Dallara Stradale
Dallara Stradale from £137,000
WE SAY: DALLARA HAS PUT ITS RACING NOUS TO WORK ON THE ROAD. AND THE RESULT IS EPIC Where do I know that name?
Well, from roughly everywhere – pick a race series or supercar maker and, chances are, Dallara has developed and supplied the carbon chassis. It’s never made a road car before – at least, not bearing the Dallara name. But the Stradale’s one hell of a debut. It has no doors – that’d make it heavier and interfere with the aero. The seat doesn’t move either – that’d mess up the weight distribution. The monocoque and all of the bodywork is carbon fibre, so the Stradale weighs just 855kg.
What’s the effect of all of this?
It’s a revelation. If you’ve never experienced what scant weight, incredible rigidity and 820kg of downforce can do to a car’s handling (and your internal organs in the process), it’ll take time to adjust.
Can you actually feel downforce?
When you get to a high-speed corner – when the aero is in full effect – you can turn in such a way that defies any sort of logic, leaving you to marvel as the Stradale shoots through at a frankly ridiculous speed. It’s entirely possible, with the requisite talent and bravery, to generate more than 2g in a high-speed corner.
But is all of this actually... fun?
If you love throwing a car around at (and beyond) its limits, the Stradale might not be up your, er... strada. The limits are so high that finding them involves imminent peril, unless your name is Ayrton VatanenMcNish. But it’s wrong to expect it to deliver laugh-out-loud loutishness like in, say, a Caterham. It’s a car to turn up with, obliterate everyone and then blithely trundle home in.
Is the rest of the car as fearsome as its handling?
The brakes are – they’re so powerful they’ll do their best to detach your retinas. The suspension is supple and incredibly well damped over even truly awful roads. The engine’s exceptionally friendly, too – it’s based on Ford’s 2.3-litre EcoBoost, tuned by Bosch for 395bhp and a flat torque curve. When the road straightens out, the pull, even in sixth gear, is incredible.
I want one. What are my chances?
Do you have £137k for a bare-bones one? If so, you can buy one of the 600 cars Dallara’s making. For that, you get all of its experience, skill and dedication, distilled into a car your average, if minted, individual can buy, without buying a race team first.