Luxury Open-Wheel Driving from Spain

Motoring Channel Staff - 7/Feb/2006

Open-wheel sports cars have gained a lot of ground in the last decade as small engineering firms from around the world (and especially Europe) try their hands at creating light weight, highly balanced and road-legal  machines for a fraction of the cost of a more traditional super car, such as a Ferrari Enzo, Lamborghini Murcielago or Porsche Carrera GT.

What began as humble DIY kit-cars from Lotus et al during the mid-to-late 20th century has expanded into a popular niche market of ready-to-drive open wheelers.

The latest open-wheel sports car to hit the scene comes from the Tramontana group, built by hand at the company's Costa Brava premises just north of Barcelona in picturesque north-eastern Spain.

But there's a bit of a difference with this aeronautically inspired two-seater. Rather than stripping the vehicle back to its basic components of frame, chassis (suspension, brakes etc) and engine, the a.d. Tramontana goes in the other direction, creating a new sub-genre of highly desirable luxury open wheelers.

Powered by a mid-mounted V12 engine, giving the 2-seater the kind of acceleration only sports bike riders and super car owners are used to, the a.d. makes use of the high quality materials, insists Tramontana, which will launch the radical-looking sports car at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show.

Only a dozen of Tramontana's a.d.s will be built annually making it a very rare vehicle, and the Spanish outfit explains that each hand built sports car is decked out with stainless steel, carbon fibre, gold and high quality timbers cured using an ancient Japanese natural lacquer technique known as Urushi.

In addition to using high quality materials to finish off the vehicle, the company explains that each unit will ultimately be unique, as the production process will include a large amount of customer-specific requirements, from personalised inscriptions on the chassis to an ergonomical study of the client.

The Tramontana group says that it's massively powerful V12 open-wheel sports car revives certain features of long-forgotten classical marques, while another source of inspiration the Costa Brava-based company used comes from fighter planes. The company explains that it has taken the lateral intake vents and, in particular, the tandem-like position of the two seats (one in front of the other), which allows optimal balance with either one or two occupants. 

Powering the a.d. Tramontana is V12 engine of undisclosed capacity that generates - according to the maker - more than 500 ponies, or about 373 kilowatts. Chances are the company is still tooling around with fuel injection maps and so forth, trying to nail down a reliable figure that suits the car's handling attitude. The 12-cylinder, mid-mounted engine generates 825Nm of torque, suggesting that it's not a terribly small unit, and is mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox driving the rear wheels.

The a.d. Tramontana can reach speeds of beyond 300km/h and will charge from 0-100km/h in 4.0 seconds flat. It weighs 950kg, measures more than 2.0 metres wide and has a length of 4.9 metres, making it a very large and relatively bulky open-wheeler when compared to many of the niche models already on the market. It sits on ultra-wide 18-inch alloy wheels, with 315/30 and 335/30 aspect ratio tyres on the front and rear axles respectively, while braking is taken car of by ventilated disc brakes at all four corners, each with a diameter of 355mm, and secured by large six piston callipers.

Tramontana explains that the chassis is made of aeronautical aluminium and was developed from scratch, contributing to a new structural system incorporating a non-deformable area with eight impact-absorption zones, which it insists provide a level of safety comparable to that a professional racing car. The vehicle's body panels are fabricated from carbon fibre and with independent 4-wheel suspension, the a.d. Tramontana is expected to be a consummate track day partner.

After stalled starts in 2005, the eye-catching Spanish open-wheeler will make an appearance at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show beginning in March, and is expected to fetch a modest quarter of a million bucks in local currency.