The legendary Abarth “Scorpion” returns 

A great project will be launched at the 77^th Geneva International Motor Show: the rebirth of one of the most prestigious brands in world motorsports. Its symbol is a scorpion, and its name is Abarth.

Abarth has always been synonymous with assertive cars, competitiveness, passion and excitement, and it now returns with a new range that will appeal to all lovers of motorsports. Abarth’s first interpretation of the Grande Punto will be on the “catwalk” at the Geneva Show, the first step in an initiative which will later involve other models.

This new adventure starts in the familiar, uniquely emotional context and exclusive setting of the Geneva Motor Show. A striking stand has been prepared, in line with the philosophy of Abarth’s rebirth, an innovative space with a fresh, contemporary, technological language and great attention to every detail. The new elements that will publicise the Abarth brand are displayed with all their strong, original personality: the revamped version of the famous Abarth racing stripe has been rendered with LED tiles, while the new logo, the scorpion and the wording are all large, three-dimensional elements in polished, satin-effect aluminium.

The Abarth values and tradition on the other hand are underlined discreetly and technologically: refined materials and precious finishing details in aluminium, carbon fibre, enamel and lacquer decorate the exhibition area, and draw attention to the true stars of the stand: the Grande Punto Abarth S2000, a car that has been type-approved for racing and is proving to be highly successful, and the Grande Punto Abarth Preview, a concept car making its world debut.

These are the two souls of the Abarth world: racing and standard production.

Visitors to the Geneva Show will also have an opportunity to discover a third field in which the brand operates; a multimedia configurator will illustrate the whole concept of the ‘Abarth Kit’, and the flexibility and wide range of combinations that the brand will offer customers in its conversion kits. Some of these solid wooden boxes, inlaid with satin-finished aluminium trims, are on display inside glass cubes, with the historic mechanical and stylistic components from the conversion kits.

And finally, by means of exclusive LED technology and plasma screens, the walls of the stand propose historical photographs and films, alternating them with a reproduction of the new Abarth racing stripe, underlining the fine link between the past and the future, as well as the energy and personality that are inherent in the Abarth brand.

 

The Grande Punto Abarth Preview

The absolute star of the stand is the Grande Punto Abarth Preview, a true jewel of assertiveness and elegance. The car will be marketed in September, to enhance the sporty, youthful positioning of the Grande Punto.

The car on show in Geneva is equipped with a 1.4 Turbo petrol engine that delivers 150 bhp at 5500 rpm, boosted to 155 bhp by the adoption of 98 RON petrol. What is more, thanks to a booster kit, a version with twice as much power as the basic version (180 bhp) will soon be available. This is a revival of a tradition from the past: for example, the Fiat 500 of 1958 delivered 13 bhp at 4000 rpm with a top speed of 85 km/h, while the Fiat 500 Abarth of the same year delivered 26 bhp at 5000 rpm and a top speed of 118 km/h.

The Grande Punto Abarth aims to revive the feats of these entertaining performance cars, offering young drivers in particular an opportunity to enter the racing world in complete safety and at an accessible price.

 The Grande Punto Abarth S2000

The public in Geneva will also be able to admire the extraordinary Grande Punto Abarth S2000. This is a racing car designed for racing stables, which the Fiat Racing Department will be entering in the 2007 Italian Rally Championship with Giandomenico Basso and his navigator Mitia Dotta. Davide Gatti, winner of the 2006 Fiat Abarth International Trophy, will compete at the wheel of an official Fiat Grande Punto R3D with a diesel engine. On the international scene, the Grande Punto Abarth S2000 will compete in the IRC (Intercontinental Rally Challenge) with drivers Andrea Navarra, his navigator Guido D’Amore, and young Umberto Scandola and Anton Alen.

The Abarth & C. Spa racing team will be managed by Claudio Berro.

Powered by a 2000 cc aspirated engine that delivers 270 bhp, with 4-wheel drive, the new Grande Punto Abarth S2000 is heir to the version that took the 2006 Italian Rally Championship title with Paolo Andreucci and Anna Andreussi, winning 7 of the 11 races on the programme. Nor must we forget the excellent season of their team-mates Andrea Navarra and Guido D’Amore who took third place. Giandomenico Basso and Mitia Dotta won the European title and the International Rally Challenge.

