Donatini Mb8
The Donatini MB8 is powered by the Mercedes-Benz M116 3.5-liter V8 engine with 200 hp, coupled to a four-speed manual gearbox. Both the propeller and the box are arranged on the rear axle. This configuration made it possible to guarantee an ideal weight distribution of 50% between the rear axle and the two front axles. The brakes are disc brakes on each axle (six discs in total). The car was conceived as a true sports car that can circulate both on closed circuits and in urban traffic. Its design allows multiple possibilities; By playing with the pressures of the front wheels you can lengthen or shorten it and with the rear wheels you can modify the camber load. The construction of the MB8 took four years, of which two were to put it on the ground, one for testing and another for bodywork. It was a completely artisanal work carried out alone by Donatini. “I did it alone in a barbecue area, with the help of my wife, Victoria Greci, to move the large pieces, because where I lived from 94 to 98 I had no neighbors.” The prototype was exhibited for the first time in 2003, in the exhibition held by “El Garage” on the Costa Salguero property. The design caught the attention of an Italian who in 2005 took to his country a folder containing all the design documentation for the MB8. “He called me from Italy once and everything was going well. In 2007, Ferrari and, in 2008, the entire Formula 1 used the fixed front cup with the same system taken at the tip of the axle and, a priori, the concept of the interconnected rear suspension, between the two wheels," says the builder. Many years of enormous effort and sacrifice passed, but finally Raúl Donatini achieved his goal of building “a concept designed by me, to verify its efficiency and make my dream of a car come true.”