La Macchina

La Macchina 31/08/10 4:54 PM
La Macchina
La Macchina (pronounced La Mahk-ki-nah, meaning "The
Car" or "The Machine" in Italian; the plural of La Macchina is
Le Macchine, pronounced Ley Mahk-ki-ney) is an La Macchina
automobile conceived by father-and-son team Ardeshir and
Cyrus Mehta. (The Italian language is used in the naming of
this car in homage to the great Italian car-makers and aka The Car
designers of the past, including Ettore Bugatti who, though Production Envisaged for 2020 at the latest
he made his cars in France, was Italian by birth.)
Class Hypercar
La Macchina is intended to be the most powerful, most
Body Style 5 Variations
technologically advanced, fastest, quickest, "smartest", safest,
most reliable, most ergonomic, most durable and most Length Various
upgradable car in the world. As such it is also intended to be
the most desirable car in the world. Some benchmark goals Width Various
for La Macchina are for it to have a top speed of 500 km/h Height Various
(311 mph), a 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) time of 0.33 seconds,
and a quarter-mile elapsed time of 3 seconds. One special Wheelbase Various
edition of La Macchina is also intended to be able to lap the
Weight Various
Nürburgring Nordschleife in 3 minutes. (In comparison, the
Bugatti Veyron has a top speed of 407 km/h or 255 mph; a Transmission Optional
0-100 km/h—or 0-62 mph—time of 2.5 seconds, and a
quarter-mile elapsed time of 10.2 seconds. It has not yet Engine MYT Engine or Quasiturbine
been tested on the Nürburgring.) Power 5000 bhp, 6000 lb-ft torque
To achieve the projected goals for La Macchina, technologies Similar none

from around the world have been incorporated into it. While
Designers Ardeshir & Cyrus Mehta
the majority of these technologies are currently available, they
have never before been combined in a single vehicle. For
example, its engine will be able to output 5,000 horsepower while weighing less than 90 kg (about 200
lb). To give another example, its wheels are designed to be able to generate 10g of grip, thanks to the
downforce created by a suction fan similar to—but much more powerful than—the one used by Jim Hall's
1970 Chaparral 2J and in 1978 by the "B" variant of the Brabham BT46B F1 entry, known also as the "fan
car".
(These are just a couple of examples; details of all the technologies intended to be incorporated into La
Macchina are given below.)
Five versions of the La Macchina are planned.
Contents
1 Design History
2 Versions
3 Common Features
3.1 MYT Engine
3.2 Quasiturbine
3.3 Transmission
3.4 Downforce
3.5 Suspension
http://homepage.mac.com/ardeshir/La_Macchina.html Page 1 of 22
3.6 Braking
3.7 Steering
3.8 Drive-by-Wire
3.9 Safety
3.10 Instrumentation
3.11 Ergonomics, a.k.a. "Human Factors Engineering"
3.12 Reliability and Cost of Ownership
3.13 Theft Prevention Features
3.14 Networking Between Cars
3.15 Customisability and Upgradability
3.16 Pricing
4 Projected Performance
5 La Macchina Lampo
4.1 Nürburgring Lap Record
4.2 Track Days
6 La Macchina di Corsa and Formula i
7 La Macchina di Lusso
8 La Macchina Grande and La Macchina SUV
8.1 Reinvented Wheel
8.2 Attractions
9 Retrofitting the Technology of La Macchina into Existing Cars
10 Commericals
11 Feedback from the Public
12 Some Final Words
Design History
The motivation behind the design of La Macchina came in 2007 with the observation the that the
automobile industry—both with respect to street-legal cars and to racing cars—has severely stagnated
during the last three or four decades. Racing regulations in particular have banned many advanced
technologies, such as regenerative braking, traction control and the use of suction fans for producing
downforce, among others. And street-legal cars also use engines, brakes and suspension systems—
among other technologies—that are essentially only modified versions of those invented in the early part
of the 20th Century. The idea behind La Macchina, then, was to use every conceivable engineering
advancement to create an automobile which lives up to the potentials of modern technology.
Over a period of two years, research was carried out into all the available technology and a concerted
effort was made to try and incorporate it into La Macchina. The vast majority of the technology for La
Macchina exists today (mid-2009).
Versions
The original plan was to have just one model, but as development progressed it was decided that five
models would suit La Macchina best. These models are as follows:
1. The standard model, a two-seater (or a two-plus-two-seater) sports car, to be simply called La
Macchina;
2. A single-seat, minimalist, super-light-weight and super-small version, akin to a street-legal go-

cart, maximising quickness and immediacy of reaction to every driver input, while sacrificing some
top speed, to be called La Macchina Lampo (the word "lampo" being Italian for "lightning");
3. A people-carrier or minivan version, to be called La Macchina Grande (the word "grande"

meaning "large" in Italian), which would combine everyday family convenience with as much super-
car-like performance as technologically possible. On the same platform, a Sport Utility Vehicle
(SUV) version would also be built, which combines extreme off-road capability with great
ruggedness and, again, as much super-car-like performance as possible. This SUV version is to be
called La Macchina SUV. (In modern Italian, it is common to pronounce the acronym "SUV" as
"soov").
4. A luxury car version, to be called La Macchina di Lusso (meaning "The Luxury Car" in Italian),
with all the modern amenities desired in a luxury car, such as a mini-fridge, an espresso-maker,
silky smooth ride, automatic climate control, and heated/cooled seats, mirrors and windows. The
car would also take advantage of minor technologies never used before, such as magnetically-
stabilised cup-holders.
... and lastly:
5. A pure racing (non-street-legal) version, maximising racing performance above all else, to be
called La Macchina di Corsa (meaning "The Racing Car" in Italian).
Common Features
It should be noted that despite their varied themes, most of the features of La Macchina are common to
all its versions, and while some of its versions have additional specialised features, these are
comparatively few in number. The following features are common to all versions.
MYT Engine
The MYT Engine (an abbreviation for "Mighty Yet Tiny engine", and intended to be pronounced
simply as "Mighty Engine"), is designed by inventor Raphial Morgado of Angel Labs. It is capable of
a 40-to-1 power-to-weight ratio (when power is
measured in horsepower and weight in pounds). A 150
lb MYT Engine, just 14 inches (35.56 cm) long and 14
inches (35.56 cm) in diameter, and having a
displacement of 848 cubic inches (almost 14 litres), can
generate, with turbo charging and/or supercharging,
over 3,000 horsepower and 4,000 lb-ft. of torque. It has
very few parts—only about 50, compared with over
3,000 parts found in normal reciprocating engines—and
so is very simple to manufacture and maintain. It can
achieve a compression ratio as high as 70:1, enabling
it to be used in diesel mode. It is modular: by replacing
the rear cover of one MYT Engine and connecting
another MYT Engine's chamber assembly (which adds only two inches to its length and little
additional weight), one can obtain an engine with a displacement of 1,695 cubic inches (almost 28
litres) and a power-to-weight ratio as high as 40-to-1. (In comparison, even the best present-day
supercharged or turbo charged F1 and Le Mans engines cannot generate much more than 2 or 3
horsepower per pound of weight). A 1,695 cubic-inch (27.8 litre) displacement MYT Engine
weighing less than 90 kg—about 200 lb—would be able to generate more than 8,500 horsepower
(6,338 kilowatts). Even if lower levels of efficiency were to be attained, 5,000 horsepower (3,728
kilowatts) and 6,000 lb-ft (8,136 newton-metres) of torque from such an engine are very reasonable
estimates.
It is to be noted that the MYT Engine is scalable—for instance, a 35 lb MYT Engine could produce
as much power as the engine of a present-day F1 race car. It is acknowledged that many
customers might not want an engine providing 5,000 horsepower or 6,000 lb-ft torque, and may opt
for a less powerful engine for the particular car they order. Since the all the parts of La Macchina
—including the engine—are designed to simply snap into place (as described below at greater
length), it would be easy to satisfy such customers.
The design of the MYT Engine enables the piston-dwell at top dead centre to be adjusted, and if it
is set at about 12 degrees of crankshaft rotation, a near-complete combustion of the fuel is
achieved. As a result, the MYT Engine's exhaust gases are much cooler than those of a normal
reciprocating engine. In addition, more energy is obtained from the same amount of fuel, and there
is minimal pollution. Furthermore, the MYT Engine can be used with many types of fuel, including
renewable bio-fuels. For all these reasons, it is quite environmentally-friendly.
Quasiturbine
It is to be appreciated that the MYT Engine is not the only