Since its debut last season, the racing version has proved unbeatable, whatever the type of route or terrain. And we must underline that the 15 cars built so far have been ordered by several racing stables in Europe and elsewhere, to compete in domestic and international rallies. And now, thanks to this technological and competitive superiority, the new Grande Punto Abarth S2000 is ready to compete in these two championships with the same determination and assertiveness.

And finally, as well as a successful car and an outstanding team of drivers, the new Abarth & C. company can also boast a staff with a great deal of experience in motorsports: a total of 113 experts, 26 in the engineering field, 43 on the manufacturing side and 9 dedicated to racing.

The power of a symbol

Never change a winning symbol. At the most, modernise it.

The characteristic feature of the Abarth trademark, the legendary scorpion, is an essential part of an inestimable heritage, made up of victories and passions that have produced one of the great cult phenomena of modern motoring.

The logo is even more aggressive today with new black colouring and the addition of very clear, well defined graphic elements. The lettering remains very close to the original typeface, but is more distinctive, while the small tricolour strip (tag) tells us that the brand is ‘Made in Italy’, without weighing down the overall impression. The shield structure, a symbol linked to the concept of victory, and the positioning of the red/yellow colours that have always represented the “racing” universe, have also been modified to modernise the identity while respecting the values of tradition.

The objective of the designers who revamped the Abarth symbol was to reproduce in a modern key the expressive power of a name that has been on everyone’s lips since 1949, and will continue to be at the centre of attention in the future.

The Abarth project in the past and the future

A glorious past that continues in the present, a passion that was a winner yesterday and today: this is the concept behind Fiat’s project to relaunch the Abarth brand.

The punctilious revival of a whole world of emotions, victories, style and symbols that made the scorpion logo the authentic legend that still appeals to motorsports fans. A restyling that starts from absolute respect for a past that cannot be ignored, but is projected into the future.

The Abarth logo embodies an approach that contains all aspects of the concept of sportiness, even the most exclusive: this was true in the 1960s, it is true today, and it will be true tomorrow.

The novelty lies in the revival, in a modern key, of all the activities performed in the past by Abarth & C., from racing to prototypes and conversion kits, right down to fashion accessories that reflect the Abarth style.

A whole world is emerging around the Abarth logo, underpinned by a number of values which were responsible for its great success in past decades: innovation in design, the use of cutting-edge materials, attention to detail. And behind all this, an authentic passion for motoring, without forgetting the human and technological heritage, or the professional pride of thousands of people, technicians, workers and managers who have worked in the plants, the offices and at race venues over the years. This was why it was essential to involve in today’s project people who had collaborated directly or indirectly with Carlo Abarth in the past.

The understanding between the two brands has shown clearly that industrial collaboration can become a success story, creating a style that communicates determination, the will to overcome obstacles and achieve ambitious objectives. We all remember the small Fiat models which were turned into entertainingly dynamic cars, by Abarth. Real ‘scorpions’, that could sting the passion of thousands of motorists, with the taste of the challenge, speed and Italian styling.

And today that spirit is ready to come back to life in the new Abarth & C, the heart of the Fiat project. A completely reborn company, with Luca De Meo as Managing Director, and headquarters in Chivasso, which aims to revive the feats of the legendary brand, transporting it into today’s reality, ready to take on the challenges of an automotive world that is completely different from the one that Carlo Abarth knew in the glory days. The new company will operate on various fronts: first of all in the racing world, with rallies, single-brand trophies and cars prepared for private customers. Then the commercial field, that will include tuning, i.e. the preparation of racing kits, and finally, with extensive licensing and merchandising activities.

The link with tradition is not just an idea, but tangible and concrete. A real rebirth, that will start with the triumphant return of Abarth activities to the historical premises in Corso Marche, Turin, where the famous ‘Officine Abarth’ will be recreated.
 

Carlo Abarth and the story of his success 

Behind this legendary brand lies the work of a true engineering genius. Karl Abarth, born in Vienna in 1908, achieved almost unprecedented success in the field of motorsports, the result of absolute dedication to the world of engines, and to a truly prodigious talent, passion and feeling for innovation.

Karl Abarth lived a long and exciting life, but here we will concentrate on the strong, successful collaboration between the Abarth and Fiat brands.

