STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN

Ruth García Torre & María Florido, founders of ID Latinia Interior Design Studio. Making your vision a reality for over 20 years.

From the plans to the final turnkey result, they cover the entire creative journey making the complete process a pleasant and stress-free experience. Visit their studio in Playas del Duque, Puerto Banús.

idlatinia.com

Your staircase offers an insight to the overall aesthetic of your home.

Providing, as it does the connection between multiple living areas this centrepiece should not be overlooked when planning the interior design of your abode.

Contemporary architecture demands stairs which harmonise with the overall style, and that is why the diverse range of designs available today is far from turning this piece into a simple architectural functional element, but into beautiful stand-alone design object. A staircase can showcase creativity, design, quality and innovation; fundamental factors when it comes to creating your desired overall effect.

Design

Designers who want to evoke an elegant environment opt for a modern design. For example, precise cantilever structures that reflect the spirit of their time and contemporary glass stairs that visually enlarge the space of the room in which they are located. The glass panelling enhances transparency and lightness, while the metal or wooden stairs create a sense of stability. Stairs offer a great opportunity for creative freedom, while fulfilling their basic function.

Location

When considering design, it’s important to think about the placement of stairs in your home, as it can separate key areas of the home and create a much more dynamic living environment. It is also vital to have a conversation with your architect about the ways in which the staircase can provide an opportunity for structural innovation, joining the architectural gap between design and engineering. Furthermore we would also like to add, that when choosing a design, it is necessary to consider how it will look in the future; a wellplaced and cleverly designed staircase will never appear outdated.

Lighting

Another aspect to consider in relation to the staircase is lighting. As mentioned, a glass staircase increases the feeling of light in your home and makes spaces appear larger. The use of LED lighting on open steps and adjoining areas creates a stunning effect by day which becomes a spectacular feature by night. Alternatively, you can take on the challenge of emphasising the use of natural light around the staircase.

In general, the design of the staircase can influence the choice of other materials in your home; they not only physically join the floors of the house, but also have the potential to provide an aesthetic connection that runs through all the main elements of your home.

In summary, we believe that this heavenly design element should be one of the premier considerations when designing your dream home.

Mao restaurant played host to a fabulous dinner show for Chinese New Year to celebrate the commencement of the year of the Rabbit. The “sharing” dining experience was the prelude to a night of spectacular entertainment including fire performers, jugglers, dancers and even the traditional Chinese dragon made an appearance.

+34 951 891 505 maorestaurante.es

MOTORING AUTHOR, RACING DRIVER AND PHOTO-JOURNALIST IAN KUAH REPORTS ON THE HENNESSEY VENOM F5 REVOLUTION

BEING BASED IN TEXAS, HENNESSEY SPECIAL VEHICLES THINKS BIG, AND THE COMMON DENOMINATOR WITH EVEN THEIR BREAD AND BUTTER CONVERSIONS ON NORMAL STREET CARS IS THE 1,000HP OUTPUT APPLIED TO EVERYTHING FROM A FORD MUSTANG TO HUGE RAM PICKUP TRUCKS.

Back in 2014 I visited John Hennessey and his team to drive their 1,244hp Venom GT Hypercar. They had just unveiled the 1,817hp Venom F5 as its replacement, but the thorough development programme meant that it only went into production in 2020.

An all-new carbon-fibre Hypercar born on a clean sheet of paper, the F5 is named after the highest rating of tornado on the Fujita Scale that registers wind speeds over 300mph (480km/h), With that big number in mind as its potential top speed, the plan was to make 24 Coupes (sold out), 30 Roadsters (mostly sold out), and 24 of the F5 Revolution trackday focused version.

Until the late 1980s only the flagship models from Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche occupied the rarefied strata of ultra-high-performance machinery known as ‘supercars’. Back then none of these could offer a full-fat 500hp, and the calibrated third-party speed testing equipment used by the top international car magazines saw all of them struggling to come within spitting distance of the magic 200mph (322km/h) mark.

Then In 1987 Everything Changed

Aftermarket specialist manufacturers Ruf in Germany and Callaway in the USA added their twin-turbocharging expertise to a Porsche 911 and a Chevrolet Corvette respectively, and blew the 200mph benchmark into the weeds with room to spare.

The accredited 213mph (343km/h) top speed achieved by the 469hp Ruf CTR ‘Yellow Bird’ at VW’s Ehra Lessien test track in Germany in 1987, and the 254.76mph (410km/h) run by the 880hp Callaway Sledgehammer at the Ohio Transportation Research Center in the US in 1988 comprehensively blitzed the performance of anything the major car manufacturers could offer at the time. The CTR went into limited production while the Sledgehammer remained a one-off. performance and stamina to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans on its first outing in 1995 .

