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The aftermath of the  83rd Geneva Motor Show has subsided. Ferrari takes up the fight against Porsche and its 918 Spyder with LaFerrari. McLaren joins by throwing in their P1 in the battle of seconds around the “ring”. Meanwhile Lamborghini presented the craziest release by far with a 3-off hypercar we could never ever have imagined…

Lamborghini Veneno
Despite the huge spoiler the 6.5-liter V12 engine of 750 horsepowers will do the 0-100 km/h sprint in just 2.8 seconds. The car shown at the Geneva Motor Show is one out of just 3. This is by far, the most crazy that has come out from the factory in Sant‘Agata Bolognese. If it can fly? Unofficial sources says it may…

McLaren P1
McLaren is making a strong comeback. By presenting performance figures like these we know that they are serious with the McLaren P1. 0-200 km/h in under 7 seconds and 0-300 km/h in no more than 17 seconds. Compared to the old legend McLaren F1 it´s five(!) seconds faster in the range of 0-300 km/h. And, the legendary F1 is not a slow car despite its age. Top speed is electronically limited to 350 km/h. The weight is relatively low, considering the hybrid system and battery, and is set to 1400 kg (300 kg less than the Porsche 918 Spyder).

LaFerrari
The elevator pitch for LaFerrari? The first hybrid with 963 hp dedicated to just 499 clients. This is the successor of the iconic Ferrari Enzo. Well, that is for sure not an easy mission. Almost 1000 horsepowers and top notch, first class, you name it, aerodynamics should do it though. All this makes this car look like a bargain with a price tag somewhere around €1 million. Ferrari seems to have found the perfect ratio between engineering and soul.

Have a look at the Official launch video of the LaFerrari here

According to McLaren, there are 700 serious speculators on the 375 P1 cars to be manufactured, they notified their interest as early as last fall, when the concept car was shown in Paris. On the Tuesday McLaren sold six P1 at the fair. The order book should be closed within a few weeks. Ferrari is right now processing a thousand of their most loyal customers, a job that will take a few weeks. Ferrari is keen that the new supersportcar will be put into right hands. The forecast is that the 499 copies of LaFerrari almost is fully subscribed.

The Lamborghini Veneno? The only 3 cars to be made was sold long time before the fair started. At the price of three million. Euro. Plus taxes.

Check out the spring news in the shop here!

Question is, what to do with your already outdated Porsche 918 Spyder?

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The Diablo is a very special automobile produced between 1990 and 2001 by Lamborghini. In 2001 the Chrysler-owned Lamborghini handed over much of the decisional power to Audi and as a result we saw the release of the German bastard, The Murcielago.

Diablo so came to be the last American-italian bull to roll out of the Sant’Agata factory. Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear speculated that the Diablo was designed “Solely to be the biggest head-turner in the world”.The name is derived from a fierce bull raised by the Duke of Veragua in 1869.

The Diablo project, codenamed Project 1232, was launched in June 1985, with the intentions of replacing the Countach. The brief stated that its top speed had to be at least 196 mph (315 km/h).

The project is estimated to have cost a total of 6 billion lire. Upon it´s release it was the fastest car on the planet. Unlike the Countach, the Diablo were fitted with air-condition, adjustable seats and even with a pair of coat hooks.

Lamborghini, again, mounted a 48-valve V12 longitudinally and “backward” only this time it was computer managed. Originally the Diablo was intended to utilize 4-wheel drive. This was partly implemented with the release of the 1993 VT model. Visco Traction sent 15% of the power to the front wheels whenever the rears slipped.

A total of 2884 Diablos were built. They range from around €90k to €200k. Check out the awesome video by Brian Zuk:

Author: O.E.Wistén

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“Breathtakingly beautiful, confident enough that it doesn’t need to be theatrical or bellicose. Sympathetically useable – but crazed and noisy when that’s what you want.”
-Paul Horrell.

The Ferrari F12 gained “2012 Supercar of the Year” immediately upon its release. Replacing the old 599 (which was already epic) the F12 is also a large mid-engined car.

The F12 uses a naturally aspirated V12 cranking out 730 hp making it the most powerful road-legal Ferrari to date; tt does 0-100 km/h in 3.1 seconds and tops out over 340 km/h. The F12 is fitted with Ferraris start-stop system, which stops the engine during idle and gives the F12 a 30% improvement over the 599 in fuel consumption.

