CCC MAGAZINE | THE DESIGN EDITION by classiccarclub

O F F I C I A L

P U B L I CAT I O N

O F

C L AS S I C

CA R

C LU B

M A N H AT TA N

THE DESIGN EDITION

THE 8

Exclusively Distributed by BMW of North America, LLC. ÂŠ2018 BMW of North America, LLC. The BMW name, model names and logo are registered trademarks.

A word...

WELCOME TO CCC, the official magazine of Classic Car Club Manhattan. Collectively, we three have 49 years of running, growing and racing under the colors of Classic Car Club. It has been, and continues to be, a welcome adventure. When the Classic Car Club first opened its doors in 1995, in a seedy back alley in London, we’d usher members in through the front door to show them the joy of driving a 1960s E-Type Jaguar, and share a pack of chips with the drug addicts who assembled by the back door. The start was humble, and this endeavor has been an ever-intensifying journey, riddled with side-street diversions, to our latest iteration, perched on New York City’s Pier 76.

L–R Michael Prichinello, Phil Kavanagh and Zac Moseley. Classics.

The evolution of the club has always been through self-learning, and its success has been hard earned. There’s never been a manual on how to run a private automotive club, because Classic Car Club is the first of its kind. So, our approach has always been to do what excites us to the fullest; not to merely maintain a fleet of excellent cars, but to live loudly through them—to drive them across continents, to race them to the limits of either the machines or ourselves, and to view cars not as conquests themselves, but as a

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FROM THE DIRECTORS

means to an adventure, or as new acquaintances that we’re going to get to know better over many miles, calamities and victories. And despite the rush and thrill of building something on the back of our passions, the most rewarding part of it all is the privilege of sharing our auto-centric exploits with our fellow members at Classic Car Club. The purpose of this magazine is to share the life of a Classic Car Club member to a wider audience, and to explore the eccentric parts of automotive culture that excite us. This inaugural issue focuses on the concept of design—because everything starts with design. Most of the cars that we love first came to exist as sketches on a napkin. Race cars went faster when aerodynamics became an important component of the shape of an automobile, and cars became safer when designers took our families into account. It all starts with design, as does this publication. Keep motoring, Z a c M o s e l e y, P h i l K av a n a g h and Michael Prichinello Directors, Classic Car Club

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CONTENTS

In this issue... A word from the directors ........................................................ 1 Leadfoot: shoe review.................................................................. 6 Sketching the future...................................................................... 8 Griddin’ up with: Jeff Staple ............................................... 14 The rebirth of barrels................................................................ 26 Protect your brain........................................................................ 36

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Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier: from utopian cities to out-there automobiles.

Key moments..................................................................................... 40 20 miles with the Giant Propel Advanced Disc.............................................. 60

#betterspeed...................................................................................... 62

SOUND DESIGN

Wo r l d - r e n o w n e d DJ B r e n d a n Fallis shares his take on music and cars. 2\\

THE 912 PROJECT

Classic Car Club owner Zac Mosel e y ’s Porsche 912 is a labor of love and legend.

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V I S TA S F R O M T H E PA S S E N G E R S E AT

D E AT H S P R AY CUSTOM

We l s h a r t i s t D a v i d G w y t h e r turns cars into works of art.

W A LT S I E G L GOES SUPER

Custom motorcyles are seldom f u n t o r i d e ; b u t w h e n Wa l t S i e g l turned his hand to superbikes, he changed the game.

THE ROAD, THE RIDE, THE POWER

Rarely is a relationship between man and machine as exhilarating as the one between a motorcycle gearhead and a D u c a t i ; t h e n e w P a n i g a l e i s a k e e p e r. //3

ABOUT

BOOK YOUR SEAT NOW. Make your program reservation today for our West Coast facility near Palm Springs, CA, or our original location in the Upstate of South Carolina.

C R E ATI V E & E D ITO R I A L D I R E C TO R Michael Prichinello AU TO M OTI V E D I R E C TO R Zac Moseley E U R O P E A N C O LU M N I S T Phil Kavanagh P H OTO G R A P H E R S Tuukka Koski, Michael Prichinello, Bob Champ E D ITO R Gemma Peckham gemma.peckham@executivemediaglobal.com A DV E R TI S I N G S A LE S E X E C UTI V E S Richard Kirby richard.kirby@executivemediaglobal.com Rick Straface rick.straface@executivemediaglobal.com DESIGNER Abby Schmidt C O N TR I B UTO R S Michael Prichinello, Zac Moseley, Marlon Arboleda, Brett Berk, Fred Harper, Jeff Staple, Vibrazioni Art-design, David Gwyther, Hello Cousteau, Shari Gab, Brendan Fallis, Ivy Brown, Cody Brothers, Walt Siegl, Tuukka Koski, Bob Champ.

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GEAR UP

Leadfoot

NO MATTER HOW MUCH MONEY AND MODS YOU THROW AT YOUR FAVORITE CAR, NONE OF IT MATTERS IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT RUBBER ON THE ROAD. TIRES MATTER. AND THE SAME GOES FOR YOUR FEET. THUS, THE DRIVING SHOE. THIN SOLES AND A DECONSTRUCTED, CURVED HEEL MAKE FOR A COMFORTABLE FEEL BEHIND THE CONTROLS—BUT, MORE IMPORTANTLY, THEY HELP TO COMMUNICATE THE SENSATIONS THAT ARE GOING THROUGH THE CAR AND THE PEDALS, GIVING THE DRIVER MORE CONTROL. THERE’S A PAIR OF DRIVING SHOES FOR EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE AND STYLE FACTOR. HERE ARE A FEW.

TOD’S GOMMINO SUEDE DRIVING SHOE $445

Preferred by the casual driver, this Tod’s driving shoe is great for weekend cruises, coffee runs and not looking like a wanker when you’re not behind the wheel.

$895

Adding to its suite of goods built for the prosperous, Zegna continues its collaboration with Maserati. These upper-crust loafers use an incredibly soft Nappa leather that is woven using an old-world technique to create a look that reminds us of carbon fiber. It’s how the one percent mashes pedals.

ALPINESTARS SUPERMONO RACE SHOE

CONVERSE 1970s CHUCK TAYLOR ALL STAR

Alpinestars have put years of development and research into all of the gear they make for the Formula 1 paddock, and the Supermono shoe is the latest result. This FIA and SFI homologated shoe is extremely lightweight, ergonomic and heat resistant, thanks to its Nomex® lining. The Supermono is made for lap times, not back roads.

Back in the day, the All Star was known as the poor man’s driving shoe. The slapdash sole is rough for running but great for pedal feel, and is a CCC favorite. Danny and Kenickie wore them, and they were pretty cool, right? CCC

$429.95

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ERMENEGILDO ZEGNA PELLE TESSUTA MASERATI DRIVING SHOE

$80

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CONCEPT

SKETCHING THE FUTURE IN THE LATE ’80s and early ’90s, Honda wanted to show its engineering prowess while at the same time giving Ferrari a kick in the grille. The result was the Honda NSX, or Acura NSX, if you’re American or Hong Kongese. The NSX (which stands for “new” “sportscar” “unknown world”) became an instant legend. Recently, Honda resurrected the dormant NSX brand with a whiz-bang car packed with technology, speed and a modern interpretation of that lovely VTEC engine. But the one thing that we weren’t sure about was the exterior design. Yes, it’s sculptural, and yes, it is rather fetching, but Classic Car Club thinks it’s missing something—something NSX, like the long tail proportions of the original machine, and the low-slung spoiler that evolves from the side skirts. To sketch out a Classic Car Club vision of the new NSX, CCC enlisted a young, emerging automotive designer, Marlon Arboleda, who is currently honing his design skills at Pratt Institute. These are the creations from Marlon’s digital pen. CCC

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Carchitecture BY BR ETT BER K

T W E N T I E T H - C E N T U R Y S TA R A R C H I T E C TS F R A N K L LOY D WRIGHT AND CHARLESÉ D O UA R D J E A N N E R E T (LE CORBUSIER) ARE BEST REMEMBERED FOR THEIR REVOLUTIONARY B U I LT W O R K S , A N D T H E I R AMBITIOUS AND OFTEN IMPERIOUS VISIONS OF W H AT M O D E R N U T O P I A S C O U L D L O O K L I K E . Y E T, S C A N T AT T E N T I O N H A S B E E N PA I D T O T H E F A C T T H AT BOTH OF THESE MEN ALSO C R E AT E D R A D I C A L D E S I G N S F O R AU TO M O B I L E S , E AC H A S C O M P L E T E LY D I F F E R E N T FROM THE OTHER AS THEIR PLANS FOR IDEALIZED COMMUNITIES. ONE KEY S I M I L A R I T Y I S T H AT N E I T H E R W A S E V E R M A N U FA C T U R E D .