possible engine which can power La Macchina and accord it the
levels of performance envisaged for it. One alternative engine for
La Macchina is the Quasiturbine, a positive displacement turbine
engine with a total displacement almost equal to the engine's
own total volume. So, for instance, a cylindrical Quasiturbine just
14 inches (35.56 cm) in diameter and 14 inches (35.56 cm) long
would have a displacement of almost 35 litres. This is even better
than a 1,695 cubic-inch (27.8 litre) displacement MYT Engine,
which would be a bit larger than 35 litres in total volume. In
comparison to both the above, the Bugatti Veyron's engine, while being several times larger in
volume, has a displacement of only 8 litres (488 cubic inches).
And like the MYT Engine, the four chambers of the Quasiturbine rotor generate four combustion
"strokes" per rotor revolution. The Quasiturbine, in addition, has very few parts compared with a
conventional reciprocating engine. It can also be used with photo-detonation. (The best way to burn
fuel is with intense laser radiation, rather than with spark plugs. The laser ignites the fuel not just in
one location but in a large swath, and as a result iginition can be more complete. This photo-
detonation occurs at a slightly higher pressure than thermal ignition. The efficiency at low load
factor of the photo-detonation engine is more than twice that of the conventional Otto cycle engine,
and considering that the load factor of a car is on average about 10% to 15%, this is not a small
difference.) The Quasiturbine is universal in relation to energy sources: liquid and gaseous fuel,
hydrogen, steam, pneumatic, and hydraulic. The Quasiturbine also has a torque curve that permits
it to operate without a transmission. One advantage the Quasiturbine has over the MYT Engine,
and indeed over all current engines as well, is that its internal parts all undergo smooth circular
motion: there is no "stop-and-go" motion as in the MYT Engine, nor reciprocating motion as in
current internal combustion engines. In this and many other ways, the Quasiturbine may be an
even better candidate for La Macchina than the MYT Engine. Indeed, the Quasiturbine is an ideal
engine for at least the following reasons, as quoted at one of the pages on the Quasiturbine web
site:
- Zero vibration (small piston engines are generally too shaky!)

- Compact (5 times less cumbersome {i.e., voluminous} than a piston engine)
- Lighter (5 times less heavy than an equivalent piston engine)
- Less noisy (without a muffler, 20 times less than an equivalent piston engine)
- More efficient and less polluting (500 times less NOx)
Much more information about the Quasiturbine is provided at the Quasiturbine website.
As a result, La Macchina is not dependent upon any single engine technology.
Transmission
Both the MYT Engine and the Quasiturbine fire many more times per crankshaft revolution
than a conventional engine, so both these engines develop high torque at relatively low
rpms. As a result the MYT Engine doesn't really need a conventional transmission—a reverse gear,
a "low gear" and a "high gear" would normally be all that's needed, especially given the super-
abundance of power and torque available from a MYT Engine with an output of 5,000 horsepower
and 6,000 lb-ft of torque. And the Quasiturbine doesn't even need a "low-gear" and a "high-gear".
Nevertheless, it is to be recognised that for many drivers, shifiting gears is part of the pleasure of
driving a car, and therefore a conventional five- or six-speed gearbox will be offered as an option.
Of course it will have to be strong enough to allow all that torque and power to be transmitted to
the wheels without itself breaking down.
Suction-Assisted Downforce
La Macchina is designed to be equipped with one or

more suction fans which will suck air from under the
car, like Jim Hall's Chaparral 2J or the "B" variant of
the Brabham BT46B F1 entry. In Hall's car, a 45-
horsepower snowmobile engine was attached to two
fans which sucked air from under the car, producing
prodigious amounts of downforce at all speeds. La
Macchina is designed with a similar system. However,
it is designed with much more powerful engine(s) for
the purpose, each with an output of several hundred
horsepower, which creates so much downforce that the
car sticks firmly to any ceiling even when standing still and with its main engine turned off. (The
Chaparral 2J produced about 900 lb of downforce; it is therefore extremely reasonable to assume
that an engine ten times as powerful will produce several thousands of pounds of donwforce.)
The suction fan(s) are located in the space under the bonnet which is freed up by having a small
MYT Engine or Quasiturbine power the car, and/or the space occupied by the spare tire in other
cars. A mesh or grill under the car prevents large road debris being sucked in along with the air.
Whatever other solid material does get sucked in is removed by a centrifuge system similar to the
constant-suction Dyson vacuum designed by James Dyson. The conical centrifuge creates a
centrifugal force on the debris which causes it to gradually get pushed to the widest part of the
cone, from which it falls into a hopper. The hopper can be periodically and automatically emptied
when downforce is not needed. Any water that gets sucked up from wet pavement is flash-
vaporised and gets expelled in the form of water vapour, along with the sucked-in air. The air and
water vapour are primarily expelled via the car's exhaust system, which is made more ample for
the purpose. However, it is envisaged that vents in front of the windshield and/or behind the rear
window might also be provided for venting the air, providing an increase in the downforce.
The amount of downforce generated by the suction fan(s) is instantly controllable, by opening or
closing valves which determine the amount of air being sucked by the fan(s). The driver, via the
car's drive-by-wire computer—which is actually a supercomputer, capable of "Teraflops" (trillions of
floating point operations per second) of speed—can reduce downforce at each tire at will so as to
enable the car to slide in any manner desired. Regardless of the driver's settings, the car's drive-
by-wire computer increases suction to its maximum setting automatically if the brakes are
depressed to their maximum limit for a panic stop, or if the gas pedal is floored for maximum
acceleration.
It is to be noted that the amount of downforce does not have to be as high as the amount of lateral
grip. With very sticky tires, one can obtain up to three times as much lateral grip as there is
downforce. So 3.5g of downforce provided by the suction fan is more than sufficient, with sticky
tires, to provide as much as 10g of lateral grip. (It is to be noted that to achieve this at sea level in
a car 6 ft wide, 15 ft long and weighing 3,000 lb, the atmospheric air pressure under the car would
have to be reduced by less than 6%, which is well within the capacity of a powerful suction fan.)
Lexan skirts, as in the Chaparral 2J, would be lowered when necessary to ensure the requisite
amount of suction.
Of course it must be appreciated that for daily driving, a maximum of 10g of grip will not be used:
in all probability, not even a quarter that amount will be needed, yet it would all the same be more
than enough to enable La Macchina to outperform any other car made today. Also, during daily
driving g-forces will be sporadic; during most of the drive there will be no appreciable g-force
acting on the occupants. The maximum amount of grip will, therefore, almost never be required,
except perhaps during a panic stop.
To prevent the tires flattening out when downforce is excessive, a sponge ring with varying
densities of sponge is inserted between the tire and the wheel rim on which the tire is mounted.
The sponge ring occupies all the space which, in a normal tire, would be occupied by air: there is
therefore no need to inflate the tire. The outermost layers of the sponge ring, touching the tire
itself, are of the least dense sponge; the density of the sponge increases gradually as one
approaches the layers closest to the wheel rim. As a consequence, when there is little downforce,
the tire has considerable "give", but as downforce increases and the tires gets flattened, the "give"
of the tire decreases to match the increased downforce. At no time does the tire "flatten out"
completely because of excessive downforce. (A beneficial side effect of this system is that the tires
are puncture-proof, and as a result, a spare tire is not necessary.) These sponge rings are
designed to be easy to install, and compatible with any tire on the market.
Active Suspension
La Macchina is designed to have a fully active

suspension, similar to the active suspension developed
by the Bose company. Each wheel is raised or lowered
by electro-magnetically-operated activators, so as to
ensure maximum contact with the pavement at all
times, while ensuring a smooth ride. The car's drive-
by-wire supercomputer automatically adjusts the ride
height and the force with which each tire presses down
on the pavement, depending on the amount of
downforce generated by the suction fan.
Laser rangefinders accurate to one millimetre (1/25th of

an inch) or thereabouts located near each wheel
continually scan the road ahead of the car and generate a 3D virtual "map" of the pavement. The
car's drive-by-wire supercomputer uses these "maps" to adjust the active suspension for each
wheel well in time for the active suspension to adjust each wheel's position relative to the car's
chassis so as to ensure maximum grip coupled with a smooth ride.
Additionally, the active suspension is designed to adjust the car's ride height to suit its driving
conditions: lowering the car when it is on smooth pavement and travelling at a high speed or when
maximum downforce is required, and raising the car if the pavement is rough, or when the car is
travelling off road. This can be done automatically by the car's drive-by-wire system, and be
completely transparent to the driver.
Regenerative Braking and Air Brakes
Braking is accomplished with conventional disk brakes—with carbon-carbon or carbon-ceramic

