined just how much work lies ahead. Subtlety is not big on the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Cuba’s Mozartean agenda, ditto piano soloist Frank Fernández, although his tone and expressive palette opened up in the A Major K. 488 Adagio, which he repeated as an encore to superior effect. Since the Teatro Nacional is not exactly an acoustic paragon, one might give the musicians the benefit of the doubt. Another historic landmark, the Basilica San Francisco de Asis provided a stunning visual backdrop to the well-rehearsed yet tonally raw Orquesta Camerata Romeu led by Maestra Zenaida Romeu, replete with pale strings, excellent oboes, and frankly hapless horns. While ISA professor Ulises Hernández has been a key figure in making this festival happen, his solo turn in Mozart’s Piano Concerto in E-flat K. 271 was riddled with tentative and inaccurate passage work, poor rhythmic control,

EL CAPITOLIO IN HAVANA WAS THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT IN CUBA UNTIL AFTER THE CUBAN REVOLUTION IN 1959.

and memory lapses. Fortunately, he took effortless command over Ignacio Cervantes’ short Serenata Cubana, and the musicians followed suit, in fullthroated fashion. Given Cuba’s decades of relative cultural isolation, it isn’t surprising that their performance practice has evolved differently from that of the United States and Western Europe. The same was true of Soviet violinists in the mid-twentieth century, who played Bach, Mozart and Beethoven with the same tone and throbbing vibrato that they used for Tchaikovsky. That eventually changed, and there’s no doubt that the incredible vitality and musicality of these young Cuban artists will both inform and be informed by further international exposure. Just as China and Korea have emerged over the past decades as important centers for Western classical music, could Cuba possibly be the next sleeping giant?

A Gift To Havana Nothing brings people together like music-making. On October 9, following the reopening of United States–Cuba relations, a select group of musicians traveled to Havana to celebrate the city’s five-hundredth anniversary. Marin Alsop, conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra [see “American Maestra,” Vol. 2, No. 1] led the Cuban Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Cuba in a concert that featured the music of composers from across the globe: Tchaikovsky, Elgar, and George Gershwin, as well as Cuban composers Ernesto Lecuona, A.M. Roeu, and Chucho Valdés. Valdes also played in the concert as a soloist, alongside pianist Lang Lang. After the last notes faded, Steinway & Sons made a gift of the concert grand used during the concert, donating it to the Cuban Institute of Music as a gift to the people of Cuba.

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FERRARI NEWS

Triple whammy for the 500 Mondial

It got to Pebble Beach by the skin of its teeth, barely a week before the legendary Concours d’Elegance, but then it dominated the scene, winning no less than three prizes in two days on the Pacific coast We’re referring, of course, to Tom Peck’s 500 Mondial which won First in Class in its category and then, just a day later, took the Platinum Award and the Phil Hill Trophy at the Ferrari Club of America event. The restoration of the 500 Mondial took a year and a half to complete. The car arrived at the Ferrari Classiche department with red paintwork. However, having been restored to its original condition, it left clothed in the original blue livery in which it competed in its first races in the hands of Dominican gentleman driver and ladies’ man Porfirio Rubirosa. The 500 Mondial was then entered in a special category reserved for former contestants in the Pebble Beach Road Races of the 1950s. The 500 Mondial caught the jury’s imagination during the tour that precedes the Concours when all the cars competing parade along the stunning Pacific Coast Highway to Carmel by the Sea, the home of Pebble Beach. Once the selection process got underway, the car immediately attracted the attention of the group of experts headed by Chris Bock, taking a place in the trio of winners before being ultimately

being named First in Class in its category. On August 16, the 500 Mondial also took part in the Ferrari Club of America’s Carmel Valley event in which it took the Platinum Award in its category and also the Phil Hill Trophy for best car overall. Tom Peck now has another Ferrari with the Classiche department for restoration: a 166 that has also appeared on the big screen. The temptation to go for a double at Pebble Beach must be very strong…

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BENTLEY MULSANNE

Bentley showcases luxury at Geneva

Bentley unveils its new Mulsanne model range, which reaches even greater heights of luxury and performance and sets a new benchmark for rear-seat passenger comfort, at the Geneva Motor Show 2016

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BENTLEY MULSANNE

The Breitling for Bentley range

Handcrafted in Crewe, the new range comprises the Mulsanne, the performance-focused Mulsanne Speed and the all-new, ultra-luxurious Mulsanne Extended Wheelbase with its new extended wheelbase variant offering airline-style seats. Incorporating elegantly executed styling revisions to give Bentley’s flagship a fresh, modern appearance, the range also benefits from new state-of-the-art chassis technologies to ensure the world’s most refined ride and effortless comfort, while advanced on-board features augment the trademark luxury of the Mulsanne – the ultimate statement of Bentley’s automotive artistry. “The three distinct handcrafted models are now available. The Mulsanne, with its understated elegance and sporting purpose, remains the consummate luxury limousine; the Mulsanne Speed is the pinnacle of luxury and performance thanks to its immense power, torque and refinement; and now the Mulsanne Extended Wheelbase, with its extraordinary airlinestyle seats and rear-passenger bias, becomes the new benchmark in automotive comfort.”

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BENTLEY MULSANNE

Chic Britannique, excellence Suisse: the Breitling for Bentley range

Bentley also unveils an important new addition to its Flying Spur range, the Flying Spur V8 S. Sitting between the current Flying Spur V8 and the family flagship W12 model, the performance-focused V8 S develops 528 PS and 680 Nm. Complementing this impressive performance, a new responsive suspension tuning for the Flying Spur V8 S improves handling and body control, while the aluminium double-wishbone front and trapezoidal multi-link rear self-levelling air suspension with continuous damping control ensure that the Flying Spurâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legendary refinement is maintained. The exterior of the Flying Spur V8 S features dark and sporting revisions. Bentleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s iconic matrix grille is black as standard with an exclusive body-coloured insert which, along with optional dark-tint front lamps and a Beluga gloss rear diffuser, gives the Flying Spur V8 S a dramatic on-road presence.

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Inside the cabin, styling is precisely matched to the sportier exterior aesthetic and includes piano-black interior and three-spoke sports steering wheel as standard.

BENTLEY MULSANNE

Tuned for power, Bentley’s renowned 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 S engine develops an additional 21 PS, developing 528 PS (521 bhp / 388 kW) compared to its V8 sibling’s 507 PS (500 bhp / 373 kW). A mighty 680 Nm (502 lb.ft) is on offer from 1,700 rpm. This powers the Flying Spur V8 S to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds, 0.3 seconds faster than the V8’s already impressive sprint time. The V8 S has a top speed of 190 mph (306 km/h) with power delivered to the road via all-wheel drive with a 40:60 rear-biased torque split for sure-footed, engaging driving in all road and weather conditions. Also on Bentley’s stand at Geneva is the Bentayga – the fastest, most powerful, most luxurious and most exclusive SUV in the world. Combining unparalleled luxury with sporting ability, off-road performance and everyday usability, the Bentayga offers a true Bentley driving experience. Following its high-profile world debut at the Frankfurt motor show last September, customer reaction has been extraordinarily strong to the world’s first luxury SUV. The first customer deliveries will start at the end of March. Inspired by the new Continental GT3 and its impact on the world of motorsport, our Motorsport Collection – debuting at Geneva – is a first for Bentley. Each piece is created to embody the thrill and energy of the sport, blending contemporary design

TO BUILD A FAST CAR, A GOOD CAR, THE BEST IN ITS CLASS.

with the finest materials and craftsmanship. From the trackside style and comfort of our ladies’ and gents’ clothing, to the distinctive designs of our backpacks and lanyards, this new collection is a celebration of the exhilaration of racing – and a sporting heritage that spans decades.

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ISAAC JULIEN

Rolls-Royce at Art Basel Rolls-Royce Motor Cars presented the first public showing of Isaac Julienâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new work Stones Against Diamonds during Art Basel

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ISAAC JULIEN

I AM ENOUGH OF AN ARTIST TO DRAW FREELY UPON MY IMAGINATION.