While a flurry of activity was taking place at the traditional supercar makers an outlier appeared from the small town of Woking in England. The brainchild of race engineer Gordon Murray and car designer Peter Stevens, the prototype McLaren F1 that debuted in 1991 stunned the world with its lightweight construction and Paul Roche designed 6.1 litre BMW V12 motor producing a heady 627hp. Series production of the eventual 106 cars began in 1992, and enthusiasts went wild when the F1 GTR race version showed it had the

Meanwhile the production McLaren F1 had raised the Vmax bar for road legal cars to a sensational 240mph (386km/h), and to this day the naturally-aspirated F1 has only been beaten by rivals using forced aspiration to achieve outputs close to or more than 1,000hp.

Since the McLaren F1 and Bugatti Veyron had their say in setting the top speed bar a whole plethora of Vmax shootouts have taken place with Koenigsegg, Hennessey and others fully engaged. In fact when I tested the Hennessey Venom GT (Society March 2015) in 2014, it was still fresh from its 270.49mph run at the Kennedy Space Center’s shuttle landing strip in Florida.

Boasting an additional 499hp on top of the Veyron’s 1,001hp, the Bugatti Chiron reached an accredited 249mph (400km/h) when it was launched in early 2017. The top speed bar was then raised again by Koenigsegg, whose 1,360hp Agera RS set a new record for “world’s fastest production car’ in November 2017 with a staggering 277.87mph (447km/h).

Supercars and Hypercars have always faced the issues that a pure road going version needs sufficient comfort to be driven long distances, making it too soft for hard-core trackday enthusiasts. Meanwhile roadster versions lose a significant amount of structural rigidity and thus handling in the transformation, with track focused versions often too raw for daily road use.

Unless it is constructed around an ultra-stiff carbon-fibre tub like the various McLaren Spiders, the al fresco version will lose significant structural stiffness, to the detriment of driving dynamics. But with the McLaren Spider models the Hennessey Venom 5 Roadster benefits from the all-carbon-fibre monocoque centre-tub construction shared with its Coupe sister.

This short history of the Hypercar genre brings us to January 15th 2023 and the unveiling of the Hennessey Venom F5 Revolution at the Miami Motorcar Cavalcade Concours d’Elegance.

ROAD CARS DESIGNED WITH A BIAS TOWARDS TOP SPEED AS OPPOSED TO AGILITY ON A RACE TRACK ARE A BREED UNTO THEMSELVES.

Their suspension geometry has to be set up for straight-line stability to avoid any ‘moments’ on the autobahn in the hands of wealthy owners who are not professional race car drivers. And these Hypercars are often but not always heavy too, which is detrimental to their agility on track or even a challenging twisty road.

Limited to the same 24 units as the now sold-out Venom F5 Coupe, the F5 Revolution is a lightened, track-focused Hypercar that has undergone a comprehensive re-engineering programme to improve its handling and agility while adding significant downforce to make the most of road-legal trackday or full race slick tyres.

While sharing nearly identical DNA with its Venom F5 Coupe sibling, the Revolution features comprehensively reworked aerodynamics, suspension, engine cooling, and has on-board digital telemetry that allows the driver and pit crew to analyse each lap in detail during and after a track session.

Made from superlight and immensely strong carbon-fibre the larger front air splitter, rear underbody diffuser, and big rear wing immediately distance the Revolution from the smooth lines of the F5 Coupe on which it is based. Even at rest the F5 Revolution looks hunkered down with the purposeful stance of a thoroughbred racecar. All that is missing is a set of race numbers and sponsor’s stickers.

The extended front splitter prevents air from flowing under the car and helps to create a low-pressure vortex along the flat bottom to aid downforce. When the air reaches the rear of the car it is guided out in an orderly manner by the extended rear diffuser, thus minimising drag inducing turbulence.

Positioned on the sides of the front bumper/spoiler ahead of the wheels, racecar style dive planes create downforce that helps to shift the aerodynamic balance forward at speed by adding downforce over the front axle. This improves stability and turn-in to fast bends. As the engine is working much harder on track and thus generating a lot more heat the Revolution features a roof-mounted central air scoop that delivers cooling ram air to the engine bay.

The big rear wing has end plates that generate vortexes to guide airflow and improve aerodynamics and stability. This wing features useradjustable angle of attack settings that can be set to either reduce drag on fast circuits with long straights or to add greater downforce on slower, twisty tracks. In wind tunnel testing this wing generated more than 360kg of downforce at 186 mph (300 km/h), rising to over 635kg of downforce at 249 mph (400 km/h).

