The DarioC Blog

Lancia

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:54:28 +0000

An upcoming project

Prime

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 21:00:46 +0000

Prime time…

Elevated Rear Three Quarter

admin — Tue, 18 May 2010 00:10:41 +0000

Lato B

admin — Sat, 15 May 2010 17:38:43 +0000

Alias

admin — Wed, 12 May 2010 00:23:29 +0000

Busiest part of the last 4 years…

admin — Tue, 11 May 2010 20:39:09 +0000

Working on the technical renders… in the mean time…

Race Retro 2010

admin — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 01:24:42 +0000

Race Retro 2010, originally uploaded by Dario.C.

Numeri Magici…

Magical Nubers…

The Creation of a Clay Model

admin — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:20:10 +0000

For anyone who might be interested, I thought I would document the creation of my major project on my blog.

The aim is to create a model in 1/4 scale, using faber clay, the same type used in the automotive industry. After months of design, research, reports I had come up with my final design, or at least the larger part of the overall design of this vehicle.

The vehicle I should mention, is going to be a small, agile, mid engined sports car. The brand I am designing it for is Alfa Romeo, this ties in quite well with the brands centenary celebrations this year.

I want to create a car that reminds people of the real sports cars Alfa Romeo was producing many years ago, hence the mid engined layout, just like the 33. The return of real wheel drive is crucial, Alfisti still consider the 75 to be the last ‘real’ Alfa Romeo. In my personal opinion, the 8C is a great car, shockingly beautiful, but it is not a ‘complete’ Alfa Romeo, sadly I believe that part sharing was necessary for such a car to made considering Alfa Romeo’s situation.

Small, aimed to not be longer than 4 meters, this is more than enough for a true sports car. I don’t like the trend the car industry is following of making everything bigger.

Light, projected weight not over 1300kgs, weight means higher fuel consumption, more power needed to get high performance.

The engine, a 2.0 V8 is a reminder of what Alfa Romeo was capable of engineering. in the ’60s their 2.0 V8 designed by Carlo Chiti produced 230hp, so with Alfa Romeo’s latest engineering feat, MultiAir, and advancements in engine design the engine could easily pass the 300hp mark. This is excluding the use of Turbochargers, where much higher power output figures would be possible. The adoption of a small electric motor for the front axle is also a key feature.

As for the actual physical model, to start applying the clay, a foam base must be constructed.

Once this tedious job has been completed, clay is used to cover the foam and try to create a model as similar as possible to what you designed.

More to follow…

Race Retro 2010 Roundup

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:01:44 +0000

What an event! Ended up taking almost 900 pictures last Sunday.

Much better than last year’s show, and the number of Alfa Romeo’s in the stands was simply fantastic.

Race Retro 2010 Photo Set

DarioC

Congratulazioni Flavio Manzoni

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:49:25 +0000

(Image Courtesy of MotiveMag.com & Motoradictos.com)

Flavio Manzoni has been chosen to be the next Ferrari Design Chief. I first noticed his works when he penned several concept vehicles at Lancia, of which the above Fulvia concept that sadly never made it to production, a huge mistake from Fiat & Lancia. After Lancia he moved to Volkwagen where he designed several of its latest vehicles like the Scirocco and Up! Concept, and now he has been relocated to Maranello to be the head of design at Ferrari.

Congratulazioni to a great designer!