Thought the dinky little Fiat 500 was a car for girls? Let German tuners and potential lunatics Pogea Racing change your mind with its wide and wonderful take on the Abarth 500.
Named Ares after the Greek god of war and with a full carbon fibre widebody kit, nearly two inches’ worth of track widening and a total of 404bhp and 445Nm of torque, this is one serious little machine.
Remarkably, it uses the same 1.4-litre turbocharged engine as the standard Abarth 500 – albeit tuned to high hell – and, even more remarkably, it retains its front-wheel drive only layout.
The engine mods are extensive, with forged pistons, bigger exhaust valves and a modified cylinder head, along with a reinforced engine block, new cooling systems and a bigger turbocharger.
Thought was all? Think again. It also gets a new camshaft and a new crank, along with new plugs and coils, an uprated induction system, bigger fuel injectors and a new exhaust as well.
As fast to 62mph as a Ford Focus RS
On a dry track and with its Michelin Super Sport tyres up to temp, Pogea says that it’ll be able to sprint from 0-62mph in just 4.7 seconds, making this little pocket rocket as fast as an AWD Focus RS.
The tuners say that development of the car took a full four years and that barely a screw went untouched, and we believe them entirely.
Along with the list of engine modifications, it also gets an upgraded transmission with reinforced gears and a limited slip differential, plus KW adjustable suspension and reinforced axles.
Unfortunately, only five of the things will be made, hardly surprising given the sheer amount of work going into them, and each will start from around £50,000.