A major task for the Hennessey engineering team was weight reduction to improve straight-line performance and driving dynamics, and the track-focused Revolution shaves further mass off the already low 1,360kg kerb weight of the F5 Coupe.

The leader of the team responsible for honing the car to perfection is Hennessey’s Chief Engineer John

‘Heinrocket’ Heinricy, and the Revolution capitalises on every bit of his 38 years of performance car development with GM and his outstanding motorsport career. With pro-level races under his belt, including 35 gruelling 24-hour races, John clinched multiple race/championship wins and has three FIA Speed Records and over 1,000 laps of the Nürburgring to his name.

“I led the engineering phase on some of GM’s most extreme cars, including the Corvette Z06 and Cadillac CTS-V, but nothing compares to designing, developing, and refining a race car for the road like the Venom F5 Revolution,” he says. “From the outset, we designed the Venom F5 Hypercar to be ultralight and monstrously powerful, with driving dynamics to match. Taking these ingredients and adding track-focused aerodynamics, suspension, and gearing enabled us to create a machine that is the ultimate visceral and emotional driving experience.”

As with the Venom F5 Coupe and Roadster the strongly beating heart of the mid-engine F5 Revolution is Hennessey’s bespoke twin-turbocharged, 6.6-litre ironblock V8 engine. Christened ‘Fury’, this engine is rated at a planet shifting output of 1,817hp and 1,617 Nm of torque that are dispensed to the rear wheels through a seven-speed CIMA single-clutch automated manual gearbox calibrated for competition use. It sounds angry from start up to shut down and you can hear its deep gravelly voice on the video embedded in Hennessey’s website: www.hennesseyspecialvehicles.com

With a power-to-weight ratio of around 1.37hp/kg the F5 Revolution Coupe promises phenomenal acceleration all the way to its calculated top speed of 301mph (484km/h), passing 249mph (400km/h) in around 20 seconds on the way! At the other end of the performance spectrum the huge carbon-ceramic brakes ensure strong and fade-free stopping on road and track.

The F5’s double-wishbone suspension has been repurposed for the track with adjustable dampers that facilitate straightforward recalibration in the pit lane to optimise handling for a particular circuit. The suspension geometry has track biased camber and toe settings to aid turn-in and stability. Lower unsprung weight comes from wider forged alloy wheels and trackday rubber for improved cornering grip and enhanced braking.

To add to this serious connection to motorsport Venom F5 Revolution owners are offered a digital on-board track telemetry system capable of measuring an array of data points including lap times, split-timing, cornering G-forces, and so on. The system allows the driver to monitor the telemetry in real time to benchmark cornering speeds or braking points on successive laps, and save the data for analysis or archiving.

A nice touch that came out of Hennessey’s connection to the Kennedy Space Center is that each Venom F5 comes with the “Treasure Chest”, a large aluminium box containing the key fob, a magnetic trickle charger and a tow hook. The key fob’s serial number plate is created from a piece of metal left over from a NASA Space Shuttle launch and given to John Hennessey by an astronaut. John came up with the idea of dividing it up to give each Venom F5 owner their own little piece of outer space.

At this point in time the Hennessey Venom F5 Revolution is the world’s most powerful and visceral purely internal combustion engine powered Hypercar on sale today. It looks a million dollars but actually costs 2.7 million dollars!

With an angry sounding bespoke iron block V8 at its core, boosted by 21st Century turbocharger technology the Venom F5 channels the history of legendary American muscle cars and mixes it with state-of-the-art carbon-fibre construction in a lightweight, immensely rigid mid-engine package that has its technical roots in Europe.

WITH THIS IN MIND IT IS THUS APPROPRIATE THAT WHILE BORN IN THE USA, THE HENNESSEY VENOM F5 MODELS ARE DEVELOPED AND BUILT BY DELTA MOTORSPORT AT THEIR FACILITY NEAR THE WORLD FAMOUS SILVERSTONE CIRCUIT, HOME OF THE BRITISH GRAND PRIX.

Baron Axel von Schubert is an International tax advisor and former speaker at the International Tax Planning Association, London, UK. He shares his time between his homes in Nassau, Bahamas and Marbella .

Advisor to celebrities, billionaires and tech tycoons, he is fluent in five languages, served as Consul to the Bahamas and is a keen vintage Ferrari collector and racer.

You can reach him on: BahamasBaron@gmail.com