Tuesday 26th October 2010

Lavazza GTX - Like An Enzo, But Not

Internet trawl reveals odd-but-interesting Italian supercar you've never heard of

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These little beauties are the Lavazza GTX and GTX-R and are the work of an Italian company called Simbol Design.

Spotted while paddling through some of the quieter backwaters of the web (when we should have been doing something altogether more productive), these - ahem - alternative supercars seem to be proof that Italy doesn't always get the super sports car thing spot-on.

Visually, the designs appear to be the result of cross-breeding between a Ferrari Enzo and several Pagani Zondas - we'll leave it up to you to decide whether the result is successful or not.

Underneath the skin lies a tubular spaceframe chassis, while motive power is provided by a variety of BMW V12s. You can have 5.3-litres with 400hp, 5.4 litres with 620hp or 5.4-litres with 489hp (though this last only appears on the Italian version of Simbol's site). These transmit their power through an intriguing five- or six-speed paddle-shift gearbox.

It's all very curious, as is the fact that Simbol appears to offer a restoration and remanufacturing service for all sorts of historic sports and racing cars. There's even a Pontiac Fiero for sale on another part of the site - oh it's all too weird to explain, go and have a look at the Simbol site for yourselves and you'll see what we mean...

[williamssam]

Have Lavazza branched out from their usual coffee products?

[drewbagz]

Nah, your alrite thanks.

[The Angry Gopher]

williamssam said:

Have Lavazza branched out from their usual coffee products?

There's an espresso machine integrated in to the dash...

[AndrewW-G]

Of all the Ferraris they could have taken styling cues from, they chose the Enzo it's like trying to build the perfect woman from parts of Katie Price, Kerry Katona and cherie blair!

[Jonny671]

I think thats stunning!

[911p]

Red one looks like the inbred product of an Enzo and a Zonda. Grey one looks good.

[FraserLFA]

Lambazondarari!?

[Bullett]

Some real oddities on there.

The 6 wheeler looked err interesting. Covini c6w

[jayfish]

911p said:

Red one looks like the inbred product of an Enzo and a Zonda. Grey one looks good.

erm apart from the wheels and the spoiler they are identical

[[AJ]]

You could have warned us that his 5 year old nephew designed the website.

[ShadownINja]

AndrewW-G said:

Of all the Ferraris they could have taken styling cues from, they chose the Enzo it's like trying to build the perfect woman from parts of Katie Price, Kerry Katona and cherie blair!

[ShadownINja]

[AJ] said:

You could have warned us that his 5 year old nephew designed the website.

'kin hell. And you warned me. /o\

[peteA]

Not sure about any of these...but...at least they are built and not just drawings/renderings...?

What engine is that...V12?

[Dr Derek Doctors]

It looks better under the bonnet than from the outside, its companies like this that keep cars interesting though.

[2blackhats]

What's not to like? Exotic Italian cars, totally impractical with massive engines...This is exactly the sort of car I like!

[911p]

jayfish said:

911p said:

Red one looks like the inbred product of an Enzo and a Zonda. Grey one looks good.

erm apart from the wheels and the spoiler they are identical

Look closer!

[cris9964]

No likey.... also - norton showing 185 threats linked to this website! Caution

[JohnoVR6]

I thought they were Arash Farboud's latest offerings for a second...

[oxfordbiker]

C8 on the site shows the resurfacing of the Minotaur kitcar...

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/auto_design/eng_home.htm

[seefarr]

PHBloke said:

There's even a Pontiac Fiero for sale on another part of the site

This should set alarm bells ringing straight away. They're a very common base for kit-cars in the states - especially the Lambo and Ferrari rip-offs.