2018 Bell & Ross BELLYTANKER Inspired By Bonneville vMax Racers

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Achieving top speeds with piston engines is almost all about aero.  Yes, thrust is key to get you above 100-mph.  And stability is critical for being able to comfortably reach 150-mph over the flat, but actually pretty choppy, salt flats of Bonneville.  Anything over 200-mph takes a seriously slippery shape.  The drag forces rise to exponentially with each extra MPH at that point.  You really need to be in as slippery a shape as possible.

During the post-war maverick days of the late 1940s and 1950s, the engineers involved had to find the most sleek, ultra teardrop shape imaginable.

Military surplus items were the right lightweight titanium and aluminum alloys.  Fuel tanks mounted below aircraft for extra range were prime contenders for the lowest drag in an enclosed shape.  Some bombs matched this shape and size profile too.  Both were in ready supply in peacetime.

This is the world the new Bell & Ross special watch collection lives in.  Three styles of earth-tone round watch faces meet a variety of band materials.  The overwhelming look and aesthetic of the Bellytankers all draw from the same speed-racer concept vehicle.

The car is perhaps even more dashing than the timepieces.   Its wide-set open-wheel layout is dreamy.   The polished aluminum bodywork with tinted fighter-jet canopy are retro-futuristic in the best way.  The cartoon mascot BORN TO RUN is just the final designer touch on a miraculous capsule collection.

2018 Bell & Ross BELLYTANKER