DANCING ON ICE
I’m not often in Switzerland, often travelling through rather than to it, but from those brief experiences, I already knew that I would love it here.
I had landed in Zurich, awaiting my mode of transport to my next destination. The vehicle? A Maserati Grecale Trofeo, a cool younger brother to the Maserati Levante, with a whole new outlook on life and tech. The Levante was Maserati’s first entry into the SUV arena and so naturally fell very close to the existing brand mantra at the time, namely elegance and driveability. The Grecale still has those tones, but through the lens of modern technology and design. It also has a squatter profile, the term crossover an oft used phrase in motoring these days but in this case a very apt description for a car that is as much daily drive as it is performance car.
I picked up the Grecale in Zurich, and my destination was St Moritz; a 2.5 hour journey through the Swiss Alps to my snow garnished location, the legendary Kempinski Hotel. The sun setting fast I made haste—or as much haste as the Swiss speed cameras would allow—wanting to take in as much of my surrounding in the light as I could, the route generously passing between a symphony of lakes and mountains. Making light-work of the journey the Grecale Trofeo proffered instant torque, adding spice to any open straight, while the agile handling was perfect for the windy mountain ascent as I closed in on my destination.
The sun was past set at this point, as the snow-capped mountains now became a sporadically lit sight in my headlight beams, as they filtered through snowflakes that had now begun to fall more steadily. One thing I really love about Maserati’s is that regardless of vehicle, they all transition from cruise to race mode effortlessly, with a balance between comfort and performance and a refusal to compromise on aesthetics. The Grecale Trofeo was a hit on all three counts.
The main spectacle was set to start the following day, as my attention now moved to the famous frozen lake in St Moritz for the equally celebrated Concorso D’Eleganza, or The Ice St Moritz as it’s known in this new location. I say new as The Ice has only been a regular event on the calendar since 2019, and despite interruptions during the pandemic, has still seen its popularity rise year-on-year. I can certainly see why.
Picture the famous rosso red of vintage Ferraris, retro-futuristic angles of the Bertone Lancia’s coupled with the pure, surreal backdrop of the Swiss mountains. The classics were of course stunning—on the eye, in sound and smell—but a personal highlight for me was the all-new Maserati GranTurismo. This was the first time I’d seen one in the flesh and what struck me was how similarly different it looked to the previous edition GT, but also just as clear was the design evolution and its new visual language.
It bore the sharpness and clean-cut lines that alluded to the future but it’s character very much embodied the past, with its on occasion soft, rounded silhouette reminiscent of yesteryear.
I didn’t have to look far for comparison; in not the too distant eye shot was a Maserati 1958 El Dorado, originally produced for the 500 Miglia event in Monza, now destined to be leaving with one of Judges prizes in this year’s Ice St Moritz.
Not content to blend in, the Fuoriserie MC20 Cielo also had its time on the ice, giving casual onlookers—and more experienced collectors—a glance at a future classic.
