You might recall that Pininfarina was at Pebble Beach in 2019 showing its $2.25 million Battista electric supercar to potential customers. The Italian design house and coachbuilder has an update on the car — Former Formula 1 racer Nick Heidfeld has been fine-tuning the car’s dynamic capabilities on the Nardò Technical Center track.
“What really surprised me was how natural the Battista feels on the track,” Heidfeld is quoted in the Pininfarina news release. “We are creating a hyper GT to be enjoyed at all speeds, yet here in Nardò the cornering control and speed we achieved were exceptional.
“This is not a normal car,” he adds in a video report on his testing.
Heidfeld joined the Automobili Pininfarina development team in 2019.
“His unparalleled knowledge and more than 25 years of experience in high performance motorsport continue to support refinement of Battista’s bespoke chassis settings and software calibration, ahead of the hyper GT entering production in Italy in the summer of 2021,” Pininfarina said.
“It has been really special to experience the Battista on the track for the first time,” Heidfeld said. “With the prototype at an advanced stage of development, we are testing Battista with around 80 per cent of its potential power, the performance and acceleration is already beyond anything I could imagine.
Nick Heidfeld
“It was my first time driving on the Nardò handling circuit, so I spent some time looking at films of onboard laps online to familiarize myself with the layout,” he added. “I quickly realized they would be of little use because the acceleration of Battista is on another level to even the world’s fastest road cars.
“I have to say, that very honestly, driving the Battista prototype far exceeded my expectations. It’s like nothing I have experienced ever before. I can’t wait to try the Battista away from the track, chasing corners on mountain roads.”
Automobili Pininfarina plans to produce no more than 150 examples of the car named for company founder Battista “Pinin” Farina.
Hi Larry
There was a Classic Cars article a month or two back about a Citroen SM record breaker which was being sold together with the custom trailer which carried it and the custom Citroen SM tow car which had been cut down onto what we Anzacs would call a ute (like a light truck but body and tray all in one piece),
I’m not sure who wrote the article but an elderly friend who is a Citroen fan (sicko🙂) would like to see it and l’ve been unable to find it. Is there any chance of emailing a copy of the article to me so l can pass it on.
Cheers
Hey Malcolm, is this the article you’re looking for: https://journal.classiccars.com/2021/01/12/unique-citroen-sm-speed-record-car-pickup-trailer-gooding/
Oops. Racheal beat me to it. But always glad to see Comments from Malcolm Graham.