The Dallara Stradale has a starting price of around €150,000 ($184,000), meaning it is very, very expensive. However, as Tiff Needell recently discovered, it is a car unlike any other on the market.
Powering the Stradale is the same 2.3-liter EcoBoost turbocharged four-cylinder engine as the Ford Focus RS but Dallara has tweaked it so it now pumps out 394 hp and 369 lb-ft (500 Nm) of torque. That power allows the track-focused sports car to hit 62 mph (100 km/h) in 3.25 seconds, a very respectable time considering the Stradale is rear-wheel drive.
However, as Needell points out in this review, the Stradale isn’t about straight-line performance and is instead all about maximizing performance as a racetrack. As such, the veteran automotive journalist takes the car to the track for a series of laps towards the end of the review but before that happens, he samples it on the road.
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Dallara has decades of history developing racing cars and yet despite that, it has actually created a car that is quite comfortable and polished on the road, despite what its bold exterior looks may suggest. Needell notes that it soaks up bumps in the road very well and also offers excellent visibility thanks to the large windshield, which is actually the first windshield in a production car to be made from polycarbonate, rather than glass.
The car tested by Needell was equipped with the optional rear wing that provides 820 kg (1,808 lbs) of downforce at 174 mph (280 km/h). With that in mind, it was right at home when tested on a circuit.