Following the preview during the Venice Biennale last month, the video installation will be shown on a larger scale than previously seen, as a unique site specific installation filling the magnificent interior of the imposing church across ten screens. Isaac Julien’s film draws inspiration from a letter written by Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi. Stones Against Diamonds examines themes within her letter, where she praises the beauty of natural elements over preferred precious stones. Filming the work in remote Vatnajökull region, in South East Iceland, using the breathtaking scenery of glistening ice caves as a set for the film, Julien portrays some of the most beautiful objects as the least precious in a conventional sense. The shoot took place over five days with the crew enduring sub-zero temperatures deep in the heart of spectacular glacial caves, formed in ice over thousands of years and accessible for only a few days a year due to the harsh climate. Signature elements of Bo Bardi’s work have been incorporated into Julien’s work, including a staircase, meticulously built by hand in the ice cave during the production of the film. In a move providing technical challenges for the 50-strong crew, a larger version of the staircase was recreated during post-production before being merged, using CGI, replicating Bo Bardi’s famed spiral staircase. Continuing the parallels, Julien incorporates Bo Bardi’s signature easels in his film, made of glass and concrete, two elements present in the majority of her work. The way in which Julien’s film will be installed in

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ISAAC JULIEN

A previous commission by Rolls-Royce, Ana Maria Tavares with her seminal Deviating Utopias

Basel continues this representation, as the artist will use multiple screens positioned to draw direct comparison with Bo Bardi’s work. Stones Against Diamonds will be shown on a loop, repeated five times within the hour across the ten screens, each time varying slightly to add an element of surprise for the viewer. Richard Carter, Director of Global Communications, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars said, “The crew travelled to the ends of the earth to find the most beautiful natural components in order to create a piece of moving, dramatic and timeless art. This truly reflects RollsRoyce, where the master craftsmen and women source the world’s finest materials to create rare, unique and exquisite motor cars, which transcend their primary function as a form of conveyance to become works of art themselves.” Isaac Julien, commented on the work, “It was the breadth of Lina Bo Bardi’s creative impulse and egalitarian beauty of her work that moved me to develop a poetic homage on the art and life of Brazil’s most important woman architect. Stones Against Diamonds is the beginning of my exploration of her emblematic architectural designs and innovative curatorial strategies that have inspired me following the centenary of her birth in 2014.” Stones Against Diamonds is commissioned as part of the Rolls-Royce art programme, which draws together the handcrafted elegance of the marque’s

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ART IS NOT WHAT YOU SEE, BUT WHAT YOU MAKE OTHERS SEE.

motor cars with contemporary artists around the world. Internationally acclaimed artists including: Ugo Rondinone, Erwin Wurm, Regina Silveira, Will Cotton, Angela Bulloch and Morgan Wong have featured in the programme. Julien’s new commission extends his ongoing relationship with the marque following an ‘artist talk’ that he gave as part of the Rolls-Royce art programme during Frieze Art Fair London in 2012. Stones Against Diamonds is a prelude to a larger piece that Julien is to complete in 2016, which will meditate on Bo Bardi’s creative production, and will be shot in Italy and Brazil. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, in partnership with the National YoungArts Foundation, will present the North American debut of Isaac Julien’s work Stones Against Diamonds (Ice Cave) during Art Basel in Miami Beach 2015. Isaac Julien is one of Britain’s most important and influential artists. His work is the latest compelling addition to the Rolls-Royce Art Programme, founded in celebration of the marque’s commitment to creating unique, rare and aesthetically powerful motor cars, which transcend the world of conveyance to become works of art themselves. The programme seeks to draw together the handcrafted elegance of the marque’s motor cars with contemporary artists around the world, including internationally acclaimed artists Ugo Rondinone, Erwin Wurm, Regina Silveira, Will Cotton, Angela Bulloch and Morgan Wong. Julien’s commission extends his ongoing relationship with the marque following an ‘artist talk’ that he gave as part of the Rolls-Royce Art Programme during Frieze Art Fair London in 2012. “Isaac Julien is one of Britain’s foremost contemporary artists. His work draws from and comments on a range of disciplines and practices, uniting them to create powerful and entrancing works of art, in this case, a dramatic audio-visual film installation for RollsRoyce,” commented Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. “The

ISAAC JULIEN

Isaac Julien’s Stones Against Diamonds (Ice Cave) set to premier at Art Basel in Miami Beach

origins of our motor cars, commissioned in the same vein, share this spirit. An amalgamation of creativity, skill and the world’s most beautiful natural materials unite to form a timeless piece of automotive art.” Isaac Julien, artist, commented, “On visiting the Home of Rolls-Royce last year, I observed an authentic connection between crafting a Rolls-Royce car and creating an artwork. Both call for highly developed technology and techniques, extreme attention to detail, design and, of course, concept.” He continued, “The creation of this film echoes the endeavour of crafting a perfect motor car. Indeed, my work unfolds as a sort of craftsmanship, in the sense that I am concerned with reaching a level of skillfulness that aspires to represent the century-long traditions of handicraft expertise.” To create the Rolls-Royce commission, Isaac Julien took a film crew of 50 to the wilderness of Iceland, where they filmed for five days in isolated glacial ice caves in the South East region of Vatnajökull. The

I AM SEEKING, I AM STRIVING, I AM IN WITH ALL MY HEART – ALWAYS SEEKING WITHOUT ABSOLUTELY FINDING.

artist interpreted this remote landscape as a metaphor of the unconscious, a place of rich beauty but difficult to access other than through the processes of psychoanalysis and artistic reflection. The work was inspired by a passage from a letter taken from the anthology Stones Against Diamonds, written by the seminal modernist architect and designer, the Italian-born Brazilian Lina Bo Bardi. Julien’s work of the same name explores themes within this text where Bo Bardi admires the beauty of natural elements over precious stones, believing them to be more beautiful, and describing how collecting semi-precious stones helped inspire the architect and designer to rethink design in a most remarkable way. Signature elements of Bo Bardi’s work have left a lasting impression on both international architects and designers. Julien’s film installation incorporates her famed spiral staircase at Solar do Unhão in Bahia, Brazil; the first stage meticulously built on set in subzero temperatures, later continued and then merged

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ISAAC JULIEN

using CGI post-production. Furthering the parallels, Julien includes Bo Bardi’s signature easels which are made of glass and concrete, two elements present in the majority of her practice. Julien references these in both the film itself and in the presentation of his work, where the film is shown on flat screens and supported by concrete blocks. Vanessa Myrie, an actress and performer who has worked on several of Julien’s previous projects such as True North (2004) and Western Union: Small Boats (2007), appears within the piece as a ‘spirit guide’, making reference to the Spirit of Ecstasy, the ornament that adorns the bonnet of each Rolls-Royce motor car. As if sleepwalking, Myrie takes the viewer on a mesmerising journey across a symbolic landscape of glaciers, rocks and black volcanic sands, all glistening like diamonds. Julien uses this to remind us not only of the earth’s fragility – the melting of the glacier which carves out these caves – but also that some of the most beautiful objects are the least precious in a conventional sense. The work will be shown within the landmark Jewel Box at the National YoungArts Foundation campus in Miami. The Jewel Box, designed by Ignacio CarreraJustiz in 1973, features an exterior covered in thick hammered stained glass ‘tapestries,’ and is based on an abstract painting by German artist Johannes Dietz. The National YoungArts Foundation, identifies and supports the next generation of artists in the visual, literary, design and performing arts; assists them at critical junctures in their educational and professional development; and raises appreciation for the arts in American society. YoungArts has been a partner of Rolls-Royce NA since 2014.

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THE AIM OF ART IS TO REPRESENT NOT THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE OF THINGS, BUT THEIR INWARD SIGNIFICANCE.

About Isaac Julien Isaac Julien is one of Britain’s most important and influential installation artists and filmmakers. Born in London in 1960, where he currently lives and works, Julien studied at St Martin’s School of Art. His work draws from and comments on a range of disciplines and practices (film, dance, photography, music, theatre, painting and sculpture) and unites them in dramatic audiovisual film installations, photographic works and documentary films. Julien came to prominence with his 1989 dramadocumentary Looking for Langston. In 1991, his film Young Soul Rebels won the Semaine de la Critique prize for best film at the Cannes Film Festival, and he was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2001 for his films The Long Road to Mazatlán (1999) and Vagabondia (2000). In 2003, he won the Grand Jury Prize at the Kunst Film Biennale in Cologne for his single screen version of Baltimore, and in 2008, he received a special Teddy for a film on Derek Jarman that he collaborated on with Tilda Swinton, called Derek, at the Berlin International Film Festival. Julien has had multiple solo and group exhibitions around Europe, the United States and Asia. Solo shows have included the Pompidou Centre in Paris (2005); MOCA North Miami (2005); Kestnergesellschaft, Hanover (2006); the Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea – Museu do Chiado, Lisbon, Portugal (2009); Museum Brandhorst, Munich (2011); SESC Pompeia in Brazil (2012). Julien’s film Ten Thousand Waves (2010) went on world tour, and has been on display in over 15 countries, including at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2013/14. Isaac Julien is Professor and Chair of Global Art at University of the Arts London. For the 56th Venice Biennale, Isaac Julien has collaborated with curator Okwui Enwezor and has directed a series of performative readings of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital, along with an installation of his homonymous work, KAPITAL (2013). Isaac Julien is Professor and Chair of Global Art at University of Arts London.

