Over the past few months, we’ve learned that the Fiat 500 Abarth
has become more than just a token cute little car. If you put it in the
hands of an aftermarket company that knows what its doing, impressive
things can come out of it.
We learned it from Lazzarini Design, and now German tuner G-Tech is proving that they can make a rocket out of the Abarth
500 too. Armed with a host of aesthetic and mechanical improvements,
the Abarth 500 Sportster - as it has come to be known - is far from a
standard 500. Far, far from it.
For starters, the
car’s roof has been lowered by 14cm. The front fascia’s also been
revised and a new set of alloy wheels have been added. Inside, there’s
the addition of a pair of a carbon fiber trim and the addition of sports
seats. While these enhancements do look good on paper, the highlight of
G-Tech’s program are three different engine modifications that include
two road-ready versions and one that’s ready for some race track action.
The
first two involve base 230CV variant upgrades on the car’s 1.4-liter
engine, resulting in an output of 230 horsepower and 243 lb-ft of
torque. Impressive, right? Not as much when you add an adjustable rear
wing, bigger wheel arches, and a G-Tech INOX Le Mans exhaust system with
electronically-operated exhaust valves into the mix. With these in tow,
that’s an output of 260 horsepower and 258 lb/ft of torque.
Then
there’s the track version, which has been dubbed the Sportster GT/R.
With a completely new 2.0-liter engine, the 500 Sportster is now capable
of producing a stout 350 horsepower and 332 lb/ft of torque.