OPPOSITE Artist Fred Harper’s depiction of Frank Lloyd Wright and his “Road Machine”

right worked for decades on his personal vision for modern housing development. Called Broadacre City, Wright’s fantasia was essentially a diffuse and decentralized suburbia, liberating upscale professionals from the burdens and stressors of urban dwelling by providing them with one-acre plots and single-family homes. This world was bound together technologically and socially by radio and telephone, allowing for practices like telecommuting. But its most salient and requisite means of connection was the automobile. Wright was enamored of cars for his entire adult life. His first, a Model K Stoddard-Dayton roadster, earned the nickname “The Yellow Devil” among disgruntled neighbors in his childhood home of Oak Park, Illinois, because of the high speeds at which he’d drive it around local roads. Despite often espousing everyman principles, Wright worked almost solely for very wealthy clients, and had a predilection for luxury goods that was reflected in his later automotive purchases. These included a 1937 AC Roadster, a 1940 Lincoln, a 1953 Bentley, a 1954 Jaguar MK VII, and a 1956 Mercedes 300B sedan and 300 SL Gullwing Coupe. These last three were acquired through his long-term association with seminal American importer of European cars, Max Hoffman, for whom Wright designed a spiral-ramped Park Avenue showroom in 1955—his first New York work. It has since been demolished,

but the waterfront house that Wright also designed for Hoffman in Rye, New York, still stands. Wright’s core attraction to automobiles was not simply with literal forward motion, but also with the metaphorical sense of advancement and freedom that vehicles represented. Despising density and urbanism, Wright was also drawn to the way that the car was an individual solution to an individual problem—unlike the collective solutions offered by public transportation. Wright did a sketch as early as 1920 for a vehicle that did away with the proportions of a standard sedan of the day. Like his Prairie homes, it had extended horizontal surfaces, beveled geometric forms and a steeply raked roofline. But the prominent feature, and the one that gave it its name— “Cantilever Car”—was a centrally suspended roof that obviated the need for A-, B-, C- or D-pillars, allowing for greater front, side and rear glass. Being of Wright design, this glass was covered in horizontal louvers, like a brise-soleil. Yet, it was in his final iteration of Broadacre City—envisioned in Wright’s 1958 book, The Living City, as a politically progressive, alternative vision for American development—that sketches for Wright’s own vehicle design first appeared. Called the Road Machine, it was as unconventional as a Wright building. Its four wheels were arranged in a diamond configuration, with one conventional wheel in the rear for a tiller-style steering system, one spherical wheel up front to handle balance, and two six-foot-tall “Great Wheels,” connected to the drive shaft

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and mid-mounted motor just aft of the three-across passenger compartment. Large, circular holes in the wheels—like giant Porsche “phone dials”—were meant to leave the driver’s peripheral view unobstructed, as were transparent doors, tall enough for a six foot six person to walk through, unobstructed. That this car was—like some of his architecture—grandiose, impractical, overly complex and iconoclastic without any clear consumer benefit did not stop Wright from touting it in his writings and lectures. But he passed away the year after the designs were published, and, unlike many of his other ideas, it was deemed too difficult to be brought to life posthumously. THE VEHICLE DESIGNED by Le Corbusier could not have been more different in its inception or its activation, largely because of the era in which it was developed—20 years earlier than Wright—but also due to the architect’s temperament and outlook. Le Corbusier shared Wright’s fascination with the automobile, recognizing that the car would be central to modern life. But his utopias were densely populated, if stark, urban landscapes. He not only incorporated cars into his signature designs—raising buildings in his “Ville Radieuse” (Radiant City) concept onto columns to allow for the flow of traffic and parking, and proposing spiraling superhighways to move people about—but he also regularly visited automotive exhibitions, read car magazines and maintained an awareness of vehicular design practice. Le Corbusier was as enamored of exquisite automobiles as Wright was. His most beloved personal cars were a quartet of French Voisins that he owned between 1925 and 1936. Voisins were known for their advanced engineering, lightweight alloy construction and outrageous styling. They were created at the behest of the company’s founder and namesake, Gabriel Voisin, who was an aeronautical engineer and a formative member of the global aviation industry, and a patron of Le Corbusier’s. Interestingly enough,

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ABOVE One of Le Corbusier’s sketches for the Voiture Minimum

one of Corbu’s cars is now owned by famed contemporary architect Norman Foster, and is on display in his foundation in Spain. The Radiant City comes full circle. When the French engineering society announced a design competition in 1935 for the creation of a compact, affordable car that would help to develop the country’s industrial base, Le Corbusier jumped at the opportunity to actualize his automotive obsession. Enlisting the assistance of his cousin and colleague Pierre Jeanneret, Le Corbusier submitted plans for the minimalist “Voiture Minimum.” Though quite compact, the car made efficient use of its space. With its rear-engine design and high bubble roof, it was able to accommodate three people up front, with a fourth, side-facing rear seat that could unfold into a camp bed. The car did not win the competition. But enduring interest in Le Corbusier’s design spawned two full-scale wooden replicas of the Voiture Minimum, both built in the 1980s. The first, made in 1987 by

famed coachbuilder and designer Giorgetto Giugiaro, was featured in the exhibition “L’Aventure Le Corbusier: 1887–1965” at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The second was built in 1989 for the opening of London’s Design Museum. In the 80 years since the Jeanneret cousins produced their design, there has been popular belief—based mainly on hearsay perpetuated by Le Corbusier himself— that the Voiture Minimum predated and inspired other European “people’s cars,” including the Volkswagen Beetle and the Citroën 2CV. Recent studies have revealed that this was likely not the case, showing that Corbu’s concept originated in 1936, not in 1928 as the architect often claimed. Both architects foresaw the permanence of the automobile in modern America, and created their ideal words around it. What remains of their passion for cars are our urban and suburban landscapes, heavily influenced by Le Corbusier and Wright respectively, and blueprints for some of the most unique automobiles to have never been built. CCC

INTERVIEW

GRIDDIN’ UP WITH

JEFF STAPLE Jeff Staple’s story is one of those that you read about from time to time—creative kid, studying their art form and minding their own business, when their work is randomly discovered by an influential buyer. And the rest, as they say, is history.

n the late 1990s, Jeff Staple walked into a boutique in New York City wearing one of his own designs—a silk-screen printed shirt that he’d made at Parsons School of Design. When he walked back out, he had a 12-shirt order and a fledgling business. Running the business from his small Chinatown apartment, Jeff put in ridiculous hours and crazy amounts of work. With the support from small retailers and a chance encounter with Mos Def, the organic growth of Staple Design began; and once it had gathered momentum, there was no stopping it. After years of hard graft, Jeff’s designs caught the eye of sportswear behemoth Nike, which led him to design a commemorative Nike sneaker in 2005 that encapsulated the vibe of New York: The Staple Pigeon Dunk SB. At the time, sneaker culture was emerging from the realm of niche obsessive fandom into the global phenomenon that it is now, and the New York–inspired Nike sneaker—of which only 150 pairs were produced—caused quite a commotion upon its release (a quick search online turns up an original pair of this shoe now being sold for around $9,000). And all of a sudden, Jeff Staple had become an influential figure in streetwear design. These days, Staple Pigeon is, in the company’s own words, a world-renowned brand that reflects the gritty and never-ending energy that New Yorkers (and all urban

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INTERVIEW

LET’S FACE IT: YOU CAN BUY A PAIR OF $10 SHOES FROM WALMART, AND YOU CAN BUY A CAMRY. BUT IF YOU WANT TO GO BEYOND THE “UTILITY” OF THE PRODUCT AND ADD ANY SORT OF REPRESENTATION ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER, YOU’LL WANT TO ADD SOME KIND OF FLAIR dwellers) possess. It has grown a substantial following, wooing the masses with its edgy design inspired by street culture, and extending its presence into music, sport and art. Recently, we rapped with Classic Car Club member Jeff Staple about life, cars and what it means to design things that make the world take notice. IN NEW YORK, PEOPLE THINK OF PIGEONS AS… brothers

in arms! Sure, some people think of them as “rats with wings.” But you gotta respect this bird that survives in the harshest conditions, like we do. This bird can fly anywhere in the world! But he chooses to live here (even with these rent prices!). That hustle and spirit is why I identify myself— and my brand—with the humble pigeon.

WHEN APPROACHING A NEW DESIGN PROJECT, THE FIRST THING I DO IS… ask questions. What are everyone’s

goals here? Inherently, design should solve problems. So, before I even think of the creative, I think of the problem that needs solving. Is it increasing sales? Increasing exposure? Improving quality? All of these things matter. And the answers to these questions will inform the final outcome— which leads to happy customers, which means happy clients. SNEAKER DESIGN IS... the new automobile! People do a lot

of walking in cities now. What you put on your feet for those 10,000 steps each day is a reflection of yourself. Sneaker design has become a part of the daily conversation. SNEAKERS AND CARS BOTH … can be sexy as f*ck. Let’s face it: you can buy a pair of $10 shoes from Walmart, and you can buy a Camry. But if you want to go beyond the “utility” of the product and add any sort of representation about your character, you’ll want to add some kind of flair. And from there, the sky’s the limit.

THIS YEAR, STAPLE THE BRAND TURNED 20. FOR TWO DECADES… I have been working my ass off. I think the

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most important element to my success is that I didn’t just work on the product—I worked on the culture, too. The culture today is exploding. And while I am very proud of all the great products we’ve made, I’m more proud of where the entire culture has evolved to, and that I can still be an architect of that. FOR OUR 21ST YEAR… Age ain’t nothin’ but a number. I began this brand with the idea of longevity. Not in years, but in generations. We’re planting seeds so that decades and centuries from now, people can trace their steps back to this era and say, “Staple, man… If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be standing here today.” CCC

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CLASSIC

The 912 Project

T H E P O R S C H E 9 1 1 I S T H E L O N G E S T- R U N N I N G S I N G U L A R E V O L U T I O N O F A S P O R T S C A R I N H I S T O R Y. S I N C E D AY O N E , I T â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S B E E N A P R O P E R SPORTING MACHINE MADE FOR CORNER SPEED FIENDS. B Y Z AC M O S E L E Y I M AGE S M IC H A E L PR IC H I N E L LO

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t’s a machine that, in spite of its rear-engine architecture, achieved the impossible while forcing the hairy-chested men who raced it to adopt completely new methods of driving. It’s also a pure mechanical thing—mastering its operation requires time and patience. Early 911s are agricultural, with unassisted brakes and steering, floormounted pedals that require you to drive with the balls of your feet, and a spindly shifter that shows where the term “rowing through the gears” comes from. It’s difficult at first—frustrating, even—but when you master the machine, you are rewarded with a level of thrill and satisfaction that you just can’t get in a modern car. I’ve always enjoyed old mechanical devices, but my bond with the early 911 reached a new high early one fall in Classic Car Club’s ivory-white 1969 Porsche 911. It was during a variant of the famed Classic Car Club member event that we call the “Autogasm,” where we take a group of members in modern sports cars and supercars through the twistiest roads of Harriman State Park. This rally was different, though. It was the “Slowgasm,” where we do the same trip in vintage sports cars. After a

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particularly demanding summer, the tried and true, aircooled 911 was one of the only vintage sports cars still working and up for the drive. With several of the other classic sports cars in the automotive infirmary, we had to pull out a few “modern classics” to take their place. So, our humble 2.2-liter 911 joined the likes of some proper fast sports cars— a 2007 Porsche Cayman S, BMW E30 M3, Shelby Cobra and more—with me in the lead in our newly acquired 394 brake horsepower BMW E39 M5. In this context, among cars that make spirited driving seem easy, the mechanical mastery that is required to pilot the 911 seemed like a lot of hard work, and after a few sessions, the members asked if they could give the E39 M5 a go. After lunch, I settled in behind the wheel of the 911 and attempted to set a pace that wouldn’t put the members in faster cars behind me to sleep. Hustling the 911 along at that pace took every ounce of concentration I had, and it brought to light all of the motorsport heritage at my fingertips. Those floor-mounted pedals tip backwards, literally keeping you on your toes as you drive. The gas pedal angles down under the brake pedal; balance the ball of your foot on the brake with a firm

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ABOVE Rough on the outside, but the engine sparkles.

