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May 24, 2024 — The hypercar arena, known for pushing the boundaries of speed and luxury, is witnessing a fundamental challenge to one of its most settled conventions: how a driver sits. Emerging from the Netherlands, a new venture named Sanrivatti, founded by ex-Donkervoort engineer Santiago Sánchez Rivero, is proposing a radical departure with its "Apex Position" concept. This design abandons the traditional upright seat entirely, instead placing the driver in a central, head-forward, prone posture directly inspired by the tuck of a MotoGP rider on a superbike.
This is not merely an aesthetic gimmick but a philosophical shift in the human-machine interface. Rivero argues that decades of automotive evolution have inadvertently insulated the driver from the raw experience of driving. Layers of seat padding, complex electronic assists, and the inherited architecture of the cabin create a barrier. The Apex Position seeks to dismantle that barrier by physically integrating the driver into the vehicle's core. Lying face-down, with legs stretched back and likely straddling a central tunnel, the driver's body becomes an active component of the chassis, using balance and weight shift to intuitively influence dynamics.
The ergonomic parallels to motorcycling are intentional and profound. On a racetrack, a rider's ability to hang off the bike, shifting their torso and weight, is critical for managing high cornering forces. Sanrivatti's concept transposes this principle onto four wheels. Proponents suggest this could offer a more visceral and connected driving feedback loop, where the driver feels lateral G-forces and chassis movements through their entire skeletal structure rather than just the seat of their pants—the traditional "butt dyno."
However, translating this vision from a stunning render to a road-legal reality presents a formidable list of engineering and regulatory hurdles. Foremost among these is safety. Positioning the driver's head so close to the windshield and front impact structure demands a complete rethinking of crash protection systems, including airbag deployment and crumple zone management. Regulatory bodies like the NHTSA have no existing framework for certifying a vehicle with such a seating layout, making homologation a significant, if not prohibitive, challenge.
Practicality questions also loom large. Entry and egress from such a cockpit would be a deliberate, likely awkward, process far removed from sliding into a conventional car. Visibility, particularly to the rear, could be severely compromised. Furthermore, the learning curve for drivers to adapt their instincts—relying on torso feel over seat-of-the-pants feedback—should not be underestimated. While digital concepts like the Chevrolet Chaparral 2X and McLaren Ultimate Vision Gran Turismo have explored prone positions, they remain confined to the virtual world, free from these real-world constraints.
Despite the apparent obstacles, Sanrivatti is assembling a leadership team with serious credibility to tackle them. The company has enlisted figures like Paul Arkesden, former Vice President of Engineering at Singer Vehicle Design and the former Program Leader for the iconic McLaren P1 hypercar. His experience in bringing low-volume, exceptionally high-performance vehicles to life is invaluable. Similarly, Geoff Dowding, with former director-level roles at Bentley and Lotus, brings expertise in luxury craftsmanship and agile vehicle development.
Exclusive Perspective: The Historical Context of Prone Positioning While Sanrivatti's application feels novel, the idea of a prone driver in a wheeled vehicle has historical precedents often overlooked. In the early 20th century, some land speed record cars and streamlined prototypes featured recumbent or prone drivers to minimize frontal area and drag. More recently, in the 1990s, German tuning house Koenig Specials experimented with a "Nazca" concept car (later evolved by BMW) that offered a slightly reclined, fighter-jet-like seating position, though not fully prone. Sanrivatti's approach is arguably the most extreme iteration, directly marrying this drag-reducing benefit with an active dynamic control philosophy borrowed from two wheels. This context suggests the idea is a persistent, if niche, thread in automotive exploration, now resurfacing with advancements in materials and safety technology.
The path forward for Sanrivatti remains steep. Critical details such as the powertrain—whether it will be a thunderous hybrid V8 or a fully electric setup—chassis material, target performance figures, and of course, price, are still under wraps. The company's success will hinge not just on solving the mechanical puzzle, but on convincing a select group of ultra-wealthy enthusiasts that this unprecedented driving experience is worth the inevitable compromises in convenience and the leap of faith into a new regulatory frontier.
Ultimately, the Apex Position concept serves as a powerful provocation. It forces a conversation about what it means to truly "connect" with a high-performance machine in an era increasingly dominated by automation and digital isolation. Whether it becomes a rare, bespoke masterpiece or a fascinating footnote in automotive history depends on Sanrivatti's ability to turn its radical motorcycle twist into a coherent, safe, and thrilling reality.