Karl Abarth’s story did not begin with cars, but motorcycles. When he was twenty he won his first races on a Thun motorcycle, and the following year he built his first motorcycle with the Abarth trademark. Unfortunately, a serious accident during a race in Linz, forced him to abandon motorcycle racing, but he did not lose his desire to push himself to his limits, and he continued to race with sidecars, a vehicle that he made popular thanks to exploits such as the race against the Orient Express train (won by Abarth of course). A second serious accident in 1939 forced him to abandon racing altogether.

And so Abarth’s second life, and the real legend, began. In 1945 he moved to Merano and became Carlo Abarth, an Italian citizen. In 1949, after working for a short time for Cisitalia, he founded Abarth & C. The first car produced was a 204 A Roadster, derived from a Fiat 1100, which immediately won the Italian 1100 Sport Championship and the Formula 2 title.

At the same time, Abarth had the brilliant idea of combining racing activities with products for the mass market, and he began to build his famous conversion kits for standard production cars, that increased their power, top speed and acceleration. Important elements in the kits were the exhaust silencers which over the years became veritable icons of the ‘Abarth style’. Thanks to the experience gained years earlier on motorcycles, the Abarth silencers were the state of the art in technological terms. The first prototypes had a central pipe with a constant section and side ducts in fibreglass, eliminating all the diaphragms so as to keep gas compression to a minimum. It was a simple but innovative system which gave his products a clear advantage in terms of performance, and an unmistakable full, throaty sound. In just a few years, Abarth & C. went global: in 1962 it produced 257,000 silencers with a staff of 375 people, with exports accounting for 65% of output.

There were two extremely important elements behind the success of the Abarth components and kits: excellent advertising and successful racing. Carlo Abarth introduced marketing and communications techniques that are still used today. To convince motorists to remove their standard silencers and install an Abarth unit, he invented a clever advertising campaign based on an elegant presentation of the product. Publicised with a new, revolutionary language in the main newspapers, the silencer was presented in an opaque black version with chrome-plated terminals, and offered at a price well above that of the competition (4,500 lire as opposed to a maximum of 2,000 lire). His colleagues were initially sceptical about this strategy, but they soon changed their minds: it was an immediate, extraordinary success. The first 50 units were built for the Fiat ‘Topolino’.

The success of the brand in the minds of motoring fans was constant, incessant, and became almost overwhelming as time passed, reaching its peak in the late 1950s and throughout the 1960s. Carlo Abarth created the legend of the “scorpion” with total dedication and almost frenetic activity, which revealed the characteristics of a genius. The stages of this continuous exploit and unparalleled success story followed one after another at a rate that is still amazing today. A long march, punctuated with records, triumphs, and epoch-making ideas that changed our approach to the sports car.

In 1956, driving a Fiat Abarth 750 with a body by Bertone, he set a whole series of duration and speed records: on June 18, on the Monza track, he broke the 24-hour record, travelling 3,743 km at an average speed of 155 km/h. Then, from June 27 to 29, on the same track, he broke numerous other records: the 5,000 and 10,000 km, the 5,000 miles and also the records for 48 hours and 72 hours. International success followed, and on July 21, 1956 the influential German magazine “Das Auto Moto Und Sport” dedicated the cover of issue no. 15 to the Abarth 750. The same car was also available with two bodies by Zagato, the Fiat Abarth 750 Zagato (1956) and the Fiat Abarth 750 GT Zagato (1956). On May 11 and 12, 1957, at the 24^th Mille Miglia, there were 20 cars representing the ‘scorpion’ in the 750 class and 16 of them concluded the race.

The ‘roar’ of this extraordinary car even reached the United States: Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr., son of the American President, rushed to Italy personally to sign an exclusive agreement with Carlo Abarth to distribute the model.

In 1958 Abarth achieved a masterpiece on the new Fiat 500, completely transforming the small runabout, and highlighting its huge potential.

That same year the partnership with Fiat was stepped up, and Fiat undertook to reward Abarth financially on the basis of the number of victories and records that the stable notched up. This agreement was behind the amazing list of victories in the coming years: 10 world records, 133 international records and over 10,000 victories on the track.