ONE Patina abounds. TWO The original radio is charming, but doesn’t work. Speakers were removed for weight savings. THREE The original wheel reminds the driver of the 912’s history.

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squeeze, dip the clutch, grab a lower gear and mash your heel into the base of the gas pedal to bring the revs up... Yes! That’s what they mean by heel-toe shifting—a now rarified art that doesn’t translate in modern cars, where you’re actually rolling your foot from the brake to the gas to match your revs. Rowing through the gears also brings a new level of appreciation for the pure motorsport purpose behind the design of the 911. Early 911s have a dogleg five-speed gearbox, so first gear is down and to the left, and second and third are aligned. The reasoning for this became perfectly clear as I had to downshift from third to second dozens of times to keep the revs up through the corners around Bear Mountain. While I have gained a lot of experience behind the wheel in my 13 years at Classic Car Club, I still rate myself as only a few ticks above average in the world of enthusiast drivers. I can get around a racetrack predictably, but I’m not taking the podium on a regular basis; however, after a few stints leading in the 911, you would have thought the spirit of Ayrton Senna was in my shoes. Members who had struggled to keep the 911 going earlier in the day emerged from the fast machines behind me and asked, “How are you doing that?” I told them it was all about getting control of the machine, keeping momentum and finessing it through corners. Eventually, I had the group taking shifts in the passenger seat to see firsthand how this lowly 130-horsepower car

could go through its paces. Driving or riding along in a 911 of this era at speed is a crash course in motorsport history and car control. A few weeks later, with that drive still on my mind, I found myself flipping through my eBay feed while watching Exit Through the Gift Shop on a Saturday night. A hot-rodded, ’67, six-cylinder 912 with widened steel wheels showed up, ending in a few hours, with the reserve met at $19,000 and no one bidding. I made a note of the end time, lazily threw in a bid at the last minute, and the car was mine. I knew nothing about the car’s history, but everything about it told the story of it being a period hot rod: an early 2.0 six-cylinder—a likely transplant in the first decade of the car’s life—steel Carrera flares, widened steel wheels, a rare Momo Formula 1 Enterprises wheel, 911R-style buckets, and a roll bar were all indications that the car was the product of an early ’70s racer. Suspension was dropped to a purposeful level, with fiberglass front and rear hoods and bumpers. The seller couldn’t tell me much other than that he had recently pulled the car out of storage, serviced the carbs and brakes, and got it running; he said that the steering rack had some play, but he’d throw in a new one. Ratty and purposeful, it looked perfect to me. When it rolled off the truck, I had a spirited but white-knuckled experience driving the 912 back to Hudson Street from Jersey City. As we would expect with any older car that hasn’t seen recent use, the bushings were shot, the

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I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT THE CARâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S HISTORY, BUT EVERYTHING ABOUT IT TOLD THE STORY OF IT BEING A PERIOD HOT ROD: RATTY AND PURPOSEFUL, IT LOOKED PERFECT TO ME. 03

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brakes were questionable, and the steering was loose. Also, the purposeful stance combined with low-profile front tires gave almost no clearance on city streets before the control arms would scrape the ground. That said, other than a bit of rust from the inside out around the battery tray in the front suspension pan, the car was solid and clean. The goal for this 912 rat rod was to make it the ultimate car for the trip through Harriman that I had led in our ’69 911. Light, fun and purposeful. Strip out anything that’s not needed, dial in handling first and worry about power later—and then only if it’s absolutely needed. We took on the rust first, stitching in a new suspension pan to give a solid base for upgraded suspension. Next came a full kit from Elephant Racing with poly and bronze bushings, heavier torsion springs and shocks, adjustable sway bars, and a triangulated front chassis brace. New rubber, gutted doors and plexi windows, and we were ready to go. And boy, did it go! Surprisingly so, because when we tried to give a final push on the tune, we found that it was only running on five cylinders, with a blown head gasket on one cylinder, and burning more oil than fuel.

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With motor work on the horizon, I briefly considered an upgrade to a late ’80s 3.2 with fuel injection for more power and reliability, but the more time I spent with the car, the more I fell in love with the raspy howl of the early motor. We decided to stick with the original format, so we shipped it off to Bob at European Performance Center and kicked around some ideas. Clean up the heads, upgrade the cams, get the Carrera chain tensioner for longevity? Sure... but how about 2.7 pistons and cylinders to make a highrevving, torquey 2.5 short-stroke? Now we’re talking! The result is pure motorsport; the car pulls hard and wails happily up past 7,000 rpm. The best part is how it revs: when you nail the perfect (and, in a Porsche, anatomically accurate) heel-toe downshift, the revs pop up immediately with the kind of sound that you thought only existed in the movies. While a true labor of love is never complete, the 912 is ticking all the boxes of my original goal. It’s taking every aspect that I enjoyed in our original 911, and turning it up two notches. It’s now a pure, connoisseur-level Porsche experience, and one that brings you back to the beginning of the most legendary sports car in history. CCC

ABOVE Steel wheels intimate that the 912 is all business.

ONE 912s get readied for conversion. TWO Step one: the strip show.

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V I NTE C H R E M I X E S TH E 9 12

01 02

Drive 30 minutes south of Los Angeles to Hawthorne, California, make a right at the big Space X rocket, and you might just see a clutch of French gentlemen drinking red wine at a picnic table outside a nondescript, single-story brick building. You just found Vintech LLC. Founded in 2012 by D3 Groupe expats Frederic Robin and Thomas Fleuret, Vintech is a hot little design shop that takes the objects you know, and makes them better. This building of two dozen car designers pumps out rarified design services for the big boys, like Mazda, BMW, Cadillac, Lucid Motors, Renault, Arch Motorcycles and others. Vintech is named for its love of the marriage between vintage forms and modern technology, and its latest in-house project embodies this premise perfectly: the Vintech 912. “After a few years of driving my 1969 912 LWB, I thought it would be good to offer Porsche lovers a new toy to play with,” says Fleuret. “The 912 was born from a marketing idea—to sell 911 cars to original 356 buyers who were disappointed by the new mechanical package offered by their favorite brand. But, I thought, why should a flat four be that slow and boring?” Good question! To spice things up, Vintech collaborated with Remmele Motorsport to punch the engine up to a fuel-injected, 3.5-liter flat four that produces 300 German horses. A trick, Mendeola five-speed sequential gearbox puts the power to the wheels, and Elephant Racing GT3 coilover suspension keeps the steering telepathic. Carbon drips inside and out to keep the weight down. Wrapping the mechanics and futuristic interior is a classically beautiful narrow-body 911 shell sitting atop beefy eight-by-17-inch carbon wheels by BST. Fleuret says he believes that the Vintech 912 will appeal to 911 collectors that are weary of seeing the same, backdated air-cooled creations; as well as the non-Porsche population that finds joy in the more elegant classics—say, E-Type Jag enthusiasts—who would love to drive a faster, more agile Porsche than a widebody, shouty 911. Vintech is producing 12 Vintech 912s—clever. Chassis one through four are already claimed. Get yours before they’re gone.

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B E R K S H I R E H AT H AWAY H O M E S E R V I C E S – # 2 I N T H E C O U N T RY

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T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

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The rebirth of barrels WHEN IN THE PRIME OF THEIR LIFE, OIL BARRELS ARE THE UNSUNG HEROES OF THE G L O B A L E C O N O M Y. D AY A F T E R D AY, E A C H O N E S A F E LY T R A N S P O R T S 5 5 G A L L O N S O F C R U C I A L B L A C K G O L D T H AT P O W E R S E V E R Y T H I N G F R O M I N T E R C O N T I N E N TA L J E T S A N D D ATA N E T W O R K S T O L A W N M O W E R S A N D 1 9 6 8 E -T Y P E J A G S . E V E R Y D AY, MORE THAN 80 MILLION BARRELS OF CRUDE OIL ARE PRODUCED AROUND THE WORLD, AND AN ARMY OF B A R R E L S S TA N D R E A D Y T O D E L I V E R .

