<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"  If you have ever been to the northeast region of Spain and found some of the residents there to be a little, um, peculiar, there&amp;#039;s a reasonable explanation for that. The Spanish call it tocat per la Tramontana, which translates to &amp;quot;touched by the Tramontana.&amp;quot; The Tramontana is a strong wind that blows from northeast Spain across the Ampurdan region of Girano in Catalonia near the Spanish-French border. The wind is said to be so forceful that it affects the psyche of those who live in its path, causing them to go a little crazy. Race-car driver Oriol Servia, who&amp;#039;s from Figueras, a few miles way from Girano, confirms the mysterious effects of the Tramontana.   &amp;quot;Yes, I definitely have a little crazy side, and it&amp;#039;s no doubt caused by the wind. It&amp;#039;s not always a bad thing, and I wouldn&amp;#039;t be offended if someone accused me of being crazy because I was touched by the Tramontana. It separates you from the others, sometimes in a good way,&amp;quot; he explained.   One of the most famous victims of the Tramontana is artist Salvador Dali, who comes from the same town as Servia. (Servia pays tribute to the most famous son of Figueras with an image of the late artist on his racing helmet.) Those familiar with Dali&amp;#039;s artwork can see the effects of the Tramontana, especially in his most famous piece, &amp;quot;The Persistence of Memory.&amp;quot; Another notable Catalonian from that region is Ferran Adri\u00E1, regarded by many as the best chef in the world. Judging by his wild-yet-wonderful culinary creations such as Liquid Olive and Turtle Dove with Blackberry Caviar, it&amp;#039;s obvious that the wind got to him too.   In 2005, a new car company was established in Girona, Spain, right in the path of the wind, called a.d. Tramontana. And, as you would expect, its main product was something that had many car enthusiasts scratching their heads. It&amp;#039;s called the R.   When you first look at the Tramontana R, it resembles an insect, with small round headlights (the eyes), protruding side mirrors (antennas) and black carbon-fiber finish. Take a closer look and it starts to resemble a surreal amalgamation of a formula race car and a fighter jet. The car&amp;#039;s wheels and suspension arms are exposed, while the cockpit has a jet-fighter-style canopy. The car is quite large, measuring about 193 in. from bumper to bumper and is powered by a 5.5-liter twin-turbo V-12 that sends 720 bhp to the rear wheels. The price tag on this creation: $800,000, although base models are available for about $550,000.   Upon hearing the car&amp;#039;s price tag, I made a mental note to not ever visit the Catalan area. The corporate advisor of a.d. Tramontana, Santi Garcia, offered me a drive; an offer that I didn&amp;#039;t readily jump at, but after he said no other American had driven the R yet, I was ready to go. My exclusive evaluation can be found at .   The car\u2014a tandem 2-seater\u2014is indeed fast and much smoother than I expected, with an excellent blend of sport and civility. You could cruise the boulevard in this thing or attack a winding road with force; it is that well balanced.   Garcia explained: &amp;quot;The Tramontana R is not meant for the racetrack, although it would hold its own and be a lot of fun there. We wanted to make this a true road car, a vehicle someone can drive every day. The reason we started this company was to bring back the spirit of past Spanish coachbuilders such as Hispano-Suiza and Pegaso.&amp;quot;   According to Garcia, the car just attained street-legal status in Europe and plans are underway to make it legal on U.S. roads too. So if you&amp;#039;re interested in knowing more about this odd-looking car, visit Tramontana&amp;#039;s website at www.adtramontana.com. And if anyone accuses you of being crazy for even being interested in this wild automotive creation, just blame it on the wind. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a15721/touched-by-the-tramontana/>