Machine Revival | Made To Excite

16 June 2020 Redazione Lifestyle, News, Stories

FORCE ROUGE

Words by Alessandro Marrone / Photos by Thomas Cortesi

I would define ours as a creative workshop – it is with these words that Nicolas Quiles starts capturing my attention about his splendid creature called Machine Revival. Over the years I have had the good fortune to interview or even simply chat with an endless number of personalities linked to the automotive world and despite each and every one of them has their own story, their own path and their philosophy. And so it often happens to bring back the spark that gave life to everything to the need of satisfying the most unusual requests of the demanding customers. I always wondered why no one had first of all done something for himself and therefore faced a sort of reverse path than usual. Finally, this is the case.

Undertaken as a personal adventure, Machine Revival soon took on the appearance of a family business, and then became a full-time job. We are talking about guys who are able to offer you the complete package, from the design to the mechanical part, from the engineering department to the painting and the customization of the models according to a precise rule – driving is something that must satisfy all five senses, that’s why I think a car is great only when every small part is able to create the perfect whole. For this reason, in the Saint-Michel-sur-Rhône workshop – south of Lyon – we can find many Porsche 911s, moreover if we think of a sports car capable of offering emotions but still exploitable at 360 degrees, the Stuttgart’s coupe is an authentic institution, both on the road and on the track.

With its almost sunburnt-red dress that hides most of the original chrome, gold rims wrapped in semi-slick tires, the MR12 immediately catches my attention. They named it Force Rouge and guess what, it really is a force of nature, but I want to know what’s the magic that lies beyond. We work on different models making them special and unique, among them there is obviously the legendary 911. Not just any, but the one you have to approach in the right way like this 1982 3.0. I am convinced that the most important aspect of a driving experience resides in the sensations that a car can transmit, but with the passing of time the world has changed and cars with it. Today any sports car is able to do great things, but too often they are filtered by electronic systems that penalize the feeling that a purist still want to live. That’s why a 911 SC is the ideal tool to awaken this world. – Sensations, emotions, but also performance and reliability of a contemporary car.

The MR12 is not just about a great personality due to its clearly track-focused look, but it is able to wrap you in a world in which the stylistic aspect is as important as the performance one. In this regard, you cannot help but be entranced by details such as the wooden gear knob, or the hand-brushed aluminum air intake placed above the iconic 911 engine, here capable of delivering 220 horsepower (+ 13 compared to the standard) through a 5-speed manual gearbox. By opening the lightweight door on the driver’s side you are literally assaulted by the magnificence of those times when motoring was pretty risky, with sports bucket seats, four-point belts, passing through the customized tachometer and the rumble of the flat-six that comes out from the double tailpipe and enter the passenger compartment with the roar of a symphony that increases in intensity and volume depending on how you decide to tackle some of the most engaging kilometers of your life. Of course, it is a reliable car that can take you on the track for the weekend, mark the fastest lap and go home in time for dinner with your family, but above all it is something that knows how to give a sense of occasion, an instrument that intends to celebrate every road it travels and in this way creates a symbiosis with its driver, something that a contemporary car can’t understand, despite the thousand electronic and mechanical devilries that have brought ballistic performance within everyone’s reach.

It only weighs 950 kg and will never let you down, you can mistreat it on the racing track or go hard on any mountain road, it will always be ready for other punishment, but at the same time you must pay attention and get in confidence with it, because there is no driver assistance. – The MR12 is one of the many examples here at Machine Revival, but the philosophy is precisely to bring back to life an approach to sports driving that allowed to distinguish a serious driver from a serious loser, in which the difference is not made by the number of horses under the hood, but from the backbone of those sitting behind the wheel. The Force Rouge takes the immortal hips of the purest 911 of all, embodies its competitive spirit and its ability to transform even the simplest walk into an exciting moment, perhaps with the window down and even more decibels entering the passenger compartment. It is nervous and always ready to bite if treated the wrong way, but incredibly capable of satisfying and creating absolute addiction if approached as god commands.

Nicolas points out that – is not made for competitions, but of course you can drive it against the clock. Of course! You can drive it on a curvy road, or for a simple weekend cruise. It is designed for driving pleasure and to create emotions. – I, like any car guys out there, would not need many other explanations, because some words know where to hit and once you have reached the right keys everything is like a flood. Before saying goodbye, I ask him what projects Machine Revival has for the future (the MR12 is a project born in 2017, editor’s note) and he confirms that many interesting things are coming such as a MR19, an AWD 911, but even models devoted to pure performance such as the MR20 and MR21, a track 912, a classic Range Rover and a Ferrari. I have met a lot of people, but I have rarely experienced such a feeling while staring in front of what for three quarters of the population could be a simple piece of iron and rubber. It assails you with that desire for racing and at the same time enhances the details that also identify it as a beautiful object to look at, to admire. It ends up with you looking at it for a few moments and immediately find yourself hopelessly in love and eager to have a piece of that automotive melancholy now increasingly rare and made of certain materials, smells and those particular mechanical noises that transform a car into something alive.