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FERRARI NEWS

Ferraris make a total of 18.5 million euro at Villa Erba auction A Ferrari dominated the 2015 Villa d’Este Concours d’Elegance

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FERRARI NEWS

Agnelli’s 166 MM dominates at Villa d’Este The Touring-bodied 1950 166 MM in question has a highly unusual history. Its first owner was none other than Gianni Agnelli who took delivery in July 1950 and sold it two years later to Belgian Viscount Gery d’Hendecourt. The latter subsequently passed it on to the Garage Francorchamps. Having changed its livery to blue, that team launched its competitive career. In the hands of Le Mans hero Olivier Gendebien, the 166 MM won the Coupe du Spa-Francorchamps and the Grand Prix de Spa. In 1957, it changed hands once again, this time going to Armand and Jean Blaton. Driven by “Beurlys” (Jean), it won further races in Belgium and Denmark. The car was then owned for many years by former Belgian former Formula 1 driver Jacques Swaters who took it to classic car exhibitions for the first time as well as restagings of the Mille Miglia and other great races of the past. In 1994, the 166 MM was also shown at the MoMA in New York and then

THE AUCTION AT VILLA ERBA. ON THE SAME WEEKEND, VILLA ERBA ALSO PLAYED HOST TO THE RM-SOTHEBY’S AUCTION AT WHICH FERRARIS MADE A TOTAL OF 18.5 MILLION EURO.

later at the Nationalgallerie in Berlin as an example of Italian car design excellence. In 2012, it was purchased by Englishman Clive Beecham who had its bodywork returned to its original condition to obtain certification by the Ferrari Classiche department. The auction at Villa Erba. On the same weekend, Villa Erba also played host to the RM-Sotheby’s auction at which Ferraris made a total of 18.5 million euro. The car that achieved the highest sale price was the 1952 212 Export Barchetta, winner of several races first in Sicily and later in Switzerland, which changed hands for 6.72 million euro. Other very impressive prices were achieved by a 1963 250 GT/L Berlinetta Lusso (2 million euro) and a 1960 250 GT Cabriolet Series II (1.5 milioni). Even much new Prancing Horse models attracted excellent bids, particularly a 1985 288 GTO which made just under 2 million and a 2002 Enzo which sold for 1.26 million euro.

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LAMBORGHINI: THE HISTORY

AUTOMOBILI LAMBORGHINI

THE HISTORY

Dusk and Dawn: Dynamic Launch of Lamborghini Huracรกn LP 610

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LAMBORGHINI: THE HISTORY

“Give me a Lamborghini, a weekend in the hills and I’ll come back with the meaning of life.” Ladies and gentlemen, the unabridged history of Automobili Lamborghini

The history of ‘Lamborghini Automobili’ officially starts in 1963. Nevertheless, we must consider the far-off roots of this event, and they are the roots of Ferruccio Lamborghini. Born in 1916, this capable, impetuous, strong-willed Taurus was the leading character in the foundation of the company and the early phases of its extraordinary history. By the time he decided to build a factory of luxury sports cars, Ferruccio was already a very wealthy man. In the period following World War II, he founded his tractor factory, which he launched with energy and determination, creating a major point of reference in this industry. Other businesses followed, and he amassed his fortune at the perfect time, before his fiftieth birthday. By the early Sixties, Lamborghini was a powerful and successful man who knew exactly what he wanted, but when he said he would build a super sports car to compete with Ferrari, many people thought he was mad. Constructing that kind of car was viewed as an unexplainable extravagance, a hazardous leap in the dark, and something that would squander his fortune without ever turning a profit. The first model was naturally put out quickly, given that Lamborghini had only a few months between the time he decided to build the factory and the date set for its official presentation. The event that was chosen for this was the era’s traditional rendezvous, the Turin Auto Show scheduled for the beginning of November 1963. Since Lamborghini had a very clear idea of what he wanted, he didn’t waste any time looking for the right people. For the engine, which had to be the best V12 made in the area – and thus in the world – he immediately turned to Giotto Bizzarrini, who had designed some of Ferrari’s most recent engines. For the rest of the car and to start up production, he hired two promising young engineers, Giampaolo Dallara and Giampaolo Stanzani. This was a considerable endeavour and time was short Nevertheless, when the

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350 GTV, was presented it was already a masterpiece. Thus, by early 1965 the coupes from Sant’Agata were starting to be noticed. This was the first, great phase of the Lamborghini company, and one of its most prolific and creative periods. Between October 1965 and June 1966, the company presented an astonishing number of new models. Although cars like the 3500 GTZ (with a Zegato body), 350 Spyder by Touring and the Monza 400 by Neri and Bonacini were essentially prototypes, the seemingly extravagant chassis presented at the Lamborghini stand during the 1965 Turin Auto Show was destined to have a profound impact on the history of the company and on the entire automotive industry. The design of this chassis can be traced to the enormous enthusiasm of the two young engineers hired by Ferrucio to head the technical department of his factory.

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IIN OCTOBER 1967, JUST THREE YEARS AFTER ITS HESITANT DEBUT IN TURIN, LAMBORGHINI ARRIVED AT THE ITALIAN AUTO SHOW WITH AN EXTRAORDINARY LINE-UP.

It was up to Marcello Gandini to interpret Bertone’s ideas, creating a unique and sensational body for the Bologna-built chassis, something that – in its blend of aggressiveness, elegance, originality and class – was to prove unrepeatable: the Miura was born. No one actually knows why it was given this name. Above all, Ferruccio never wanted to disclose why he came up with the analogy to this breed of extraordinary and powerful bulls, a Spanish bullfighting legend. For someone like him, a man who was born under the sign of Taurus and had used this symbol for the proud logo of all his industrial activities, naming one of his cars after a fighting bull must have come naturally. If anything what is surprising is the fact that, in choosing the first name for his first car that would have enormous international impact, he instinctively chose the best and most appropriate name. According to experts, Miura bulls are by no means ordinary animals. They are the strongest of all fighting bulls but, above all, they are the most intelligent and fiercest ones, in the military sense of the word. In their books, bullfighters often talk about the unmistakable gaze of the Miura bull: the gaze of a true fighter, shrewd and powerful. The name was particularly apt and, with just five letters, it was also very immediate. Enthusiasm was sky-high and, in a sensational coup, Lamborghini managed to raise it even higher by bringing the Miura to the Monte Carlo Grand Prix,

LAMBORGHINI: THE HISTORY

the most exciting weekend for sports cars in general and for top-level Italian ones in particular. The orange Miura he parked in front of the Hotel de Paris that Saturday afternoon attract so many oglers that they completely jammed the square in front of the Casino, arousing even more enthusiasm, interest and orders. It was, quite simply, a runaway success. In October 1967, just three years after its hesitant debut in Turin, Lamborghini arrived at the Italian Auto Show with an extraordinary line-up. By this time, the range of cars was truly impressive. Officially, the 250 GT was still available, but it was actually out of production by this time. The golden duo of the 400 GT 2+2 coupe and the Miura galvanised experts, attracting them to the stand of the young Bologna company that, overnight, had become the darling of all car magazines. The prestigious Touring coachwork firm also presented one of its creations at this show, but it was its swansong: the original Flying Star, based on the front-engine chassis of the 400 GT. Once again, the year opened with an extraordinary appearance, and this time the theme â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the brainchild of Bertone and Gandini â&#x20AC;&#x201C; was an amazing four-seater

OFFICIALLY, THE 250 GT WAS STILL AVAILABLE, BUT IT WAS ACTUALLY OUT OF PRODUCTION BY THIS TIME. THE GOLDEN DUO OF THE 400 GT 2+2 COUPE AND THE MIURA GALVANISED EXPERTS.

