2021 Abarth 1000SP race car reborn with 240hp Alfa-Romeo unit

Abarth has revived the style and spirit of its 1966 1000 Sport Prototipo in a brand new oneoff concept car based on the Alfa Romeo 4C. The original 1000SP racer was designed in 1966 by Mario Colucci to compete in the Sport Prototype category, targeted at both endurance races and hillclimbs. It enjoyed considerable success, for instance winning the Nürburgring 500km.

Now FCA’s Centro Stile has created an homage to the 1960s racer with a new retro-styled concept called the Abarth 1000 SP. The project was in effect begun as far back as 2009, when Abarth started work on a sports car to join its Punto and 500 models. The design was eventually repurposed to become the Alfa Romeo 4C but the original 2009 Abarth design has now been updated for this new 2021 concept.

Like the original 1000 SP, the 2021 version uses a mid-mounted engine and has open barchetta bodywork.

Dimensionally the new car is much larger but features many tributes to the original design, including cockpit glass with a very distinctive stepped shaped and an exposed roll-over bar behind the seats.

The rear end also reflects the original, with its distinctive air vents and sinuous lines. The lights also recall the historic 1000 SP’s, with very small headlamps and single round taillights.

Abarth says that lightness, agility and aerodynamic efficiency were the key elements of the new design. The new car is based on the Alfa Romeo 4C, complete with its carbonfibre main tub, aluminium subframes, double wishbone front suspension and MacPherson strut rear. In contrast to the 1966 original, whose engine was derived from the Fiat 600’s, power comes from Alfa Romeo’s 240hp 1.75-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine, again taken straight from the Alfa Romeo 4C. The new Abarth 1000 SP will appear at various classic car events later this year.