In the second half of the 1950s, Alfa Romeo and Abarth collaborated to create a sports car with a limited displacement. The project, entrusted to Mario Colucci, Milanese engineer and Alfa Romeo employee, took shape in 1958 with the production of an Alfa Romeo derived from Abarth 1000, a compact coupe – powered by an engine made from the four-cylinder Giulietta Sprint Veloce, but reduced in displacement – and characterized by the trellis frame of tubes. The car, “dressed” in a body made by Bertone to a design by Franco Scaglione, remains a unique example. At the end of this collaboration, Colucci was hired as Technical Director by Carlo Abarth and, in 1966, he was entrusted with the ambitious project of the Abarth 1000 SP: the car’s name indicates the displacement of the engine – derived from that of the Fiat 600 – and the Sport Prototype category, the type of cars with covered wheels made only to participate in competitions and built in small series. Conceived to excel in both short uphill races and endurance races, the 1000 SP is characterized by simple, low and sleek lines. Light and powerful, it won an important series of international victories – first of all the one obtained in its class at the 500 km of the Nýrburgring, in September 1966 – which contributed to consolidating the sporting prestige of the Abarth brand. Engineer Colucci thus brought to completion his concept of tubular chassis racing car, begun a few years earlier with the Alfa Romeo Abarth 1000. Rightly considered a milestone in the racing history of Abarth, for style and performance. and victories, the 1000 SP continues to inspire the designers of the Fiat and Abarth Style Center who envision a contemporary reinterpretation of the iconic 1960s Sport Prototype: a mid-size sports car with an attractive silhouette and essential lines. This idea of a car, light and with an excellent weight / power ratio, becomes the basis of a project carried out in 2021, in full coherence with the forerunner: points and lines of the original car’s design are respected to ensure continuity between the sports car of the sixties and the concept car of the new millennium. In the Abarth 1000 SP three fundamental design principles are respected already in the car of the sixties. First of all the lightness, in the shapes, in the volumes and obviously also in the weight. The second principle is that of aerodynamics: modern design technologies have made it possible to combine the iconic lines of the 1000 SP with an aerodynamic coefficient at the height of a modern-day sports car. Finally, ergonomics, aimed at improving the user experience, ensuring the optimization of vehicle control and agile handling. The lines and aesthetic elements that characterized its ancestor echo in the Abarth 1000 SP. The sinuous car body, with the soft surfaces of the mudguards that highlight the position of the wheels, takes up the pattern of the mid-engined spider. The cockpit glazing is characterized by shaped side deflectors, with the lowered profile towards the roll-bar, the latter strictly “visible” to further underline that we are in front of an “uncompromising” spider. The geometries of the rear of the Abarth 1000 SP underline a perfect harmony between the optical groups and the exhausts. The livery is strictly red and the characteristic air intakes appear on the whole car body, from the front hood to the cooling slots on the rear one. The headlights also respect the minimalist scheme of the historic 1000 SP, with point-shaped headlights on the nose and a single pair of round headlights to emphasize the car’s considerable width from the rear. The Abarth 1000 SP therefore maintains an identity very similar to the predecessor. This is thanks to the careful updating of the historic Abarth 1000 SP which left no room for compromise. Under the “skin”, on the other hand, the tubular frame of the historic Sport Prototype gives way to a hybrid frame, with the central cell in carbon fiber and the front in aluminum. The Abarth 1000 SP has a powerful 1742 cc supercharged 4-cylinder aluminum central engine, capable of delivering up to 240 HP of power. The refined mechanics of the concept boasts suspension triangles superimposed on the front, while the rear features suspensions with an evolved Macpherson scheme. Exactly 55 years after the debut of its ancestor, the Abarth 1000 SP, currently produced in a single model, is ready to be shown again and, in the autumn, it will take part in important events dedicated to historic cars. (ITALPRESS). tvi / com 14-May-21 16:54
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