with a rear engine mounted transversally behind the axle and sensational gull wing doors. The concept of vertically opening doors appeared for the very first time on this exotic vehicle dubbed the Marzal, and in the future this would gradually become the distinctive feature of the top-range Lamborghinis. The Marzal was not destined for production. This did not keep the Marzal from becoming the star of many auto shows

The iconic Miura Jota 1970, part of a line which helped redefined the meaning of the word supercar

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The seminal 350 GT

and being celebrated on the covers of international magazines. And it was even chosen by Prince Rainier of Monaco, with Princess Grace at his side, to open the Monte Carlo Grand Prix that year. Once again, Ferruccio Lamborghini’s flair for publicity proved to be exceptional. Despite the logistical and organisational problems of the period, no one could stand idle. The production lines of the three models (Islero, Espada and Miura) had barely been started up in 1969 when improvements began to be considered. The most important operation undoubtedly involved approving an entire series of modifications, which were effectively required for the Miura, and incorporating them into a single new version. The outcome was the S version, created in November 1968. Its presentation was naturally a must at the Turin Auto Show that year, and the new Miura offered customers a 370-hp engine, i.e. 20 more than the previous version. It also featured electric windows, the whole interior was more luxurious by finished and options included air conditioning (an innovation bordering on the extravagant, at least in Europe) and natural leather upholstery. Lamborghini insisted that it was essential to complement the four-seat Espada and the two-seat Miura with an ‘in-between’ model, a 2+2 that would represent the finest in the arena of the Italian Gran Turismo. Bertone responded with a model that was essentially the stylistic evolution of the Islero, taking up many elements from the Espada and thus – theoretically – a model that would incarnate its idels. This was the Jarama. Despite its chic launch at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show, however, it failed to make the right impression on car buffs. By this time, around the world Lamborghini was considered the symbol of excess, of something that went beyond the philosophy and designs of other automotive companies. When it built reasonable, rational cars that were almost normal, it did not respond to these criteria and thus did not achieve the expected success. The other great project that announced and presented

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BERTONE RESPONDED WITH A MODEL THAT WAS ESSENTIALLY THE STYLISTIC EVOLUTION OF THE ISLERO, TAKING UP MANY ELEMENTS FROM THE ESPADA AND THUS – THEORETICALLY – A MODEL THAT WOULD INCARNATE MANY OF IT’S IDEALS.

The 400 GT

in 1970 was another Lamborghini, but a radically new and ‘different’ one. It was the P250 Urraco once again, the name of a fighting bull. The Urraco featured a 2.5-litre engine specially designed by Stanzani, with single overhead camshaft timing system. It was built to criteria that would permit large scale production (by Italian sports car standards), it had a lovely line designed by Bertone, and – at least on paper – it offered excellent performance at a much lower price than the Miura. The car, thus modified and lightened to weigh just 890 kilograms offered outstanding performance, with acceleration from zero to 100 km/hour in just 3.6 seconds! Externally, the Jota could be recognised immediately because of its streamlined headlamps under Plexiglas covers, the broader wheel housings, particularly the rear ones, the elimination of the grilles on the front hood, the small sliding side windows and the distinctive magnesium alloy wheels. It was an unmistakable, ultra-fast and brutal car, the ideal prelude to Lamborghini’s entry to the world of racing. Unfortunately, the Jota had no follow-up. Nevertheless, the Bologna entrepreneur, who in the meantime inaugurated other industrial activities in the sectors of hydraulics and other components, was not one to rest on his laurels. He continued to spur on his technical staff, who - truth be told - needed no encouragement, in order to introduce a complete range of modifications for the Miura (in part derived from the carmaker’s experience with the Jota), thus creating the definitive and absolute version of this legendary model: the SV, presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 1971. Despite this successful evolution, the SV exhibited at

LAMBORGHINI: THE HISTORY

The Lamborghini 50th Anniversary: Bologna parc fermè

the 1971 Geneva Show virtually went unnoticed, and very few credited it with the importance that, over the years, this nearly perfect version of Lamborghini’s super car would acquire. The reason was quite simple: everyone was distracted by an even more spectacular and extraordinary car that proved to be the true star, not only at the Lamborghini stand but throughout the entire show. It was a car created through a stroke of combined genius by Lamborghini and Bertone, which the company’s trusty deputies Stanzani and Gandini brought to life in record time, as usual. This utterly spectacular model was the LP 500, better known as the ‘Countach’. This was a truly revolutionary car, starting with its line, which was the first thing that left all those who saw it at that Motor Show speechless with admiration. Its sleek and aggressive snout, the flat windscreen connected seamlessly to the front bonnet on one end and the roof on the other, the roof that - in turn continued over the engine hood, forming a single gradual curve that went from the front fenders to the tail panel of the body. This marked an innovative, astonishing and completely new stylistic concept. Once again, Lamborghini upset preconceived notions. The company continued to work at its regular pace. In 1972, the P250 Urraco, the 400 GT Jarama, the 400 GT Espada and the P400 Miura SV were in full production. That year, in an attempt to improve sales that were frankly quite disappointing until then,

THIS MARKED AN INNOVATIVE, ASTONISHING AND COMPLETELY NEW STYLISTIC CONCEPT. ONCE AGAIN, LAMBORGHINI UPSET PRECONCEIVED NOTIONS.

the Jarama hand a 365-hp engine and was dubbed the Jarama S. In 1972, the Urraco, which had experienced several initial slowdowns, was finally put into production. Almost inevitably, the S version also arrived in October of that year. In this case, the goal was not to enhance the car’s performance but to improve its overall quality, which had been neglected in the haste to start production. The following year, while waiting for the Countach prototype to be developed to a stage that would enable its production, the Espada was further modified and perfected, and the new series was presented in October 1972.

The eponymous Ferruccio Lamborghini

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The production model of the Countach was codenamed LP 400 because its V12 - positioned longitudinally behind the cockpit - was increased to an ideal displacement of 4 litres (3929 cc). This model debuted at the 1973 Geneva Motor Show. The Jarama essentially went out of production, and at the 1974 Motor Show in Turin Bertone proposed an intriguing study based on the mechanics of the P300. The Bravo was a wedge-shaped coup with an unusual treatment of the front and rear hood, and the front and side windows were jointed without any visible posts. Lamborghini decided to work alongside Bertone to develop a Urraco model with a removable roof panel. Presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 1976, the Silhouette was an aggressive model with an unmistakable appearance. The Silhouette had the 3-litre 260 hp V8 engine of the Production of the Espada ended in 1978, followed by the Urraco and, lastly, also the Silhouette in 1979. Thus, only the S version of the Countach - the one invented by Wolf - was still in production. There was nothing left to be done except to continue with this extraordinary model, which allowed the company to survive despite the fact that business was shrinking. In fact, between 1978 and 1982, a total of 237 units were delivered. For the purposes of comparison, 158 ‘normal’ Countach

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THE SUPERLATIVE LAMBORGHINI.

LP400s were produced between 1973 and 1977. Bertone still believed in the company, and in 1980 he presented an intriguing study for a completely open car based on the P300: the Athon. The name was intended as a ‘hymn to the sun’, as the car was completely open and had no roof whatsoever, but there was no followup to it. The company slid toward bankruptcy and then liquidation. By 1980, Lamborghini was considered finished.

LAMBORGHINI: THE HISTORY

Lamborghini watch partner Blancpain with L-evolution Chronographe Flyback à Rattrapante

Fortunately, the allure of these cars, flaunting a name that had now become a legend, coupled above all with the absolutely unrivalled aura of the Countach, aroused enormous interest in the company. As soon as it was put up for liquidation, it had a number of admirers lined up to take it over. The judge entrusted the company to two brothers, Jean-Claude and Patrick Mimran, the wealthy owners of a sugar empire in Senegal and, naturally, sports car lovers. The two brothers, assisted by their plenipotentiary in Sant’Agata, Emil Novaro, immediately set out to reconstruct the company. The ‘Nuova Automobili Ferruccio Lamborghini SpA’ company was thus formed in January 1981 and from that moment on, work was seriously underway again. One of the first decisions - an exquisitely technical one - was to hire engineer Giulio Alfieri as the company’s technical director. With this celebrated designer at the helm of the company and loyal staff members Lamborghini went to the Geneva Motor Show in March 1981. It exhibited a Miura, restyled by a Swiss company with debatable results, and the Countach S with its large rear wing. Also on display was the initial attempt to reinterpret the hefty off-road Cheetah, which had been modified extensively to avoid legal action

