Cars

Created in 1957, the Tornado Car Company built its own sports cars, mainly on the foundations of Ford products common at the time. After seven years of doing so, the company went into liquidation – but this wasn’t the last chapter in the brand’s history. Accomplished racing driver John Bekaert had monitored the success Carlo Abarth was enjoying by producing reworked and tuned 600s (among other Fiats), and hence he acquired the rights to the defunct marque with the aim of concocting a similar recipe; albeit with a distinctly British flavour.

François Windeck, Managing Director of Automobiles BMC, has been working in the automotive business for over 25 years. Visitors to his 2,500sqm facility in Vienne, near Lyon, are first met by the sight of a giant-size London phone box, and once through the doors are rarely disappointed by the scope and sheer ‘Mini-ness’ of the whole operation.

Under one roof, Mini enthusiasts will find everything to make their Mini-centred lives complete. Old and rare parts, new parts and more than 200 Minis serving as donor vehicles: all are carefully catalogued and stored.

The new engine, derived from the Ford Duratec V6, was built in Britain by Cosworth Technology and produced 420bhp/400lb ft of torque. With four cams and four-valve heads, it was capable of 7,000rpm. Mated at first to a regular five-speed torque-converter automatic transmission, when the engineers introduced a ZF ‘Touchtronic’ gearbox, DB7 V12 Vantage drivers could enjoy instantaneous gearchanges via ‘+’ and ‘-’ buttons on the steering wheel. A six-speed manual was also available and did, in fact, give the model’s ultimate 184mph performance.

LaFerrari

The vehicle was a big success ‘in the bush’ and now Land Rover has built a further seven examples, all based on the current Defender 110. A day before the car’s debut at the Geneva Show, Land Rover allowed journalists to take it for a trip around the block – despite the lack of elephants or lions running wild in the Swiss city.

Taking expertise from Ferrari’s Formula 1 efforts, the new hypercar boasts a hybrid system with KERS technology. According to Ferrari, the electrical assistance it provides lower down in the rev range allowed the engineers to optimise the V12's performance at the noisy end of the rev spectrum (which tops out at 9,250rpm), while also allowing for a more linear power delivery. As a result, 62mph can be reached from standstill in less than three seconds, with 124mph breached in less than 7 seconds – it’s also five seconds quicker around Fiorano than its predecessor.

Nothing against the industrial area of Arese, but how can such dreary surroundings produce something so elegant? It’s a 60-year-old question, as the first Disco Volante – the Alfa C52 of the early '50s – managed to spread glamour by floating between the same kind of anonymous post-War buildings. Touring stylist Federico Formenti had given the extra-terrestrial Alfa such an extraordinary form that, even six decades on, it still looks futuristic.