Against All Odds, This Fiat Is Ridiculously Fast

Europeans take time attack to another level, pushing their tiny hot hatches well beyond the scope of any manufacturer’s plans. Starting with the weirdly-shaped Fiat 500 Abarth and its warm 1.4-liter turbocharged engine, racer Cesare Bassanini gave this diminutive machine an injection of gamma radiation and turned it into the incredible Hulk. Where it once had a svelte and narrow Bruce Banner body, it now hulks out with super wide fenders and bigger wings than a Cessna. The engine has been torn apart and re-built from the ground up to handle mega boost, pushing the horsepower output up from the stock car’s 140-ish to a mind-melting namesake 500 ponies to the front wheels. Hang on, you’re going for a wild ride. 

Earlier this year the little Fiat made its Time Attack Italia debut, so some of the kinks are still being worked out. Riding around the famed Monza track in what might be the hottest of hatches, Bassanini looks mega fast, but is still getting up to speed with his relatively fresh build. The car just barely missed out on a podium place in the “Racing Series” class to a Lamborghini Huracàn ST2, and a pair of Japanese rally-style monsters in the form of a built Mitsubishi Evo X and a Subaru WRX STI. With the Fiat taking the fastest FWD honors, I’d call that a win if I were Cesare. 

Part of the way around the Monza circuit this little Fiat takes a play out of Stellantis stablemate Jeep’s book and rips the door off for an al fresco driving experience. Could you imagine? You’re just out for a weekend drive around one of the most legendary racing tracks in the world and your car decides it needs to be a little bit lighter and significantly less aerodynamically efficient. One second its there, and the next it’s just *shooomp* gone. 

In stock trim the Fiat 500 is nearly as tall as it is wide, making for some interesting handling and difficult suspension setup. Thanks to what looks like at least 16 inches of added track width that doesn’t seem to be a problem for this car anymore. I always love when a car is transformed from a loveable daily driver into a manic all-out racing machine, don’t you?