The stunning Aventador J

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threatened by FMC and was thus dubbed the LM. However, the most tangible and reassuring sign of the new path undertaken by Lamborghini came with the first appearance of the Jalpa. Alfieri increased the displacement of the classic 12-cylinder engine, bringing it to 4.7 litres to crank out 375 hp and thus recuperate the outstanding performance that had been sacrificed to some extent by the tyres and aerodynamic additions. This was the Countach 5000, whose look was virtually indistinguishable from the 4-litre S version.At the same time, work also proceeded on an in-depth technical update of the cars. In 1985, the Lamborghini stand at the Geneva Motor Show presented the new version of the Countach, the Quattrovalvole. On 23 April 1987, ‘Nuova Automobili Lamborghini SpA’ was taken over by the US Chrysler company. The American owners quickly settled in at Sant’Agata and a period of intense activity began, this time in close collaboration with a major automotive industry. The premises were good, although there were a few false steps at the beginning: the prototype of the Portofino. Production of the Quattrovalvole series stopped in 1988, with a total of 631 units. Towards the end of 1987, the French Formula 1 team Larrousse asked Mauro Forghieri, the celebrated designer of Ferrari’s finest models from the

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NEVERTHELESS, THE BEST PLACEMENT OF THE WHOLE SEASON CAME FROM SUZUKI ON HIS HOME TURF AT THE GRAND PRIX IN JAPAN, AS HE PLACED THIRD AND GAVE THE COMPANY ITS FIRST PODIUM FINISH.

Sixties and Seventies, to create a new engine, and he turned to his good friends at Lamborghini with the proposal of embarking on the project together. After obtaining Chrysler’s approval, Forghieri designed his engine, a V12 with a 3.5-litre capacity, the maximum displacement allowed by regulations. Ready within a matter of months, the new engine was officially demonstrated to the public in April 1988. As a result, even a titled team like Lotus requested Lamborghini engines for the following season. Thanks also to this double supply of engines to two teams, the results for 1990 were nothing short of brilliant. At the end of the British Grand Prix, Bernard won an extraordinary fourth place and Suzuki placed sixth. The Hungarian Grand Prix was even more rewarding for the Lamborghini engines, which placed fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively with Warwick (Lotus), Bernard (Larrousse) and Donnelly (Lotus). Nevertheless, the best placement of the whole season came from Suzuki on his home turf at the Grand Prix in Japan, as he placed third and gave the company its first podium finish. This was the best placement ever achieved by a Lamborghini engine in all its seasons of activity.. In the meantime, Lamborghini managed to make significant progress in renewing its model range of road vehicles. In order to celebrate the company’s twenty-fifth anniversary, a commemorative version

LAMBORGHINI: THE HISTORY

of the Countach was produced. The Anniversary was the praiseworthy final version of this glorious car, and needless to say, it was welcomed enthusiastically by customers, who purchased no less than 657 units. The Countach’s successor was presented in 1990. The 132 was dubbed the Diablo, the name of a particularly fierce fighting bull of the nineteenth century, and it proved to be up to expectations. The Countach’s follower could not be a conventional car, of course, and it had to be extreme, spectacular, forceful and uncommon: the Diablo, with its 492 hp generated by a 5.7-litre V12, was all this - and more. Its designer is Luigi Marmiroli. In 1990, the Diablo was presented in the two-wheel drive version, but a four-wheel drive version was already in the wings, and from that point on this would become a distinctive feature of the top Lamborghinis. This version, named the Diablo VT for ‘Viscous Traction’, given the presence of a viscous coupling between the front and rear axles, was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1993. Chrysler’s subsequent sudden decision to sell the Bologna company to a group of unknown Indonesian investors seems far more difficult to explain. This change of hands became official on 21 January 1994, destabilising the company management. Despite these problems, the Diablo was developed

THIS CHANGE OF HANDS BECAME OFFICIAL ON 21 JANUARY 1994, DESTABILISING THE COMPANY MANAGEMENT.

and many collateral models were derived from it, some of which would prove to be very popular with certain consumer ranges. Some of the most interesting were the 1995 SV, a lighter and more powerful model that placed a premium on driving pleasure over comfort, and the VT Roadster with a Targa-style removable roof, which was instantly a hit, particularly in the United States. In the meantime, Luigi Marmiroli left Lamborghini for personal reasons and Massimo Ceccarani took his place. Lamborghini turned to several top-level

Celebrating Lamborghini’s 50th Anniversary in style

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The Countach launched for Lamborghini’s 25th Anniversary

carmakers, including Audi, to request their technical collaboration. The initial idea was to ask for the 8-cylinder engine of the ‘A8’ flagship to power the future ‘baby Lamborghini’, but Audi’s technical staff went back to company headquarters in Germany with very positive reports on the status of the company, its newfound good management and the professional level of the development work being done on its cars. The first letter of intents between Audi and Lamborghini was signed on 12 June 1998, and the contract for the complete and definitive transfer of all the shares from the last Indonesian shareholder to the German company was completed on 27 July of the same year, just 50 days later. The first major innovation came in 2001 with the successor to the Diablo: the Murciélago. It is almost superfluous to point out that this new model was also named after a famous, fierce fighting bull. The fact that this Spanish word actually means ‘bat’ only serves to augment the dark, almost nocturnal magnetism of this magnificent new car. Its power has also been boosted to 580 hp, and this obviously increases its speed, muscle and acceleration. What has been augmented above all is the sensation of the overall quality of the car, with a level of finishing touches that is even better than the already excellent results of the last Diablos. The Murciélago is not destined to be alone, but during the wait for its companion in the Sant’Agata

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THE FIRST LETTER OF INTENTS BETWEEN AUDI AND LAMBORGHINI WAS SIGNED ON 12 JUNE 1998.

model range, several variants have been studied. The first one - and indubitably the most spectacular - is a concept car, a ‘Barchetta’ version presented at the 2003 Detroit Auto Show. The other brand-new item is also being unveiled in 2003, but in this case at the Geneva Motor Show: the Gallardo. It is equipped with a 500-hp 50-valves V10 engine, permanent four-wheel drive and a top speed of well over 300 km/h. Automobili Lamborghini have decided to baptize their latest model with the name of a fighting bull’s breed: the Gallardo (pron.: ga:yàrdo). Designed to redefine its segment as the best high performance sports car and driving behaviour that

LAMBORGHINI: THE HISTORY

THE RESULT IS A COMPACT (LENGTH 4.3 M) 2-SEATER HIGH PERFORMANCE CAR (MAXIMUM SPEED WELL OVER 300 KM/H).

fits its driver in every situation. The Gallardo is the synthesis of a true sports car that can be used on an every day basis. While matching these two apparently conflicting objectives, the guideline for Lamborghini engineers has been to fulfil the necessary comfort requirements without any compromise in the performances expected of a true Lamborghini car. The choices for engine, transmission, space frame and body, suspensions, brakes and electronics are then all in line with such an objective. The result is a compact (length 4.3 m) 2-seater high performance car (maximum speed well over 300 km/h), that can be driven with pleasure both on race tracks and on long distance journeys on country and city roads. Presented as a concept car in 2003 in Detroit where it generated significant interest among Italian

The MurciĂŠlago Roadster was introduced in 2004 and primarily designed to be an open top car

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The 1968 Espada

supercar enthusiasts - the production version of the Murciélago Roadster makes its official debut at the Geneva Show 2004. The engine is obviously the Lamborghini 12 cylinder 60° V, with a displacement of 6192 cc, producing 580 hp (426 kW) at 7500 rpm and a maximum torque of 650 Nm at 5400 rpm. The engine features the Lamborghini L.I.E. electronic engine management system. The standard gearbox is a 6-speed manual, like the Coupé. As an optional feature, a 6-speed “e-Gear” automatic version is available. There is also Lamborghini permanent four-wheel drive on the Roadster, with a central viscous coupling and

Pisa during Lamborghini’s 50th Anniversary

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THE PRODUCTION VERSION OF THE MURCIÉLAGO ROADSTER MAKES ITS OFFICIAL DEBUT AT THE GENEVA SHOW 2004.

