Automotive

Dallara funnels decades of racing experience into its own, doorless street supercar

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The Dallara Stradale is a power-to-weight monster
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Dallara Stradale: top view
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Dallara Stradale: scoopy intake
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Dallara Stradale: aerodynamic modeling
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Dallara Stradale: exploded, the simplicity of the car is revealed
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Dallara Stradale: aerodynamics has been a key part of the design work here
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Dallara Stradale: an expensive hairdryer, but a pretty one
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Dallara Stradale: targa roof and a white interior
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Dallara Stradale: roofless and sans windscreen in a barchetta format
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Dallara Stradale: the barest of gullwing doors allow wet weather driveability
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Dallara Stradale: these gullwings are not for luxury or looks purposes, they're literally the tiniest things Dallara could stick on top of the chassis to keep the rain out
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Dallara Stradale: top view with the targa roof and doors isn't bad
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Dallara Stradale: curved windscreen will be a pain to replace if it chips
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Dallara Stradale: barchetta style
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Dallara Stradale: motoring purism
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Dallara Stradale: with a targa roof and doors fitted
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Dallara Stradale: just doesn't look the same with that canopy on top
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Dallara Stradale: the targa configuration, with a windscreen and T-section roof
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Dallara Stradale: add just the windscreen and call it a roadster
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Dallara Stradale: the rear wing gives this thing 820 kg of downforce at top speed
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Dallara Stradale: looking sexy side-on
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Dallara Stradale: rear view
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Dallara Stradale: headlight and intake scoop
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Dallara Stradale: rear corner
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Dallara Stradale: interior
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Dallara Stradale: full carbon chassis and an interior that errs on the comfy side of 'race car'
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Dallara Stradale: black interior
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Dallara Stradale: Dallara's first street car after decades in racing
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Dallara Stradale: will be very, very comfortable on a racetrack
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Dallara Stradale: uses a Ford EcoBoost 2.3-liter 4cylinder engine, supercharged and hotted up to a peak 400 horsepower
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Dallara Stradale: gotta love those obscene air exits behind the front wheels
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Dallara Stradale: looks its best naked
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Dallara Stradale: will tear up the racetrack
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Dallara Stradale: a limited run of 600 will be made
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The Dallara Stradale is a power-to-weight monster
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Dallara Stradale: at only 855 kg and 400 horsepower, this is a power-to-weight monster, focused on the pure joys of cornering
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Dallara Stradale: a no-frills Italian supercar focused on cornering fun
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Dallara Stradale: with specially developed Pirelli tires, a featherweight chassis and finely tuned suspension, this car can handle cornering forces up to 2 Gs
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The Dallara Stradale has no doors, no roof and no windscreen – those are optional extras, on top of a base price of US$182,000. And yet lovers of true driver's cars will likely be lining up for these things, because it's the passion project of one of the world's greatest ever chassis designers, and it'll pull a whopping 2G of lateral acceleration in the corners.

Italy's Giampaulo Dallara knows a thing or two about chassis design. When it comes to road cars, he and his company have worked on the Lamborghini Miura, Bugatti Veyron and Chiron, KTM X-Bow, and more Ferraris, Maseratis and Porsches than you could poke a gear stick at.

But Dallara is much better known in the racing world, where the company's chassis work has underpinned the handling of Formula One, Two and Three cars, as well as being the sole chassis supplier for IndyCar, Renault World Series, GP3, Super Formula and Formula E.

And now, after two years of design and development, the company has built its first road car – something simple and stripped back to the essence of pleasurable road and track driving. Meet the Stradale.

Dallara Stradale: at only 855 kg and 400 horsepower, this is a power-to-weight monster, focused on the pure joys of cornering
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We usually start with engine stats, as that's generally the heart of a car. Not really, in this case, but it's a 400-hp (298-kW), supercharged 2.3-liter four-cylinder unit that should be reliable; it's actually been developed out of a Ford EcoBoost engine. That might be odd for such an exotic machine, but then, 400 horses is arguably an outstanding amount of power for a machine centerd around driving pleasure. It's powerful, but not so powerful you can't really get a gumboot into it. This car should be exceptionally thrashable.

The transmission's a manual, but there's an optional paddle shift kit for faster shifting, with Normal and Sport modes to suit how you're driving it.

The overall weight of the Stradale is an eye-popping 855 kg (1,885 lb), or about the same as four sports motorcycles. This is thanks to "extensive use of composite materials and carbon fiber," as well as doing away with heavy luxuries like doors and windscreens. This is a car to be leapt into, Dukes of Hazzard style. Or if you're feeling classy, just step in – the seats have a helpful "step here" zone on them built for the task.

Dallara Stradale: full carbon chassis and an interior that errs on the comfy side of 'race car'
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Springs, bars and dampers in the suspension have been "defined to maximize the compromise between grip and comfort," and the setup has been extensively tested, both in simulators and on the road, by a series of the kinds of drivers you'd expect these guys would have access to.

Bosch has chipped in with an electronics package that includes ABS, with electronic brake force distribution, as well as traction control and vehicle dynamics control to keep things on the safe side of fun.

Dallara Stradale: exploded, the simplicity of the car is revealed
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Pirelli has contributed a specially-designed set of tires that focus on precision, grip and kinematic feel. And these hoops, in conjunction with the light weight and expert chassis design, allow a whopping 2G of lateral acceleration in the corners. That's not far shy of the much wider, million-dollar McLaren P1, which can hang on with up to 2.4G.

This is a wicked looking machine in its base configuration, or with a large rear wing added that gives you a mighty 820 kg (1,808 lb) of downforce at top speed.

Dallara Stradale: the barest of gullwing doors allow wet weather driveability
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If you don't mind ruining the open-top barchetta-style look, you can plonk on a curved windscreen, and there's a targa T-frame as well that accepts a pair of gull-wing doors to keep things totally enclosed. But this car looks so much better when you've got your noggin right out in the wind, picking the bugs out of your teeth like a motorcyclist as you whip it around corners.

Only 600 will be built, according to Automotive News, and 100 are already reserved at a base price of €155,000 (US$182,000). The first to roll off the shop floor has already been delivered to customer #1 – Giampaolo Dallara himself, who's been driving the thing on his home roads around the Dallara factory. That's just up the road from where he was born in Varano de Melegari, about 50 km from Italy's Motor Valley of Modena, and a fine place to find yourself if you love fast cars.

Source: Dallara

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