[Auto] New Touring Arese RH95: Coachbuilt supercar driven in UK

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Pulling a handle marked ‘eject’ is generally not a good idea, unless you happen to be a jet fighter pilot faced with a sudden need to depart your aircraft’s cockpit. In the case of the Touring Superleggera Arese RH95, pulling the handle so marked is likely to bring on a tinge of regret rather than an otherwise doomed pilot’s gushing relief, because the opening of this car’s door signals journey’s end. And journeying in this car is the thrill and delight you’d have every right to hope for from a car offering 661bhp, a beautifully wrought carbonfibre skin, gullwing doors and the mild sculptural drama of a so-called dorsal scoop.It’s a novel pleasure to find a slice of wit in the labelling of a car’s controls, although you can be assured that the Arese RH95 is a very serious machine indeed. You can immediately see that in the quality of its finish. Its carbonfibre bodywork is beautifully moulded and glass smooth not just outside but inside too, the matt black inner surfacing of the spectacular rear-hinged clamshell presented to a standard that would satisfy any mainstream high-end manufacturer.Inch your way across this car’s intriguing details and you’ll discover that the silver waistband traversing the wing and door is fashioned from a solid billet of aluminium. Every cut line, compound curve, indentation, light and model identifier is perfectly formed, the sizeable carbonfibre opening panels aligning just so.

 

 

The interior is no less convincing. This particular Arese cabin, specified by its owner, is gloriously furnished in beige and brown Alcantara, subtly highlighted with slender flashes of yellow and long threads of highly accurate stitching. The pattern needled into the seat facings, for example, elegantly repeats the shape of the Touring badge. This colour scheme might sound a little dubious until you see it, but the cabin’s dual-cockpit architecture and the classy fabric hues make this an irresistible space to occupy, and never mind the performance and dynamic treats to come. Back to topBefore they do, you may well be wondering who Touring is and what its somewhat cumbersomely named Arese RH95 is, too. Only if you’re of a certain (depressingly advanced) age or a keen follower of the Italian coachbuilt car industry will you know of Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera, an Italian coachbuilder that has enjoyed two lives.The first began in 1926, when Carrozzeria Touring was founded by Felice Bianchi Anderloni. It was not long before this Milanese coachbuilder was winning concours events with its designs, wealthy enthusiasts bringing Touring Alfa Romeos, Isotta Fraschinis, Lancias and BMWs to be clothed. During those four decades, Carrozzeria Touring fashioned some especially beauteous cars, besides developing the Superleggera advanced lightweight body manufacturing technique. Superleggera models, famously including Aston Martin’s DB4, DB5 and DB6, were constructed from elegant latticeworks of small-diameter tubes, over which thin aluminium skin panels were hung. The light, rigid structure lent itself to hand-formed panels and bespoke construction and many famous makers drew on this patented technology, including Maserati, Pegaso and Bristol, as well as Aston.But the advent of monocoque bodyshells, which made bespoke designs much harder to engineer, threatened Touring’s survival. It didn’t go bankrupt, but it was wound up in 1966. What happened next you can discover in the separate story opposite, but the company was re-established in 2006 to produce bespoke, high-end, limited-run cars in the Touring visual tradition.The Arese RH95 is just that, and the last in a series of 21st-century Touring triplets, following the 2016 Alfa Romeo Disco Volante and the 2020 Aero 3. “This is the first exploration of mid-engine, or mid/rear proportions, the other two being front engined,” explains Touring design chief Louis de Fabribeckers. “This car is about agile handling. The three cars share the ‘victory’ grille, the horizontal tail-lights and the smooth, elegant, almost feminine surfacing in combination with very strong details such as the vertical exhausts and the assertive headlights.”