Tag Archives: Purposeful

Morgan and Pininfarina reveal placing £200k barchetta

In specific, they’re fuller behind the entrance wheels, which supplies a extra purposeful stance and improves aero. 

The rear wings even have a chamfer on their main floor for aero causes and there’s even a refined diffuser underneath the automotive’s rear to counter elevate at pace. Hand-formed chrome steel finishers alongside the sills add to the coachbuilt class. And the uniquely designed wheels are some of the efficient of a collection of weight-saving measures designed to maintain dry weight underneath 1000kg. 

For most individuals, the Midsummer’s crowning glory is its elegant barchetta tail, which elongates the automotive (once more to the advantage of aero) and completely blends Morgan’s unmistakable frontal options with a rear model paying homage to a few of Pininfarinas’s best vehicles. 

This harmonises completely with Morgan’s already acknowledged intention of ultimately transferring the look of some manufacturing fashions ahead a decade or two.

“I’m most pleased with the Midsummer’s rear three-quarter proportions and how the car sits, thanks to obsessive attention to detail to refine the wheel- to-body relationship,” mentioned Wells. “Midsummer establishes design foundations we are able to construct upon for future Morgan fashions.

How the Morgan Midsummer took place

Morgan Midsummer front

According to Pininfarina’s chief inventive officer, Felix Kilbertus, the Midsummer venture grew out of what he calls an “immersive” journey between the 2 manufacturers. It started with a ‘what if?’ session involving the 2 companies’ design groups in an English pub and progressed to extra particular discussions in Italy over excellent espresso – with plenty of collaboration classes in between.

Morgan design chief Jonathan Wells says the Italian agency’s younger designers, used to working with the newest digital instruments in a big neighborhood, “actually loved seeing how immediately we at Morgan can work together with the people who find themselves making the vehicles within the manufacturing unit close by. 

“It was fairly superior for us to see their digital stuff – their energy partitions and VR suites. We began discussing whether or not there was a venture we may do collectively. We have been on the lookout for one thing to offer a little bit of a bang, a good change of course. Midsummer is what got here up.

Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio

The Stelvio Quadrifoglio’s darkish however purposeful cockpit units the tone moderately successfully for the thrilling driving expertise to return. The automotive’s fittings aren’t universally and even very extensively of excessive sufficient perceived high quality to match what you’ll discover in an Audi SQ5, GLC 63 or Porsche Macan Turbo however, simply as with the Giulia, Turin is playing that gained’t be a turn-off for Stelvio homeowners.

It’s fairly much more prone to be a turn-off for a Stelvio owner spending £75,000 on a automotive than somebody spending £40,000, we’d level out; particularly because the efforts made to counterpoint this automotive’s cabin (leather-based on prime of the dashboard and on the doorways and lacquered carbonfibre deployed liberally) don’t distract you for lengthy from the locations the place the inside seems and feels low-cost (air flow controls, gearlever, steering column plastics, steering wheel button consoles).

But there are actually some notable materials highlights to cherish. The massive aluminium column-mounted shift paddles appear and feel nice. The non-obligatory Sparco Carbonshell light-weight seats look nice, too, holding your bottom in place very properly, though we are able to think about the usual electrical heated sports activities seats can be comfier.

Alfa’s small-diameter flat-bottomed steering wheel, that includes leather-based, Alcantara and carbonfibre, feels excellent though it might do with extra attain adjustment. But between one factor and the following, your urge for food is whetted moderately skilfully.

Alfa’s sizzling Stelvio has arrived simply because the Italian agency has obtained round to creating its 8.8in Alfa Connect infotainment system compliant with smartphone mirroring. It will join with each Apple and Android handsets and delivers fairly much more related companies, via your cellphone’s knowledge connection, consequently.

An infotainment system in a £70,000 automotive most likely shouldn’t depend on your smartphone’s knowledge connection as squarely as that, thoughts you. And in different respects, the Alfa’s Magneti Marelli-developed set-up doesn’t distinguish itself too properly.

It’s managed via an iDrive-style wheel of the type we might usually favor to a touchscreen system anyway, nevertheless it nonetheless appears a bit extra cumbersome to make use of than the perfect premium-grade methods. The navigation system is significantly much less adaptable and detailed than it should be, and it’ll be some time but earlier than Stelvio homeowners shall be handled to issues like a completely digital instrument display screen or a head-up show – each of which you’ve obtained a proper to anticipate, not less than as an option, on this kind of car.

Those drawn to this automotive not less than partly for its house and usefulness should be moderately happy that it gives a great deal extra on each scores than the Giulia Quadrifoglio. The altitude at which the cabin seats you isn’t fairly as excessive as SUVs of this dimension usually do, so the driving place is fairly recumbent, and also you’ll discover sufficient room within the again seats for full-sized grownup passengers, though you sit in a decrease and extra bent-legged pose than some may anticipate to.

The boot is an efficient dimension, though not big (simply above 500 litres assuming you keep away from a spacesaver spare wheel) and has load-lashing factors as customary, with each a cargo internet and a extra versatile load space rail system on the choices checklist.

K-Speed Has Already Turned The Yamaha PG-1 Into A Custom Scrambler

Retro. Cute. Purposeful. Maybe even colorful.

Are those some of the words that came to mind when you set eyes upon the Yamaha PG-1 for the first time? (We’re not counting the thoughts of the Honda CT125 Hunter Cub that you probably also had, although they’re almost certainly there.)

Regardless of your answer, one word that probably didn’t occur to you is “mean.” Yet that’s exactly what K-Speed, led by Tanadit, has done with the bike. 

This is the K-Speed Yamaha PG-1 Rock Scrambler, and it’s so good. The entire bike is a symphony of black, but with a variety of shades and textures that keep the visual impression dynamic. Even the engine, which comes stock with a silver cylinder head, has been completely blacked out.

Pops of silver show up in the form of the wheels, rotors, a little silver side plate with round holes, and the silver mesh that shows up in the round holes of the exhaust cover. The Yamaha logos get a touch of silver as well, but the scarcity makes those little pops of contrast stand out. 

K-Speed Custom Yamaha PG-1 - Exhaust Closeup

There’s a wide handlebar, a single bar-end mirror on the left side, tiny turn signals, and front and rear fenders that have been both chopped and raised up. The aforementioned exhaust is now a high-mount unit, adding to the overall scrambler aesthetic. As you can hear in the extremely short video (too short, in our opinion; we would have loved to hear more of it), it also sounds very good.

The tail section has been tidied up, and the saddle is now a solo unit that echoes the knobby tires with its own block pattern contrast stitching. Diamond stitch? Who needs it when you can have block stitch instead? Incidentally, the wheels are now 17-inch units, up from the standard 16-inch ones found on the stock PG-1.

For those unfamiliar, K-Speed is pretty well known for two things: Custom full bike builds, and aftermarket accessories that it makes to fit a variety of bikes. It also sells some of the custom bikes that it makes, and the K-Speed Yamaha PG-1 Rock Scrambler is currently listed for preorder on its website at a cost of ¥1,280,000 (about $8,638) including shipping.

K-Speed ships internationally. However, please note that the listing includes a bunch of information about the differences between shipping K-Speed bikes (and parts) within Japan and shipping them to other countries around the world. Things like additional fees (such as customs fees), unavailability of certain accessories in other countries depending on local laws, and more.