It´s built around an aluminium space frame chassis co-developed with Scaglietti. You can clearly distinguish visual features from the FF and the 458. The Interior is based on that of the FF with a pretty big increase in luggage space compared to the 599.
To many road trippers delight, Ferrari installed a small screen in front of the passenger seat, which displays speed, gear and rpm.

With technology derived from the 599XX programme and Formula One, the aerodynamics of the F12 is second to none. At 200 km/h produces 123 kg of downforce, an increase of 76% over the 599 GTB. Active Brake Cooling Ducts in front of the wheels enables direct extra cooling when needed and maximum aerodynamics when closed.

The F12 is capable of lapping the Fiorano test circuit 1 second faster than the 599 GTO and 2 seconds faster than the legendary Enzo. The F12 price tag €250.000 seems pretty fair considering the price of the two other Ferraris.

Author: O.E.W

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A. Lange & Söhne:s first watch order was placed by the German OperaHouse in 1841. They needed a clock that showed their guest when the breaks were over. The result is the very famous “5 minute clock”.Ever since, A.Lange & Söhne has been German engineering impersonated.

If you’re not familiar with their model the “Zeiweirk” you’re in for a treat. This is the first watch that offered a truly mechanical alternative to the indication of time with rotating hands. The design is intriguing and the movement is nothing but awesome.

The next level Zeitwerk, the Zeitwerk “Striking Time” was sure to impress as well. L & S changed the movement in Zeitwerk to better accommodate the components required for a minute repeater.To those of you who are not familiar with a minute repeater, it basically is a watch that notifies by sounds when the time changes.

The Zeitwerk Striking Time allows for its wearer (and probably the people around him) to hear the quarter-hours with a high-pitched tone and then the full hour with lower-pitched tones. Via the 4 o-clock button one is able to deactivate the quarter-hours tones.

The movement is a new manually wound L043.1 that features a constant-force escapement complication. The 42mm wide case is available in 18k rose, yellow or white gold, and in platinum, with a handful of dial-color options.The backplate on this Watch is the best I´ve seen!

One of the formidable challenges faced by the watchmakers is crafting the gongs for each striking time. The difficulty lies in imparting precisely the right pitch for each gong. To achieve the required results, the weight of the two hammers, their impact angles and their impact speeds must be accurately matched. Only very few watchmakers master this art; the process is one of the best-kept secrets in the world of horology.
There’s so much need factor on this watch it hurts!

Check out the video to hear the quality of the chime-
Did I mention that the Zeitwerk Striking time is able to play its tones fast forward, chiming out Beethoven’s famous Symphony No.5?
Author: Olle Elander Wistén

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Presented by Aston Martin in 2009, the One-77 is a super car in it right means. Between October 2009 and 2012 a total of 77 units were produced by Aston Martin, and it’s almost six times rarer than a Bugatti Veyron.

The naturally aspirated V12 was upon the One’s release the most powerful ever featured in a production car, cranking out 750hp. The Wizards at Cosworth apparently were involved in the production of the engine.

Bypass valves are installed and the One doesn´t really start to sing until you pass the 4000 rpm line. To those who have heard in real life says that the sound alone justifies the price of $1.4 million.

It uses a strengthened gearbox from the Aston Martin DB9 and height-adjustable pushrod suspension coupled with dynamic stability control. What´s crazy is that the horizontally-mounted suspensions, visible through the tailgate, are so bulky there´s hardly any boot at all. Aston Martin used technology from DTM to build these and each one of the 77 One’s were configured according to the buyers preferences.

Similar to the Setup of many of the supercars I´ve covered before, the One-77 is built around a carbon tub, same technology used in Formula 1. It’s low, wide and gloriously GT-ish. Even though the huge V12 is in front of the driver, it is completely behind the front axle.
The beautifully body was conceived and designed at Aston Martin’s Gaydon HQ and the monocoque has been built in partnership with Multimatic. As world leaders in carbon composite technology, advanced vehicle analysis and dynamic simulation, MTC brings unrivalled specialist capabilities to the One-77.