rotors—whose stopping power is augmented by regenerative braking. This is accomplished by the
engine installed in La Macchina. If no fuel is injected into its combustion chambers, the MYT
Engine or Quasiturbine installed in La Macchina functions as an air pump, pumping ambient air into
one or more compressed air tanks made from carbon-fibre, similar to those used in the MDI
compressed-air-powered car. These tanks are capable of withstanding air pressures of well over
300 bars (about 300 atmospheres, or 4,400 lb/sq.in.). When braking is finished and it is desired to
accelerate the car once again, the compressed air is fed back, as required, into the engine to
augment engine power, the way air from a turbocharger or a supercharger is used. The availability
of this compressed air ensures that there is never any turbo lag: while the turbo is spooling up, the
air from the compressed air tanks is used to augment the engine's power. Another added
advantage of carrying compressed air in such tanks is that releasing it cools the air down
considerably, making it available for use for the car's air conditioning system.
Since the engine, when used as a pump for braking purposes, compresses air into a tank already
full of compressed air, much if not most of the braking can be accomplished by the engine. The
conventional brakes are available, but used to a lesser extent than would be the case if engine
braking were not used.
Also, other systems of regenerative braking, such as flywheels and supercapacitors, will also be
tried when each version of La Macchina is prototyped, and if successful, will be incorporated into
the manufactured version.
In addition, La Macchina is designed with large air-brakes which are deployed at high speeds to
slow the car down without necessarily engaging the wheel brakes or using engine braking, or
using them only minimally.
Four Wheel Steering
La Macchina is designed to have four-wheel steering. Most versions are designed with ample
amounts of rear wheel steering, for ease of parallel parking and low speed manouevring. Parallel
parking can be automated, if so desired by the driver. In addition, tiny amounts of rear wheel
steering provides tight control of under-steer / over-steer, which can be dialled-in by the driver. It
also improves straight-line stability, which at high speeds is important.
Drive-by-Wire System
La Macchina is designed with a combination of direct drive and drive-by-wire. Most of the time
when the car is being driven, driver inputs are directly and mechanically transmitted to the car, and
vice versa, so that feedback from road conditions is not compromised. However, whenever
necessary, the car's drive-by-wire supercomputer steps in to provide superior levels of safety and
performance. Even when the drive-by-wire supercomputer intervenes, the supercomputer feeds
back all forces acting on the car to the driver in a manner which doesn't deprive the driver of any
road feedback.
The drive-by-wire system is fully programmable via a touch screen mounted on the dashboard.
The driver can change the drive-by-wire settings to customise the response of the car to his or her
liking, such as setting the degree of understeer or oversteer at different speeds and different rates
of acceleration or deceleration. The driver can also program the vehicle to exhibit "active
steering"—like that provided in the latest BMW cars—if he or she wishes to. If this is programmed
into the computer, there is never any need for the driver to turn the steering wheel more than a
certain maximum—normally, about 90 degrees in either direction—to turn the car as much as is
needed. At low speeds, small angular displacements of the steering wheel cause a much larger-
than-usual turn in the car's wheels, while at high speeds the situation is reversed, and as a result
the car is safer at high speeds. The effect is, of course, designed to be completely transparent.
Safety Features
With up to 10g of grip available on dry asphalt pavement at all speeds, and disregarding the added
effect of the air brakes, the equations of motion predict that La Macchina should be able to come to
a full stop from 100 km/h (62 mph) within approximately 4 m (about 13 ft) in only 0.33 seconds,
from 161 km/h (100 mph) within approximately 10 m (about 33 ft) in less than half a second, from
350 km/h (217 mph) within approximately 50 m (about 160 ft) in less than one second, and from its
top speed of 500 km/h (311 mph) within approximately three seconds, in less than 440 metres
(about 1,440 ft—just a tad over a quarter-mile). In comparison, it takes about 10 seconds for the
Bugatti Veyron to brake from its top speed of 252 mph (406 km/h) to a standstill, with a maximum
grip of 1.3g and an average grip of 1.14g, and as a result it covers 1,268 metres, or about 4,160 ft
—more than three-quarters of a mile—doing so.
Thus La Macchina's braking ability already provides it with a level of safety well beyond that
available to every other automobile made today. No doubt deceleration at 10g will be unpleasant to
most occupants, but it will not be fatal, or even cause serious injury. On wet pavement or on dirt
roads the grip will be lower, of course, but it will still be far greater than that available to other cars.
However, on wet roads and at the high speeds which every version of La Macchina is intended to
reach, the air brakes would help make up some of the braking power lost due to the wet
conditions.
In addition to these two types of brakes, La Macchina

is equipped with one or more spring-operated or
hydraulically-operated skid pads and retractable metal
claws under the vehicle. The skid pads, which in
normal use are pulled up off the ground to lie flush
with the underside of the car, are designed to deploy
and make firm contact with the pavement when the
brake pedal is pushed down beyond a certain point in
its travel, and with a certain degree of extra pressure,
as might happen during a panic stop. The pads are
made of very sticky, soft rubber, of the kind used in
the grippiest racing car tires, so that with any given
amount of downforce, the resistance of the pads
against the pavement is far greater than with the tires
used for day-to-day driving. This reduces the stopping-distance and -time at any given speed. On
dirt roads, the claws, which are normally retracted into the rubber pads, can be caused to extend
themselves beyond the pads. This is accomplished when all three of the following conditions are
met simultaneously: (1) the brake pedal is depressed to its maximum extent of travel, (2) the car is
moving at a speed higher than a certain minimum (say, 50 km/h, which is about 30 mph), and (3)
the handbrake is raised from its resting position. The extent to which the claws extend beyond the
rubber pad is dependent on the extent to which the hand brake is raised. Under such conditions,
the extended claws dig into the dirt, stopping the car far more rapidly than the tires by themselves
could. (This would be especially important on dry dirt roads, since the available downforce on such
roads would of necessity be compromised considerably: the suction fan(s), if operated at their
maximum setting under such conditions, would suck up too much dirt to be able to function at
anywhere near their maximum efficiency.)
Most importantly, however, La Macchina is also designed to actively avoid collisions. Sensors
(which include but are not restricted to cameras and rangefinders) sensitive to many different
wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation—ultra-violet, visible light, infra-red and microwaves—
located all around the car generate a virtual 3D "map" of the environment around the car in the
car's drive-by-wire supercomputer, which automatically steps in when necessary to avoid collisions
by either slowing down the car or—if that's better—by steering it out of the way of any
obstructions. Before the computer steps in, an alarm would be sounded, alerting the driver to the
need for taking appropriate action.
It is to be appreciated that the car's supercomputer does not have to calculate the entire 3D map
in real time. The fixed objects in the map as well as the rise and fall of the road in general can be
pre-programmed into the computer's memory via GPS. The computer only needs to calculate the
3D map for those objects which are not in the GPS-generated 3D map. These sensors, being
sensitive to many different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, operate even under bad
conditions, such as fog and in the dark, and prevent collisions even when the driver is not able to
prevent them himself. So if someone happens to have the steering wheel of La Macchina in their
hands, it could never happen that as they are driving along the highway they suddenly have an
epileptic fit, and as a result drive their car into a lamp-post at the speed limit. The drive-by-wire
supercomputer would prevent any such thing happening, no matter how much of an epileptic the
driver might be.
As a result of all the above, La Macchina is predicted to be one of the safest cars on the road, and
will very rarely if ever get into an accident. Complete amateurs should be able to drive it quite
safely.
Instrumentation
In addition to the standard instrumentation such as tachometer, speedometer, fuel gauge and
engine temperature gauge, La Macchina has a "Bragometer" or "Boast Gauge", like the one in the
Bugatti Veyron, allowing its owners to brag about their total dominance over every other car on the
planet. However, in contrast to the Veyron's "Bragometer", which displays only the amount of
horsepower being used at any given moment, La Macchina's "Bragometer" also displays such
information as the amount of grip, the time and distance to stop from the current speed, and,
thanks to the car's sensors and supercomputer, the time that would be required to overtake the car
in front of it when travelling along a two-lane highway.
The fuel gauge of La Macchina is designed to

be equipped with an indicator showing the
current rate of fuel consumption, as well as the
amount of fuel used since the last time the trip
odometer was set to zero, enabling the driver
to minimise fuel consumption if so desired.
In addition, there is a touch screen in the

