The performance figures of the New Stratos have just been published on the official website and join last week’s technical specs. So just how fast is a custom-built supercar that weighs less than 1250kg with 375kW on tap?
Aside from quoting a power-to-weight ratio of less than 2.3kg/hp not much else is given away.
[Source: New Stratos]
Turin. Monday, November 8th, 2010. Draped in black cloth, the New Stratos stands waiting in a Pininfarina production hall for its new owner. Work on the details – painting, polishing, etc. – has been underway up until the final hour. Now, at handover time, the automobile is near perfect.
So reads the text on the Handover page of the New Stratos website. The New Stratos will be presented to international media at the Paul Ricard Circuit in just under two weeks from now. During that time the owners will be finalising the performance numbers for the car.
Since our last update some technical info has also been published. Notably, the chassis New Stratos is some 200mm shorter than the Ferrari F430 on which it is based, while the body work has been reduced by 330mm. A 40mm thick steel roll cage helps give the car its high rigidity.
It’s been around a month since we’ve seen anything new on the Lancia Stratos revival. Here are a couple of new clips showing the car being put through its paces at the Balocco test track in Italy and at the Pininfarina wind tunnel.
The man at the wheel during the Balocco testing was former F1 driver Tiago Monteiro. So, this Michael Stoschek guy, isn’t mucking about. This is shaping up to be one serious bit of kit.
We could see the final production ready version launched next month at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, too. But don’t get too excited, there’s likely to be just 25 of these Ferrari F430 powered rockets.
[Thanks to Richard for the tip]
This gorgeous 1962 Ferrari 400 Superamerica Cabriolet Pininfarina recently sold at auction for a cool €2.8 million. That’s around four million bucks in Australian money. We’re being told the result is well beyond the pre-auction estimate of AU$3.4m, even though in January we were told it could sell for AU$5m.
The sale took place at the RM Auctions ‘Sporting Classics of Monaco’ auction held last weekend In total almost AU$48m in sales were achieved. What financial crisis?
More after the jump.
Italian company Pininfarina has been forced to hand over control of its business to banks after being overcome by crippling debt. Sadly, red ink to the tune of almost €600M (AU$1.1 billion) will do that.
Pininfarina was established by Battista “Pinin” Farina in 1930 after he returned to Turin following a short stint under the tutelage of Henry Ford. The company is famous for designing some of the world’s most beautiful cars. Sure, the one-off Ferrari P4/5 pictured above may not be one of them, but it achieved a certain notoriety and was a perfect showcase of the businesses strengths.
Along with Ferrari, Pinifarina also penned designs for the likes of Alfa Romeo, Cadillac, Ford, Jaguar, Maserati, MG, Peugeot, Volvo, Lancia and more.
In addition to designing cars, Pininfarina also built cars under contract to leading manufacturers, including Ford (StreetKa, Focus cabriolet) and Alfa Romeo (Spider). It was this aspect of the business that floundered as sales fell sharply in the spiralling global financial crisis.
2008 was something of an annus horribilis for Pininfarina which also suffered the shock death of then CEO Andrea Pininfarina in traffic accident last August.
Source: TimesOnline and autoblog
Andrea Pininfarina, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pininfarina S.p.A. was killed yesterday in a motor accident after he was knocked off his Vespa on his way to work. Andrea was the grandson of Pininfarina’s founder Battista. He leaves behind a wife and three children. He turned 51 in June.
The Pininfarina auto design and coachbuilder business was founded in 1930 and has been responsible for some of the world’s best looking cars, including the 2006 Ferrari 599 GTB and 1996 Ferrari Dino.
Luca di Montezemolo, Fiat and Ferrari Chairman, spoke highly of Andrea Pinifarina on hearing the shock news, “Together we shared years of work and successes with the Ferrari cars he designed. He was a man of great humanity and in this moment of deep sorrow my heart goes out to his parents, his wife, children, brothers and all his collaborators at Pininfarina.”
Source: Telegraph.co.uk & Top Gear; Image: Pininfarina S.p.A.