Update (October 7, 2019): Philipp Wolm Markus Fux, the man behind the Milan Red hypercar project, has been sentenced to jail. Austrian newspaper Kurier reports that although the judge found that Fux didn't intend the project to be fraudulent from the outset, he wound up defrauding backers to the tune of millions of euros. So it appears the Milan Red won't be roaring into garages anytime soon.
It's a day that ends with "y", and we all know what that means in 2018: the launch of another new boutique hypercar. In this case it's the Milan Red, a 1,325-hp, quad-turbo V8 beast. We've seen cars before that look like they're going 100 mph standing still, but this one looks like its cheeks are flapping in the wind.
Seriously, look at that front end and tell us it doesn't remind you of Jeremy Clarkson driving the Ariel Atom, cheeks inflating at the end of the straight as his mouth fills up with bees.
That's not to say the Milan Red looks bad; in many ways it's quite beautiful – like the way the hood scoops accentuate the forward thrust of the car down toward the logo, or the big back haunches over the rear wheels, and the way they lead to a starkly flat, nicely detailed backside.
But that front end perfectly captures both the look and the emotion of an awe-struck motorcyclist breaking the imperial ton without a helmet for the first time, and learning how cheeks turn into parachutes at a certain velocity.
You might expect, given the name and some of the curves, that the Milan Red is an Italian hypercar. And you'd be wrong. It's Austrian, and the name refers to an elegant bird of prey found chiefly in Europe and northwest Africa. Hence the falcon-ish logo on the bonnet.
The mid-mounted engine is an absolute whopper: an AVL 6.2-liter V8 running four turbos for a peak of 1,325 hp (988-kW) and 1,400 Nm (1033 lb-ft) of bone-crunching torque. The transmission is a 8-speed dual clutch job, and there's a cheeky nod to the whole bird thing on the driving mode switch, which reads "glide, hunt, attack."
Proudly combustion-focused and rear wheel drive, this thing loses out on some acceleration by its lack of hybrid power. It's a little academic, though, as it still hits 100 km/h (62 mph) in 2.47 seconds on its way to a top speed over 400 km/h (248 mph). Where it loses a touch of jump off the line next to some of the really berserk hybrids, it should come steaming home at the high speed end of the drag strip.
Honestly, at these levels of lunacy, performance figures recede so far into the realms of improbability that their only vague relevance to the real world is in furious phallus-swinging contests between billionaires. But to be fair, these contests are a key driving force behind global commerce, so we should go easy on them.
Weight is kept to an extraordinary 1,300 kg (2,866 lb), giving the Milan Red the distinction of joining the more than one-horsepower-per-kilogram club. This is done with the use of a carbon fiber monocoque chassis, with carbon reinforced plastic crumple structures and carbon bodywork all over. Even the suspension wishbones from Peak Technology in Upper Austria are carbon – a world production car first, and one that not only reduces the total vehicle weight, but unsprung mass as well.
Beyond that, it's a hypercar, so you'll find the requisite diffusers, splitters, brake cooling ducts and rear wing to add downforce and cornering grip, as well as the practical touch of a lift system on the suspension to get you over speed bumps and driveways.
A "flying doctor" system lets Milan engineers remotely request diagnostics data so you're never speaking to the wrong member of the engineering team on the phone for a support call. Telemetry systems allow downloading and analysis of road and track data. It's all there. One thing we don't know is which way the doors open, which is as important as anything in the hypercar world. We'd hate to think the team went to the effort of building a car like this, and then tacking on doors that open normally like some sort of peasant's conveyance.
The price of admission, should this be remotely relevant to you, will be "close to the 2 Million Euro regions," these regions being close to the US$2.34 million regions, and far from any regions we visit with any regularity. Only 99 will be built, and according to the company, "18 car enthusiasts" have apparently already added the Milan Red "to their portfolios."
And there it is again – investment language from a car company, because there's every chance that buyers will be able to move these quickly for more than the sticker price. What a topsy turvy world we live in.
Source: Milan Red