“Our aim was to re-discover things forgotten”. This is how Alfredo Stola put the concept that led to the RK Spyder, the off-roader that kick-started the activity of his new company, Studiotorino. “Cars manufactured by hand, one by one, equipped with mechanicals of great prestige, high performers”, he continues. And in fact, the RK Spyder, two prototypes of which we have already seen and whose production will be limited to 49 at the most, has the Studiotorino trademark on its sides and on the engine and that of Ruf on the bonnet. Of the original shell – we are talking about the Stuttgart Boxster 997 – the only bit left unchanged is the front left wing: all the rest has been partly modified and partly built by hand from scratch in aluminium or steel sheet and carbon fibre.
Every RK – the coupé version, which will see the light in 2007, is already on the drawing board – will be different from the next. The customer will specify what personal touches he wants to see on his vehicle, what engine, what colour. The result? All told, what can be said in terms of performance is secondary. Of the two prototypes, both of them Ruf developments of 3.8 litres with 6 cylinders and 24 valves, one is fitted with a compressor (420 bhp, from 0 to 100 in 4.5 seconds and from 0 to 200 in 13.8, top speed 285 km/h); the other is aspirated. There are other priorities in actual fact. “Right from the beginning of the project”, explains Stola, “I had the driver in mind and his driving pleasure, his desire to live in symbiosis with the world around him: the road, air, sunshine… and yes, rain too, seeing that the RK Spyder doesn’t have a roof. Sport means challenge as well as passion, it means measuring up against oneself, it is pure pleasure. Speed is relative, pleasure is intimate and personal.”
The article continues in Auto & Design no. 154
