Dallara to build road car
The man who designed some of the greatest supercars ever including the Lamborghini Muira and De Tomaso Pantera (partially) has built up the most successful racing car manufacturer in history, and will turn that firm’s expertise to building the ultimate road car.
Dallara has a wealth of sportscar experience having been involved in the design and development of many recent road cars including the KTM X-Bow, Alfa Romeo 8C, Maserati MC-12 and Bugatti Veyron but has never built a road car under its own brand.‘The rule makers decide when you build a new car, not us. So we try to be diverse, with seven different types of race car, and others for customers. But we are always at risk of a static market’ explains Gian Paolo Dallara.
‘I believe we have to have something on the market, so we will produce our new road car. It has the spirit of the Lotus Seven, which is still one of the best road cars. Chapman is the designer I admire most, and that car is probably the most copied in the world. Our car will have that spirit, but will have a carbon fiber chassis, a rear engine, more space and will be more modern. We will be producing the car in small numbers – probably around 100 a year – just to have an area where we can increase activity.
’While no images of the new car have been released, it is likely to be a two seat coupe costing in the region of 35,000-45,000 Euro and offering Lotus Exige levels of performance. It is understood that Dallara has already taken provisional orders without having finalized the design or even the price!Dallara revealed the project in the latest issue of Racecar Engineering which reviews the Italian engineers career.