One of Sbarro's forgotten supercar concepts

ONE-OFF As an automotive anthusiast, what car would you buy if you had billions in your account? Is that a Bugatti made supercars, Lamborghini, