I recently had the opportunity of spending some quality time with the new Vanderhall Motor Works Venice roadster. I was quite intrigued mainly due to the fact that it had classy lines that were far more attractive than your typical 3 wheel roadster. As luck would have it the company was en route back to their Utah headquarters and were passing through Denver. Daniel Boyer of Vanderhall was gracious enough to hand me the keys and let me put this beauty through its paces.
At first glance, most ask what is it? It looks part hot rod, part sports car, part motorcycle. I guess that is the beauty of this machine. It’s not a car, yet it drives like one. One aspect I always look for the older I get, is attention to detail. I was once only based on what was under the hood, but now the little things such as the button layout in the cockpit, how body lines flow, etc matter more. This roadster hit the stimulation buttons on all those points for me.
I fell in love with this machine, and I’m not event talking about the driving aspect. Just how it looks, the vibe it gives off. If it was a drink it would be three parts classy, two parts hot rod.
This is something you can drive to work for that business meeting, take your wife out for a classy dinner that night, and head to Sturgis the following week with your bandito bandanna on. This machine doesn’t have a specific crowd or place, it fits in where and when it wants to.
At first glance, most ask what is it? It looks part hot rod, part sports car, part motorcycle. I guess that is the beauty of this machine. It’s not a car, yet it drives like one. One aspect I always look for the older I get, is attention to detail. I was once only based on what was under the hood, but now the little things such as the button layout in the cockpit, how body lines flow, etc matter more. This roadster hit the stimulation buttons on all those points for me.
I fell in love with this machine, and I’m not event talking about the driving aspect. Just how it looks, the vibe it gives off. If it was a drink it would be three parts classy, two parts hot rod.
This is something you can drive to work for that business meeting, take your wife out for a classy dinner that night, and head to Sturgis the following week with your bandito bandanna on. This machine doesn’t have a specific crowd or place, it fits in where and when it wants to.
Forget my feelings on how it looks, lets talk about how it drives, that’s what we're here for right? Well if I was to say in five words what the Vanderhall is like to drive, “hello turbo, goodbye drivers license”. Simply put, the car is a rocket, sitting in at 1475lbs with 200hp turbo charged GM 4 cylinder, the power to weight ratio is fantastic. Lighter vehicles always appeal more to me, and when you combine forced induction with a lightweight chassis, its a recipe for perfection. One would ask what is the handling characteristics of a three wheel vehicle. Usually I would say sh*tty, for many reasons, weight transfer, power transfer. All around handling is rarely the goal of a three wheeled machine. However, Vanderhall has successfully destroyed my opinion on three wheel handling characteristics. This thing handles like a go kart on steroids, it was an absolute blast and I had full confidence in its corning abilities. I would say the suspension could be a tad softer for those in the mindset of touring, but i'm not one of those types. The closest thing I would compare this too, is a open cockpit version of a Lotus Elise with more ponies on the pedal. Driving this car at high speed was addictive, I constantly found myself under boost, and the wonderful thing was there’s no turbo lag! The power is immediate and pulls through the entire RPM band.
Aeesthetically speaking this car is a perfect fit for both short people and tall people, the steering wheel height, pedal spacing, the seat adjustment, was all suited to pretty much anyone. I mean your buddy Tom who’s 7 feet tall probably has a guarantee of getting more bugs in his hair than my 5’9” oddball self, but are you really buying a machine like this to keep that comb over in check?
Now obviously people ask, what didn’t you like about the Vanderhall Venice? Of course there are some details points that I think could be changed or improved. Cup holders? Yeah cupholders would be pretty awesome. I’m pretty sure they have an option for that, the one I drove didn’t, and my coffee kept my crotch too warm. Obviously this is a fair weather car, at a certain speed the rain will go past you with little effect on your moisture absorption, but you will get wet if you're caught in a storm. The brakes faded faster than I expected, then again I was doing 100mph and heating them up faster than most would. To be honest, there really isn’t anything negative about this machine. I absolutely fell in love with it, everything. How it looked, how people reacted to it, and how it drove. In my opinion it hit the kudos button on all those points. I admire a machine that everyone respects, and frankly that's quite hard of a task to complete. The Vanderhall Venice however got respect from every individual it had contact with, and that really made me appreciate the design of this beauty. My final verdict on this badboy? Hell yes, beyond approved in my opinion. Frankly I didn’t want to give it back to Daniel, but telling by the oddly high number of missed calls from him, and the time frame I had exhausted, I had no choice.
Well done Vanderhall,
you have yourself a hell of a machine..
Here's a wonderful short film we shot with the Vanderhall that gives you a feeling what its like in the driver seat, A Motion Portrait by Tage Plantell of silverhalidepictures.com
Michael J. Mikelson - Executive Producer
Cam Blazek Production Assistant
Now obviously people ask, what didn’t you like about the Vanderhall Venice? Of course there are some details points that I think could be changed or improved. Cup holders? Yeah cupholders would be pretty awesome. I’m pretty sure they have an option for that, the one I drove didn’t, and my coffee kept my crotch too warm. Obviously this is a fair weather car, at a certain speed the rain will go past you with little effect on your moisture absorption, but you will get wet if you're caught in a storm. The brakes faded faster than I expected, then again I was doing 100mph and heating them up faster than most would. To be honest, there really isn’t anything negative about this machine. I absolutely fell in love with it, everything. How it looked, how people reacted to it, and how it drove. In my opinion it hit the kudos button on all those points. I admire a machine that everyone respects, and frankly that's quite hard of a task to complete. The Vanderhall Venice however got respect from every individual it had contact with, and that really made me appreciate the design of this beauty. My final verdict on this badboy? Hell yes, beyond approved in my opinion. Frankly I didn’t want to give it back to Daniel, but telling by the oddly high number of missed calls from him, and the time frame I had exhausted, I had no choice.
Well done Vanderhall,
you have yourself a hell of a machine..
Here's a wonderful short film we shot with the Vanderhall that gives you a feeling what its like in the driver seat, A Motion Portrait by Tage Plantell of silverhalidepictures.com
Michael J. Mikelson - Executive Producer
Cam Blazek Production Assistant
tags: breed of speed , vanderhall motorworks , vanderhall venice , nathan finneman , 3 wheel roadster , open wheel vanderhall , cool , motorcycle
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