centre of the dashboard which allows the
driver to control virtually every aspect of the
car, including such things as suspension
settings, amount of understeer or oversteer
desired, and so on. The touch screen is also
connected to the Internet 24/7, and doubles as
a satellite navigation system. In addition, the touch screen is intended to function as a display for a
diagnostic computer which will diagnose any problems that may arise with the car. (Nevertheless,
as explained in the next section, it is expected that such problems will be few and far between.)
More advanced versions of the firmware for La Macchina's supercomputer can also be downloaded
as and when these versions become available.
In normal use the screen displays the complete view to the rear and sides, generated via one or
more suitably-situated cameras; there will be no blind spots in the display. (Rear-view mirrors will,
as a result, not be necessary for La Macchina, though they can, of course, be provided if the
owner so desires.) The screen can also show a virtual "map" of the car's immediate environment
from a "God's Eye" point of view (i.e., as if it were being observed from above), and on which is
indicated, with the help of a grid, how far all the objects around the car are. This would allow the
driver the ability to "see" all around the car and drive the car more easily in cramped conditions.
Ergonomics, a.k.a. "Human Factors Engineering"
Great attention will be paid to ergonomics and the human-machine interface, also—and more
correctly—known as "human factors engineering". It will be possible for the driver, while driving, to
adjust almost every aspect of the car without getting out of his seat, and in most cases without
taking his hands off the steering wheel. All instrumentation will be clearly visible to the driver under
all conditions; and those instruments which should be visible to the passengers also—such as the
clock—will be situated so as to be visible by all passengers. In fact, there is no reason why there
should not be more than one clock in the vehicle. (The "Bragometer" in particular should be visible
to the passengers: there is little point in the driver bragging only to himself.) All things that need to
be touched or gripped will be covered with non-slip surfaces. No sharp edges or corners will be
allowed anywhere inside or outside the car, or in the mechanical areas or trunk, so that no one can
hurt themselves on such things. The keyhole for the car's key will definitely not be located near the
driver's knee—as is the case in most cars today—so that in case of a panic stop or a crash there
will be no risk of the driver being knee-capped by the key. It will be impossible to lock the key
inside the car; it will only be possible for the car's doors to be locked with the help of the key from
the outside. (Of course the car can also be locked from the inside, even without the help of the
key, but only when all the doors and windows are firmly shut.) If the car is driven without properly
closing any of the doors, they will automatically close themselves: the driver will not need to stop
the car or get out of it to close the doors manually. It will be possible for the rear window to be
opened, at least partially, so that on fine days, a pleasant flow of air from the side windows exiting
the rear window can be obtained. The seats—especially in the Luxury version—will be adjustable
not only in three dimensions, but also to some extent in size and depth, so that all people, large
and small, can sit comfortably in them for hours on end. The pedals and steering wheel will be
adjustable fore-and-aft, up-and-down and sideways. The front windshield and windows will be
made of the kind of glass used in Transition Lenses™, so that glare will be minimised. Headlights
and tail-lights will come on automatically in the dark, and the high beams will come on
automatically when there is no car ahead of La Macchina. Wipers will come on automatically when
it starts to rain, and will stop automatically when the weather dries up.
It will never be possible for the car to run out of fuel by mistake (i.e., unless one deliberately tries
to do it); an auxiliary fuel tank, connected to the engine via a valve or pet-cock in the engine
compartment, will provide enough fuel to easily reach the next fuel station. This pet-cock or valve
will have to be opened after stopping the car, getting out and opening the bonnet, to ensure that
the auxililliary fuel tank is not depleted of fuel before the main fuel tank is totally empty. When
refuelling the car, the auxilliary fuel tank will automatically get filled first.
The battery will never go flat: if its power-level falls below a certain minimum, the computer will
automatically restart the engine to recharge the battery; once the battery is fully recharged, the
computer will shut the engine off. If the car is completely out of fuel and the battery has reached its
minimum level of charge—as might happen if the car is parked for a very long period, say several
months—the car's computer will shut off all the electrical components which may be drawing power
from the battery, and lastly, shut itself off after saving all its settings, thereby maintaining a certain
amount of residual charge in the battery. As a result, even if the car is started after a long period,
the engine will start using the residual charge left in the battery. The car having been re-started,
the battery will again be recharged to the full in a relatively short time, and will also allow the
computer to resume functioning with its last-used settings.
The passenger compartment will be water-tight, so that if the car slides off the road and falls into a
lake, it will float indefinitely until help can arrive to rescue its passengers. (A few rations and an
oxygen bottle will always be found stowed away under the seats, for just such an emergency.) A
first-aid kit and a multi-use tool will be standard equipment found in the glove compartment. In the
Minivan and SUV versions, a location for pets to travel in comfort will be provided. It will be
possible for the Minivan version to be easily and inexpensively converted for total wheelchair
accessibility.
The above list of features is merely a greatly-abridged version of a much longer check list which
will be made available to all coach-builders of La Macchina. By following such a check list—which
will doubtless grow longer with time—La Macchina will become the most ergonomic and "human-
friendly" car ever made.
Reliability and Cost of Ownership
Every version of La Macchina will be offered for sale with most of its parts carrying an unlimited
life-time warranty, like Craftsman brand hand tools. If any part of it breaks down in normal—or
even somewhat abnormal—use, that part will be replaced (not repaired, but replaced) under
warranty at absolutely no charge to the owner, regardless of the age of the car. (Parts which are
expected to undergo normal wear and tear, such as the tires, brake pads and wiper blades, will be
exempted from the lifetime warranty, of course, but will instead be offered with a warranty based
on the amount of time they are normally expected to last before needing to be replaced, as is done
even today with such parts. Paintwork also will be excluded from the lifetime warranty. It will
instead be given a warranty lasting a certain number of years.) The cost to the customer over time,
and to the manufacturer of La Macchina in money spent on fulfilling warranties, will be kept to a
minimum, however, since all parts of La Macchina will be designed from the start to be as rugged
as possible—the super-abundance of power available making it unnecessary to take extreme steps
to minimise weight, except in the case of the racing version. Nowhere in any version of La
Macchina will any material which can corrode, rust away, or otherwise disintegrate simply due to
the passage of time, ever be used. (The only exceptions will be some of the materials used for the
interior, including cloth and/or leather, since cloth, leather and such-like materials do not last
forever even if they are not used or touched, but nevertheless have no equally-desirable
substitutes; these materials will therefore not be covered under the lifetime warranty, and will need
to be replaced at the owner's expense every couple of decades or so, or as needed.)
If any part which is under the unlimited lifetime warranty breaks down, or even deteriorates visibly,
the broken part will be very carefully examined, and the cause of the breakdown or deterioration
determined; and as a result of this determination, the part will be redesigned and remanufactured
to prevent any such breakdown or deterioration ever happening again. Furthermore, owners whose
cars still contain the older, breakable part will be offered the opportunity to have it upgraded at no
cost. With time, therefore, no part of La Macchina will ever break down, or even visibly deteriorate,
in normal use; and as a result, La Macchina will become, in due course, the most reliable car ever
designed or made. Each Macchina should, in fact, last a lifetime or more in excellent condition, and
it will be possible for it to be handed down from parents to children, much the way gold watches
and other family heirlooms are.
It is to be appreciated from the above that the cost of ownership of La Macchina, even if fairly high
at the time of initial purchase, will, when spread out over a lifetime or more of ownership, be
considerably lower than the cost of ownership of most other cars, which over a mere ten or fifteen
years of use turn into just so much junk.
This also has environmental benefits. It is to be appreciated that about half the energy used up by
an automobile over its lifetime is the energy used in manufacturing it; and more will be needed for
recycling it, if recycling is done after it is no longer in use. La Macchina, which spreads out the
energy costs of its manufacture over several decades, or even a century or more, rather than just a
few years, and which never needs to be recycled, or needs to be recycled only when human
technology has improved so much that recycling can be done without much of a social cost, clearly
has enormous environmental bennefits over present-day cars.
Theft-Prevention Features
Every individual Macchina will have a computer chip embedded in each of its parts, as is done in
the more modern credit cards; and the car's Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) will be encoded
into each chip. In addition, each chip will have GPS trackability, which the owner can activate
remotely via cell-phone or—in the near future—via satellite. At start-up, the car's drive-by-wire
supercomputer will check every chip in every part of the car to see whether the VIN encoded into
each chip matches the car's VIN; and if any part in the car doesn't have a chip, or if there is a part
whose chip doesn't have the correct VIN encoded into it, the computer will prevent the car from
starting. As a result, it will become pointless for a thief to steal a Macchina for its parts. To prevent
thieves from manufacturing their own chips and installing them into stolen parts, each chip will be
encoded by the manufacturer with a secret Chip Identification Number (CIN) which is not the same
as the car's VIN, and which the car's computer will also be required to recognise in order to allow
the car to be started.
If the entire car is stolen as a whole, the customer can, with the help of a password known only to
himself or herself, activate the GPS tracking devices embedded into the chips, so as to easily and
rapidly locate the car, and contact the police with its location. (The police will not know the owner's
GPS password—unless of course the owner wishes to communicate it to them—in order to
safeguard the owner's privacy.) As a result, a strong deterrent against being stolen or car-jacked
will be built-in, since the thieves cannot realistically hope to get away with it.
If any individual Macchina requires a new part or parts, the dealer selling the part(s) will encode
the chip in the part being sold with the VIN of the car into which it is intended to be fitted, using a
PIN (Personal Identification Number) which the dealer will be required to memorise; and at the first
re-starting of the car with the new part in it, the owner will be required to activate this new part's
chip using his or her own separate PIN, which he or she should memorise. Once this is done, the
part will have the car's VIN permanently and irreversibly encoded into its chip. As a result, it will be
next to impossible for a thief to install new parts into a stolen car: he would need to know both the
dealer's PIN and that of the owner, and it is highly unlikely he would know both these PINs.
It goes without saying, of course, that it will be impossible for the car's doors to be opened without
the correct key: the locks on the doors will be so designed that it is impossible to "jimmy" the door
open. Nor will it be possible to "hot-wire" the car to make the engine start without the help of the
key: the wires for starting the car will be thoroughly enclosed in strong metal tubes so as to
prevent any such thing being done.
Networking Between Cars in the Immediate Vicinity
Every individual Macchina will network with others in its immediate vicinity, via WiFi and/or
Bluetooth technology. This will be done by a separate computer chip. Knowledge of the location,
speed, direction of motion, rate of acceleration, etc. of other cars in the immediate vicinity will
enable each of the cars' drivers and drive-by-wire supercomputers to avoid collisions even better
than they could otherwise. As a result, it is highly unlikely that any Macchina will crash into another,
or into any other car equipped with this chip.
Such a chip, along with its software, will also be offered for installation in cars manufactured by
other companies. (It is the designers' opinion, in fact, that for safety's sake, such chips should be
made mandatory in all cars, as seat-belts are today. It would be easy and relatively inexpensive to
retrofit every car on the road with such a device. Even without drive-by-wire, it could at least alert
the driver to the possibility of an impending car-to-car collision well in advance of its occurrence,
allowing him or her a little bit more time to take the necessary steps to avoid it.)
Customisability and Upgradability Features
One of the most important features of La Macchina is the fact that every part in every version, from
the engine to the drivetrain to the car's body, will be designed and built such that it can be
assembled and disassembled simply by snapping and unsnapping the required parts together. All
that will be needed will be a pair of hands: no screws, bolts or nuts will be used in the car's
assembly. (If any screws, nuts or bolts are used in the manufacture of any of the parts, they will be
such that they never need to be unscrewed for the car's assembly, and will also be so well installed
that they cannot possibly come loose due to the operation of the car, even under the roughest of
conditions.) A simple set of instructions, with appropriate pictures, will be supplied with every car
and indeed with every part, showing how the car is to be snapped together and which part goes
where.
The inspiration for this feature arose from the designers' observation that almost all guns, from
pistols to high-calibre sniper rifles, can be assembled and disassembled very quickly using just the
operator's bare hands. This is accomplished through the use of intelligently-designed joints,
enabling the simple and rapid snapping of parts together, as is done for example with bayonet
mounts. In some guns, in fact, such methods are so effective that weapons like the German/Swiss
Luger Parabellum pistol and the Russian AK-47 assault rifle rarely malfunction, even when
enduring a life-time of regular firing—which, be it noted, is a very violent procedure. (It is to be
appreciated that in when a gun is in use, g-forces as high as 190,000g can repeatedly be
generated: far greater than any part of any car is ever expected to withstand in normal use, or
even in a crash.) Despite this fact, Lugers in particular
are known to have a lifetime well in excess of 100
years. And an AK-47 has been videoed by the
Discovery Channel as being capable of operating
perfectly even after being dunked in water, buried in
dirt and, finally, run over by a Humvee. It is also
possible to dismantle an AK-47 in just over six
seconds, using its snap-in / snap-out system of
assembly.
For La Macchina, the designers intend to use a similar