BY M ICH A EL PR ICHINELLO

ut what happens when a barrel is decommissioned? The large majority of them wind up in some field to slowly rust back into the earth from which they came. A few luckier barrels get converted into barbeques, or steel drums that bang out calypso tunes for drunken Caribbean tourists. But the luckiest barrels? They go through a more thorough transition. Two men in Italy in welding masks cut, bang and burn them into the most whimsical colored motorcycles, furniture pieces and cars—straight out of a Mad Max technicolor dreamscape. This is Vibrazioni Art-design—an Italian design firm whose creations straddle the line between fine art, design and function, all crafted from the cold steel of discarded oil drums. “Our obsession starts from far away, and is driven by a great passion for everything that represents pop art and those artistic concepts that find their foundations in pop art,” says Alberto Dassasso, co-founder of VAD.

OPPOSITE Classic Car Club stools stay straight when members get tipsy.

T HE ART DE F I N I T E LY POPS When Classic Car Club transformed a municipal horse stable into its American flagship auto gallery and clubroom, it tapped Vibrazioni Art-design to transport its love of cars and design into the space in unexpected and obscure ways. The result was a bar outfitted with a kaleidoscope of stools,

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T R A N S F O R M AT I O N

ONE Like Daft Punk, but with plasma cutters. TWO The Fiat 4 2 1 Vibrazioni. Angry. Awesome.

ONE, TWO and THREE Concept sketches of the Fiat 4 2 1 Vibrazioni

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tables and lighting fixtures that profess the club’s love of combustion. A subtle message, delivered vibrantly. Motorbikes and benches are one thing, but the radicals at VAD have recently upped their own ante with their latest aspirations—Project Fiat 4 2 1 Vibrazioni: a postapocalyptic iteration of the Fiat 124 Abarth rally car. Born as a collaboration between two composite material masters, NCS and VAD, Project 4 2 1 is a limited collection of one-off Abarths constructed from a mix of old, weathered oil barrels and futuristic carbon extensions. Nearly every interior and exterior detail has been modified. This is more than a collection of bolted-on body panels. “Project Fiat 4 2 1 Vibrazioni is not just a simple aesthetic project ending in itself,” explains Dassasso. “All

of our products, especially our bikes, must give the feeling to those who ride them of a superhero crossing space and time in a not completely realistic situation. We do it through the emotions that the pleasure of the riding or driving experience can transmit.” Consequently, the aesthetic kit, which adjusts the standard shape of the 124 but without massive distortion, couples nicely with the promise of performance under the bonnet. The kit has a custom reinforced chassis with full-blown racing suspension, and a worked engine that develops 300 horsepower instead of the standard 170–180 range that the car comes equipped with. The resulting design? The Fiat 4 2 1 Vibrazioni looks as wicked as it does naughty, and we’re booking our flights to Bologna the minute the last bolt is tightened for first dibs. CCC

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THE LOOK

BY GA RY IN M A N

THE CURSE OF

DEATH SPRAY CUSTOM

“I

f an artist paints something, does that necessarily become art? If you put a Honda Fireblade in an art gallery, it’s just a Fireblade in an art gallery. But if you put it upside down it’s art, because it’s saying something. It’s asking questions. That’s art in a nutshell: it asks questions, rather than giving you answers.” Forty-six years on the planet and I finally have a cutout-and-keep definition of modern art—and it came out of a discussion about a convertible Jaguar E-Type. Welsh artist David Gwyther, also known as Death Spray Custom, or DSC, is discussing his art in relation to this V12, which is one of his most iconoclastic works—a mint E-Type that he has decorated with Tic-Tac logos, among others. “There are things I do that are absolutely not art, and there are things that 100 percent are art. I’m cursed in that my method is also a service. You could say that pin striping

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is an art, but really, it’s a craft. You see descriptions of the art of tattooing, but is it an art or a craft? If you’re painting a crash helmet with a pattern, is that asking any questions? No, it’s just pretty. But if you made the helmet out of paper and then painted it, you’d be asking questions about what the piece is and what it means. I definitely think that a lot of my work is craft, and my less-popular, less-likable works are art—and that’s what I want to do more of.” Death Spray Custom has been mashing motorsport and art for 10 years, blurring the distinctions between fine art and customization like Haring, Lichtenstein, Von Dutch, Richard Prince and others did before him. Styles and medium differ, but a regular theme is the invention of mythical race liveries that blend actual company identities with subversive, imaginary mega-corporations. “For me, logos are like emojis,” Gwyther says. “Some are pleasing, some make you shrug; but put these things together, and it creates a combination that you wouldn’t

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normally get. It’s like the bonnet art [DSC’s 2011 exhibition, Delight & Destroy]—when someone says, ‘I like that one, because it’s got Dior on it,’ but it’s next to an Exxon logo. That’s the point of it—referencing sponsorship and branding. What does it mean?” The Tic-Tac Jaguar was a commission by an admirer of DSC’s work who wanted his Day-Glo orange E-Type reinvented. “There were two directions to take: the first was a pattern to fill the whole car, no logos, with my signature style of a disruptive pattern,” Gwyther says. “The other option was how it ended up, with logos and motorsport heritage. I worked through different themes, and ended up with a weird blend of brands and identities—things coming together to pose questions like, ‘What is this? Is it real?’” Gwyther grew up watching world-championship rally cars spit flames at the sodden Welsh countryside. His statement, “My first toy car was a John Player Special Ford Escort RS2000,” firmly plants him as a child of the

1970s. He is not an arriviste who has crammed, cherrypicked and referenced motorsport history for a solitary exhibition. Perhaps if he were, the nagging distinction between customizer and artist wouldn’t feel like such a burden to him. “The style of my work is ’80s, ’90s analog, before computers took over—very basic,” Gwyther explains. “Objects of desire for me are Randy Mamola’s helmets and Freddie Spencer’s leathers. You can see that they’re handdrawn and almost handmade. I’m trying to use that same style, but it’s hard to make it look so basic and plain. The Jag is as minimal as you can [get] on a car [while trying] to create a striking effect. It’s all you could do by hand in those days [when the car was contemporary]: a few colors and a few lines.’ While this E-Type was created for a private individual, other recent DSC work has been widely disseminated by Ken Block’s Hoonigan media guerrillas.

ABOVE The “Tic-Tac” Jaguar E-Type that DSC designed for a private collector

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THE LOOK

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ABOVE DSC’s bonnet art challenges viewers to question sponsorship and branding.

ONE Look good, even if you can’t see where you’re going. TWO 12 cylinders of filth. THREE Dave breaks for a fag.

“The Ken Block car was designed on a computer, and it was wrapped, because it’s painted on lightweight bodywork that is expected to be destroyed at every round,” says Gwyther. “But I designed it so I could have painted it myself, as well. The [Block] designs before mine were incredibly detailed, and couldn’t have been painted by hand in the end.” DSC designed car, suit and helmet liveries for Block’s World Rally and Gymkhana Ford Fiesta shenanigans, then created a one-off 1990s RS Cosworth Turbo, which Block rolled and demolished on its second time out. Rather than shed a tear, Gwyther smiles. That is the perfect ending for a DSC work of art—disappearing into a hillside in a cloud of mistimed enthusiasm and regret. The first full car DSC ever created was a Chevrolet Silverado NASCAR truck for Nelson Piquet Jr. It, too, was destroyed, in its first race, at Charlotte in 2012. The Tic Tac E-Type is unlikely to ever appear at

Goodwood, on the Gumball Rally or even in a pub car park. “The fact that the car is going to disappear and never be seen again is equally as enjoyable [as if it were available to view],” says Gwyther. “I wouldn’t want it to sit in a showroom, like a caged bird, and have fingers on it. There’s talk of a second version—a competition version—but it’s still to be confirmed.’ Whether DSC’s work is craft or art can be debated, but what can’t be is the skill and time that is involved. Gwyther doesn’t oversee a Warholian factory. He works by hand. Solo. “Apart from the mechanical disassembly and assembly, which I got a couple of trusted guys to do for me, everything else was me: the sanding, the painting, the polishing—it’s all my hands,” he says. “The line you’re looking for is by the artist Tom Sachs: ‘You make it till you make it.’ I haven’t made it.” That’s another opinion we could debate. CCC

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THE LOOK

PROTECT YOUR BRAIN AND LOOK GOOD DOING IT

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uno Henriques, otherwise known as Hello Cousteau, is an interior designer who, as of late, has been applying great designs to riders’ and drivers’ heads. His canvas is one of our most treasured objects: the crash helmet. Helmet design has changed very little over the past 30 years. Motifs are used and replicated more times than Valentino Rossi laps Misano. Stripes running from front to back, sparkle paint and some kind of tribal design that can still be found on RVs is motorsport design de rigueur. Then there are helmets designed by Hello Cousteau. They’re modern, graphic and downright stunning. His work is a reference to motorsport of the ’80s and ’90s, and pop culture cameos abound in the form of Super Mario, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Big Bird. Got brains to protect? Make them look good. Classic Car Club spoke with Hello Cousteau about his passion for design.

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THE LOOK

W H AT M A K E S T H E H E L M E T S U C H A G R E AT P L AT FO R M FO R D E S I G N ?

A helmet, a car, a wall, a piece of paper—anything is a great platform for design. I’ve chosen helmets because of a need. Some years ago, I was looking for a new helmet of my own, and after browsing a lot of shops and websites, I couldn’t find anything I liked. All of the helmets looked the same: overdesigned and with terrible taste. Unfortunately, I don’t fit the crew that digs caricatures everywhere… I had to find “my own” helmet. This is how Hello Cousteau was born.

W H AT R AC E L I V E R I E S T H R O U G H H I S T O RY I N S P I R E YO U M O S T ?

Anything between the ’70s and early ’90s. You take a look at those cars and bikes and say, “Wow!” So simple. So effective. Car and motorcycle liveries these days are terrible— so complicated. So disposable. So forgettable.

A R E T H E R E F E R E N C E S YO U R E C R E AT E I N YO U R WO R K M E A N I N G F U L T O YO U R C H I LD H O O D?

