Fiat 500F: Orange Crush
Words & Pictures: Nick T.
Everyone loves an underdog. Or so it seems from the number of people whistling and taking photos as our little Cinquecento puffs along the formation lap past the Bellevue hotel, here at the World Classic Car cup at Eiger. At least I’d like to think those are whistles of appreciation, and not amusement. This is a short race, in deference to the age of these cars, but it’s going to be a tough one. We’re lining up our tiny twin-cylinder fury against classic sports cars, and the outcome is not going to be pretty.
The Road&Trek team couldn’t make it here with me. Instead I’m with a British team called “The Flying Pigs,” who specialize in building oddball racing vehicles. And this Fiat is definitely oddball.
The heart of this beast is a fully built 500cc motor running a MOTEC EFI conversion. An aftermarket Suzuki Kei Works turbocharger churns out a tire-shredding 89 horsepower at 5400 rpm. Due to the twin-cylinder’s uneven exhaust pulses, boost builds slowly. On the upside, this lessens shock to the drivetrain and limits the breakage of fragile parts built for only 16 horsepower!
And yet, not even the most stoutly built Cinquecento 5-speed racing boxes can take this amount of punishment. The “Flying Pigs” have spent the last two weeks mating the twin to an Abarth 850 5-speed and limited-slip differential. This required a lot of clearancing, welding and machining, but it’s worth it, thanks to the 850’s bigger, beefier gears. The stock 850 clutch is more than capable of handling this level of power, but the stock flywheel was lightened to increase responsiveness.
With the Abarth “Monza” gear-set, top speed is a mere 140 km/h, which should be enough for now. Future plans include a custom-machined 10x35 final drive, which should allow it to crack 160.
Other modifications are relatively light. The 500F is stripped, caged and slathered in an outrageous coat of orange. There’s a set of BBS wheels shod in Avons and a secondhand racing suspension of unknown damper rates. There’s 1.5 degrees of camber all around, achieved with makeshift shims and bolts. It’s not perfect, but it’ll do. It’ll do.
The pack surges into a rolling start as we fly past the start / finish line. The cars in front of me disappear down the hill, while a Corvette behind me pulls out to overtake. But the Fiat’s light weight allows it to scrub off speed easily in the heavy braking zone at the first hairpin. I clear the Corvette and catch up to the lead group by the second hairpin.
Here I pass a Honda S800 on the inside line. The rear end comes around as I give it a bit too much gas on the exit. I mutter at myself to drive more smoothly, as these tiny tires go “off” fairly quickly when they get hot. I tiptoe through the next set of corners, keeping it neat and tidy as we approach the bridge at the bottom of the track.
There’s a high-speed constant radius corner here, followed by a long climb back up to the hotel. I enter hot and manage to keep my momentum up without sliding, staying in touch with the front-runners as we enter the tunnel section.
The gearing is perfect for this. While the 500 is the slowest car here, I’m in the power all through 4th and 5th gear. At the top, a Ginetta driver flubs an overtake and backs up the pack. I risk a move around the outside line, vaulting into third place as we cross the start / finish line.
Now the chase begins in earnest. There’s an Isuzu 117 Coupe in the lead holding up a Mazda Cosmo. These factory-prepped Cosmos are light, fast and rumoured to have nearly 200 horsepower. If he gets around the Isuzu, this race is over.
I hit the MOTEC’s hard-limiter two thirds of the way down the straight. The tires are starting to warm up, so I brake a little earlier and ease off at the bottom to keep from flat-spotting the tires. The Ginetta sneaks back through on the inside of the first hairpin, but I have the line for the second and fend him off with ease. To minimize wheelspin, I treat the second hairpin as two corners... exit in 2nd gear pointed at the outside banking, then make a second turn as I shift into 3rd. At the end of the downhill complex, I’m right on the leaders’ tails.
Unfortunately, the lead pair pulls away down every straight section of track. The 500’s stiff suspension and aggressive camber allow me to eat back into their lead at every corner, but the tires are starting to get hot and slippery. It’s the last lap, and I’m getting desperate. I brake late as we hurtle down towards the hairpin complex, and it pays off. I manage to pass the Cosmo on the inside of the second hairpin, but he’s blocking my exit line, and I’m forced to turn and accelerate at the same time to maintain my momentum. The rear tires light up in a cloud of smoke as I struggle to stay on the 117’s tail.
It’s beginning to seem hopeless. I reel in the Isuzu bit by bit, but there’s no chance of passing him cleanly at this point. Though I’ve got the momentum coming back up the hill, he’s still a few car lengths away as we roar through the tunnel for the last time. The rest of the field is bunching up behind me as the 500’s little engine strains against the steep grade.
I take the uphill kink as gently as I can while trying to defend against the Cosmo that’s glued to my tail. I’ve got a chance to catch that Isuzu at the top of the hill, and pulling it off will depend on my tires being as cool as possible.
In a moment, we’re at the top... the car jounces off the bump stops as I drop two tires onto the dirt at the kink before the last curve. I brake, turn late, and attempt a risky move on the outside line. I lose a whole lot of momentum, but I’m finally in front of the Isuzu. As I slot back up into fourth gear, the finish line looks a million miles away...
All of the sudden, it’s over. I’ve won. Surprised? So am I. This time, the whistles are definitely of the appreciative type. This cobbled-together mess of parts made it through the race, but I have a feeling that the Pigs will need to do a lot of work to get this car ready for Monaco, next week.