system, the end result being that the car will be far
cheaper to manufacture—since the costs of assembly will be negligible—and will also be much
easier and quicker to customise and upgrade. A master key—perhaps the car's own key—will be
required to unlock the car to make it possible to disassemble in the manner described above, so
that no one not authorised to dismantle it will be able to do so. The key may be inserted into
special keyholes provided in strategic places, and when turned, will release a lever or a button
which enables the disassembly process to be started.
Also, since the wheels of La Macchina—like all its other parts—are designed to be simply snapped
in and out (perhaps using a "quick-release" like those used in many bicycles), it will be easy to
change the wheels to suit varying driving conditons. In order to allow the user to change the
wheels, every Macchina (except the racing version) is designed with two integrated hydraulic or
electric jacks, each operated using power drawn from the car's engine: one jack situated under the
front end of the car and the other near the rear end. These jacks can be used to raise the front or
rear end of the car—or both together—in order to change the wheels quickly and easily.
Every version of La Macchina is also designed to be almost endlessly customisable. The body and
interior of each version can be anything the customer wants, as long as it fits the chassis and
drivetrain. A customer can choose to have his or her personal Macchina look like any car ever
made (as long, of course, as the owners of the design patents are paid the royalties they would
doubtless charge). For example, some customers might want to have their Macchina look like a
1937 Talbot-Lago T-150C SS Goutte d'Eau, while others might want to have their Macchina di
Lusso look like a Phantom Corsair—these two cars being two of the best-looking and most
distinctive ever designed, and having the added advantage of having been produced so long ago
that their designs are now in the public domain. Some customers might even want their Macchina
SUV to look like the seriously cool Batmobile which debuted in the movie Batman Begins ("Eat
your heart out, Schwarzenegger!") Of course any customer is welcome to have the coachwork of
his or her personal Macchina designed and built from scratch by a private coach-builder of his or
her choice, as was customary in the past for wealthy owners of Duesenbergs, Isotta-Fraschinis,
Hispano-Suizas, and other marques comprising the most highly advanced and expensive
automobiles of the 1920s and '30s.
In addition to such customisability, standard designs

will also be offered for each version of La Macchina.
Competitions will be held, and designers from around
the world—both professional and amateur—invited to
send in their designs via the Internet. Perhaps
prominent judges from around the world might be
invited to tell us which are, in their view, the best
entries, with help from the public who will vote via the
Internet, similar to the manner in which the winners of
TV shows like "America's Got Talent" are determined.
(These competitions, in addition to generating—hopefully—some stunning designs, will also afford
La Macchina a great deal of pre-production publicity.) The creators of the winning designs will be
awarded a royalty in the form of a percentage of the sales of the cars they have designed.
However, it should be noted that the primary allure of La Macchina are its performance and
fuctionality. Its looks, although by no means unimportant, are nevertheless secondary.
It will be appreciated, also, that since the car's parts can easily be snapped in and out, each
individual car can be upgraded or changed to suit the owner's tastes and desires. As and when
more advanced technology becomes available, it can easily—and relatively inexpensively—be
incorporated into the car. And the owner can also alter its appearance if so desired—say, if he or
she gets bored with the way his original car looks—without having to buy a whole new car.
Pricing
The price of every version of La Macchina will be little more than the price of the sum of its parts.
As has already been mentioned, all the parts are designed to simply and quickly snap together,
which enormously reduces the cost of assembly. There will, as a result, be no need for a factory to
assemble La Macchina. Parts will be delivered to the dealers, who will simply snap them together
to result in the configuration desired by any given customer. The cost of snapping them together
will, as a result, not exceed a couple of hundred dollars or thereabouts. Those customers who wish
to save even this paltry sum may order the parts to be delivered to their homes, where they can
snap them together themselves.
Since the majority of the parts will be relatively small, they can be manufactured anywhere in the
world, and shipped to their destinations. Bids for manufacturing each part will be accepted from
many manufacturers from around the world, and as a result of the competition thus generated, the
cost of the parts—and thus of La Macchina itself—will be comparatively low. Many people will, in
all probability, be able to afford one. Exclusivity is not desirable for La Macchina, since one of the
objects of designing it is to bring automotive technology into the 21st Century (whereas at present it
is mired, sadly, in the use of technologies from the first half of the 20th, especially with respect to
engines, suspensions, and grip, and demonstrating a total lack of drive-by-wire, supercomputer-
assisted collision avoidance, and regenerative braking—not to mention abysmal levels of reliability,
safety and performance).
However, it should be noted that the philosophy behind the design of La Macchina is based on the
"cost is no object" principle. Cost will not be reduced if doing so compromises performance or any
other desired aspect of the car. The most advanced materials and techniques—titanium, carbon-
fibre, modern ceramics, supercomputers, handcrafted leather interiors, premium sound systems,
etc., etc.—will be used in its manufacture. As to the exact materials which will be used in the
manufacture of La Macchina, the designers have adopted the principle that those materials which
best suit the purpose of each part, and that of the car as a whole, should be used, regardless of
cost. Even so—and as was already mentioned earlier—the annual cost of ownership of La
Macchina is expected to be quite low due to its lifetime warranty, its extreme longevity, and,
consequently, its negligible rate of depreciation. Its resale value will also, as a result, be quite high.
Projected Performance Figures for La Macchina (Standard Two-