The legend grew, and entered every day language. The Sixties were a golden decade for Abarth. The name ‘Abarth’ was synonymous with ‘speed’, ‘courage’, ‘performance’ and ‘conversions’. The list of cars that put the Abarth name firmly on the motor racing map was a long one: from the 850 TC, which won on all the international circuits including the Nurburgring, to the Fiat Abarth ‘1000 saloon’ and the 2300 S, which set an amazing number of records on the Monza circuit in spite of dreadful atmospheric conditions.

In 1965 Carlo Abarth wanted to set a record himself. On October 20, 1965, he set the acceleration record over a quarter of a mile and over 500 metres on the Monza track, with the Fiat Abarth ‘1000 Monoposto Record’ Class G, 105 bhp, and the next day he set the same records for higher classes in a 2000 cc Class E single-seater. Yet another anecdote that says a lot about the tenacity of the man, who had to lose 30 kg in weight at the age of 57 in order to get into the small cockpit and drive his cars to victory.

From 1971 Abarth became part of Fiat Auto, and the last car on whose development the founder of the brand collaborated actively was the A112 Abarth. During the 1980s, the story continued with other famous cars such as the Fiat 131 Abarth which won the world rally championship, and the Ritmo Abarth.

Carlo Abarth died on October 24, 1979, under his birth sign: Scorpion, of course.
 

Spec sheet of the Grande Punto Abarth 

Engine
• 4 cylinders in line, 4 valves per cylinder, 1368 cc;
• Power output: 110 kW (150 bhp) at 5500 rpm, boosted to 155 bhp by adopting 98 RON petrol;
• Peak torque of 206 Nm at 2000 rpm, but 230 Nm can be obtained at 3000 rpm by activating the SPORT mode;
• ‘Drive-by-wire’ accelerator control, without mechanical connections;
• Turboboost by Garrett IHI RHF3-P10.5 fixed geometry turbocharger.

 Transmission
• 6-speed gearbox
• Dual hose external gearbox drive. 

Suspension and steering
• MacPherson layout at front with anti-roll bar;
• Torsion axle at rear;
• Ground-hugging sporty trim;
• Electrical power steering with SPORT mode. 

Brakes
• Fixed M4x40 Brembo calliper at front, with double piston;
• Front brake disc ø 305 mm x 28 mm, ventilated;
• Rear calliper, piston ø 54 mm;
• Rear brake disc ø 264 mm x 11 mm.

 Bodywork
• Wider front and rear wings.

 Wheels
• 7” x 17” aluminium alloys;
• Tyres: 215/45-17.

Spec sheet of the Grande Punto S2000 Abarth

Engine
·  4 cylinders in line, 1.997 cc, mounted transversely, developed by FPT racing;
·  Power output: 270 bhp at 8250 rpm approx. with flange f 64 (as per regulations);
·  Peak torque: 22.5 kgm at 6500 rpm.

 

Transmission

·  6-speed gearbox with sequential control, frontal engagement and cut-off during changes, unique housing and interior for single supply, as per technical regulations;
·  Mechanical front, central and rear differentials with ramps and clutches to modify the locking percentages;
·  Single-supply rear differential with multi-plate clutch to limit torque
·  Specific drive shafts, car-side tripod joints and wheel-side constant velocity joints;
·  Specific steel propeller shaft with two branches and intermediate chassis support.

 

Suspension

·  MacPherson layout at front;
·  MacPherson layout at rear;
·  Specific front cross member;
·  Specific rear cross member;
·  Adjustable dampers.

 

Brakes

·  Monolithic front calliper with 4 pistons;
·  Front brake disc f 355 mm for asphalt, f 300 mm for dirt roads;
·  Rear calliper with 4 pistons;
·  Rear brake disc f 300 mm.

 

Bodywork

·  Wider front and rear wings up to a maximum width of 1800 mm;
·  Rear spoiler, of a size established by technical regulations, to increase the stability of the car by boosting the aerodynamic load.

Wheels

·  GOODRICH asphalt rims: 8’’ x 18’’;
·  GOODRICH dirt rims: 6.5” x 15 “;
·  Michelin asphalt tyres: 20/65-18;
·  Michelin dirt tyres: 19/65-15;
·  Michelin snow tyres: 10/65-16.