The phrase, ‘Italian supercar’ always grabs the attention and when the car in question is built from exotic materials, the attention is grabbed just that little bit more.
The wonderfully named Vulcano Titanium is the world’s first (according to Icona, and who are we to argue!) titanium car and was inspired by that very fast record breaking plane, Blackbird SR-71.
Icona created this beast as a one-off using carbon fibre and titanium. Titanium is a metal with many good things about it and is often used in the aerospace industry for its corrosion resistant, lightweight and incredibly strong properties. In fact, titanium can be as strong as steel but only 45% of the weight of steel.
The Vulcano Titanium supercar actually made its debut quite some time ago at the 2013 Shanghai Motor Show, but it has reappeared for the fittingly iconic Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance this year. That titanium body is unpainted – naked if you will – and, according to Icona Design Director Samuel Chuffart, this reveals all the beauty of the flowing design and the 10,000 man-hours that went into hand-crafting this supercar. It certainly is a striking vehicle and the inspiration that the designers took from the Blackbird can certainly be seen.
An Italian coachbuilder, Cecomp, were the lucky company given the exciting task of bringing this design to life. It’s not just visually that the Vulcano Titanium is pretty striking, the supercar is equipped with a supercharged Corvette ZR1 based 6.2 litre V8 engine, which is capable, Icona say, of being tuned to cope with more than 1000bhp, although it is optimised here at a more reasonable 670bhp.
Even this ‘mild’ tuning allows Icona to brag that the Vulcano Titanium can get from 0-60 in just 2.8 seconds with the aid of a close-ratio paddle-shift gearbox. As if that wasn’t enough to make your stomach turn inside out, allow the supercar to keep going beyond 60mph and you can reach 120mph in just 8.8 seconds, while top speed is 220mph.
Images: topgear.com, topspeed.com
For more articles like this, receive our weekly e-newsletter, including partner deals and all things motoring, register your email below.
Please note: You cannot subscribe to Smart-Motoring unless you put a tick in the checkbox below to indicate have read and agreed to our privacy policy.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.