Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

In gear

Buckle up for a test drive and keep up to speed with the latest motoring news

Alfa Romeo’s 8C Spider oozes Italian style The sporty Spider’s curvaceous charms are available to just 500 lovestruck drivers

Motor beauty pageant supremo Alfa Romeo’s outrageously curvy drop-top 8C Spider and coupé sibling 8C Competizione, are widely regarded as two of the most stunning of all cars designed. Visually arresting from every angle, those curves hide a 4.7 litre V8, producing a mighty 450bhp channelled through a slick 6-speed F1-style paddle shift gearbox achieving 0-62mph in just
4.2 seconds. Inside the carbon fibre cockpit, a dashboard-mounted button transforms the cosseted cabin of the

Alfa 8C Spider into a sublime open-top GT cruiser. Only 500 of these £150,000-plus (¤188,900) beauties are being produced to be snapped up in a heartbeat.

Amazingly neither 8C’s are from the Pininfarina stable which brought us seriously delectable eye candy such as Ferrari’s 599 GTB Fiorano, the about-tobe-launched California, and 612 Scaglietti ‘K’, 8C sister cars Alfa Brera and Spider, and the new one-off Hyperion. If your copious charms are failing with your bank manager, there are Pininfarina models under £30,000 (¤37,800) in the form of Ford’s new Focus Coupé-Cabriolet and cute boy favourite, Mitsubishi Colt CZC.

Million-Dollar Baby

Aston Martin’s new One-77 is definitely for the luxury market

The hallowed marque has just announced a scorchingly hot new beauty is on its way, the One-77. So exclusive is this car that the company has only issued a single tantalising snapshot so far and will be carefully hand-picking prospective customers to show the car off to at the end of the year. There’s no official word on how many will be built yet, but I can reveal it will be offered for around £1,200,000 (¤1,515,000). Deliveries to the incredibly lucky owners will be late 2009.

The company says the One-77 is its “ultimate creative interpretation… fusing advanced technology with stunning Aston Martin design to create possibly the world’s most desirable automotive art form. Based on a sophisticated carbon fibre chassis with a handcrafted aluminium body, this 7.0 litre V12 super car will deliver exhilarating performance for a strictly limited number of discerning customers.”

Belgian finalists for Land Rover G4 Challenge selected

Eline De Muynck, adventure racer Wim Vancraeynest, triathlete Arnaud De Laveleye and marketing assistant Katrien De Vijlder beat a field of 86 athletes to reach the Land Rover G4 Challenge final

Belgium is hoping to repeat the success of its 2003 G4 Challenge winner Rudi Thoelen as 17 countries battle it out in a series of extreme endurance and navigation tests, including 4×4 driving, climbing, kayaking and running through some of the world’s remotest areas.

The final, which previously took competitors to four corners of the globe, takes place in Asia in 2009 and, for the first time, the Challenge itself will raise over £1million (¤1,260,000) in aid of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

There is still time to apply for some countries and you can do so by logging on to landroverg4challenge.com. John Edwards, Land Rover UK managing director said: “We are looking for strong competitors for this awesome challenge. The Challenge will give you the experience of a lifetime – taking you to some of the most remote places on earth, where the terrain will test both body and mind and push Land Rover vehicles to the max.”

In the news

Tragedy strikes Pininfarina

Pininfarina, the acclaimed company behind the design of some of the world’s greatest cars, has suffered a dreadful blow with the death of Chairman and CEO Andrea Pininfarina in a car accident in Turin in August.

“Our family has been struck by an immense tragedy,” said Senator Sergio Pininfarina, the company’s honorary chairman, “but we are determined to keep Andrea’s memory alive.”

“The best way to honour my brother’s memory,” said Paolo Pininfarina, deputy chairman of Pininfarina SpA, “is to continue to pursue with undiminished strength and determination the path he had chosen for the company.”

TEST DRIVE BMW 125iA

While he’s not totally sold on its looks, James Kevin Mac Goris is excited by the 125iA’s acceleration and agility and discovers that it’s a bundle of fun to drive

The first thing one can say about the little BMW125iA will reassure fans no end, but won’t mean much to anyone else… and that is, it is definitely all BMW, from the seamless operation of its soft-top folding mechanism to the superbly reliable acceleration the powerpack supplies on demand, and straightaway.

There are BMW aficionados who find the 1-series’ boxy shape a tad unrefined, and I would have to agree. Even though the cabriolet’s less chunky looks save it somewhat, the design is more muscled than stylish; more bling than elegance. But judging by the runaway sales since it was launched, it would appear that 1-series owners get off on that snub nose, slab-like doors and shortened back end.

However, drive the 125iA and such niceties as the car’s aesthetic values go out the window, banished by the sheer pleasure of being at the wheel of a 218hp road-hugging schizophrenic… just like the famous Tasmanian Devil, this initially demure little BMW really shows its colours when provoked.

Its 3l, 6-cyl engine is no different to the bigger 3-series, but boy does that change-down in car size make a difference for the driver. While it isn’t much lighter than its big sister, it’s much more agile – so agile that you get the impression that you can drive at whatever speed you want… after all, no matter how much trouble you get into on the road, the 125iA’s superior acceleration will get you out of it.

Driving top-down around Brussels I expected the car to draw plenty of stares – and it did, though not quite as I had anticipated. Surprisingly, we crossed the main uptown drag almost unnoticed, no doubt eclipsed by the Aston Martins, Ferraris and Maseratis posing in the sunshine. But downtown in the Mediterranean quarter almost every young tough passing by in his souped-up Astra, Focus or Golf gave me a massive thumbs-up.

On the tarmac – whether motorway or country roads – this little powerpack is just a gem. 0-100 km/h in 6.8 seconds thanks to the 218 horses. Push down on the pedal and the 3-litre quickly and smoothly delivers the thrust to get you up to 200km/h and beyond without any fuss. Back down at the traffic lights all eyes will be on you, not for your looks, but for the delicious Porsche-like noise that comes out of the exhaust at idle.

The 125iA is perhaps the last anomaly BMW will produce, and for that reason alone it’s worth having. With the marque’s increasing trend towards good corporate cars – longevity and reliability tailored to the finance dept’s criteria – this little runabout delivers fun and driving pleasure that’s more akin to a motorcycle than a car. Buy one today and you won’t regret it. When you’ve calmed down you’ll be happy to trade in for a new 3 or 5-series. You’ll just have to get used to taking your place up with the others, rather than kicking dust and leaving them behind.

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