BMC Air Filters and Pambuffetti team up for a unique project that brings track performance to the road, from design to engine roar.
The technical partnership that binds the two Italian brands from 2022 is based on a relationship of mutual esteem and trust, with the aim of achieving high quality levels together. BMC will be a supplier to the Umbrian manufacturer, especially for engine air filters and composite materials for the intake.
Pambuffetti's story is characterised by the uniqueness of what it proposes. A road car, completely handcrafted, that expresses the concept of speed in its most extreme form, but that can also be used on the track by enthusiasts, to experience the thrill and adrenaline of racing.
From a technical point of view the PJ-01, this is the name chosen for the first model, which takes its inspiration from its creator Juri Pambuffetti, is innovative and technological in every area, starting with the chassis: a hybrid in structural steel and carbon, a material also chosen for the bodywork and interior. This macro-area was inspired by single-seaters and polished by the refined aerodynamic flows. This gives rise to certain advantages, which make the car very similar to the concept of one born exclusively for racing. For example, the completely innovative driving position, with the pedals higher than the pelvis, but without losing the comfort one needs in everyday driving. Just as the redistribution of internal components is aimed at achieving maximum aerodynamic efficiency, as well as preserving the right balance between the two axles.
Aerodynamics is another area explored in great detail by the designers and engineers who worked on Pambuffetti's creature. It is considered the true cornerstone of the project, with more than four years of development behind it and twelve months of fine-tuning planned. Studied by excellences from the world of Motor Sport such as Franco Sighinolfi, a renowned designer from Modena and author of winning cars in many competitions. On the car he says: "Thirty years of success in designing competition cars, of mistakes, of tests and solutions. Years of valuable experience that have allowed me to bring a real competition car onto the road, enhancing its merits and correcting its flaws, this is what the PJ-01 represents to me".
A car with these ambitions, a car born to excite, can only be tuned by someone who knows about emotions. Andrea Boldrini was chosen for the hard work. He is an established Umbrian driver, Italian Formula 3 champion in '96, Porsche Carrera Cup champion and now an established Porsche Academy instructor. He, who was the 'first' to realise how good the project was on the road, says:
"The PJ-01's natural habitat is the racetrack and that becomes clear as soon as you can test its 'limits' on a track, but the PJ-01 is like a teenager from a good family, it knows how to be polite and knows how to stay in any situation, but it's when you turn off the lights and get on the track that it is completely at ease".
The design, which Marco Sforna worked on, is eye-catching with aggressive lines derived from the racing world, but also gentle and tapered to best envelop the driver and what is inside. The PJ-01's aesthetics make it the envy of other supercars on the market, make it unique in the eyes of enthusiasts and become the car's identifying feature. Like the trademark chosen by its founder: the teardrop, an element that in nature represents the most aerodynamic shape in existence, and has since become the inspirational principle and distinctive feature of the company.
As for the beating heart, hidden in the rear end, the PJ-01 is fitted with a 5,200 cc naturally aspirated V10 of Italian derivation, but reworked in house, as is the whole heart of the car. Entrusted to an in-house specialist team, led by the skilful hands of Attilio Mattioli who, from the height of his 30 years' experience in high-performance mechanics says: "With the PJ-01 we have innovated, evolved and diversified. Stepping aboard, however, you find a car in its purest essence. No invasive controls, no compromises, everything is in place, but everything is different, and it is obvious from the very first start. From the very first emotion. I think that is the PJ-01's greatest characteristic".
And it's right in the engine that BMC, a company led for 50 years by its president and founder Gaetano Bergami, will bring its technology and experience. The Emilian company, founded in Medicina, in the province of Bologna, has supplied Pambuffetti with a number of carbon intake kits with filter elements, in order to reach very high peaks of performance and power.
At the moment it is estimated to produce six cars a year, with an increase from the third onwards, to a total of 25 models for the PJ-01. But Juri and his team certainly don't want to stop there. This is just the first step in the project born in Trevi, in the province of Perugia, which already has ambitious challenges in mind for the future, in which BMC Air Filters also wants to take part.
The racing DNA born within BMC is naturally predisposed for challenges such as the one launched by Pambuffetti, and that is why together the two companies are looking far ahead, towards new goals, with the determination and courage of those who know how to dare.