Of course! Most of my ideas come from my infancy. My older brother—unfortunately no longer with us—who was 10 years older than me, fed me all kinds of racing stuff: MotoGP, motocross, F1 and rally racing. I grew up with Porsche and Lamborghini posters on my bedroom walls. Senna, Piquet, Mansell, Prost, Rainey, Kocinski, McRae, etc. were my “Pokémon” back in the day. I guess my approach to designing helmets comes a lot from my first years as a living human being.

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W H AT ’ S WITH THE NA M E ?

Haha. I had to find a name! I wanted something related to design, yet at the same time something related to nature. So, I thought about my very first recollection of “design” as a word—in this case, fashion design; I remembered JacquesYves Cousteau’s red beanie! When I was a little kid, I used to watch his documentaries every Sunday in my grandparents’ house. Again, we’re back at my childhood days…

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W H E R E D O YO U F I N D YO U R I N S P I R AT I O N ?

Inspiration comes from everywhere. I’m not trying to force myself to design helmets. If an idea pops up in my head, I usually try it. Eighty percent of the time—or more!—it’s rubbish. I erase more stuff than I create. Like I said before, I get a lot of inspiration from my childhood days. I don’t read design books or magazines, but I take inspiration from science and biology books. Nature can pretty much give you infinite forms, patterns and colors. I try as much as possible to not get inspired by someone else’s work.

WHAT OTHER FORMS OF DESIGN ATTRACT YOU?

I’m an interior designer. In college I studied industrial design, and I also worked as a product designer. So, I can pretty much say that everything design-related attracts me, yet I avoid reading design magazines and books. I really like things that present you with something completely new and fresh, either in art—like Basquiat or Rothko—or in music—like Ryuichi Sakamoto or Miles Davis. My eyes, ears and mind are always open to everything. I also really dig 20th-century furniture, lighting and interior design, especially names like Charlotte Perriand, Franco Albini, Jean Royère, and Jean Prouvé.

W H O WO U L D YO U LI K E T O SEE WEARING A H E L LO C O U S T E AU H E L M E T O N T H E G R I D?

Tough question. I don’t watch F1 anymore, and MotoGP only sometimes. But I’d say in motorcycles, Dovizioso, Crutchlow, Viñales or Oliveira. In F1, probably Raikkonen or Ricciardo.

W H AT C A R FROM THE C L A S S I C C A R C LU B F LE E T WO U LD YO U LI K E TO R E D E S I G N ?

Easy! The Lancia Delta Integrale. One of the most beautiful cars ever! CCC

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I N N O V AT I O N

KEY MOMENTS ABOVE The simplest things are usually complicated.

YO U ’ R E 1 6 . YO U ’ V E A R R I V E D. YO U D O N ’ T K N OW A N Y T H I N G A B O U T A N Y T H I N G . B U T YO U ’ V E F I N A L LY G OT S O M E W H E E L S . BY SHARI GAB

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IT’S MORE THAN just a car, and it’s signified by one

tangible item: the key. That dangle, dangle, jingle-jangle flying across the room into your ignorant palm—that’s the ticket to your first taste of freedom. So why don’t companies put the love—the devil, so to speak—in the details? You invest in a quarter-milliondollar Lambo and the key feels like shit. Rolls-Royce, BMW, Mercedes—their keys are quack, mass-produced pieces of plastic. Formawerx—a design studio based in Orange County, California—aims to change that. The Formawerx team was just a handful of fellas who met after art school in Pasadena with a common goal—to design the future automobile. And, by grace, they landed the jobs that could make those dreams come true. The plum ones with the likes of BMW, Porsche and beyond. They had arrived. And they didn’t know anything about anything. But they knew they were as bored as the day is long. The idea of these on-paper, big-wig pedestals had been romantic for the guys. But in actuality, it was heartbreak. The money and the politics of it all was hard to swallow. They started to lose hope. And, confronted with how little impact their passion and their creativity would actually have on the future of automobile design and culture, they leapt. They left. It took some stones, for certain. But, hey, we’re not our parents’ children. So Daniel Chae, Joel Ness and Edward Tseng started their own studio. And there, they took a step back from creating a whole ride and focused on that first tangible emotional connection to cars: the key.

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And what better icon to begin with than possibly the most identifiable curves in the game—the lines of the 911? They started where they had a passion, with a goal to capture a philosophy—a legendary symbol boiled down to its essence in micro-reflection. But passion will only get you so far. For refinement, it takes a lot of late-night work… and a lot of coin. So, Daniel Chae sold his beyond-beloved Porsche 930 to fund the project; traded a real dream for a pipe dream. And now, with a little loot in hand, the team quickly found out why keys hadn’t been tackled properly. It was fucking hard. Like a Swiss watch, keys won’t function unless every millimeter is perfect. Their first brass prototype began to bend. OG Porsche keys were cut out of steel. But with the tools the Formawerx team had available to them in those early stages—well, cutting brass versus cutting steel was like the difference between cutting butter with a kitchen knife or trying to carve the bust of David from a singular block of ice with one. And again, the expense. To be honest, they gave up for a little while. But for the sake of this piece—which, so you know, is a success story—we’ll call it a recess. This recess lasted until a design manager at Mercedes caught wind of the project and said, “You have to do this.” And sometimes that’s all it takes—just one person who believes in you—for you to remember to believe in yourself. Because turning an idea into a reality is, in this humble writer’s opinion, about the most human thing we can do. And embarking on such a journey is like walking down a long hallway of closed doors, until you come to one that’s hinged open, even just a crack. Those open doors tend to lead to other open doors, which was most certainly the case for Formawerx.

Thus, the team found itself connected to a contractor for the Department of Defense. This fella was a master of ultra-precise. Think military jet precision. Think firearms. They can’t chip. They can’t wear. They must be indestructible. And jobs with that kind of caliber are the only ones he’d ever be willing to pony up for. So, he was keen to assist Formawerx to achieve the exact tolerance of the old-school Porsche keys. They were now in pursuit of perfection. The result is keys that are not even .01 millimeters off. They’re not painted. They’re not ionized, but PVD coated— the same coating used on all luxury watches. And the product is perfection. A straight-six Porsche key harking back to the days of old. Reborn. Was it worth the 930 trade-off? Selling it was a travesty, Daniel Chae recalls. “It wasn’t a car that would appear to be nice to anyone but me,” he says. Caged, track-ready. It was reliable, but you couldn’t be afraid to drive that car. Like a shark does with blood, this car would smell your fear. To drive it was a visceral experience, from starting the engine to turning the wheel. It had good days and bad days. It had moods. But he had respect for it. Like singing and dancing with one another—there was the feeling of connection. And at the beginning and the end of the day, that’s what Formawerx was born from and built on: that respect for connection. And sitting with the key in your hand, running your fingers over the flat-six design, you can feel that this was a feat. An homage to an icon. An idea turned reality. A symbol of having arrived with no clue where you’re going—just the promise of freedom and all that it entails in the palm of your hand. CCC

ABOVE Six holes for six cylinders.

OPPOSITE Classic shapes, combined.

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TUNES

Sound design

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B R E N D A N F A L L I S I S A N I N T E R N AT I O N A L D J , C O N T E N T C R E AT O R A N D G E N E R A L MAN OF THE WORLD. HE’S A CLASSIC CAR CLUB MEMBER, TOO. EVEN THOUGH BRENDAN LOGS HUNDREDS OF T H O U S A N D S O F M I L E S I N T R AV E L E V E RY YEAR, HIS LOVE OF CARS COMES FROM GROWING UP IN A VERY SMALL TOWN, SO FOR HIM, BEING ABLE TO DRIVE W A S — A N D S T I L L I S — A W AY T O E X P L O R E AND SEEK NEW ADVENTURES. W e caught up with Brendan to find out how music and cars intersect in his world, and to get some tips on great tunes for a road trip. W H AT ’ S YO UR A L L-TI ME FAVORI TE DRI VI NG TU N E ? Such a difficult one to answer, all depends on the car! But if I had to pick one… I couldn’t! A N D YO UR A L L-TIME FAVORI TE CAR? 1968 Porsche 911 Targa. H OW DO ES YO UR LOVE OF MUSI C TI E I NTO YO U R LOVE OF CAR S ? CA N YO U P INPOI NT ANY SI MI LARI TI ES BE T W E E N T HE T WO? Music and cars go hand in hand for me; the beauty I find in both gives me a similar feeling. Just like how hearing your favorite song gets you excited, but the mood of another song can change the whole vibe—cars do the same. You can be driving a new Aston Martin and have the urge to listen to newer-age electro-disco, but get in a vintage truck and you want to listen to old rock. At the same time, music can define your ride, and a ride can define your memory of music. It’s a special bond. D O YO U THINK MUSI C ENHANCES THE EXPERI E N CE OF D R I VI NG? IN W H AT WAY? For sure. I often rent a 1973 Mercedes 450SL when I go to LA, and I only play jazz music when driving in it. It gives me this feeling of old class as I drive around Beverly Hills, and my view of the city completely changes. That can happen for any car and music. I find it’s super important to curate a playlist for driving, knowing in advance your destination and the car you’ll be in. I F YOU HA D TO C HOOSE BETWEEN DESTROYI N G A G R E AT CAR O R A GREAT P IECE OF MUSI C (NEVER TO BE SE E N / H E AR D AGA IN), W HAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE? W HY ? Wow, what a question! I’d probably destroy a great piece of music just because it would go down in history as a tale or legend of that artist. A car has a very similar version of itself somewhere out there that was released a year before or after it was, and with even the rarest of cars, you’d always be able to find something quite similar. But music is tough to recreate—especially from one particular artist. So that would make it more coveted. CCC

