Essen Summary

Sebastian Geisler reports from Germany on the Porsches, Ferraris and Lotuses at the show

By PH Staff / Friday, 5 December 2003 / Loading comments

"Power Meets Emotion" is the strapline for this year's Essen Show. It's the 36th show and has attracted approximately 570 exhibitors from 19 countries. More than 400,000 visitors are expected to attend over the 10 days that it's open (closes on December 7th).

The Essen Motor Show is the second most important car fair in Germany, following the Frankfurt/Main Show which takes place every two years. Essen is more geared towards the enthusiast with car tuning companies and racing cars forming many of the displays. This year there's a unique presentation of more than 20 Ferrari Formula 1 racing cars from the last 55 years.

Ferrari

In the oldtimers and classic cars section there are also several Ferraris, beginning with the old 166 MM up to the current type Enzo. One of these cars, a 250 Testa Rossa, is insured for more than eight million Euro!

For the people who think that a standard Ferrari won't be fast enough, the tuning companies Hamann, LC (Limited Cars) and Novitec offer tuning kits, suspension kits and other wheels. LC offers two engine kits for 360 Modena, 428 hp and 470 hp.

For those who want to test a Ferrari before buying, LC offers the possibility to rent a Ferrari 360 Modena F1, but 690 Euro for one day including only 50 km's are no bargain!

Hamann is also present. It provides custom-made components for the Ferrari 360 Modena. These range from body styling parts for improved aerodynamic stability, three-piece five-spoke wheels, to sport suspension and a stainless steel high performance exhaust systems. The exhausts both sound good and release another 15bhp. With all the extras.

Novitec also provide Ferrari tuning and are here with a fine example of their wrok. The Novitec Rosso Ferrari 360 F1 Supersport is a competitor for supercars such as Porsche's Carrera GT or even the Ferrari Enzo.

With its 606 bhp supercharged engine it reaches a maximum speed of 344 km/h. Novitec offers the car for 274.000 Euro (£192K).

For those people who do not have the money for a Ferrari Enzo or a 360 Modena, Auto Stadelmann has got an interesting alternative. They offer a 328 GTS, a Mondial and a Daytona Replica at a low prices, but the cars have been crashed!

Another alternative for the people with a small budget, a Ferrari 250 GTO on (scale model 1.75:1), powered by a 21 hp engine from a Fiat Topolino. It's made by the Italian company Allegretti.

Lotus

Lotus still haven't made a mainstream impact in Germany so only two Lotuses were to be found. This year only 109 Lotus have been sold from January to September in Germany, in comparison with 11409 Porsche and 529 Ferrari!

The German Lotus dealer and tuning specialist Brandes & Dschuedow presented the Lotus Esthi <2,3. The car with the engine of an Audi RS4 was first shown last year during the 24h race at Nurburgring. Since then, Brandes & Dschuedow has enhanced the car and modified some details due to satisfy the safety standards authority. To improve the handling at high speeds a rear spoiler has been fitted. The acceptance of the German safety standards authority (TÜV) is about to take place and the delivery of the first customer cars is estimated for spring 2004.

The German company "one eleven projects" is new on the market and presented the one eleven projects elise 240 HP (HP for Honda Powertrain). That company is an engineering company, which modifies (together with its strategic partners) aerodynamics and engine of the Lotus Elise S2. The car has been fitted the O.Z. wheels and Yokohama tyres from the Lotus Elise Sport 190 and will be available in three performance categories: 200 hp, 220 hp and 240 hp. The engine is from the Honda Civic Type R, with the differing power outputs achieved by using japanese engine parts which are more more powerful than the european variants. No prices are available yet.

Porsche

The American company Dean's Dream is showing a body kit for Porsche Boxster that gives the car the look of the "James Dean" Porsche 550 Spyder. The car was build in 2000 and is still a prototype, but together with the German Porsche specialist TechArt, Dean's Dream now prepares for inspection by the German safety standards authority (TÜV). Production is planned for summer 2004.

The sales of Porsche 911 and Boxster are dropping, and the Cayenne now represents half of the Porsches sold. The Porsche tuning specialists are reacting to the new market and are offering more and more power kits, aerodynamics kits, suspension kits and wheels for the Cayenne.

With petrol costs constantly on the rise, Rinspeed have a Porsche that may interest those seeking alternative fuelled transport. Based on a Porsche 996 Turbo the Rinspeed Bedouin is powered by an environment-friendly twin-turbo engine running on natural gas. The Bedouin can be transformed from a roomy two-seater pick-up into a sporty yet spacious four-seater 'sports wagon'. Rinspeed also offers solutions for Porsche Boxster, 911 and Cayenne.

TechArt also has a complete program for Cayenne, with the power kit 048/T1 the Cayenne Turbo's output can be boosted to 510 hp. The Interior is complete leather in yellow and black. For the passengers a multimedia - TV / video / DVD - system with two LCD monitors has been fitted.

Sportec offers a 510 hp power kit for the Cayenne Turbo, too, whereas Hamann offers a power kit for Cayenne S (up to 400 hp) and a new light kit for the Porsche 911 as well as their trademark gullwing doors!

Porsche specialist Gembella has done the business on the Porsche Boxster S. Power is up from 260 hp to 375 hp!

Essen wouldn't be complete without RUF and their Porsche 996, Rturbo now reaches 590 hp and has a maximum speed of 350 km/h (217mph), but where can you drive that fast?!