Archive for August, 2009
GranCabrio Set for Frankfurt
Aug 27th
Maserati have announced that the GranCabrio, the convertible version of the GranTurismo, will debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show on September 15th.
The GranCabrio will be the third prong in the trident carmakers line-up, the first open top four-seater in Maserati’s history. This car has breathtaking styling, developed by the well known Italian design firm Pininfarina, also responsible for the Ferrari Enzo, the Alfa Brera and the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti – need I say more!
If that wasn’t enough for you, the GranCabrio will use the 433 hp 4.7 l V8 lump from the GranTurismo S, although might be slightly slower due to the added weight from the extra bracing. Although performance figures haven’t been released yet, expect a 0-60 time of around 5.5 secs and a top speed of 180 mph.
The car will go on sale from early next year and unfortunately if I ‘ve got you excited you will have to part with around £90,000 to own one!
Also debuting at Frankfurt will be another gorgeous Pininfarina designed Italian supercar.
This will be the new offering from Ferrari, the 458 Italia their F430 replacement. This mid-engined beast will have a direct-injected 4.5 l V8 that blasts out 562 horsepower!
Keep your eyes peeled to Influx this month as next week the Italia theme will be launched.
I’m now off to book a flight to Frankfurt… Ciao Bella!
Clunk, Click, Every Trip
Aug 14th
It’s a date that may have passed you by, but yesterday marked the 50th anniversary of the humble seat belt – or more precisely the three point safety belt – patented by Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin in 1958 and first fitted to a production Volvo PV544 on the 13th August 1959.
Before this date, seat belts had been fitted to cars since the 1930′s , but all were of the two-point chest or lap-belt variety. It has been estimated that over 1 million lives have been saved by this innovation, and having spoken with members of the emergency services, it is clear that many more could still be saved if everyone made use of the belts fitted to their cars. In fact, one fireman told me that people not wearing seatbelts account for the majority of the fatalities he sees, a sobering thought, when you consider that only a hardcore 10% of motorists fail to buckle up.
RoSPA has an interesting potted history of seat belts, but people of a certain age will remember this classic piece of TV cheese masquerading as a safety film…
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