LI S TE N U P

Every great DJ knows that the best adventures have a soundtrack, so Brendan has created a road-trip playlist to match his favorite cars in the Classic Car Club fleet. There’s one for the ’69 Bronco, featuring legends like Blue Oyster Cult, the Runaways and Led Zep. The ’72 Datsun playlist is a prog rock party, with Pink Floyd, The Who and Genesis taking the wheel. For the ’63 Corvette, Fallis has curated a list full of nostalgia, with Otis Redding, The Animals and Aretha Franklin bringing the soul. Find the playlists on Spotify through Brendan’s profile (search “Brendan Fallis”), download them, and find an adventure of your own. http://bit.ly/CCCBrendanFallis

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FROM THE ROAD

Vistas from the

BY I V Y BROW N

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ody Brothers has always had a fascination for landscapes. He was introduced to them from the back seat of the family car on road trips. They played a starring role in his elaborate and detailed childhood drawings—from cars to motorcycles, abandoned houses and farms. In middle school, Cody’s grandfather gave him a Canon AE-1 camera,

which started him on his journey with photography. Initially, being a photographer was not what Cody had in mind. His grandfather, whom he revered, was a military man, so Cody followed in his footsteps and enrolled at West Point. After two years there, he decided that his calling was elsewhere, and left to go to art school. Cody’s artistic influences initially were not photographers, but painters; Dali, da Vinci, Picasso and

Escher top the list. Music has always been a significant source of visual and artistic inspiration as well, from classical to jazz, rock and reggae. Cody is old-school; he uses black-and-white and infrared film, a 4x5 field camera, a 6x17 panoramic camera, and various sizes of pinhole cameras. He has consistently been drawn to black-and-white photography for its dramatic and dreamlike feel. He expresses his thoughts on this with a quote from the photographer

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passenger seat Michael Kenna: “We see in color all the time. Everything around us is in color. Black and white is therefore immediately an interpretation of the world, rather than a copy.” Cody’s passion for the Southwest is evident in the imagery he produces. In his body of work called “The Western Abandon,” Cody photographs abandoned farms, crumbling homes, neglected churches, aging cemeteries, forgotten cars and other objects,

all found within the vastness of the Southwestern landscape. Many of the locations are remote, and impossible to reach by car, so he often has to carry his equipment on foot for several miles. “The landscape can make the viewer feel very small, and conveying this is a significant part of my imagery,” Cody says. Clouds are also a principal player in his images, offering the depth of field and perspective that are essential to the

“dream world” surreal effects that he is trying to capture. Cody has the honor of being one of the few chosen for a National Endowment for the Arts grant that started in 2016, photographing for the National Parks’ centennial and the 50th anniversary of the NEA. He is also a master printer, and owns the Visions Photo Lab in Santa Fe New Mexico with his wife, Nikkol. He and Nikkol live in Pecos Valley, New Mexico. CCC

ABOVE “Canyon Lands”

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FROM THE ROAD

RIGHT “DV Road Work”

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LEFT “Monument Valley”

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CUSTOM RIDE

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Walt Siegl goes super C

BY M ICH A EL PR ICHINELLO A ND SH A R I GA B I M AGE S BOB C H A M P

ustom motorcycles. They’re the pinup girls of the two-wheeled universe. Some drip with shiny, sparkly adornment, others are stripped to the bare necessities; but no matter the design approach, their primary purpose is to catch attention. To stop traffic. From Brooklyn to the Bay Area, builders, mechanics, metallurgists, sculptors and deadbeats alike are burning late hours in cramped, oily garages, all with the same goal: to build a custom bike that lights the internet on fire, and, ultimately, to build a signature motorcycle that is less capable of corners and more capable of prying cold, hard cash from the wallet of a prospective rider. While custom motorcycles make for fine art, they’re nearly universally rubbish to ride. A motorcycle might look simple, but it’s actually quite a complicated bit of machinery. Take, for instance, the suspension. Suspension works as advertised when you’re riding down the street in a straight line. Just like a car, the shocks and springs will absorb the bumps. But when a motorcycle is leaned over while cornering, the suspension no longer works. Rather, it’s up to the frame to flex to the correct extent to soften the blow from uneven pavement and keep both wheels on the ground. Also, those big knobby tires on a road bike might look super-cool, but they’re round, rubber death traps on the road. Good looks do not instantly mean great performance. Ultimately, bikes banged together in a small, DIY shop with no modern, technical equipment just can’t match the performance threshold of those produced by the big manufacturers like KTM, Yamaha, Honda or Ducati… or can they? Enter Walt Siegl.

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CUSTOM RIDE

At 19 years old, Walt ditched school in his native Austria for a seat on a motorcycle road-racing team. Going fast and experiencing the realities of physics from the saddle of a race bike was way more interesting and practical to young Walt than learning the theories of physics from the seat of a desk. The decades that followed found Walt living around the world, with his Chippewa boots always planted in a metal shop or an art gallery. After his race career, Walt moved to France to work as a shunter in a train yard, and later became a welder and toolmaker in Germany, Italy and finally Moscow. This was followed by a stint in the Austrian Foreign Service. In 1985, Walt moved into the Domino Sugar Factory on the then undeveloped, rough-and-tumble Brooklyn waterfront. Here, by day, he worked for the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, promoting contemporary Austrian art and culture in America. By night, he was hammering away at Harley Davidson motorcycles—a hobby that turned into a revolution. Today, Walt lives and works in the historical town of Harrisville, New Hampshire. Here, his version of a cramped custom-bike-maker’s shop is actually a 300-year-old fabric mill—beautiful, spacious, bathed in light and filled with all manner of vintage metal-bending machinery. This is where Walt Siegl motorcycles are built. Motorcycles that work. Motorcycles that are a joy to ride. Motorcycles that are better than ones from the big, famous factories.

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And at 2:30 AM one morning, after his new Ducati Superbike had premiered at Classic Car Club, we had the pleasure—nay, the horror—of moving Walt’s bikes. We were not worthy—few are. To date, these bikes are single-handedly the most precious rides we’ve thrown our stems over. They’re more than motorcycles. They’re art in motion. We’ve recovered—barely—so, let’s talk about it. The Superbike is super by name and nature, due to the features that it has controlling the power output. Anything over 150 horsepower can get scary—fast. In the early ’90s, Ducati set out with heightened computers to control that kind of power, and they did so quite well. Walt has introduced that very technology into his model. The Walt Siegl Superbike has all of the literal visual references to a Ducati that the world over loved in the ’60s and ’70s, but he wanted to hold onto that trellis frame that’s been iconic to Ducati since every Silicon Valley playboy seized the design in the Monster boom. In the newest iteration of Ducatis, the engine control unit (ECU) system reads every motion, every sensor responds to the throttle input, and so on and so forth. Essentially, they made it easier to ride their highest horsepower version. It’s more tractable, and that’s great. Who wants to highside off a rocket? Sometimes the purists seem to—or, rather, they spend their days coming close to that line, but not quite stepping over it.

PREVIOUS The Walt Siegl Superbike — manual sex drive.

ABOVE One of one, custombuilt and outrageously fast, The Walt Siegl Superbike looks and feels at home in Classic Car Club’s gallery room.

OPPOSITE Precision is found in every nut, bolt, surface and part.

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ULTIMATELY, BIKES BANGED TOGETHER IN A SMALL, DIY SHOP WITH NO MODERN, TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT JUST CAN’T MATCH THE PERFORMANCE THRESHOLD OF THOSE PRODUCED BY THE BIG MANUFACTURERS… OR CAN THEY?

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CUSTOM RIDE

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ABOVE Speed machines at Classic Car Club.

OPPOSITE The Öhlins TTX shock keeps the business end of the Superike planted.

Conversely, Walt’s Superbike has a race-derived dry clutch, as is custom in an older, air-cooled Ducati, along with the “clickety-clackety” sound that comes with it. It’s a wonderful, mechanical rhythm section accompanying the symphonic exhaust note. And it’s the steadfast trellis frame that lets you really communicate with the power that the bike puts down. Walt’s Öhlins suspension system is designed in such a way that the bike can be, for lack of a better word, lazy turning in and out of corners when the ride is a cruise, or stiffened up to supply the kind of support and feedback that a racer requires to trail-brake deep into corners up front and keep the rear wheel firmly in contact with the tarmac. But Walt went a smidgeon further in choosing some very superior components to pepper in, like the World Superbike fork. Turn that offset nut, and you can increase and decrease the steering neck in moments. Thanks to the Ducati World Superbike’s geometry, you can transform it from a street ride to a real track weapon—something “super,” if you will. And we will. The unique rear shock housing is something the likes of which these eyes had never seen, and it’s also an element of an over-the-moon adjustability function. The rear shock has to sit at a certain degree on the swingarm for the ratio to work properly. Math is hard. But that rocker pushes against the bottom of the shock, as well. So, there’s linkage. The rocker simultaneously works the bottom and the top of the shock. Math is also magic. Continue to that right-hand adjuster, which changes the degree of the swingarm; the more degrees you add to the swingarm, the quicker the bike steers. It also shortens the wheelbase and raises the pivot point, increasing the steering

angle. And, voila! The bike turns much more sharply. Decrease the neck, and things get jarringly squirrely. Weighing in at 382 pounds wet, the Super damn near takes flight. But fear not; Walt has dressed it with fanciful components like steering dampers and alternate springs in the fork. Translation: control. Translation: you be cool. The frame is built to allow engine configurations from the 916 to the 1198—air-cooled or liquid-cooled—it’s up to you. Thus far, two of Walt’s bikes have been taken off his hands, and the client who took the first sculptural joy wanted to race in air-cooled classes; hence, the bike needed to be a competitive badass. As such, both models will churn ‘n’ burn around 185 horsepower. So, Walt… thank you. Because fuck electronic suspension adjusters (ESA). Traction and feel comes from the front brake and throttle being worked in beautiful, orchestral balance in the hands of someone who knows how to ride. ESA can be disruptive, and it works sometimes—but oftentimes it doesn’t. Because on-the-fly, electronic suspension systems are just asking for trouble, period. Taking a wrench to ’er is much safer. Hail, hail analog spring rate; you want to know how a motorcycle is speaking to you. Behold, the Superbike: a machine that offers the visceral experience of what all the buff, off-the-line Ducatis can do, but is more superior through traction control and, all in all, just a whole hell of a lot more fun to ride. So sophisticated, we’d recommend charm class before saddling up on one. The Superbike has the ability to do more—quicker, safer, radder, lovelier. Ducati lovers will rejoice. As did we… at 2:50 AM. CCC

