Direct drive.

Colorado-based audio company Grand Prix Audio has created a new turntable inspired by and built like a Formula 1 race car.

Named after a fiendishly difficult turn at Italy’s legendary Monza circuit, the Parabolica is the brand’s latest attempt to marry racing car power and accuracy with the detail and precision required of a turntable.

Borrowing materials and manufacturing processes from the creators of supercars, the Parabolica’s chassis features a carbon fibre monocoque design to provide both extra rigidity, resonance damping and give the turntable that race car sheen.

A direct drive deck (what else?), the brushless DC motor turns a 13-pound platter and is monitored by an internal speed controller that supposedly takes up to 150,000 measurements in a single rotation to keep the platter in time. Touch sensors on the deck means that there are no buttons to be seen, with a single tap all you need to start spinning.

The Parabolica retails at $16,500, and does not include a tonearm, although the quick release arm-boards make swapping one in and out relatively simple. Find out more here. [via Rob Report]