Driving Impressions of Faralli & Mazzanti's Antas Berlinetta Super-Car

By Chris Beddows

To take to the road in the driving seat of Faralli & Mazzanti's Italian sports super-car the Antas is a privilege that will inevitably be the joy of very few people. This is partly because of the output that runs to about two cars per year and partly because of the price that is deep into the six figure range. Therefore when the opportunity arose to sample on behalf of readers the sheer excitement of a car for the very few, it was taken up with alacrity.

The F & M atelier just outside of Pisa in Tuscany resembles in many ways a rural villa. Tall Italian pines and gravel driveways beckon you towards the very special workshops that create a very special car. As is well enough known by now Faralli and Mazzanti have been restoring classic cars for nearly forty years. It is only in the last decade that they decided to put their hard won experience to bear on the creation of their own car.

No two Antas models will ever be the same as the customer sits down with an engineer and they decide what power and drive-train is to be used - what interior trim is to fitted and even what bodywork shape will clothe the final product. There is a similarity to having a VERY expensive suit made from scratch to your own specifications - or a haute couture wedding dress incorporating your desires and wishes.

Unlike most supercars where the initial impulse is to make a dash for the driving seat, you're stopped in your tracks on first seeing the machine. Photographs have not prepared you for the astonishing curvilinear design of the Antas and its outrageous "in your face" visual attitude. It is the essence of speed captured in alloy. It is a magnificent beauty in the eye of any beholder.

With heart beating faster than normal you open the door and slip into the comfort of the cockpit. Talk about ergonomic luxury! Sculpted and patterned leather softly encases you like a hand made glove. The seat holds you in sybaritic security. You already feel at one with the machine. A turn of the key and the power systems come to life. A CCTV monitor shows you the view behind - uncluttered by intrusions as the camera is in the trailing edge of the signature tail fin. Check the instruments on their dashboard backing plate of hand-machined aluminum - all where they should be for instant glances - a place for everything and everything in its place.

Then you press the starter button - and all is wondrously changed.

Now I've driven a few motors in my time. Screaming Hayabusa four cylinders that rev up to 14,000 rpm in a Caterham Super Seven; silky, lazy sixes in XK 120s, big V8s that grunt off the line in Street Rods - but the Maserati V8 is from another world. The lightweight flywheel for a start spins the engine up the rev range with amazing speed - throttle response is virtually instantaneous. The open trumpets of the Weber carburetors contribute their own sound on the over-run. The combined effect is a broad-chested bark that bounces off walls and surrounding surfaces in a melodious cacophony.

Time to dip the clutch and release the Antas - obviously now eager to take flight. Surprisingly short movement of the lever, revs high to avoid stalling, a squeal from the tires and a hand is pressing you back into the seat. Quick change and the scene is repeated. Revs and speed ever rising and the first curve ahead.

The Antas has been bred and tuned on the roads of Tuscany. The highways, autostrada and country roads are redolent in different stretches of the great Mille Miglia road race. Curves and swerves are meat and drink to this thoroughbred. Unless you are really giving yourself and the car a workout and indulging in steering on the throttle, you almost think your way around a bend with slight pressure of the wrists letting the car adopt the line that is most appropriate and effective. Then it's throttle down with the car settling on its haunches for a fraction of a second before unleashing its torque and rocketing you onwards - ever eager to challenge the pressures of air and gravity.

Speed builds fast but braking is also an essential part of fast driving, in the case of the Antas late braking can be indulged in on the open roads as the carbon fiber aileron beneath the rear fin provides more than adequate downforce to counteract the shift of weight to the front under heavy braking. The car remains balanced and totally controllable.

You are an essential part of the car. You are one with the acceleration, the braking, the working of the suspension and the shifting g forces. The car is an extension of you and your desire to challenge time. Distance, speed and time - the trio of forces in our lives with which the Antas is designed to do battle. But never has a driver enjoyed such hand-crafted luxury as he controls events from a setting of leather clad splendour.

OK - so the Antas works well as a sports racer - but what about around town? One thing is for sure - you had better not be an introvert. If you do not want a crowd to gather whenever you park or questions about the car's performance, lineage and availability - then choose something less like a chariot of the gods. So far as driving around town is concerned that is no problem as the combination of lightweight and a great power to weight ratio mean that you can trundle along in most gears without a problem. Visibility is amazingly good and with that TV screen for a rear mirror parking is a breeze.

Distance, speed and time... in many ways the Antas is a time machine.

Seldom in life can activities which transpire during youth & play be recreated, or the athletes be seen years later in top form. Games are played. Championship titles won. Races run. Records set. But then players and cars retire and enthusiasts are left with little more than images, video footage and their memories. Faralli & Mazzanti with the Antas bring the sights, the sounds, the smells...all the proof that time machines do exist.

Faralli & Mazzanti are bringing the unattainable things like lost youth, excitement and true coach-built style back into people's lives everywhere.

The Antas Time Machine is here and now.

To arrange your own drive in an Antas or to discuss exhibition or dealer representation contact:

Mino A. Camilotti
Faralli & Mazzanti
Development Manager
+39.340.171 7770
m.camilotti@femauto.it
www.femauto.it