Cizeta Automobili SpA 

Automotive manufacturer of Modena;Italy from 1988 to 1995.

Cizeta Automobili SpA , previously Cizeta Moroder Motors Srl , was an Italian manufacturer of super sports automobiles .

History 

Claudio Zampolli and Giorgio Moroder founded the company Cizeta Moroder Motors Srl in Modena in 1988 and started to develop automobiles that would be marketed as Cizeta Moroder . The name part Cizeta refers to the initials C and Z of Claudio Zampolli.As Giorgio Moroder left the company, followed by a name change to Cizeta SpA . In 1995, the production ended after only 17 built including eight manufactured copies. 

Claudio Zampolli went to the end of production in Italy in the US , founded in California, the new company Cizeta Automobili USA and since then manufactures new vehicles on behalf of customers. 

Cizeta V16T

The only model was the Cizeta V16T. This was a supercar designed by Marcello Gandini . The drive was provided by a sixteen-cylinder 6.0 liter engine .

Initiator of the project was the Italian engineer Claudio Zampolli. This formerly worked in the development department of Lamborghini and took over in the 1980s in Los Angeles, the agencies for Lamborghini and Ferrari . In 1985 he started working on a supercar project. One and a half years later, when the development of the car was already quite advanced, the composer and Grammy winner Giorgio Moroder took part in the project - thereby ensuring its realization. The aim of the two was to set up an incomparable supercar, which should put everything in the shade so far. As a designer wasMarcello Gandini , who had already designed the Lamborghini Countach and at about the same time worked on the design of the successor model, the Lamborghini Diablo . In this regard, there were some obvious similarities between the Diablo and the Cizeta Moroder. There are rumors that Gandinis Cizeta draft should actually be for the Diablo and the then Lamborghini owners Chrysler felt the design as too brutal.

The roadworthy prototype was presented after a development period of three years at the 1988 Geneva Motor Show. Even before the Cizeta Moroder started mass production, Giorgio Moroder left the company and left Claudio Campolli sole lead. The only model still made under the name Cizeta Moroder V16T was a prototype and remained in the possession of Moroder when he left the company in 1990. This pre-series model excelled in various tests and driving reports, especially by its sheer power of 399 kW (542 hp), which led the trade press to consider the V16T as the super sports car, which was superior to the entire competition this time.

But the actual production start was extremely difficult, the targeted date proved untenable. Due to the delay caused by a renewed revision of the optics, the sponsors jumped off and had to be replaced by new donors. The previously planned target of 40 units per year was last corrected to 10 models, which should leave the plant in Modena annually. But even this number turned out to be utopian in retrospect. 

Cizeta is derived from the Italian initials of Claudio Zampolli: C = ci , Z = zeta ; so CiZeta . V16T points to the 16 V-shaped cylinders. The T stands for "trasversale", which means that the engine is transversely mounted.

The demand for the approximately 300,000 US dollars  Between 1991 and the company's bankruptcy in 1995, including the prototype, only eight vehicles were built, two of which belonged to Hassanal Bolkiah , the sultan of Brunei . One of these two V16T is now in the Marconi Automotive Museum in Tustin , California . The plan was to finish a maximum of one vehicle per week, so if necessary 52 pieces per year.

After the bankruptcy of the company Zampolli moved in the 1990s to the US , where he waits exotic cars and on request also builds the Cizeta V16T. So far, three more Cizeta V16T were completed: two coupes (the first in 1999), and the first and still the only Cizeta V16T Spyder (yellow, 2003). The three new vehicles have a slightly different front and side air intake design than previous models and the Moroder prototype. According to unconfirmed data, two incomplete vehicles were stored in containers at the end of the 1990s. Where exactly these are, is currently unknown.

The list price (excluding taxes and delivery) is $ 649,000 or $ 849,000 for the V16T Spyder TTJ, with a down payment of $ 100,000 payable on signing.

Engine 

The Cizeta V16T has some technical features. The super sports car nominally offered the best conditions to surpass the fastest models of Ferrari and Co. The body was extremely wide, made of light metal and excitingly styled. The heart of this car, however, was the engine. Its 16-cylinder 6.0-liter engine was the only one of its kind for a long time until the Bugatti Veyron appeared, and is also installed across the car with the power tap in the middle of the engine. This construction also explains the enormous width of the Cizeta Moroder. There was such a drive recently in the American luxury cars Cadillac V16 , the times of the Great DepressionThis would rather hurt their sale, but could enormously increase the prestige of the Cadillac brand for years. For years V12 engines were the absolute engine for sports cars, Cizeta broke this rule with a V16, which made six liters of displacement up to 399 kW (542 hp) and whose performance was sufficient to accelerate the car to 325 km / h top speed ,

The engine's designer, Oliviero Pedrazzi, had been employed by Lamborghini just like Zampolli in previous years . So he engineered the engine based on the 90 ° -V eight-cylinder engine from the Lamborghini Urraco P300 . However, not just two Lamborghini V8 were welded together, because to ensure the performance decrease in the middle of the two eight-cylinder, some technical effort was needed. In addition, the machine was tilted 15 degrees forward to allow for a lower center of gravity. Two large radiators dissipate the heat, a 120-liter tank provides the engine with fuel .

The engine is followed by a synchronized ZF five-speed gearbox. It is also interesting that early vehicles have a Bosch K-Jetronic injection system, while later a system was installed, which supplied an external company from Bologna with former employees of Weber Marelli .

In addition to the steel roof, the entire outer skin of the V16T is made of aluminum . The Cizeta tires at the front with 245 mm and the rear with 335 mm wide Pirelli -P Zero on two-piece 17-inch OZ rims. The brake discs, like the rest of Brembo's brake system , are 12 inches in diameter. An anti-lock system is just as ineligible as ESP or ASR . The simple cockpit is equipped with audio and air conditioning, leather trim is also standard. However, there are no more comprehensive comfort features.

The brand Cizeta or Cizeta-Moroder and the V16T fell into relative oblivion for many years. However, the design of the car was used as a basis for various vehicles in computer games.In 1990, the Cizeta appeared in the computer game Super Cars released for the Amiga 500 - but under the name "Retron Parsec Turbo". Other appearances had the car in 2005 in the computer game Gran Turismo 4 and 2010 in Gran Turismo 5 , as well as in Gran Turismo 6 , where the player can drive this car.