Dallara Stradale, carbon fibre structures and vehicle dynamics

The first model of Dallara Stradale was handed over to its owner on the day of his birthday. Giampaolo Dallara, a life as an Engineer, went out to drive the street-legal Dallara right from the building in which he started his business activity 45 years ago in Varano de' Melegari, not far from the house where he was born on November 16,1936.

"I like to think that Colin Chapman, which I began to admire since the days of his Lotus Seven, would appreciate the essentiality and simplicity of this car," says Mr. Giampaolo Dallara, President of Dallara Automobili. "This project," adds Mr. Dallara, "sums up everything we learned from racing and from collaborations with our clients, and I am convinced that those who will use this car will be able to try the pleasure of driving for the sake of driving. They will get in the car to take a nice ride and to experience the pleasure of driving".

In the base configuration, the Dallara Stradale is a barchetta without doors, like a single-seater racing car. It can be customized in a roadster configuration with the addition of a windshield. Adding a T-Frame, the car becomes a targa. With the further addition of two doors with a seagull wing opening, the car becomes a coupe. For those who want to use the car mostly on track, there is the possibility to install a rear wing, which provides access to exceptional levels of downforce.

The car customizations in terms of performance are not limited only to the addition of the rear wing, but it is possible to install adjustable suspensions which allow to lower the car in track set-up, guaranteeing a high comfort standard in any condition. The Dallara Stradale provides a six-speed manual transmission, but among the optional equipment a "paddle-shift" system is provided for the robotized gearbox which minimizes the time shifting, equipped of two methods and two different mappings, automatic: Normal and Sport; and manual: Normal and Sport.

Thanks to its low weight, an accurate study of vehicle dynamics and high aerodynamic load, the performance is of a true racing car.

Its 855 kg as a total car weight are a result of the extensive use of composite materials and carbon fiber. The logic behind materials and processes is "materials and processes suitable for their function": pre-impregnated in an autoclave for the monocoque; long fiber compression moulding in structural components of the bodywork; body panel system in exterior panels; carbon sheet moulding in reinforcements.