limited slip rear and front differentials (45% rear, 25% front). On the occasion of the 2003 Motor Show in Frankfurt Lamborghini shows for the first time a race version of its highly acclaimed super sports car, the Lamborghini Murciélago. Named Murciélago R-GT, Lamborghini is developing the competition car jointly with race experts Reiter Engineering and mother company Audi’s sports division, Audi Sport. The new Murciélago R-GT will offer Lamborghini clients a highly competitive car to participate in professional motorsport events on an international level. With the Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT clients can compete in national and international race events such as the European FIA GT Championship or the American LeMans Series in the United States. The House of the Raging Bull showed the first driveable prototype of the Lamborghini “Concept S” at the Monterey Concorso Italiano and at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in the USA in August 2005. The Lamborghini “Concept S” design study premiered at the previous’ Geneva Motorshow as an extreme and spectacular expression of the Lamborghini brand. It was created at the Centro Stile Lamborghini in Sant’Agata Bolognese by Luc Donckerwolke, who drew inspiration from the classic single-seater racing cars of the past. Two years after the launch of the Coupé version of

LAMBORGHINI: THE HISTORY

kW) at 8000 rpm. At more than 100 bhp per litre, its specific output is on a par with that of racing cars. The new six-speed gearbox has shorter ratios. More specifically, compared to the original version, first gear is 27% lower, second gear is 13%. Third, fourth and fifth gears are all 6% lower, while sixth gear is 3.5% lower. The six-speed gearbox operates with the latest double- and triple-cone synchromesh. January 2006: the House of the Raging Bull brings back a legendary name from the company’s past with the breathtaking “Lamborghini Miura Concept”. The “Lamborghini Miura Concept” will be the first Lamborghini vehicle to be conjured from the talented pen of Walter de’ Silva, Head of Lamborghini Design. de’ Silva’s other design responsibilities include serving as Head of Design of Audi Group. Automobili Lamborghini anxiously begins the New Year with the highly anticipated unveiling of the “Lamborghini Miura Concept,” a modern interpretation of the Lamborghini Miura, currently celebrating its 40th Anniversary. In 2011 the new model V12 was released: the Aventador LP 700-4. It is the successor of the Murciélago and with its unique design and innovative technology package represents a benchmark in the world of super sports cars. In the same year three special series were introduced: Gallardo Bicolor, Gallardo Tricolor, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, the Super Trofeo Stradale, inspired by the Super Trofeo participating in the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo championship, and the Gallardo LP 550-2 coupé and spyder, with rear wheel drive. the Gallardo, Automobili Lamborghini presents the new Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2005. This latest addition brings the marque’s range of supercars to four models. The Gallardo Spyder is not just an open-top version of the Coupé, but is a completely new model. It has an attractive new design and a unique system for opening and closing the fabric roof that utilises the engine compartment to store the folded roof. The Lamborghini Centro Stile and engineers from the Research and Development team have worked in close partnership to develop this new design and to bring these clean and sharp lines on the road. The new Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder is powered by the 90° V-engine familiar from the 2006model- year Lamborghini Gallardo and the Lamborghini Gallardo SE. It is a ten-cylinder unit with a displacement of 4,961 cc and a maximum output of 520 bhp (382

Aventador LP 700-4 in front of the Basilica di San Paolo, Rome

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FERRARI NEWS

Ferrari 275 GTB/C Speciale Excitement mounts for the auction of a Ferrari 275 GTB/C Speciale at Pebble Beach This year there’s an even greater buzz among classic car collectors as the annual Pebble Beach event is due to take place in August and two amazing Ferrari classics, a 275 GTB/C Speciale and a 250 GTO go under the hammer. No values have been set for either of them by the specialists, but the general feeling is that both cars will get near to, or possibly exceed, the record set by other Ferraris in recent years, such as the GTO that went privately for 38.45 million Euros in 2013 or the Testa Rossa that was auctioned in 2011 for 11.91 million Euros and more recently the 1954 Ferrari 375-Plus sold at Goodwood for the equivalent of 13.5 million Euros. The Ferrari 275 GTB/C Speciale was built in 1964 with bodywork by Scaglietti and is one of three built to this specification in Maranello. The magazine Classic Driver called it, “the crème de la crème de la crème” underlining the historic significance of this car, with the GTO as its close successor, built between the end of 1964 and the start of 1965.

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TIMELESS DESIGN

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SCOT T NEAL | +1 912 965 6023 | scott .neal@gulfstream.com | GULFSTREAM.COM G650ER, G650, G600, G500, G550, G450, G280 and G150 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.

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STEINWAY: INSTRUMENTAL ROYALTY

INSTRUMENTAL ROYALTY

BY BRADLEY BAMBARGER

For more than a century and a half, Steinway has handcrafted pianos in New York City, passing craftsmanship down through the generations.

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“They don’t make them like they used to,” goes the refrain. But it cannot be said about Steinway pianos. While most pianos today are mass-produced out of expedience, Steinways are still handcrafted to age-old standards in just two factories: the original in New York and its younger sibling in Hamburg. The process, a commingling of nineteenth-century methods and twenty-firstcentury technology, feels almost as organic as the trees that make up some eighty-five percent of Steinway’s instruments. Master pianist Martha Argerich has said that a Steinway can have a “strange magic,” this percussion instrument that can yield the illusion of legato, of singing. That elusive quality is why Steinways were the instruments of choice for Vladimir Horowitz and Arthur Rubinstein, as they are today for Argerich, Lang Lang and so many other top pianists. The American source of this alchemy is located in the Astoria section of Queens, in an old urban area that was mostly farmland when the facility was first laid out in 1870. First used as a sawmill and foundry — logs were floated down the nearby East River to Steinway’s lumberyard — the facility became Steinway’s lone New York production house in 1956. Visiting it is a heady sensory experience. There is the strong, forest scent of wood left to season in hot, humid rooms as well as the more pungent smells of glue and paint. Then one hears the shearing sound of

wood being cut, the almost-musical thrum of wire being strung, and the pings of repeated strikes on keyboards as pianos get last-minute tweaks in the Selection Room. As you trod the well-worn factory floors, there comes a sensation beyond smells and sounds: an overwhelming sense of tradition. Ron Losby, president of Steinway & Sons Americas (and a pianist himself),

A Steinway grand has between two hundred thirty and two hundred sixty-four strings — between one and three strings for each of the eighty-eight notes

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Maurizio Pollini playing at Steinway’s spiritual home, Carnegie Hall

says that the first time he toured the Queens factory on joining the company in 1987, “it was like voices from the past were speaking to me, voices of great craftsmen, the greatest pianists.” Those voices aren’t just relegated to history, though; even in parlous economic times, the Queens factory remains alive with a craftsmanship that has been handed down and perfected over generations. Steinway & Sons hasn’t been owned by the Steinway family — originally the Steinwegs, mid-nineteenthcentury immigrants from Germany — since 1972, and it has passed through several corporate proprietors since. (The current parent firm, Steinway Musical Instruments, is also owner of this magazine.) But it still likes to bill itself as a family company, and that claim has the ring of truth: among its technicians are brothers working together and fathers who have passed skills on to their sons. There are half-century veterans of the place still on the job, their pride in the work treasured like an heirloom. “When we have our oldtimers dinners every fall,” Losby says, “the room is full.” The 2007 documentary film Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 by Ben Niles featured a rainbow of characters, all technicians in the New York factory. There are immigrant craftsmen (and women) from Croatia and Haiti, reflecting the new sources

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of immigration to Queens in recent decades. But in the technicians’ banter on the shop floor you can also hear the accents of born-and-bred New Yorkers, whatever their ethnic roots. Dennis Schweit played in the factory’s lumberyard as an Astoria kid; now he’s a Grand Finisher, one of the technicians who makes the ultra-fine adjustments that ensure a piano’s hammers line up accurately with the strings. It takes a year to create a Steinway grand, which is made up of twelve thousand parts. The soul of the instrument isn’t just in the hard-rock maple from the Pacific Northwest that goes into making the rim or the Sitka spruce from Alaska used for the soundboard; the factory’s atmosphere is part of the piano, Losby insists: “Environment matters, especially when making a handcrafted product. There’s no way to prove this, but if we took all the materials, equipment and even the workers from this factory and moved them to a new facility, I’m sure the instruments made there would sound different, maybe a little more sterile. And that would not be good for the piano, for artists, for music, for the brand.” More than five hundred eighty thousand Steinways have been built over the years. The facility also restores old pianos to their original specifications; one instrument being worked on just before Christmas was numbered 113,881, meaning it had originally rolled off the line around 1904. The good old days weren’t always so good, of course; the factory is a far safer place to work now. It has modern methods for capturing paint, for example, to keep workers from breathing in particles (something especially dangerous with the lead paint of the past). But there are other amazing bits of history on the factory floor, including an original hand-operated, cast-iron 1870s veneer cutter — an evocative curio and beautiful piece of machinery that now shaves off veneer samples as souvenirs for visitors.

