Hyperleggera

Features

Stories about deca­dent auto­mo­biles, most often with orig­i­nal photography.

Bernd Rosemeyer (October 14, 1909–∞)

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Herr Rosemeyer!

By Peter Orosz and Nickolas Kulczak on October 15th, 2009

Our patron saint the fear­less Bernd Rose­meyer has turned one hun­dred last night, sac­ri­fic­ing 71 and count­ing years to the fastest high­way acci­dent in human his­tory. We baked him a cake.

2009 Hungarian Grand Prix

Kicsit sárgább, kicsit savanyúbb

By Peter Orosz on August 11th, 2009

“It’s a little bit like Monaco with­out the houses,” is how Murray Walker described the Hun­garor­ing. This year’s Hun­gar­ian Grand Prix was to be a week­end about Felipe Massa’s crash and Lewis Hamilton’s unlikely victory—preceded by an embar­rass­ing spec­ta­cle as Hun­gar­ian as pre-​race events get.

God Will Protect

By Nickolas Kulczak on August 4th, 2009

Lulled by a Rolls-​Royce far from home, our new Amer­i­can cor­re­spon­dent comes face to face with that most Amer­i­can of garden tools: a rifle.

2004 Nissan 350Z

Catch Some Z’s

By Peter Orosz and Balázs Fenyő on May 11th, 2009

If you have a child you would like to put to sleep, it’s not an alto­gether bad idea to strap her into a Z’s seat and take her for a ride. In no time, she will be fast asleep. Note: keep your foot down at all times.

Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2007

An Event Horizon of the Automotive Variety

By Peter Orosz on April 24th, 2009

As our team heads into Italy for this year’s Con­corso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este by Lake Como, it’s time to look at this report—published for the first time in English—on the 2007 event. An occa­sion which, with its Home­ric under­tones, proved life-​changing for a young Dr. Orosz.

An Interview with Horacio Pagani

Pagani’s Zonda was “inspired by race cars, not road cars”

By Peter Orosz on February 18th, 2009

In the spring of 2006, I had a chat with Hora­cio Pagani, whose epony­mous com­pany builds the Zonda. It is pub­lished here for the first time in its orig­i­nal English.

The Pagani Zonda Field Guide

By Peter Orosz and Nickolas Kulczak on February 12th, 2009

Horacio Pagani’s baroque street racer has turned ten and is leav­ing the super­car scene with the Zonda R track spe­cial. We cel­e­brate with an illus­trated guide of every Zonda model ever made, com­plete with Harry Metcalfe’s galac­tic scout­ship and a guest appear­ance by Scar­lett Johansson’s breasts.

A Trip to BMW Werk Dingolfing

Paranoia und Verschwörung in Bayern

By Peter Orosz on February 5th, 2009

In Decem­ber 2006, I vis­ited BMW’s Din­golf­ing factory—where the 5, 6 and 7 Series are made, along with the Rolls–Royce Phantom—only to be told of their No Pho­tog­ra­phy policy on site. I had a story to file, so I did what I could: made draw­ings in Cray­ola. All four thou­sand words and twenty-​seven draw­ings are now repub­lished here in English.

2008 Saab Turbo X

The Age of the Automobile

By Peter Orosz on November 14th, 2008

Saab’s seem­ingly awe­some spe­cial edi­tion is noth­ing but a symp­tom of the point­less­ness that’s eating the car indus­try alive.

2007 BMW 335i Coupé

In the Name of Science, Seven Thousand RPM

By Peter Orosz on August 12th, 2008

Testing the Dyno­li­cious soft­ware with a BMW 335i.

1997 Opel Corsa Van

Cruising

By Peter Orosz on July 8th, 2008

Proof that tiny Euro­pean vans can be great fun.

1983 Datsun 280ZX

The ZX of Doom

By Peter Orosz on July 2nd, 2008

Nino Karotta acquires a splen­did new Datsun 280ZX for peanuts.

24 heures du Mans 2007

Dawn in Le Mans

By Peter Orosz on June 15th, 2008

Why the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the great­est motor race on Earth and why you will never learn this from Wikipedia alone.

1991 Nissan 200SX

A Day at the Drifts

By Peter Orosz on June 10th, 2008

After four years of tweak­ing, Nino Karotta takes his Nissan 200SX to a race­track for its first ever drift session.