The hand-crafted Interior is nothing but breath-taking – notice the solid rose-gold up the dash of the One-77 in the video below. The interior design reflects of the beauty of the carbon fiber monocoque, leaving large areas of carbon exposed.

Epic Video with some emphasis on exhaust notes. Pure pleasure!

Author: Olle Elander Wistén

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In 2007, Road & Track Magazine held a shootout between some of the world´s fastest cars. McLaren SLR, Murciellago, Ruf Porsche 911 TT and the Bugatti Veyron were just some of the contenders. Hennessy was invited to bring their Venom 1000 Twin Turbo Viper which after the day had beaten everyone, in 0 – 200 mph it was 4 seconds faster than the Veyron.

Despite doing so well John Hennessy aimed to improve his creation. He wanted to increase the power but feared that the front–engined Viper wouldn’t have enough grip. A mid-engine setup would better serve the cause and the idea about mounting the Viper engine into the back of a Lotus Exige was born.

Until very recently Koenigsegg’s Agera R held the world record for fastest production car 0-300 km/h. The Venom GT which in January 2013 bested the Agera was built in Hennessy Performance Headquarters in Sealy, Texas. So far they have only produced seven cars which compared to Koenigegg’s one-hundred-something obviously isn´t a lot.

The tubs are donated by Lotus and sent to a Factory in England which finishes most of the bodywork before shipping it back to Hennessy. They install their outrageous 7 liter Twin Turbo V8, which is cockpit adjustable in three increments; 800 bhp, 1000 bhp and 1244 bhp.

From Hennessy’s Website:
0 – 60 mph 2.7 sec.
0 – 100 mph 5.6 sec.
0 – 300 km/h 13.63 sec. – Guinness World Record
0 – 200 mph 14.51 sec. – Production Car World Record
1/4 mile 9.92 sec. @ 163 mph
Standing Half Mile 206 mph
Standing One Mile 253 mph
Top Speed 278 mph

Pretty impressive numbers to say the least. They’re currently about $1.2 million, a bargain if you ask Steve Tyler from Aerosmith.
Check out the Video of the Guinness World Record run:

Author: Olle Elander Wistén

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If you’ve ever spent a summer somewhere around the beautiful Mediterranean, there’s a small chance that you have seen the Sea Force One. Quite easy to notice, this extraordinary ship measures 177 feet or 54 meters.

It´s really a floating palace, a state-of-the-art fantasy extravaganza, product of the wild imagination of its eccentric genius owner Captain Magic, who gives Johnny Depp a run for his money as self-styled ‘Last King of the Pirates’.

With its attention to detail and astonishing level of luxury, Sea Force One has reduced more than one hard-bitten yachting journalist to a drooling mess of amazed disbelief, grasping for superlatives to relay the sheer awesomeness of this boat; with its 12-foot home cinema, three-tiered waterfall plunge pool, gym with padded leather floor, extensive DVD library, Jacuzzis, DJ setups, sundeck sushi-bar and metallic parrots.

Desgined and built by Luca Dini Design in Italy, SF1 won the 2009 Judged Commendation in the World Superyachts Awards in the 500GT TO 1,299GT (APPROX 50M – 59M) section. SF1 Is able to accommodate 10 guests and 13 in the crew.

Two of the Master Suite’s ‘windows’ double up as hydraulically lowered, glass-bottomed balconies on either side of the vessel, allowing you to sprawl languorously across the gigantic bed with its white seabed sculpture backdrop beneath the quadruple skylights, and gaze out across the open ocean….. Lol.

The onboard art absolutely stunning, the ship is more an art gallery than anything else.
”There are several remarkable pieces, including ones from American sculptress Kiki Smith and Latin American painter José Garcia Cordero, who both takes skulls as their theme. Italian artist Fabrizio Plessi was commissioned to create a sound and vision installation to divide the main deck, a wall of circular watery videos splashing as their light undulates.”
Suellen Grealy, Luxure Magazine

It´s available for charter, starting at €280.000 a week and you can choose to go anywhere around the Mediterranean.

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For the last six decades the two italian super car producers have battled it out in an epic fight for the throne. It really is the perfect rivalry!

As many of you may know Ferrari was initially created as a race team and Lamborghini by a frustrated Ferrari Owner. Ferrari cars to this day breathes automobile racing while Lamborghini tend to be a little more on the “brutal, explosive street car” side of life.

