Any time you combine a tiny car from yesteryear with a superbike engine from modern times, you’ve got a really incredible concoction brewing. It doesn’t matter which car or which superbike, but mix them together and it’ll be a potent little sonofabitch. In this case, this hill climb special Fiat 500 is hustled around with a Suzuki Hayabusa engine driving all four wheels. Oh yes, you know that’s a marvel of engineering wizardry underneath.
It’s just so happy to see you with its wideset eyes, a cartoonish moustache, and a large gaping toothless smile. Just look at this fucker, you know it’s going to clap you on the back and wish you a good evening.
According to the genius YouTube hillclimbing k-hole known as Hillclimb Monsters, this little machine belongs to a bloke by the name of Roman Gurschler. With 1.6-litres of superbike fury it’s cranking out 186 kW and with a curb weight of just 600 kg, it’s a flyweight fury with the world’s happiest face.
Apparently this car was originally built as a slalom or autocross racer powered by a BMW S 1000RR engine, but years of development have turned it into a proper hillclimb destroyer. With that kind of power and weight, it’s no wonder the owner converted the car to all-wheel drive, because I’m sure traction management out of tight hairpin corners is a beast too tough to tame with just two driven wheels.
The video below depicts the car making its run up the Alpe Del Nevegal earlier this year. This little Fiat finished 36th overall, fastest in the 1600cc engine category, with a 3 minute 1 second run. Gurschler finished just a few miliseconds ahead of a Ferrari 458 Challenge race car. I’d call that a damn good success.
Wouldn’t it be great if Americans took hillclimb as seriously as the Europeans do?