LOMBARDY - Italian coachbuilder Touring Superleggera has produced some dramatic and distinctive sports cars over the years, and its latest creation, the Aero 3, is certainly striking to say the least.
Beneath that swoopy new body, which was inspired by cars like the 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 B, is the modern architecture of Ferrari’s F12 Berlinetta.
That of course, also means the fitment of a 6.2-litre V12 engine that produces 544kW at 8250rpm and 690Nm, sending power to the rear wheels through a seven-speed sequential gearbox.
Just 15 of these handcrafted touring coupes will ever be built, the company says.
To keep weight to a minimum in line with the company’s philosophy, and its name for that matter, the Aero 3’s body is made from carbon fibre.
Inspired by a bygone era
Inspired by the mid-20th Century golden age of Italian coachbuilding, the new Aero 3 typifies the canons of Touring aerodynamic style, the company says, with flowing lines that highlight the cleanliness of the surfaces and smooth integration of the volumes into a unified whole.
“In accordance with time-honoured Touring practice, the Aero 3 avoids jarring, heavily angular architecture in favour of more sweeping, harmonious, but well-defined curves,” says Touring Superleggera.
“While the sculpted flanks give the shape dynamism and suggest power, and the large, muscular bonnet fires the imagination with promises of invigorating performance, the emphasis is on Touring’s signature balance of proportions and lightness of touch.”
But what’s with that massive ‘fin’ on the back?
According to Touring, the rear fin, often called a shark fin on the outright racing cars where they are now commonly found, reflects pioneering “wind profile” studies into aerodynamic theories in early wind tunnels. This detail, while a characterising feature of the current design and a strong statement on the company lineage, is nonetheless artfully blended into the visual satisfaction of the overall machine.
“The idea of a fin was born as a prominent but very natural extension of the teardrop shape of the passenger compartment and the purest way to illustrate the essence of Streamline Style,”, said design head Louis de Fabribeckers.
“In the case of the Aero 3, it has no aerodynamic function in itself, but it evokes Touring’s aerodynamics legacy, from the 1930s onward.”
Before any physical construction begins, Touring conducts an engineering study of every detail with particular attention to safety, structural evaluations, and naturally, aerodynamics.
All the chassis-bodywork coupling parts are drawn via CAD, to ensure build quality and absence of vibrations; critical load-bearing elements are also subjected to FEM modal analysis.
IOL Motoring