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REVIEW

THE ROAD, THE RIDE, THE POWER A REVIEW OF THE D U C AT I PA N I G A L E V 4 BY M ICH A EL PR ICHINELLO

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REVIEW

T H E U B E R - S AT U R AT E D S T R E E T S O F M A N H AT TA N A R E P R O B A B LY N O T T H E BEST ENVIRONMENT TO TEST A N E W M O T O R C Y C L E T H AT CHURNS OUT MORE POWER T H A N A F L U X C A PA C I T O R .

he corner of 36th Street and the West Side Highway does not look like Mugello’s San Donato. Riverside Drive is no Lukey Heights. But despite having no race pedigree, the dirty streets of New York do throw up a handful of other opportunities and obstacles to test the latest rocket from Bologna, the new Panigale V4 superbike. Speaking honestly, I approached riding the fastest motorcycle Ducati has ever assembled on the street cautiously. As a racer, I keep most of my two-wheeled endeavors on the track, so I threw on a full set of leathers and carefully climbed aboard to get acquainted with what is one of the most beautiful machines I’ve ever come across. This isn’t my first rodeo with a Ducati. I’ve owned a few, and have ridden many. Historically, I’ve always found them to be saturated with style and signature experiences. The clutch pull delivers a feel similar to that of a plumber’s vice grip; they pour heat out from everywhere, and the start process is delicate—it takes patience. When it comes to the most recent Panigales—the 1199 and 1299—I’ve found the power produced by the Superquadro engine to be not only ferocious, but also spiky and difficult to operate with finesse. The chassis-free design feels squirrelly—it doesn’t feel trustworthy when leaned over. Riding these big bikes always felt more like a fist fight with a chainsaw than a symbiotic relationship between (wo)man and machine. Thus, the leathers. But this motorcycle is something different. Something special. It’s a tectonic shift from the familiar, deployed subtly. A Ducati superbike has always packed two thumping cylinders separated by 90 degrees. So, when the company rolled this new machine into the spotlight, the motorcycle world paused. Ducati had changed the recipe of their spiciest dish. Now they’re cooking with ghost peppers. Two more cylinders in a format to match their MotoGP bike—the only bike on the grid capable of giving Marc Márquez a run for his euros every weekend. This particular motor has a volume of 1,103 cc, down from the past 1,200 cc configuration, and produces a fret-worthy 219 block horsepower. The crank shaft now spins backwards, counteracting the rotational force of the wheels—a development that comes straight from campaigning a MotoGP machine. From the start, this Panigale feels a bit different. Ergonomically, at five foot 11, I fit on it quite nicely.

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REVIEW

THE BARK OF THE V4 IS STRAIGHT FROM THE DUCATI SCRIPT, FILLING THE VALLEY I’M RIDING THROUGH WITH A MENACING ECHO. I’M NO LONGER RIDING A MOTORCYCLE THROUGH TWISTY ROADS. WE’RE A TEAM, THE PANIGALE AND I, WORKING TOGETHER AND SPEAKING TO EACH OTHER The motorcycle has that slender Ducati feel, despite two more cylinders beneath, and the flare of the tank provides ample room to tuck my legs below and provide leverage. The bars fit nicely with no adjustment, and it is comfortable to be in a sport-centric riding position. Another Panigale departure presented in the V4 is an actual frame. Where past generations were frameless, this new bike has a featherweight, twin-spar configuration, and the tighter shape of the engine allows for a longer swingarm and wheelbase, which should make for a more stable ride. All of this aluminum has been geometrically optimized to put a bit more weight on the front wheel, which should help to control the bomb blast of that power when you roll on the throttle.

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T HE R I DE Turn the key, push the starter on the right bar, and “fire in the hole”—the Panigale fires up like a weapon of war. When the combustion comes to life, so does the beautiful instrumentation screen. It’s bright, intuitive and highcontrast, making it easy to see. A quick scroll through the menu presents different displays and access to the electronics, of which there are plenty. Wheelie control, traction control, ABS, lean angle control—it’s all there, as expected on a modern bike these days. What’s nice about the electronics is that these settings aren’t limited to “on” and “off.” Rather, they’re highly adjustable, giving the rider the ability to dial in just how much of an electronic safety net he or she would like to rely on. Hoping it’s not a mistake, I set them all to zero for testing purposes. For a second, I forget that I’m sitting on a fourcylinder machine. At idle, it sounds just like a Ducati always has: thumpy. This might be more familiar than I thought. I grab the clutch—still pretty heavy—click the bike into first gear, and let the clutch out. The plates meet, and I’m off. As with most Ducatis, the idle is rough, but this isn’t a machine that’s made to go slow. I round the corner and point north on the West Side Highway. Traffic is light, so I roll the throttle on and I’m instantly aware of a few things. The first is that peaky power delivery, which is much smoother than the twin put out. It’s still producing maniacal amounts of torque, but already I can see that it’s more manageable. As the revs grow, second gear comes into play and it comes in easy, thanks to the onboard quick shifter. There’s no need to roll off the throttle on the upshift; just give the shifter a click and the gear change is smooth and quick, putting nary a shimmy through the chassis, which is welcomed when cranked over in the corner. As traffic loads up ahead, simple, miniscule inputs into the bars and rear sets are all it takes to switch up my trajectory—the Panigale tracks in the direction you want with telepathic response. I split lanes to the front of the auto queue at 59th street, home of the last traffic light on the west side. While waiting for the light to go my way, I

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TECH SPEC scroll through the menu and crank the wheelie control up to six. Green and go. I grab a handful of throttle and feed the clutch out. The Panigale jumps to attention like a top fuel dragster. I stay on the throttle as the bike hoists the front wheel four or so inches off the ground, climbing the incline of the elevated part of the highway. I click into second, still in wheelie mode and giving it the beans. There is no sign of looping the bike—the electronics work beautifully. As I head north, traffic all but disappears and now I’m in the sweepers of Route 9. The Panigale is gliding underneath me, happy to run at 60 to 70 miles an hour through the switchbacks. The Showa forks report back nicely, communicating the front-end activity, and the Sachs adjustable shock in the rear keeps the fat Pirelli tire planted and stable. For more aggressive track riding, I could see upgrading with new cartridges or going for the Panigale S, which swaps out the base setup with electronically adjustable, race-proven Öhlins suspension. As the road opens, I increase the speed. The power continues to come on ferociously, but it’s predictably smooth. The bark of the V4 is straight from the Ducati script, filling the valley I’m riding through with a menacing echo. I’m no longer riding a motorcycle through twisty roads. We’re a team, the Panigale and I, working together and speaking to each other. We’re both enjoying the road, the ride and the power that is on tap and waiting to be summoned. Overall, I very much enjoyed riding the V4. I found it to be much more compliant then earlier generation Panigales. The engine was just straight-up better. Is it the best choice for riding around town or on back roads? No. Not at all. But I can’t fault it for that. This bike was built to show off its power and precision on a road racing course, not on the roads surrounding a golf course. But do I want one? Yes. Desperately. CCC

ENGINE TYPE

90-degree V4 with counter-rotating crankshaft

DISPLACEMENT

1103 cc

BORE X STROKE

81 x 53.5 mm

MAXIMUM POWER

219 horsepower @ 13,000 rpm

MAXIMUM TORQUE

92 ft/lbs @ 10,000 rpm

COMPRESSION RATIO

14.0:1

VALVE TRAIN

Desmodromic with 4vpc

FUELING

Twin injectors per cylinder

TRANSMISSION

Six-speed with straight-cut gears

CLUTCH

Hydraulically actuated DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITIES

ABOVE The Bologna Missile, dressed in red.

ONE Illuminated aero, the rear of the Panigale V4 lets you know you were passed by something beautiful. TWO Tricolore dreams.

WHEELBASE

57.8 inches

RAKE

24.5 degrees

TRAIL

3.9 inches

SEAT HEIGHT

32.5 inches

FUEL CAPACITY

4.2 gallons

ESTIMATED FUEL CONSUMPTION

34 miles per gallon

CURB WEIGHT

430 pounds

2018 DUCATI PANIGALE V4 PRICES DUCATI PANIGALE V4

$21,195 MSRP

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REVIEW

20 MILES WITH THE GIANT P R O P E L A DVA N C E D D I S C BY M ICH A EL PR ICHINELLO

AT CLASSIC CAR Club, most things

are combustion-powered—but not all. Take, for instance, the Classic Car Club Cycling Team—a group of self-flagellating men and women who enjoy waking up before sunrise to break a sweat on bicycles. So, when our friends at Roula, a cycling rental resource for discerning riders worldwide, set us up with a bicycle from their New York fleet, the cycling team was more than happy to give it a flogging. Enter the Giant Propel Advanced Disc aerodynamic racer that I took for a 20-mile spin around Central Park’s demanding loop, before unleashing it on the welcoming streets of Manhattan. LOO K S While Giant has been making fine bicycles for years, they’ve never set themselves apart as beautiful. But this newest iteration of Giant’s Propel Aero line is quite the looker. A new graphics kit speaks of speed, and the matte “neon red” paint job (I prefer to call it “hyper orange”) not only looks tremendous, but it also gave me a new level of confidence that my raw-carbon daily cycle doesn’t provide while slicing between hurried cabs around Columbus Circle during twilight hours. The other thing that stands out about the new Propel is its Bauhaus, minimalist form. Internally routed cables; a streamlined, proprietary headset; disc brakes (more on these in a bit) that remove the clutter of rim brakes; and recessed hardware present negative space that is greater than the space that the bicycle itself occupies. Pair all this with a set of staggered rim sizes front and aft, and sharp, airfoil-shaped tube