Seater Version)
All versions of La Macchina have been designed with the intention of reaching levels of performance
several times higher than the best-performing cars of today. To highlight this, the designers have used
the equations of motion below to calculate approximate performance figures for the standard two-seater
(or two-plus-two-seater) version of La Macchina. Given the combination of the above-mentioned
technologies, such figures are not at all unreasonable.
Zero to 60 mph (97 km/h): 0.33 second (assuming an average of 10g of acceleration—it is to be
noted that 0-60 mph is accomplished by La Macchina in a distance of only 4 m or about 13 ft,
which is less than its own length)
Zero to 100 mph (161 km/h): 0.5 second (assuming an average of about 9g of acceleration)
Zero to 150 mph (241 km/h): ~1.0 second (assuming an average of about 7g of acceleration)
Zero to 200 mph (322 km/h): ~3 seconds (assuming an average of about 3g of acceleration—it is
to be appreciated that at speeds higher than about 150 mph, wind resistance increases
dramatically with increasing speed)
Zero to 250 mph (402 km/h): ~11 seconds (assuming an average of 1g of acceleration)
250 mph (402 km/h) to zero: ~1.2 seconds (assuming an average of 10g of deceleration)
For reference, the BugattiVeyron's comparable performance figures—measured on real pavement— are as
follows:
Zero to 60 mph (97 km/h): 2.5 seconds (representing a measured average of 1.1g of acceleration)
Zero to 100 mph (161 km/h): 5.5 seconds (representing a measured average of 0.84g of
acceleration)
acceleration)
acceleration)
Zero to 250 mph (402 km/h): 55 seconds (representing a measured average of 0.21g of
acceleration)
250 mph (402 km/h) to zero: ~10 seconds (representing a measured average of 1.14g of
deceleration)
It will be seen from the above that the performance figures calculated for La Macchina are between five
and ten times better than those of the fastest, most powerful and most expensive sports car sold today
(mid-2009).
La Macchina Lampo
For hard-core car enthusiasts, La Macchina Lampo, a single-seater street legal version, not much bigger
than a go-cart, will be offered. La Macchina Lampo is designed to have a gimballed cockpit with a
reclining seat for enabling the driver to withstand greater lateral g-forces than would be possible to
withstand in other street-legal versions of La Macchina. In addition, La Macchina Lampo is designed to be
stripped of all unnecessary equipment such as a trunk, carpeting, air conditioning, a sound system, etc.,
so as to minimise weight. A target weight (without driver) of 500 kg (1,102 lb) should quite easily be met.
Perhaps even half that target weight (without driver)—i.e., not greatly exceeding the weight of a present-
day superbike—could realistically be met, due to the fact that La Macchina Lampo would be little more
than a seat coupled to an engine and wheels, and would not need a transmission or a 5,000 horsepower
(3,728 kilowatt) engine providing over 6,000 lb-ft (8,136 newton-metres) of torque: an engine of just a
quarter of that amount of horsepower and torque—and thus weighing only about 18 kg (40 lb)—would be
more than ample to propel a car weighing, with driver, a mere 350 kg (772 lb), and capable of 10g of grip,
from 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) in a third of a second, or even less. Such a model would have a power-
to-weight ratio of 1,620 bhp per tonne. (In comparison, the Bugatti Veyron is claimed to have a power-to-
weight ratio of 529 bhp/tonne, without occupants; La Macchina Lampo's power-to-weight ratio, even when
it has a very small MYT Engine or Quasiturbine and is fully loaded, would thus be over three times as
great.)
Using La Macchina Lampo for Setting a Nürburgring Lap Record with

Rocket-Assisted Cornering
A special, highly-streamlined edition of La Macchina Lampo is designed to attempt the setting of a

3-minute Nürburgring Nordschleife record. To accomplish this lap time, an average speed of about
460 km/hr—i.e., 286 mph—will be necessary (the Nürburgring Nordschleife being about 23 km—or
14 miles—in length). This is a little more than twice the average speed for the present Nordschleife
lap record, set by a Porsche 956 in 1983 with a lap time of 6 minutes 11.13 seconds, and is also
faster than the maximum speed of the Bugatti Veyron, the fastest production car as of date (mid-
2009). To achieve such a high average speed, the cornering speeds will have to be very high. As
a result, the lateral g-forces withstood by the car and driver will probably have to be raised
somewhat above the 10g available due to the operation of the car's suction fan. (It is to be noted
that for any given radius of turn, centrifugal g-forces are proportional to the square of the cornering
speed: twice the cornering speed generates four times the centrifugal g-force.) Due to the Lampo's
reclining seat and gimballed cockpit, the pilot may be able to withstand 12g or more, at least for
short times. (A seat reclined to about 80 degrees allows an aeroplane pilot to easily sustain 15g, as
reported by Dr. Dougal Watson, sourcing the Aerospace Medicine web site aeromedical.org—and
it is to be noted that this is sustained g-force.)
To this end, rocket-assisted cornering is designed to be fitted to this special Macchina Lampo.
Liquid-fuel rockets with controllable thrust fitted to the sides of the car are designed to be activated
automatically by the car's drive-by-wire supercomputer, when needed, to enable cornering at even
greater speeds than would be possible with a mere 10g lateral grip. (Rockets are used because
only they can produce prodigious amounts of thrust for very little additional weight.) The driver will
need to wear a g-suit to enable him—or perhaps her—to withstand the high g-forces of cornering.
Since cornering times would be relatively brief, while on the straighter sections of the course the g-
forces on the driver will be negligible, it is expected that a sufficiently fit and well-trained driver will
be able to drive the lap without blacking out. Even if he or she does momentarily black out at some
of the more extreme corner(s)—such as the famed Karoussell—the car's drive-by-wire
supercomputer, which have a GPS-generated map of the Nordschleife embedded in its memory,
will be programmed to enable the car to negotiate such corners successfully.
Not only will the speed on the corners need to be very high, but the speed on the straighter
sections will also have to be very high—a maximum speed considerably higher than the 500 km/h
projected for the standard version of La Macchina. To this end, it will have a body with extreme
streamlining, similar to or even better than that used in the 432.7 km/h (268 mph) Mercedes Benz
W125 Rekordwagen, which achieved this astounding maximum speed as long ago as 1938, driven
by Rudolf Caracciola on a straight stretch of the Frankfurt-Darmstadt Autobahn. It is to be
appreciated that with any given shape of car, air resistance increases, roughly, with the cube of the
speed, and thus beyond 200 mph or thereabouts, a great deal of additional engine power is
needed for every mile-per-hour increase in speed. Consequently, streamlining will yield better
dividends, as far as increasing top speed goes, than additional horsepower. All the same, the most
powerful engine that can reasonably be fitted into the car will be installed.
(Parenthetically, it was discussed by the designers whether rocket-assisted acceleration and/or

braking would be incorporated into this edition of the car, but these proposals were rejected as
being too much like "cheating". La Macchina is intended to always be a wheel-driven car.)
The combination of rocket-assisted cornering with extreme streamlining, with perhaps a more
powerful MYT Engine or Quasiturbine and—definitely—a very, very fit and well-trained driver, will,
hopefully, enable this special edition of La Macchina Lampo to lap the Nürburgring Nordschleife in
three minutes or less. Even if this is not achieved at the first attempt, concerted attempts will be
made to eventually reach this goal, which the designers feel can be achieved with a real live driver
in the car, though just barely.
(Of course if there is no one in the car—and thus no g-forces to be withstood by a living person—
the goal of a 3-minute Nürburgring Nordschleife lap can easily be achieved, using remotely-
controlled driving plus even more powerful rocket-assisted cornering; however, the designers feel
this would also be too much like "cheating".)
In addition, it is also felt by the designers that such an edition of La Macchina will be able to lap
the "Top Gear" track in less than 30 seconds, which is faster than the fastest lap of this track,
recorded by a Sea Harrier jet, which took 31.2 seconds, subjecting the pilot to a g-force of about
6g. Since La Macchina can take 10g or more, it is felt that the Sea Harrier's record can be broken
by it.
La Macchina Lampo for "Track Days" with Sideforce-Generating Aero

Devices
It is expected that most races run today, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will ban La Macchina,
since the car incorporates many technologies which are already banned in such races, like the
suction fan, or are likely to be banned in the future, given modern trends regarding the types of
engines and other technologies which are permitted in racing. It has been proposed, however, that
despite this, a modified (reduced-power) edition of the standard version of La Macchina might be
permitted to compete in at least in one of the production-based grand tourer (GT) classes in the 24
Hours of Le Mans, competing with Corvettes, Porsche 911s and the like. It has been calculated
that if La Macchina approaches, even approximately, the performance figures illustrated above, it
would easily be able to complete more laps in just 16 hours at Le Mans than any other car would
be able to complete in 24. (It would be quite hilarious, if fact, for the drivers of La Macchina to stop
after just 16 hours, and relax in the pits with beers in their hands, daring the other teams—
especially the ones entered in the top category, LMP1—to catch up, with 8 hours to spare, to the
distance they had already covered!)
However, there is no reason why La Macchina could not, on other occasions, run on well-known
race tracks at times when races are not actually being run on them, the way "track day" cars in
Britain and elsewhere do today, to try and show off their abilities, and those of their drivers—or,
indeed, just for fun. For such "track days", a special edition of La Macchina Lampo is designed with
moveable aero devices and air brakes, enabling the cornering speeds and corner-entry speeds to
be raised beyond those available with the car's normally-available 10g grip. (It is to be noted that
rocket-assisted cornering will not be possible in a race, due to the fact that the rockets' exhaust
would adversely affect the other cars participating in the race.) The aero devices would not be
restricted to producing downforce, but would also—indeed, mainly—produce side-force, since quite
ample downforce would be produced by the suction fan(s).
La Macchina di Corsa and "Formula i "

