SPYKER/NORWAY
AUTO-TATION
50
ILLUSTRATION BY BRETT AFFRUNTI
•
NOVEMBER 2013
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
VERTICAL DOORS
If simply driving this
ostentatious Dutch supercar
among the reserved citizens of
Norway hadn’t alreadymade us
feel like Hollywood blowhards
at Grandma’s tea party, parking
it did. Whenwe popped open the
switchblade doors at Bore Beach,
just south of Stavanger, even the
surfers felt it was toomuch. But
vertical doors sure are nice when
you’re backing a quarter-million-
dollar ride into a tight spot.
COCKPIT
The otherworldly
Trollstigen, or troll’s path—
which zigzags between Lake
Langvatnet and the Sogge
Bridge in Romsdal—is a more
appropriate se ing for the
Spyker, the cockpit of which
made us feel we were in Luke
Skywalker’s Landspeeder: Clas-
sic padded-leather deep-bucket
seats and interior combine with
an aeronautical theme to evoke
the feeling of flying just above
the road.
DASHBOARD
The aviation theme
really comes through on the
dash, which has a brushed
aluminum finish inlaid with
green backlit analog dials and
switches that call to mind
the control panels of vintage
aircra —a nod to Spyker’s rich
history of having made fighter
planes during World War I.
Trust us, you won’t be bothered
by the absence of a digital
touch-screen.
ENGINE
Norwegian police take
speeding very seriously. In fact,
according to
Avisa Nordland
, a
French tourist spent 18 days in
jail last year for going 100 mph
in a 55 mph zone. Tales of four-
figure fines are also rampant.
So if you’re going to speed, best
leave those smokeys in the
dust. The Spyker’s 4.2-liter V8
engine, which goes from zero
to 60 in 4.5 seconds and has a
top speed near 190 mph, ought
to help.
EXHAUST PIPES
The company’s mo o,
Nulla Tenaci Invia Est Via, is
etched on the two exhausts in
the rear. By the sound of these
pipes—especially a er you hit
the “Sport” mode switch—you’d
think the translation was, I
Am Spyker, Hear Me Roar. It’s
actually For the Tenacious, No
Road Is Impassible. Not to be a
total show-off, the car has two
additional exhaust pipes hidden
under the chassis.
TRANSMISSION
The manual transmission
paddle shi ers came in handy
in the three-mile Finnøy Tunnel
as we headed north toward
Sjernarøy Island. With
a steep descent reaching 660
feet under the sea, we quickly
found ourselves doing 100
mph without even trying.
Downshi ing was the way
to handle it. Then we opened up
the windows and listened
to the rpms echo against the
walls. Thrilling!
SUSPENSION
The fully independent
double-wishbone suspen-
sion systemhelped us along
the gravelly back roads of
Sjernarøy Island, which offer
stellar views of the area’s
majestic ords. We took it slow,
but for some of the rougher
road we encountered, it helped
having the Spyker’s ride height
elevation system, which li s
the chassis an additional 40
mm above the ground.
ROOF SCOOP
The scoop on the roof
feeds fresh air into the engine
bay to cool the engine and other
components. But, in addition to
function, it’s quite a fashionable
design note. Ilja Vasiljev, our
able seaman on the car ferry
headed to Finnøy, took note.
“We never see cars like this in
Norway,” he told us. “Even the
richest people here—and this
is a very rich country—would
never feel comfortable driving
something this crazy.”
GOING DUTCH
When driven along the ords of westernNorway, the Spyker C8 Aileron
just might turnmore heads than the landscape
BY JORDAN HELLER
Starting price: $225,000
