Il Tempo Gigante – Steampunk Racecar
Einar very kindly wrote to open my eyes to what seems to be a phenomenon that had completely passed me by – the Norwegian animated film, Flåklypa Grand Prix (also known as the Pinchcliffe Grand Prix). This stop motion animated tale from the 1970’s featured an eccentric but kind inventor and his friends entering a sportscar race for the honour of his inventions! The sportscar, named Il Tempo Gigante, is a beautiful creation that captured the hearts and minds of decades of children – and the car featured above is a realisation of that car as accurately as possible! Complete with two engines (one of which is a helicopter turbine too loud and powerful to actually turn on, the other is a V8) and has available to it over 550hp.
Who would not want a car with it’s own built in blood bank? A car with a radar for those pesky moments when your foe uses nasty tricks against you in the race? A car that sounds so nice? No doubt it is a beast, and terribly inefficient – but it is very beautiful, and the animation itself looks utterly charming. I believe they even sell a radio controlled one.