La Macchina di Corsa, the pure racing (non-street-legal) version of La Macchina, is designed to race on
its own special track. The combination of these car(s) and track(s) is called "Formula i " Racing, or "Fi "
for short. (The "i " stands for concepts such as "ideal", "infinite", "impossible" and "incredible", and also
as denoting the square root of negative-one, to underline the almost eerie unreality of it all, as described
below). The track and tires are designed with intermeshing bumps, the way Lego™ blocks are designed,
using a technique described at greater length in the chapter entitled "Don't Lego" starting on page 24 of
the book The Seventh Generation by the futurist who writes under the pseudonym "Laser Quasar
Absolutely". The bumps in the tires fit into the spaces between the bumps on the track, and vice versa,
thereby eliminating any chance of skidding. Both the tires and the track are made of rubber, so that in
those cases where there are no gaps in the track for the bumps on the tires to fit into, or no gaps in the
tires for the bumps on the track to fit into, they simply compress each other.
The above technique enables the cars and drivers to sustain as much g-force as the strength of the
materials, and the drivers' capacity to withstand the g-forces, allow. Formula i Racing is therefore no
longer dependent on the drivers' ability to maximise grip, but rather on the quickness of their reflexes and
their ability to withstand the rigours of the track. To assist in this, the seat of La Macchina di Corsa will be
reclined and the cockpit will be gimballed, as in La Macchina Lampo, to enable the drivers to sustain
higher g-forces than would be the case if the seat were not reclined and the cockpit not gimballed. La
Macchina di Corsa may, if so desired, be equipped with joystick controls, also to enable higher g-forces to
be sustained by the drivers. Additionally, the curves of the track will be calculated so that a trained driver,
wearing a g-suit, and sitting in a reclining seat in a gimballed cockpit, should be able to withstand the g-
forces generated when negotiating them, even at the very high speeds La Macchina di Corsa will race.
Since the downforce generated by the Fi cars' suction fan(s) will always be much greater than the weight
of the car, the Fi track need not be anywhere near flat and level, as is the case with all other race
courses. There will be barrel rolls, loops, upside-down sections, and even tubular sections, in which the
overtaking car may have to go around the car in front of it by going up to the ceiling of the tube. The cars'
drive-by-wire supercomputers will automatically prevent any of the cars falling off the track or crashing
into one another. As a consequence, Fi tracks can be located on the sides of mountains, allowing the
spectators sitting on the plains below a view of virtually the entire track. The tubular sections can be
tunnelled into the mountain. (Views of what's happening inside the tunnels can of course be televised to
the spectators, and indeed to the whole world.) The most spectacular—and fastest—part of at least one
Fi track will be a quarter-mile straight-down vertical section. On this section, gravity will assist the cars to
considerably exceed their level-track maximum speed.
The best of today's racing drivers would probably get disoriented on such a track. Driving down the
vertical quarter-mile section at racing speeds, and perhaps even overtaking another car along the way,
would probably be terrifying for most of today's F1 drivers. However, it is felt that there are people in the
world who would like to race on such a track. Perhaps young people who have grown up playing video
games and riding today's extreme roller coasters, or others who are aerobatics enthusiasts, would find
such a track not too hard to negotiate. It goes without saying, of course, that every Fi car—like pretty
much all other racing carts—will be a single-seater, and built to be as light as possible. And, of course,
every Fi car will have an engine producing sufficient horsepower and torque to have a decent chance,
with a good driver, of winning the race. The combination of "Won't-Lego" tires and track, which will
prevent any slippage between the two, will enable all the power and torque of the engine to be used.
No advanced technology will ever be banned from Fi, provided the technology doesn't impact negatively
on other cars, drivers, or spectators (such as rocket-assisted cornering, which would bake other cars and
people to a crisp in a matter of milliseconds). And non-Fi cars, such as those used in Formula One or Le
Mans, will also be welcome to compete against Le Macchine di Corsa in Fi races, if they can.
It is envisaged that Fi races will not last much longer than an hour, if even that long: the strain of the
physical as well as psychological demands of such a race would probably exhaust the drivers within about
an hour, or maybe even less.
La Macchina di Lusso
La Macchina di Lusso, the luxury version of La Macchina, is designed to have the smoothest and quietest
possible ride that technology can produce. The car may be either chauffeur-driven or owner-driven, as
desired. A smooth ride is achieved by means of the active suspension, while sound- and vibration-
insulation is achieved by—among other ways—magnetically isolating the passenger cabin from the rest of
the car, perhaps with sponge and/or other kinds of soft, sound-deadening material intervening between
the cabin and the rest of the car, so that there is little or no physical contact between the passenger
compartment and the car's machinery. A small but well-stocked fridge, espresso-maker and microwave
oven are provided for the passengers, to enable them to take refreshments whenever they feel like it.
Magnetically-stabilised and gimballed cup-holders and food trays enable drinks and food to be isolated
from the g-forces acting on the car when accelerating, decelerating and going around corners, so that
under everyday driving conditions not even a ripple should appear in the matching china coffee cups. A
small auxiliary MYT Engine or Quasiturbine provides continual climate control at all times during an
outing, so that the passengers never have to get into a car that's too hot or too cold, even if some of
them get out of the car for up to an hour or two at any given location during the outing. At the beginning
of an outing, a remotely-operated button on the car's key can activate the auxiliary climate-control engine
about five minutes or so before the passengers get into the car, so that by the time they are in the car the
interior is already at the desired temperature. The heaters as well as the air-conditioning units installed in
the car are furthermore designed to begin to operate instantly, without relying on the need for the car's
engine to warm up. Heated and cooled seats and steering wheel are, of course, provided, as in many
luxury cars today, as is a top-of-the-line sound system, automatic wipers and headlights, etc., etc. On
frosty mornings, a blast of hot dry air can be caused to pass over the windshield and windows to clear off
any misting rapidly. If freezing rain causes ice to form over the windshield and windows, it can be melted
off using the same hot dry air for a somewhat longer period. One or more vacuum cleaner hoses are
provided in the boot of the car or under the seats, to enable the chauffeur—in the case when the car is
chauffeur-driven—to clean up any dirt tracked in by the passengers. (Suction for the vacuum cleaner is
provided by the car's auxiliary engine, which is also used to power its suction fan.)
Additionally, the passengers, especially the rear seat passengers, will have access to the Internet 24/7,
and a cellular phone will be provided for each rear seat. (Cell phones will not be provided for the front
seats, and especially not for the driver, since studies have shown that it is dangerous for the driver to be
using a cell phone while driving, even a hands-free cell phone.) The Internet display for the rear seats
may be part of the food tray serving each seat, functioning as a touch-screen device. It can also play
DVD movies for rear-seat occupants, to while away the tedious hours of a long journey.
It might also be noted that many of the features described above can be incorporated into the standard
version of La Macchina, as well as La Macchina Grande and La Macchina SUV.
Lastly, of course, La Macchina di Lusso is will come with an engine providing huge amounts of
horsepower and gobs of torque, as well as all the other features described in the "common features"
section above, and as such should be capable of levels of performance almost as high as the standard
two-seater version.
La Macchina Grande and La Macchina SUV

The People Carrier / Minivan and SUV versions of La Macchina, a.k.a. La Macchina Grande and La
Macchina SUV respectively, are designed to carry up to seven passengers and a good deal of luggage in
a fair degree of comfort, and in the case of La Macchina SUV, provide rugged off-road capability as well.
In addition to these common features, however, the designers of La Macchina intend to pack greater
amounts of high performance capability into them than most other car manufactures feel is necessary for
vehicles of their type (SUVs, and especially Minivans, being commonly relegated to the bottom-end of the
performance ladder by most manufacturers). Simply by assembling the already very powerful standard
Macchina components onto a frame capable of supporting the necessary cabin, it is easily predicted by
the designers that these vehicles would have performance figures far in advance of any other vehicle of
their type, and even far in advance of some sports cars—losing out on matching the performance figures
of the two-seater Macchina and other powerful sports cars mostly due to the greater air resistance their
taller and wider cabins would create.
"Reinvented Wheel"
For extreme off-road use, a special "wheel" is intended

for use on La Macchina SUV, one which, when
combined with the active suspension provided with all
versions of La Macchina, will enable this version to
travel over the roughest terrain without the occupants
feeling any bumps. (The idea for this "reinvented
wheel" is drawn from the 1992 book Snow Crash by
Neal Stephenson.) In this "wheel", each individual
spoke—there may be as many as twelve spokes, or
even more—telescopes in and out in a computer-
controled sequence calculated to allow the car to go
over any bumps and dips in the terrain smoothly. The
telescoping will be done either magnetically,
pneumatically or hydraulically, or through a
combination of these methods. The amount of telescoping is controlled by the car's supercomputer
with input from the same system of sensor-generated "maps" that governs the active suspension
on other versions of La Macchina. Each spoke, then, is fed information about the terrain in front of
it by the car's supercomputer, and adjusts its length before it actually reaches the spot in question.
When it does, gimballed pads attached to the ends of each spoke make contact with the terrain,
providing grip. There is no actual rim, and thus the "wheel" is not round or even nearly so, like a
conventional wheel. In appearance it is just a number of spokes protruding from a hub. This kind of
"wheel" is "fluid" enough to "flow" over deformations in the terrain. As a result, the car's ride is
silky smooth, even when it is travelling over the roughest terrain.
It should be appreciated, of course, that these "bespoke wheels"—if they may be so called, tongue-
in-cheek—can be fitted to any version of La Macchina. They just need to be snapped into place.
However, it is envisioned that some versions of La Macchina, such as La Macchina Lampo or even
the standard version, would not be suitable for genuine off-road use, though they would probably
be great fun on dirt roads. However, even on dirt roads, conventional wheels will be sufficient: the
"bespoke wheel" will not be necessary.
Attractions
According to the designers of La Macchina, an SUV and a People Carrier / Minivan version is very
attractive to the average customer. One attraction is that if a common-looking SUV or Minivan body
were chosen by a customer for one of these vehicles, its high-performance capability would be
disguised by its looks, rendering it what might be called a "stealth sports car". Another attraction is
the fact that in the modern world many people miss out on the fun of owning a high performance
sports car because their families cannot do without a vehicle capable of meeting the demands of
everyday life, and they often cannot afford two cars, especially if the second is as expensive as a
standard sports car today. Thus, La Macchina Grande and La Macchina SUV will provide such
people with a relatively inexpensive and extremely reliable family vehicle, which can also do
double-duty as a high-performance sports car.
Retrofitting the Technology of La Macchina into Existing Cars

