Wednesday 30th December 2009

Driven: Fiat 500 racer

RacingPete gives the new Trofeo Abarth 500 one-make racer the beans around Brands Hatch

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The little Fiat 500 is a cute town car that is driven to Waitrose and for lunchtime appointments in city and countryside. Its affordability and cute styling has found it many friends. But it also has a sporty undertone, an aggressive side that just wants to get out there and go fast. So Fiat gives us the Abarth 500 hot hatch.

And since the Daddy of grabbing a Fiat and making it fast are the in-house experts at Abarth, getting them to take their knowledge, build 20-ish similar cars and make them race against each other seems like a recipe for success. Across Europe it already has been and they have now launched a one-make series for the UK - The Trofeo Abarth 500 GB.

At a very cold, wet and windy Race Car Live, held for the second year at Brands Hatch, I managed to get hold of one of the latest batch of race cars from Abarth.

For a small car you would expect the insides to be quite cramped and, though the seat is quite raised and your head feels close to the roll cage, there's legroom and width in there to comfortably take a much larger frame than mine. There is even an adjustable steering column, which is most useful for moving the steering wheel so you can actually see the rev-counter.

Each car comes off the assembly line after the shell has been finished, then Abarth breathes its magic on them by bringing in the Italian scaffolding company for the roll cage and adding custom suspension, gearbox, engine and other components all loosely based on the road-going 500 Abarth. Except with 190bhp instead of 133bhp.

As I accelerate out of the pit straight it's time to see what Abarth has done to the 500. Instantly you realise this isn't the same as the shopping version; the suspension is much sharper and firmer and powering through paddock hill bend you can feel the front diff is working well to handle the amazing amount of torque they have produced from the engine - 221lb/ft. Over the next few corners of the Indy circuit I discover that the steering is very light despite it being obvious that the wheels turning in properly. Clearly this car's steering feedback is something that you need to get dialled into.

For a light car - 970kg - you would expect it to be very nimble and it certainly is a lively thing. Under braking you get a good feel through the pedal, which is sometimes lost on race cars, but at the same time you have a rear end that fancies overtaking you more than helping turn-in. This is obviously something that can be dialled out of the car, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a few swapped ends in the first couple of races.

The gearbox is almost standard, with an H-pattern shift and a pretty basic clutch. In a race car it feels strange to have such a woolly set-up for gear changes. In the heat of battle it might be too easy to snag the wrong gear and buzz the little 1.4-litre engine. Up through the gears the turbo whines pleasingly and, as you come off the power, the blow-off valve breathes heavily in a satisfying way. The power band is quite short, with the turbo coming on strong from 3200rpm but topping off approaching 6000rpm. With the low seat and hidden rev counter, this does mean the first few gear changes come at a lower engine speed than you would think and thus the rev limiter can cut in unexpectedly.

It is clear as I pilot the Trofeo Abarth 500 round the track that this is a quick and capable machine and one of the fastest things in the session against other hot hatch metal. Also, with the amount of interest at the show when the cars are parked up, it clearly is a car that is popular among the British public. It is a championship that could give the more established one-make series of Clio and Mini a serious run for their money.

[zakelwe]

That does look like fun, though I would say 970kg for a stripped out city car ( a small one at that!) is not light.

Andy

[Pothole]

I'm not sure I understand this statement:

"the first few gear changes come at a lower engine speed than you would think and thus the rev limiter can cut in unexpectedly."

[BadgerLad]

Short gear ratio I would guess.

190bhp and 221lb is a fair amount for that engine, seems odd then they didn't do much with the gearbox to tighten it all up.

[LuS1fer]

Note to Max Power stylists - THIS is how you modify a car so it doesn't look like a tart's armpit.

[Buzzkill]

LuS1fer said:

Note to Max Power stylists - THIS is how you modify a car so it doesn't look like a tart's armpit.

...excluding the stickers and 'abarth' lettering on the mesh grill ofc.

[150bhp]

LuS1fer said:

Note to Max Power stylists - THIS is how you modify a car so it doesn't look like a tart's armpit.

the rear spoiler looks a bit Max Power.

[Luke.]

Buzzkill said:

LuS1fer said:

Note to Max Power stylists - THIS is how you modify a car so it doesn't look like a tart's armpit.

...excluding the stickers and 'abarth' lettering on the mesh grill ofc.

The grill's the best bit.

[LuS1fer]

Everything is functional.

In the early 70's, we had "Custom Car" and "Car and Car Conversions" and this would very much be the latter, race stickers and all.

[kambites]

LuS1fer said:

Note to Max Power stylists - THIS is how you modify a car so it doesn't look like a tart's armpit.

If someone had put that spoiler on the back of a FWD hatchback to use on the road, everyone would be laughing at it...

[Varsity]

Looks like fun, any one make series makes for good viewing.

[LuS1fer]

kambites said:

LuS1fer said:

Note to Max Power stylists - THIS is how you modify a car so it doesn't look like a tart's armpit.

If someone had put that spoiler on the back of a FWD hatchback to use on the road, everyone would be laughing at it...

Why? They are to manage downforce and stability at speed. I'm not sure why which end is driven has any bearing on high speed stability. They've been sticking vestigial spoilers on hatches since the 80s. It is true to say that such a spoiler really only has a use on the track though at constant high speeds, not in the car park at MacDonalds on a 1.0.

[kambites]

LuS1fer said:

kambites said:

LuS1fer said:

Note to Max Power stylists - THIS is how you modify a car so it doesn't look like a tart's armpit.

If someone had put that spoiler on the back of a FWD hatchback to use on the road, everyone would be laughing at it...

Why? They are to manage downforce and stability at speed. I'm not sure why which end is driven has any bearing on high speed stability. They've been sticking vestigial spoilers on hatches since the 80s. It is true to say that such a spoiler really only has a use on the track though at constant high speeds, not in the car park at MacDonalds on a 1.0.

I didn't say it wasn't functional. I said people would laugh at it.

It does look completely out of place on the car, but then the 500 was never exactly a shape that was going to be well suited to being converted for racing. I assume there's a reason that modern cars don't tend to be this shape anymore, and that's that it's aerodynamically rubbish.

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 30th December 10:48

[jimjim150]

Seen these down at Brands, found the noise these cars make quite annoying after a while. Plenty of battling though, not bad to watch.

[R66STU]

not interested.. as much as i try to like the new 500 it just isnt my cup of tea. on the other hand this one looks much better, and with a 1300 turbo charged hyabussa engine running at approx 350bhp this is the 500 for me... and it must weigh about 600-700kg !?

[R66STU]

Ha.. and this one is cool..

[Belfast Boy]

I would imagine these are as annoying as Clios' to watch?

[King Fisher]

It doesn't look wonderful, but 190bhp and a good dose of torque is surely going to be fun.

This is the way to go - low mass, high power to weight ratio and very nimble so it goes round corners AND it's cheap enough to sell to occasional track day fans. And it doesn't use an oil well a day either. The manufacturers of 2 tonne, 600bhp, 12mpg barges should take note.

[ossh]

221lb/ft. thats a lot from a little engine , looks good too

[minicab]

Had a good look round one of these out in Italy, and whilst they look and go fantastically out on the track, I was a little concerned by the roll cage structure that had been fitted.

Having seen some of the shunts the MINIs take in the MINI Challenge, I would have liked to see more bracing around the footwell area in particular....

[Craiglamuffin]

Belfast Boy said:

I would imagine these are as annoying as Clios' to watch?

Do you really find Clio races annoying?