Ferrucio Lamborghini stated early that Lamborghini Automobili would not take part in any factory supported racing. He considered it to be too draining on company resources.

Obviously times are changing and it’s time to get acquainted with a Lamborghini that never was intended for normal roads. The street illegal Lamborghini Sesto Elemento.

The name Sesto Elemento (‘sixth element’) is derived from the periodic table, where carbon is classified as the sixth element. It is based around a monocoque passenger cell that was manufactured in one shot. A monocoque basically means that a frame of an object is integrated in the objects external skin as opposed to an internal framework with a “non-load-bearing” skin.

Almost everything on the car, including the wheels, is made from a material called carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP). This brings down the weight to an amazing 999 kg, making it the lightest car ever to come out of the Lambo factory.

Combined with a V10 that delivers 570 hp the Sesto Elemento has a power-to-weight ratio of 1.75 kg per hp.
Put that in comparison to the new Ferrari F12 that has 2.1 kg per hp and the new Veyron that has 1 kg per hp.
Lamborghini promises a 0-60 in 2.5 seconds, performance that earlier only was delivered by Han Solos Millennium Falcon. Actually the interior of the Sesto elemento resembles that of the Millennium Falco!

I’m a huge fan of the bat mobile style exhausts, almost the same as we’ll see on the 918 Spyder.

While you check out this video by Brian Zuk, you can start researching which of the current owners you will have to bribe to aquire this car (all of the 20 produced have been sold).

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The Overmarine Group, also known as Mangusta, has been producing boats out of Viareggio, Italy for the last 25 years. Mangusta brand has always stood for peak performance and luxury, setting new standards over and over again. Hulls are designed in house and tested in major European test tanks, in cooperation with pioneer Companies within fluid dynamic field.

The 7th yacht from Mangusta is also the latest; the Mangusta 165 is the fastest Maxi Open yacht ever built. Three 16-cylinder diesel engines, each delivering 4609hp, together with Kamewa water jets sends the 49.9-meter long vessel into speeds above 35 knots. Since the fuel tank holds a shy 40.000 litres it’s important to remember your spending pants whenever you intend to fill this bad boy up.

This Mangusta can be fitted with up to 5 bedrooms and house up to 14 people. In the stern you’ll find a Jacuzzi, a table for 14, a corner bar and a retractable TV, and at the bow you’ll find another lunch area. The fly bridge houses a second wheelhouse a barbecue unit and a sunbathing area. Beneath it you will find a garage holding a tender, several water skis, diving equipment and water toys. The Mangusta 165 also comes with a diving board and an inflatable slide from the fly bridge.

The Mangusta 165 has been nominated for the 2013 International Yacht and Aviation award and if you want one you’re going to have to shell out about €30 million.

Author: Olle Elander Wistén

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Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Clito Ruiz y Picasso, better known as Pablo Picasso, was a Spanish painter and ceramist. Widely recognized as one of the most unique and influential artists of the 20th century, Picasso was also one of the founders of the cubism movement.

Being taught by his Father at an early age, Picasso displayed extraordinary skills. In his youth, Pablo studied art in Madrid though he never finished his college degree and at the age of nineteen, Pablo moved to Paris, where he would come to spend most of his life. 24 years old, Pablo had already made a name for himself internationally and his paintings became more and more desirable with collectors all over the world.

Throughout his life Pablo had passion for women. He was involved in several relationships outside his marriage, the most celebrated was the French Mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter, who was Picasso’s gratest love and principal muse. Her voluptuous form was the inspiration for Picasso’s greatest sculptures, including the “La Lecture” which was sold for $40.7 million and Femmes lisant which went for $21.4 million.

“La Lecture” 1932.

Marie-Thérèse Walter happens to be the portrayed individual of the painting “Femme assise près d’une fenêtre” which now art collectors around the world has chance of acquiring. The marvelous iconic portrait was painted on 30th October 1932 and is actually part of a series that first introduced Pablo’s golden mistress and golden muse.
The painting will be auctioned as a part of Sotheby’s upcoming Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on the 5th Feb.

“Femme assise près d’une fenêtre” 1932

Author: Olle Elander Wistén