It will also be possible to retrofit at least some of the technology of La Macchina into existing cars. This
will be encouraged rather than discouraged, since the object of creating La Macchina is to bring
automotive technology into the 21st Century. For instance, a Bugatti Veyron retrofitted with a 5,000
horsepower MYT Engine or Quasiturbine, a suction fan powered by an auxiliary 500 hp MYT Engine of
Quasitiurbine, and computer-assisted active suspension, would be considerably better in performance than
a standard Veyron. Even a Mazda MX-5 or an old Mini Cooper retrofitted with the technology of La
Macchina could well be better in performance than a standard Bugatti Veyron. Of course such a retrofitted
car would not contain all the technology incorporated into La Macchina—for instance, it would not have a
lifetime warranty, nor would it be a snap to customise or upgrade—and would be therefore be inferior to a
real Macchina. Nevertheless, since it would be better than any existing car other than La Macchina, many
owners of such vehicles might opt to retrofit what they already own rather than buy an entirely new car.
Commericals
To highlight the performance and capabilities of different versions of La Macchina, as well as to advertise
the brand name, some TV commercials have already been planned, and two of them are described here.
The first commercial starts with the words "What you are about to see is real; it is actual footage, not
computer-generated imagery" being displayed on a black screen. Then an image slowly emerges: a
standard two-seater Macchina is shown on the deck of an American aircraft carrier, alongside an F-18
Super Hornet being launched using the carrier's steam catapult. A "Won't-Lego" type of track is laid out
for La Macchina alongside the steam catapult. La Macchina and the Super Hornet are shown suddenly
and simultaneously starting off in a race; La Macchina is shown reaching the end of the carrier's deck and
coming to a stop before the Super Hornet manages to take off, all of which happens in less than two
seconds. A slow motion replay of the event is displayed after the initial normal-speed display, clearly
showing that La Macchina reaches the end of the carrier's deck and stops before the Super Hornet takes
off. Not a word is spoken during the commercial: not even music is played. The only sounds are the
sounds of a carrier jet taking off with the help of a steam catapult, plus the much weaker car sounds of La
Macchina. At the end of the commercial, the screen fades to black, with the words "La Macchina" in gold
lettering slowly emerging from the darkness, and after a while, its motto, in a smaller typeface, appears
under its name: "credo quia absurdum" ("I believe because it is absurd").
(It is to be appreciated that a Super Hornet is catapulted off a carrier with less than 5g of acceleration. La
Macchina using a "Won't-Lego" track, being capable of sustaining more than twice that much accelerative
and declarative g-force, should therefore be able to accomplish the above, as predicted by the equations
of motion.)
The second commercial also starts with the words "What you are about to see is real; it is actual footage,
not computer-generated imagery" being displayed on a black screen. Then a shot of a china cup on a
saucer, with coffee in the cup, emerges. The coffee has no ripples in it whatsoever. The camera slowly
zooms out, and gradually reveals the fact that the cup and saucer are located in a Macchina SUV
equipped with "reinvented wheels" and magnetically-stabilised and gimballed cup-holders. The car is
travelling at a high rate of speed over some of the very roughest off-road terrain—say, in the Mojave or
Arizona desert—and throwing up clouds of dust behind it. Slowly the camera zooms in back to the cup,
which again shows not a ripple in the coffee. The driver, who is dressed in an immaculate suit and tie,
takes a sip from the cup, and puts it back down on the saucer. The screen then fades to black, and as in
the previous commercial, the words "La Macchina" in gold lettering slowly emerge from the darkness, and
after a while, the motto "credo quia absurdum". During this commercial too, not a word is spoken, nor is
music played. The only sounds are the engine sounds of La Macchina SUV, and natural desert sounds.
Feedback from the Public

As good as La Macchina is, it can be made even better—perhaps much better—with input from the
pubic. As a result, the designers invite members of the public to send in their recommendations and
comments. For the moment, the e-mail address ardeshirandcyrusmehta@gmail.com may be used for this
purpose. Although it is not guaranteed that every e-mail message will be answered, it is guranteed that
every one will be read and given due consideration.
Some Final Words

It bears repeating that the vast majority of the technology for La Macchina is available today, and has
even been tested in prototypes. Indeed, much of the technology has been available for quite some years
now, and some of it—for instance, the suction fan for increasing grip at all speeds, drive-by-wire, and
snap-together assembly—has been available for quite a few decades. Even computer-aided collision-
avoidance has been prototyped, though perhaps not with results good enough for La Macchina. However,
the computing speed of computers and supercomputers is increasing at a breakneck speed, and by the
time La Macchina goes into production, their abilities should be well within the range required for this
purpose. The only major technologies that have not yet been tested in at least prototype form are the
rocket-assisted cornering for the 3-minute Nürburgring record-setting lap, the "Won't-Lego" tire-and-track
combination for Formula i racing, and the "reinvented wheel" for extreme off-road conditions; however,
there is no good reason to doubt that these would work well in practice, especially after their kinks have
been ironed out. Besides, two of these technologies are not used in the street-legal and non-extreme off-
road versions of La Macchina anyway; and the third is needed only for extreme off-road use, and is not
necessary on pavement, or even on dirt roads.
The only thing that needs to be done is to iron out the wrinkles in the technologies that will go into La
Macchina, and this should be possible in a few years at the very outside, since much of the overall pre-
design work is already finished, and is outlined in this article and elsewhere. As a consequence, drawing
up exact designs for La Macchina, then prototyping it, and subsequently putting it into production, requires
merely the will to do it—plus, of course, one or more investors ready to invest his/her/their money for this
purpose (which the designers predict would easily be recouped many times over once production goes
into high gear). Unfortunately, it is seen as unlikely that any established automobile manufacturer will want
to undertake prototyping and production of La Macchina, mostly because if any of them had any inclination
to undertake such a bold project, they would have done so already. At the very least they would not be
holding back the automotive world by needlessly clinging to technology which was invented 70 years ago
or more. However, there is next-to-nothing in the design of La Macchina that is terribly new, difficult to
understand or hard to implement. For these reasons it is envisaged that some intrepid person(s) from
outside the automotive industry will be willing to become the prime mover(s) in its production, as has
happened with the Tesla roadster or the MDI compressed-air-powered car. Of course whoever does it will
have to have a great deal of financial backing. However, the number of people who have a great deal of
spare money but not much of a clear idea what to do with it is increasing in some parts of the world,
especially in Russia, the Middle East, India and the Far East, and it is quite conceivable that some such
person(s) will become enthused with the idea of putting into production the most awesome automobile
ever, and to that end will plonk down the requisite truckload of cash.
{Last major edit: August 30, 2009; minor edits September 19, 2009}

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La Macchina 31/08/10 4:54 PM

To achieve the projected goals for La Macchina, technologies Similar none

Five versions of the La Macchina are planned.

2. A single-seat, minimalist, super-light-weight and super-small version, akin to a street-legal go-

3. A people-carrier or minivan version, to be called La Macchina Grande (the word "grande"

... and lastly:

It is to be appreciated that the MYT Engine is not the only

- Zero vibration (small piston engines are generally too shaky!)

As a result, La Macchina is not dependent upon any single engine technology.

La Macchina is designed to be equipped with one or

La Macchina is designed to have a fully active

Laser rangefinders accurate to one millimetre (1/25th of

Regenerative Braking and Air Brakes

Braking is accomplished with conventional disk brakes—with carbon-carbon or carbon-ceramic

Four Wheel Steering

In addition to these two types of brakes, La Macchina

The fuel gauge of La Macchina is designed to

In addition, there is a touch screen in the

Ergonomics, a.k.a. "Human Factors Engineering"

Reliability and Cost of Ownership

Networking Between Cars in the Immediate Vicinity

Customisability and Upgradability Features

For La Macchina, the designers intend to use a similar

In addition to such customisability, standard designs

Projected Performance Figures for La Macchina (Standard Two-

Using La Macchina Lampo for Setting a Nürburgring Lap Record with

A special, highly-streamlined edition of La Macchina Lampo is designed to attempt the setting of a

(Parenthetically, it was discussed by the designers whether rocket-assisted acceleration and/or

La Macchina Lampo for "Track Days" with Sideforce-Generating Aero

La Macchina di Corsa and "Formula i "

La Macchina Grande and La Macchina SUV

For extreme off-road use, a special "wheel" is intended

Retrofitting the Technology of La Macchina into Existing Cars

Feedback from the Public

Some Final Words

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