Rim Benders and Tone Regulators

Steinway has registered some one hundred thirty patents, more than any other piano builder. The company is always experimenting with new methods and materials, but the recipe rarely changes. Losby says, “Ninety-nine percent of the research-and-development experiments aren’t used, like the rubber hammers we WHEN ONE PLAYS tried, but the one percent that end up being taken on A STEINWAY, THERE board make the instrument better.” IS A WARMTH AND Some key processes date back to the nineteenth NOBILITY IN THE century. Steinway pioneered the seamless, SOUND THAT IS continuousbent rim, and the rim-bending technique UNEQUALLED BY ANY invented by the company in 1878 is done virtually OTHER INSTRUMENT. the same way today as it was then. Eighteen hardrock maple layers, each twenty feet long, are used for a piano rim; the layers are coated with glue, stacked,

STEINWAY: INSTRUMENTAL ROYALTY

then fused into a single three-hundred-fifty-pound form of wood. A team of five rim-benders (for a ninefoot model D concert grand) bend the wood on a rim-bending press, the massive, piano-shaped vises custom built by Steinway. It’s a tricky race, as the team has less than twenty minutes to shape the rim before the glue begins to dry, with the work demanding not only strength but finesse. Yet some elements of Steinway’s piano-building were only perfected well into the twentieth century, such as the fitting of an instrument’s soundboard to its rim. This used to be done visually, but several decades ago, the factory moved to a laser-guided method that enables a more exact fit, resulting in a more powerful piano sound. Still, anything that has to do with touch and tone remains crafted by human hands. “Our Tone Regulators are as much artists as the musicians who play the instruments,” says Losby. The Tone Regulation Department is where a Steinway goes from being a machine to a musical instrument. Here, each of the eighty-eight keys is adjusted by hand

The New Steinway Spirio line

A PIANIST WITHOUT A STEINWAY, FOR ME, IS THE SAME AS A SINGER WITHOUT A VOICE.

for evenness of tone; the felt-covered hammers are made either harder (by putting lacquer-like solution on the felt — if the note has to be brightened a bit) or softer (using a needle to open up the felt). Mark Dillon, foreman of the department, has been with Steinway for thirty years, working his way through the factory before coming to tone regulation/voicing. “The right tone has a bell-like quality,” he says. “You don’t just hear it with your ear — you feel it in your body.” In the Queens factory, the hammers are made in-house; in Hamburg, they are purchased from subcontractors. According to Dillon, the tonal range of a Hamburg Steinway is “a bit more precise than a New York Steinway, but also a bit narrower. The New York pianos are probably more versatile, so they’re good for rock, jazz or classical music, and they can be tailored a bit more. I think there’s a good sibling rivalry between New York and Hamburg. It’s competitive, but we exchange ideas.” Variations between materials and methods in New York and Hamburg have been minimized over the years. But along with the difference in hammers, the two factories do some aesthetic things differently — square arms [the reader likely thinks of them as ‘legs’ —Ed.] and a standard satin/matte finish for New York models, round arms and high gloss for Hamburg. Sonically, many experts don’t hear much of a difference these days. To longtime Steinwayaffiliated artist Emanuel Ax, the musical differences between New York and Hamburg models have more to do with

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the personalities of the individual instruments than where they are made. Two Steinway pianos made by the same workers to the same specifications using the same materials and tools in the same temperature and humidity “could end up being like salt and pepper,” Losby says. “One could be extroverted and symphonic, one almost shy and intimate. That is the thing about a handcrafted product; each is going to be different.” Anthony Gilroy, Steinway’s director of marketing and communications, says that factory technician and Selection Room maven Dirk Dickten “knows these instruments inside and out, and he can say to you, ‘This is the best piano in this room.’ But I’ve seen an artist come in and reject that instrument right off, falling in love with a different one. The way a piano sounds and feels is very subjective, and every player’s tastes and needs are different.”

Valuing ‘Arcane Mastery’

Steinway pianos are the instruments of choice for ninetyeight percent of the world’s concert artists, according to the company. It is undoubtedly the luxury brand among pianos, with a model B listing for $84,900 and a model D $133,800. Such products tend to take a hit during economic downturns. In 2009, sales of Steinway grand pianos in the U.S. fell sharply, leading to wage freezes and layoffs of, ultimately, about one hundred fifteen workers at the Queens factory, leaving two hundred eighty-eight workers as of January 2011. Output for 2010 was half of the past ten-year average, at about a thousand grand pianos and three hundred uprights. According to Losby, the company resists cutting back on the quality of its materials or the factory’s handtooled processes, as maintaining the Steinway standard remains paramount. “Piano brands like Mason & Hamlin ceased to be great because they started cutting corners on the specifications and materials to reduce costs,” he says, “and you can see what happened to Baldwin when they moved their factory.” Jura Margulis, professor of piano at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and a Steinway artist for twenty years, could scarcely value the time-honored Steinway method more. He came to the Queens factory in spring of 2010 to choose twenty-four uprights, six model M “medium” grands, ten seven-foot B models (the most popular of Steinway’s grands) and one concert D for his school — a $1.5 million purchase Margulis calls “transformative.” He went through about twenty-five pianos to select the ten B models. “Like children,” Margulis says, “Steinway pianos are each unique, and when they are new, they are like babies. It’s not only about what they sound like at first

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WITH A TONE SO RICH, I WOULD NEVER BE AFRAID OF THE DARK. STEINWAY IS THE ONLY AND THE BEST!

— it’s about their potential for growth, the development in their sound. They play in; they grow.” Margulis is an aficionado of piano-building, fascinated by the physics of the instrument. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, he was raised in Freiburg, Germany, and came to the U.S. in 1994 as a student of Leon Fleisher. Margulis’s father and father’s father were concert pianists, with a Steinway always in the house. He often practiced in a piano workshop as a youngster, growing to love the smell. When Margulis toured the Queens factory recently, it only reinforced his conviction that the instruments within it and the way they are made should be treasured. Now, in his Fayetteville studio, he takes his hand off the keyboard of a new Steinway model B and muses, “Just think about the way things have changed over the decades. Even the toothbrush is different now than it was twenty years ago. But these pianos are almost unchanged from a hundred years ago — they were almost perfect machines even then. You realize in the factory that the making of a Steinway piano is this arcane mastery — just like the playing of the instrument.”

FERRARI NEWS

The 290 MM wins at Amelia Island’s Concours d’Elegance A triumphant debut for the car restored by the Classiche department in 2014 The Ferrari 290 MM restored by the Classiche Department at the end of last year has made a triumphant return to competition, winning “The Chairman’s Choice Trophy for the Car Found Most Appealing by the Chairman” at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. Significantly, final approval for the award came from Honorary Chairman Sir Stirling Moss who himself won two races for the Temple Buell team in the 290 MM at the fourth Bahamas Speed Week in Nassau in 1957. Built in 1956 to take part in sports prototype competitions, the 290 MM actually started life as the 860 Monza. Its maiden race was the Mille Miglia in which it competed as an official works car, finishing second overall thanks to the talents of English duo, Peter Collins and Louis Klementaski. In that same year, it also came second in the Coppa d’Oro delle Dolomiti with Olivier Gendebien and Jacques

AT THE END OF 1956, HOWEVER, ENZO FERRARI DECIDED TO REPLACE THE 4-CYLINDER ENGINE WITH A 12-CYLINDER, AND THE CAR WAS RENAMED THE 290 MM. Stirling Moss with the Ferrari 290 MM. “I regret never racing for Ferrari”

Washer as well as third in the Targa Florio, with Hans Herrmann and Olivier Gendebien, and in the AostaGran San Bernardo in the hands of Italian driver, Umberto Maglioli. At the end of 1956, however, Enzo Ferrari decided to replace the 4-cylinder engine with a 12-cylinder, and the car was renamed the 290 MM. It made its debut under that moniker at the Buenos Aires 1000 Kilometres in January during which Wolfgang Von Trips, Peter Collins and Eugenio Castellotti drove it to third position. Eleven months later, it delivered the abovementioned two wins in the Bahamas with Stirling Moss. The following year, the great Dan Gurney delivered a second-place finish in the 290 MM at Watkins Glen and it continued racing until 1961. Years later, the 290 MM embarked on a second career, competing in the classic car races and concours d’elegance. It underwent major modifications after an accident but eventually its new owner decided to send it to the Classiche Department for radical restoration to return it to its original forms.

