What do you do when the car you have to make is a tribute to one of the greatest automotive design minds of the 20th century? Design it without any windshield, make the occupants wear helmets and let them experience wind in the face like in any race car. That is exactly what the Italian design house Pininfarina has done with the new Sergio concept vehicle.
The Sergio concept Barchetta (Italian for two-door, two seater sportscar) is based on the Ferrari 458 Spider and is a combination of form and function. It has long aerodynamic lines and the entire car slopes forwards. The large rear rollover protector is also bent forward and adds to the forward look of the car. At the rear end, the design of the tail lights and exhaust is reminiscent of some of the older Ferrari’s that Sergio had a hand in designing. It sits on large golden alloy-wheels which complement the red colour of the car quite well.
Thanks to Serigo’s long association and may design contributions to the Prancing Horse, the car also uses the same mill as the spider; a 4.5-litre V8 engine which produces 562bhp and 540Nm of torque. Power is transmitted to the rear-wheels via seven-speed dual clutch gearbox. It will go from 0-100 in under 3.5 seconds and hit a top speed of 320kmph in under 15 seconds. The company has said that Sergio Pinninfarina always believed in exclusively custom designing his cars for special clients and says that this model can be custom built in limited numbers.
Commenting on the car, chairman Paolo Pininfarina said “My father would be proud of this concept car", said "because it expresses the aesthetic values that always inspired him: the purity of the lines, the harmony of form, and balance. Furthermore, he would be happy with this latest concept on Ferrari base, a brand to which we are related by a history that has helped define the most beautiful cars of all time in an evolution that has lasted 60 years and shows no sign of ending.”