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construction, and the Propel is essentially a rubber-melting missile. THE RI DE Comfortable. Without going through a fitting, I grabbed a steed the same size as my T-shirts: medium. With a little adjustment of seat post height and a fiddle with the seat position on the rails, I found a snug fit. The rise of the bars was easy on my shattered back, and the wing-shaped bars provided a sturdy and tactile feel in the cockpit. The Contact saddle, though hard as a rock, was ergonomically correct. Once I was clicked into the Look pedals and had spun a few revolutions, it quickly became evident just how stiff of a ride the new Propel is. Every ounce of power input was instantly turned into forward motion. On the flats, the aero-shaped frame and wheels provide a very stable ride. While the wheelbase has a very traditional geometry, it felt longer than normal—smoothing out the jittery, edgy feeling that a lot of carbon-clad racing bicycles serve up. On the east side of Central Park’s loop, where the elevation changes smoothly roll and sway, the Propel begged to be clicked up a gear and be pushed. The Shimano Ultegra crankset and cassette responds well, too. Very gentle inputs will put the derailleurs to work, sending the chain back and forth with plush shifts that have little impact on the pedal stroke and cadence, though the front derailleur did have to be further encouraged a few times to complete the shift. Heading further north and into the fast East Drive downhill that encircles Lasker Rink, the Propel

was in its element. The bike stayed positively planted while I pedaled hard through the downhill, and it leaned in with confidence for the apex of the corner, piling on the speed. The 42-millimeter SLR 1 Aero front wheel kept steering precise at speed as it cut through the wind like the keel on a sailboat. A few clicks down the gears kept momentum up for the upcoming (and far less fun) Harlem Hill—an aggressive incline that brings the rider to the west side of the park heading south. The Propel stayed sharp on the climb and put power down efficiently. Out of the saddle, the Contact SL Aero Handlebars provided a comfortable grasp of the machine, and the frame served up no discernable flex while powering hard through the pedals. The bike feels efficient when climbing. Back to those brakes. Hydraulic disc brakes are not often found on an aero whip, but that day, I was glad that they were there. While traditional caliper brakes provide more than enough stopping power in most cases, these 140-millimeter Shimano Ultegra hydraulic affairs give not only stopping power, but a handful of feel, as well. While I was sprinting at more than 24 miles an hour past Strawberry Fields, a duo of women, finished with their morning walk, decided that it was time to cut west, right across my path. I was able to apply massive stopping power, and I actually locked the front and rear wheels—but with miniscule modulation on the brake levers, I was able to keep the front from washing out and the rear from coming around until the women scurried, giving me a small hole to aim for. I pointed toward the gap and released the brakes to thread the needle and escape calamity. This was the shining moment for the Propel, for me. If I was on my own caliper-shod bicycle, I don’t think I would have been able to apply that level of finesse to the brakes to control the highspeed situation so smoothly. Overall, the Giant Propel Advanced Disc left me with gear envy. It translated pedaling to speed with little drag, inspired confidence in the downhills, and made my climbing feel more efficient. $3,775 for a bicycle may sound steep to some, but it pays with performance. CCC

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REVIEW

#betterspeed P R I N C E TO N CA R B O N WO R K S WA K E 6 5 6 0 W H E E L S BY M ICH A EL PR ICHINELLO

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“I’M NOT RACING,” I told myself.

“I’m just riding.” Living exclusively in a rarified, Classic Car Club world makes it easy to be spoiled—spoiled by gear, science, high-tech toys and componentry. The easy availability of carbon-fiber missiles, Italian race machines and miscellany of go-fast apparatus can spoil a person. It can make one forget their grounding. Being all too aware of this, for some reason or another I drew the line of reason at carbon-fiber cycling wheels. This was a bridge I thought too far. My forged aluminum wheels had carried me and my Felt AR3 carbonfiber race bike hundreds of miles across the flats of Long Island and over the steep peaks of the Adirondacks, and all places in between. Carbon wheels just made it easier, and where’s the suffering in easier? I wasn’t competing for position, but rather I was stacking on miles with the Classic Car Club Cycling Team. “The harder the better,” I thought, so I denied myself a good set of wheels. I had drawn a red line. A red line that a guy named Paul Daniels obliterated.

ABOVE Unconventional shape. Unconventional speed.

OPPOSITE The concept of the Wake 6560 originated from fighter jet wing research and development.

Paul is a very nice guy with massive enthusiasm for whatever you’re enthusiastic about. Luckily, my enthusiasm is about going very fast on two wheels, powered or otherwise. Paul is the co-founder of a plucky start-up called Princeton CarbonWorks, which means that he and I share the same passion. Enthusiasm explosion. You’d think from the name of the business that you could guess where he studied—but you’d actually be wrong. He went to Oxford, natch, but he and the other founders of Princeton CarbonWorks all met rowing for the US national team—based in Princeton. You could maybe also guess that Paul went into finance after his Ivy League education, and that he found the world of finance a total bore. So, he did what any successful entrepreneur would do—he picked up sticks and started his own thing. This thing of his, as it turns out, is to build stunningly strong and light cycling wheels that happen to be achingly beautiful, as well. Princeton says something about a person. Perhaps it says that they’re

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REVIEW

ABOVE Carbon fiber bar snacks at Classic Car Club.

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intelligent (Paul is). It might also say that they’re deck shoe enthusiasts (not sure if Paul is). But it mostly says that they work hard. They don’t take easy routes. This is true about Paul, too. As a cyclist, Paul was looking for a little more speed and a little less weight. He wanted to go faster for longer, and he was pushing the performance envelope of the equipment that was available. One place that seemed ripe for development was cycling race wheels. In the world-class pelotons, carbon fiber is as common as cramped calves. But despite its prevalence, in the case of wheels, carbon fiber isn’t happy being both round and elliptical. This is actually one of its weaker shapes. Add to that a spoke piercing its surface every few millimeters, and you’re left with a fragile shape that also happens to be one of the most—if not the most—important components on a racing bicycle. So, Paul and his team of nerds got to work. For the better part of five years, they experimented with shaping carbon, shaving weight and searching for thousandths of seconds while trying to lose as many grams. They got familiar with wind tunnels and spoke to the fastest athletes on two wheels. The result is the exquisite Princeton CarbonWorks Wake 6560 Wheelset. First, let’s talk about the weight. To hold one of these wheels, complete with tubeless tire and hub, is astonishing. It’s antimatter in your

hand; its weight is barely detectable. When you’re through inspecting it, it’s best to tie it down so it doesn’t float off. At just 1,495 grams, the Wake 6560 is 200 grams lighter than the Zipp 404 Firecrest—the industry standard in the category. But it’s the shape that grabs headlines. Regular circles are boring. When in the form of a carbon wheel, they’re also very fragile, and only moderately good at carving through the air cleanly, which is what a racer strives for. Enter the crazy, wavy shape of the Wake 6560. This shape accomplishes a few tasks. With the rim varying in depth from 65 to 60 millimeters (Ah! Now the name makes sense!), a new level of strength is reached, as the extreme weight and pressure exerted by the spoke is now spread over stronger sinusoidal oscillation, or waves—24 in all. Perhaps more importantly is that the zigzag profile acts in much the same way as a diffuser stuffed under the rear of a Hypercar would. As the vehicle travels through the wind and air, the spinning wheels create turbulent vortex shedding areas behind them. The shape of the Wake 6560 smooths that air, and creates calm-flowing air behind the wheels, replacing the miniature tornado that can be found in the center of the bicycle frame and behind the rear wheel of traditionally shod bicycles. The result is a smoother, faster ride with 120 grams of drag, compared

to about 128 grams for more traditional wheels, such as the Zipp 404. That’s all well and good on paper, but what is the Wake Wheelset like on the road? Thirty-two miles on my home testing ground—the Central Park loop at 6:30 AM—told the story. The scenery was the same, but the ride transformed. The first lap was easy, at moderate speed to engage cardio and onboard energy reserves, rather than the sugars from my morning juice. At slow speeds, I could tell something was different. The wheels were silent. I was making less noise than a Tesla. Things felt streamlined and less twitchy. The nervousness left the frame of my bike. Lap two brought speed with it. On the flat rollers of the east side of the park, I noticed that my energy output was low, but my speeds were high. I was rolling at three or so miles faster than my average of 20 miles per hour, and doing so with much less effort. The Wake 6560s were creating massive momentum, despite their low weight—a phenomenon I had a hard time wrapping my head around. How could something so light create such rolling momentum? It was as if one of the park workers had thrown a line to me from his truck and pulled me around the park. With each pedal revolution, more power stacked on, and the bike and I went faster and faster. As we approached my favorite part of the loop—the fast downhill that wraps Lasker Pool—the awesome rigidity and stability of the wheels came into play. This downhill section requires a lefthand to right-hand change of direction while descending at a fast clip. Typically, the bars get very nervous as I pedal through in the heaviest gear, but the Wake 6560s ironed it all out. The stability in the corner was unexpected and awesome, allowing me to carve a deep line like a pizza cutter through a pie at Speedy Romeo’s. Ultimately, a good set of wheels makes the ride better. A great set of wheels makes it competitive, too. The best news? Not only are the Wake 6560 wheels lighter and stronger than the competition, they’re cheaper, too. You can have a set of clinchers for $2,400. Throw in a little more for Chris King hubs or a disk brake setup, and you’re set. CCC

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