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Ferrari 488 GTB

extreme power for extreme driving thrills Forty years on from the unveiling of its first ever mid-rear-engined V8 model, the 308 GTB, the Prancing Horse opens a new chapter in its 8-cylinder history

The Ferrari 488 GTB provides track-level performance that can be enjoyed to the full even by non-professional drivers in everyday use. Its response times, nimbleness and on-the-limit driving guarantee a unique sense of exhilaration and unparalleled driving pleasure. The new berlinetta brilliantly encapsulates Ferrariâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experience in both F1 and the WEC, where the 458 GT holds the World Championship title and has won its category in the last two editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The new model also exploits to the full the know-how gleaned by Ferrari technicians over

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the last decade through the XX programme which makes extreme track-only cars available to gentleman test-drivers. The data yielded has made a significant contribution to the refinement of the electronic and vehicle control systems so that drivers can make the most of the incredible performance of this new car. The Ferrari 488 GTBâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new 3902 cc V8 turbo is at the top of its class for power output, torque and response times, making it the new benchmark for this kind of architecture. The engine unleashes 670 cv at 8,000 rpm along with 760 Nm of maximum torque in seventh

FERRARI NEWS

gear and a response time to the accelerator of just 0.8 seconds at 2,000 rpm. These figures are sufficient to allow the Ferrari 488 GTB to accelerate from 0-200 km/h in an astonishing 8.3 seconds and, when combined with the radical innovations introduced on all aspects of the car’s performance, lap the Fiorano track in just 1’23”. The gearbox features Variable Torque Management which unleashes the engine’s massive torque smoothly and powerfully right across the rev range, while specific gear ratios deliver incredibly progressive acceleration when the driver floors the throttle. As is always the case, Ferrari’s engineers have dedicated great attention to perfecting the 488 GTB’s sound, creating a new soundtrack that is full, clear and totally distinctive, as expected from any Prancing Horse engine. The car’s aerodynamics also made a pivotal contribution to performance: its 1.67 efficiency figure is a new record for a production Ferrari, and is the fruit of 50 per cent more downforce than the previous model and reduced drag. The greatest challenge was achieving these two goals simultaneously. Several innovative elements were specifically developed to do so, not least a double front spoiler, base bleed side intakes and, at the rear, active aerodynamics coupled with a blown spoiler. The aerodynamic underbody, which incorporates vortex generators, is highly sophisticated, too. The Ferrari 488 GTB’s subsystems and electronic controls make its power and performance instantly available and controllable. It is, in fact, the most responsive production model there is, with razorsharp response times comparable to those of a track car. The evolved version of Ferrari’s side slip angle control system (Side Slip Control 2 – SSC2) is more precise and less invasive, providing greater longitudinal acceleration out of corners. Aside from integrating with car’s F1-Trac and E-Diff, the SSC2 now also controls the active dampers which renders the car’s dynamic behaviour during complex manoeuvres even flatter and more stable. Designed by the Ferrari Styling Centre, the new car features very sculptural flanks which are the key to its character. Its large signature air intake scallop is a nod to the original 308 GTB and is divided into two sections by a splitter. The wide front spoiler features a double profile to improve the thermal efficiency of the radiators positioned at the sides. At the centre two pylons are combined with a deflector which channels air towards the flat underbody. The broad, low tail is also dominated by aerodynamic

ASIDE FROM INTEGRATING WITH CAR’S F1TRAC AND E-DIFF, THE SSC2 NOW ALSO CONTROLS THE ACTIVE DAMPERS WHICH RENDERS THE CAR’S DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR DURING COMPLEX MANOEUVRES EVEN FLATTER AND MORE STABLE.

solutions, including an innovative blown spoiler which generates downforce without increasing drag. This works in conjunction with an aggressive ramp angle for the diffuser which features active flaps. The greater height required for the diffuser was achieved by repositioning the exhaust tailpipes. The circular LED tail lights have also been redesigned. In the cabin, the seamless integration of the new satellite control clusters, angled air vents and instrument panel heightens the sense that the cockpit is completely tailored around the driver. Usability was the key word in the design, leading to an extremely sporty ambience that in no way compromises on comfort. There are plenty of classic Ferrari styling elements too, such as the clear separation between the dashboard and tunnel, the multifunctional steering wheel, the control switch bridge and wraparound seats. The graphics and interface of the infotainment screen have also been completely redesigned while the design of the car’s new key takes its inspiration from the car’s cylinder banks and allows keyless starts. More than 800 clients from all over the globe enjoyed the privilege of being the first to admire the Ferrari 488 GTB at close quarters. The Prancing Horse’s latest creation will not officially be unveiled until the Geneva Motor Show but has already proven the undisputed star of two evenings at Maranello. The guests were treated to not one but two exclusive experiences. Firstly, they were given a preview tour of the new GES building which itself will be officially inaugurated in the near future. Later, they were taken to the 8-cylinder assembly line on which the 488 GTB is to be built, for the highlight of the evening: the unveiling of the new car. This was followed by a gala dinner. Their hosts for the evening were Ferrari Chairman Sergio Marchionne, CEO Amedeo Felisa and Commercial and Marketing Director Enrico Galliera. Four-times World Champion Sebastian Vettel also made a dramatic entrance at the wheel of a 488 GTB.

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PORTO CERVO

Rolls-Royce returns to Porto Cervo A grand-opening party signalled the official start of the Sardinian season and the opening of the Rolls-Royce Summer Studio at Porto Cervo, Sardinia on the island’s stunning Costa Smeralda The Studio, which first appeared in the summer of 2014, has rapidly made its name as a social hot-spot for the temporary inhabitants of one of the most glamorous and enduringly cool enclaves in the world. The highly contemporary space, secreted into the walls of the Promenade Du Port has proven the perfect setting to relax after a day’s marine sojourn. The Studio has been designed to present customers and guests with a supremely luxurious yet informal setting, more akin to a club or lounge than a traditional

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dealership environment. A fleet of Rolls-Royce Phantom, Ghost and Wraith motor cars are on-hand THE PROMENADE DU should a guest wish to experience a test drive on the PORT HAS PROVEN local coastal roads. A discreetly placed Atelier has been THE PERFECT SETTING added to allow customers to commission a Bespoke TO RELAX AFTER Rolls-Royce motor car should they wish. A DAY’S MARINE As day turns to night, the Studio effortlessly segues SOJOURN. into the cocktail-hour destination of choice for the occupants of the super-yachts during their visit in the harbour. A series of exclusive events, reflecting

PORTO CERVO

Porto Cervo’s standing as a point of convergence for the worlds of art, design and super-luxury have been inaugurated with a talk and showcase by founding partners of architecture, interior and yacht design company March & White, Elliot March and James White, who offered a fascinating insight into the world of super-luxury yacht design. The Studio will played host to an array of exclusive and intimate events in this spirit throughout the summer season, affirming its status as an ambient retreat for well travelled and distinguished guests. Visitors will be invited to see one of a collection of three limited edition Bespoke Porto Cervo Wraiths, created to mark the occasion. Designed to playfully allude to a nautical theme, these motor cars will capture the essence of the island. An exterior of Azurite Blue paint is accented by the distinctive Promenade du Port emblem, appearing not only in the form of an arctic white hand painted coachline, but also found embroidered onto the headrests. A stark arctic white interior provides a contemporary finish with clean lines accented in a cool contrasting navy, offset against open grain Royal Walnut Canadel Panelling, orientated at 55 degrees then carefully book-matched creating a perfect mirror image through the centre line of the car. Sounds of the summer can be experienced in the cocooned cabin of the motor car. Eighteen perfectly balanced and finely tuned speakers are positioned around the interior to ensure occupants enjoy the finest of listening experiences courtesy of RollsRoyce’s Bespoke Audio. The night sky over the marina is echoed in Wraith’s starlight headliner, where 1,340 fibre-optic lights shine

VISITORS WILL BE INVITED TO SEE ONE OF A COLLECTION OF THREE LIMITED EDITION BESPOKE PORTO CERVO WRAITHS, CREATED TO MARK THE OCCASION.

an atmospheric haze over the motor car’s inhabitants. The finishing touch is perfected by an up-lit Spirit of Ecstasy, the iconic figurine who stands serenely on the bonnet of the motor car, casting a gaze over island’s residents.

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