Touring Superleggera’s birthday bonanza, electric Rolls, and Helio victorious at Indy
Welcome to The Manifold, our fresh daily digest of news and what’s happening in the car world.
The Arese RH95 celebrates 95 years of coachbuilding
Intake: Storied Italian coachbuilder Touring Superleggera is marking its 95th year with the gorgeous Arese RH95. Following its Aero 3, the supercar’s standout features include showy scissor doors that you won’t find on the the Ferrari 488, not to mention the bespoke bodywork. Touring says it will build a total of 18 Arese RH95s and it can be even be ordered in classic Gulf Oil blue and orange.
Exhaust: From shooting brakes to boat-tailed picnic hampers, coachbuilding is seriously hot right now. Historic name or not, Touring Superleggera will have a tough time distinguishing itself in an increasingly crowded field.
Rolls-Royce confirms Silent Shadow EV
Intake: Rolls-Royce boss Torsten Müller-Ötvös has announced that the British luxury car maker is working on an all-electric car. “Electrification fits perfect with Rolls-Royce—it’s torquey, it’s super-silent,” he told Bloomberg Television. “We are not known for roaring loud engines and exhaust noises whatsoever, and that is a big benefit.” His confirmation follows the news late last year that the company applied for a trademark on the Silent Shadow name.
Exhaust: Silence will, no doubt, be a golden opportunity for Rolls-Royce to steal back sales from Mercedes, which has a head start with the Maybach EQS.
Helio Castroneves nabs fourth Indy 500 victory
Intake: Indycar veteran and man possessed of one of the best smiles in racing Helio Castroneves joined hallowed company on Sunday afternoon by taking his fourth victory at the Indianapolis 500. The 46-year-old Brazilian joins the likes of A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, and Rick Mears as four-time winners of the greatest spectacle in racing. Castroneves also became the fourth-oldest winner of the 500, proving that age is just a number. “I don’t know if it’s a good comparison, but Tom Brady won a Super Bowl, Phil (Mickelson) won the PGA, and now here you go,” said Castroneves. Aside from a handful of personal accolades, Castroneves also delivered his Meyer/ShankRacing team its first victory since the outfit began racing in IndyCar in 2017.
Exhaust: “[Helio’s win] is the most important and impactful thing that the Indy 500 and IndyCar could have asked for,” veteran IndyCar reporter and former engineer Marshall Pruett tells Hagerty. “This is the one driver in the field of 33 who had the potential to lift this story beyond just the typical IndyCar fans. It was truly a script writer’s dream if you were wanting IndyCar and the Indy 500 to get lift out of the Midwest into the almost impenetrable coasts in terms of news and feel-good stories.”
LEGO adds McLaren Elva to its Speed Champions Garage
Intake: LEGO’s Speed Champions line turns some of our favorite muscle cars and sports cars into palm-sized representations. The fantastically curvy McLaren Elva speedster, the lightest McLaren yet, is the latest to receive the honor. Easily identified even when rendered in 263 chunky blocks, the open-top racer comes with its own driver minifig—a 1.5-inch-tall version of McLaren Automotive’s Principal Development Engineer for Ultimate Series, Rachel Brown. The recently launched set is available now.
Exhaust: If your capacity for full-size collector cars has hit its limit or if you’ve simply got a bare spot on a shelf and need something worthy to fill the space, LEGO’s newest addition to its Speed Champions line may be just the ticket.
Workers find 108-year-old message in a bottle at Ford’s Michigan Central Station
Intake: Workers at Michigan Central Station, while restoring and renovating the Beaux-Arts-style building that’s set to be the hub of Ford’s high-tech office complex, unearthed a pre-prohibition beer bottle filled with what appears to be a message. Lukas Nielsen and Leo Kimble found the bottle, stamped 7-19-13 (that’s 1913, not 2013), upside-down behind some crown molding. The two immediately handed the bottle over, resisting the urge to remove the delicate paper inside. Ford historians are currently caring for the paper and haven’t deciphered any message just yet. “The main thing you have to do is slow down the deterioration of the paper,” said Heritage and Brand Manager Ted Ryan. “With the bottle, that’s easy because it’s glass, but we’ll also have to make sure the rest of the label doesn’t deteriorate. It’s just like the pieces of a classic car.”
Exhaust: Ford’s ambitious project to bring life back to Michigan Central Station will ultimately benefit more than just a piece of gorgeous architecture. Various objects that have been discovered in the long-empty building are now on their way to being preserved and displayed.
