Carshowroom.com.au had the opportunity to jump behind the wheel of the ?Abarth 695 Assetto Corse Bathurst 12 Hour race car. The ?Abarth 695 Assetto Corse is built in Turin, Italy and come straight out of the factory ready for the race track.
Available in Europe for €45,000/ $64,500 the Abarth 695 Assetto Corse has 17" forged alloy racing rims, perforated and self-ventilated front brake discs and perforated rear brake discs and a 6-Speed Sadev sequential gearbox.
Squeezing through the roll cage and jumping in to the drivers seat of the left hand drive Abarth 695 Assetto Corse, Carshowroom.co.au is set free for two quick laps around the Broadford motorcycle track.
Our instructor and race car driver Luke Ellery guides us around the track with expert advice on how to use the sequential gear box, which lines to take and where the braking zone is. On our out lap CarShowroom.com.au takes it nice and slow, just feeling our way around track and learning about the car, not wanting to be the first to make a mistake.
With our confidence up we decide to go a little faster on our second lap. As we enter the main straight we floor the accelerator, grab third gear out of the corner and fly past the start finish line, fourth gear sees us hurtling towards the first turn where we need to brake and gear back down to third. Hooking in to the right hander we hit the apex perfectly with the Abarth corning like it’s on rails.
Exiting the corner we straighten the tearing wheel up for the back straight before planting the accelerator to floor once again, we reach the uphill right hander quickly before snaking our way through a series of linked right-left-right turns. We have another opportunity to test the power of Abarth 695 Assetto Corse on a small straight before a hairpin right turn leads us to the last left hand turn and back on the main straight. Just as we get ready for another flying lap Luke informs us it’s time to pit and hand for us to hand the controls back to him for a hot lap.
The video gives you a birds eye view of Luke Ellery steering the Abarth 695 Assetto Corse around the very tight Broadford track and showing us how it is done, while at the same time putting yours truly to shame.
Key Technical Specifications of the ?Abarth 695 Assetto Corse:
Engine: Straight 4-cylinder, 4 valves per cylinder
Power: 151kW @ 6500rpm
Torque: 300Nm @ 4000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed sequential gearbox by Sadev with optimised gear ratios Wheels: Painted and forged aluminium wheels – 17-inch OZ Racing
0-100 km/h - 6.5 seconds
Weight: 940kg
