Dallara Stradale 2019 UK first drive

Not that you get anything as exotic as a Maserati 3.0-litre V12. Transversely mounted ahead of the rear axle is a 2.3-litre in-line four built by Ford and tuned electronically to 395bhp and 369lb ft by Bosch. It gives the Stadale a power-to-weight ratio to match that of the Porsche 911 GT2 RS, but because it’s so light, the car needs only cast-iron brakes from Brembo and does without power steering.

The six-speed manual transmission is also from Ford - a robotised version is optionally available, for a 40kg weight penalty - and there’s a mechanical limited-slip differential between the rear wheels. Our test car, borrowed from importer Joe Macari, is finished off with a set of expensive Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tyres, which aren’t so much trackday tyres as the trackday tyres you choose to obliterate everything else.

At the back sits an optional carbonfibre wing that reduces the top speed from 174mph to 165mph but maximizes downforce. Overall, the Stradale makes an astonishing 820kg of downforce – 20kg more than a McLaren Senna, even though it has a much smaller surface area to exploit. There are wide intakes and broad bargeboards, but it’s the wing that truly muddles your perceptions. The Dallara is both narrower and shorter than the BMW 1 Series yet it has so much presence that you’d swear its footprint was more 5 Series.

Get up close you’ll notice the windscreen is dramatically domed, its extremities sitting well within the carbonfibre bodywork in true prototype style. The central wiper arm is then pure Group C racer (no, I never thought a windscreen wiper could be so evocative, either). There are no doors, but the sills are low enough to straddle easily, and Dallara has helpfully put written ‘STEP HERE’ onto recesses in the seats.

The interior itself is compact: essentially two chutes for driver and passenger to slip their legs down and some leather trim to soften the starkness of an exposed carbonfibre tub and take some of the sting of a €159,600 (currently £140,550) list price, rising to €233,000 (£205,200) for this car. Still, in the Stradale, the seats are essentially only padding fixed to the structure, so to get ‘comfortable’ you slide the pedal box by pulling a lever hidden away to the left. The steering wheel – with its little 320mm rim – then comes out a long way to meet you, and the gearlever – and I don’t say this lightly – is perfectly positioned. It’s a good driving position overall, if not quite Caterham Seven good.      

Today, the main takeaway from driving the Stradale is that there’s an absurd level of untapped potential. And some of that potential will remain untapped. Bosch has done a good job of tuning Ford’s engine to be more responsive and powerful any Focus RS owner would recognise, but it’s no patch on the scalpel-sharp Toyota V6 in the Lotus Exige Sport 410.

The same applies to the gearbox, which is fine for a red-hot hatchback but lacks precision in the context of a thinly disguised trackday special. Perhaps Dallara should have taken Ariel’s lead and gone to Honda instead, with its oversquare VTEC engine and phenomenal gearshift. Maybe next time. 

The tappable potential lies in the chassis. On the road, you get supreme balance that leads to huge grip, which then results in very little understeer before the rear axle starts to rotate, with the driver’s coccyx as the centre point. That feels fantastic. The steering is almost perfectly transparent and the chassis simultaneously benign but more capable and serious than you’d ever need.

The Stradale is expensive compared with certain rivals and lacks an evocative powertrain, but it’s also a landmark creation for one of the most respected names in the business and sublime on the right road. It might well also prove mindblowing on track.