Alfredo Stola founded Stola in 1919, and the wildest thing is that his grandson Alfredo who runs the show today looks exactly like him. The Stola Group is 1200 employees strong and works with clients like Saab, Ferrari/Maserati, Mitsubishi and Fiat.

“We are not stylists!”

Stola is quick to emphasize. “We engineer projects, and our goal is to make each project a higher standard of quality, of fit-and-finish.”

So how do you explain the highly desirable proportions on the latest Stola GTS show car from Geneva? Look at the Porsche Boxster S-based speed machine from any angle and it trumpets really nice styling cues.

“I think the Boxster is possibly the finest-engineered vehicle mechanically today,” says Stola. This explains the likewise Boxster-based S82 prototype created in 2001 to celebrate the company’s 82nd anniversary and pay homage to James Dean’s 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder. This year’s GTS is simply born of Stola’s childhood memories.


| PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION | E-MAIL THIS STORY TO A FRIEND |

(08:30_Oct._20,_2003)
A Tale of Two Porsches: Stola GTS
Alfredo Stola Goes Gulf



By MATT DAVIS

Alfredo Stola founded Stola in 1919, and the wildest thing is that his grandson Alfredo who runs the show today looks exactly like him. The Stola Group is 1200 employees strong and works with clients like Saab, Ferrari/Maserati, Mitsubishi and Fiat.

“We are not stylists!”

* STOLA GTS PHOTO GALLERY



Stola is quick to emphasize. “We engineer projects, and our goal is to make each project a higher standard of quality, of fit-and-finish.”

So how do you explain the highly desirable proportions on the latest Stola GTS show car from Geneva? Look at the Porsche Boxster S-based speed machine from any angle and it trumpets really nice styling cues.

“I think the Boxster is possibly the finest-engineered vehicle mechanically today,” says Stola. This explains the likewise Boxster-based S82 prototype created in 2001 to celebrate the company’s 82nd anniversary and pay homage to James Dean’s 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder. This year’s GTS is simply born of Stola’s childhood memories.


“I remember when I was a kid, we all had these Le Mans car miniatures and these were the famous Gulf colors from the late 1960s.”

The prototype, designed by Stola’s longtime friend and Pininfarina legend Aldo Brovarone, now 78 (remember the Dino Ferrari?), immediately puts you in Steve McQueen’s shoes. The GTS probably most resembles the ’68 Le Mans No. 10 Gulf/Wyer GT40 driven by Paul Hawkins and David Hobbs. Amazing what an Italian blue-and-orange paint scheme can do to jog the memory.

Besides the stunning paint job and custom-designed removable roof, the classic fuel filler caps cut into the hood and in the rear engine cover (oil and water) are simple touches that take us back. “All of the aerodynamics on the front and back haven’t been tested in a wind tunnel yet,” Stola says. “They are just to accentuate the show car’s proportions.” We hope they stay, as who cares about drag coefficient readings? Front and rear fascias, the roof, and the rear engine cover are of carbon fiber. Workmanship, from the several ground-effect flares to the side-gilled air intakes à la Dino Ferrari 246 GTS, is outstanding.

Sitting in the GTS is better. The roof design provides copious head and shoulder room vs. the standard Boxster top. On the other hand, the top of the windshield is literally at eye level—no need for sun visors—and it takes getting used to. Once you realize the GTS should be on a track, it makes sense; you can see as much as you need to see for on-track purposes, intersection signals be damned.

Stola ripped out all stereophonics but included competition water and oil temperature gauges as well as a turbo-boost gauge. The transmission is the six-speed manual with Boxster S gearing, and it has the nice, short throw we admire. The shifter and handbrake are Nardi brushed-aluminum pieces that feel and look terrific, while the steering wheel is stock Porsche with a Stola logo. Another nostalgic detail behind the two seats is thick, quilted fireproof fabric that covers the rear of the tub. Tall, white leather competition bucket seats with brushed-aluminum accents are adapted from the European Boxster S options list; they hug you into an optimal seating spot for road-attack mode.

The 18-inch OZ alloy wheels, based on a Stola design, mount grippy Goodyear Eagle F1s—225/40 in front and 265/35 in back.

The suspension is the stock Boxster S configuration but with sturdier height-adjustable dampers. You can start things by using the standard upper-left ignition key or via a console-mounted start button fitted left of the shifter and handbrake. And then the real GTS experience begins.

The Boxster S 3.2-liter boxer six with 260 hp at 6200 rpm and 229 lb-ft of torque at 4700 rpm has been blown out to a 3.7-liter with 480 hp and 457 lb-ft at 5500 rpm, with a 7000-rpm redline. The engine tuning was carried out in Germany by the Porsche nuts at Gemballa to the tune of $60,000-plus. Besides a new computer chip and bigger cylinders, Stola required the unit to sprout two hefty turbochargers with an industrial-strength intercooler. All of this added together sends the 2780-pound GTS to a top speed of 190 mph with an estimated 0-to-60-mph time of 3.8 seconds.

The massive intercooler out back makes noise at every gearshift and accelerator liftoff as if it’s in the seat beside you. When first starting out before the breathing and cooling system has warmed up, deceleration sounds like you’ve got a moaning 40-year-old man held against his will in the tail of the car. Once warm, that hostage is gone and it’s just you, the intercooler and the turbos blowing all other traffic away.

Stopping happens quickly through customized Brembo discs wearing calipers painted in the same vintage orange color as the stripes on the car. The calipers are eight-piston fronts and four-piston rears, and they have a nice balance to them heading into curves when needed.

There is talk about creating three GTS cars, as there has been high interest in the Stola/Brovarone treatment from all corners of the globe. As the car is decidedly best suited in its present form as a club sport track racer, we wonder whether there are series racing plans for it.

“No, no,” Stola answers. “Anyway, this is not something we would do.” Then who would? Alfredo Stola shares no names, but says there’s a veritable Who’s Who of requests.

STOLA GTS
* POWERTRAIN: 3.7-liter, 480-hp, 457-lb-ft horizontally opposed twin-turbo six-cylinder; rwd, six-speed manual
* CURB WEIGHT: 2780 pounds (est.)
* 0-60 MPH: 3.8 seconds (est.)