The lightweight Abarth 1000 SP spider is a tribute to the 1966 race car of the same name, and the designers have tried to recreate its aesthetics as accurately as possible in a modern body based on a carbon fiber monocoque.
Last December, Alfa Romeo announced a farewell batch of the 4C Spider for the American market. Formally, production has ended, but the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider is still featured on the brand’s US consumer site. Dealers can’t sell off leftovers? It’s okay, because the manufacturer himself has submitted a great idea for the conversion – the new Abarth 1000 SP.
The original Abarth 1000 SP is the brainchild of Italian engineer Mario Colucci, who by 1966 already had a wealth of experience in developing lightweight subcompact sports cars for Alfa Romeo and Abarth. The 1000 SP racing spider is based on a spatial tubular frame, and the engine is borrowed from the Fiat 600. As the name implies, the engine was bored to the “liter”, from which, thanks to a new twin-shaft block head and two Weber carburetors, it was possible to remove 105 hp. at 8000 rpm. The letters SP stand for Sport Prototipo, that is, a car designed for racing. Nevertheless, according to the homologation rules, Abarth made 50 copies for public roads.
The modified Fiat engine was docked with a 5-speed “mechanics”, which transfers all the power to the rear wheels. Thanks to its modest weight (480 kg) and good aerodynamics, the Abarth 1000 SP could accelerate to 220 km / h. The car has had a brilliant racing career – for example, it came first in its class in the 1966 Nürburgring 500 km endurance race.
In 2009, Abarth planned to develop a light sports car based on the Abarth 1000 SP that could compete with the Lotus Elise, but Fiat did not approve of the project. The unofficial version says that in fact the project was given the green light, but under the Alfa Romeo brand – this is how the serial 4C appeared in 2013. And now, according to this version, historical justice has been restored, and the Alfa Romeo 4C has turned into an Abarth 1000 SP – alas, in a single copy made for the 55th anniversary of the historical prototype.
As you can see from the photos, the new Abarth 1000 SP with “optics”, ventilation slots, curly side windows and an arc of safety behind the seats diligently repeats the classic version of the model, but the “ears” (mirrors) of the Alpha stick out from the doors, and the general proportions of the body are like 4C Spider.
The technical stuffing, of course, is also from Alpha: behind the cockpit, a 1.75-liter gasoline turbo four (240 hp, 350 Nm) is docked with a 6-speed automatic transmission of the DCT type (with two clutches) and rotates the rear wheels … That is, the layout is basically the same as that of the historical ancestor. The curb weight is about a ton.
Abarth will be using the new 1000 SP in a variety of promotions, but there is no talk of serial production – unless some third-party studio picks up the idea. The future of the Abarth brand, which today produces highly charged versions of the Fiat 500, is dim in light of global electrification, but hopefully Stellantis will come up with something.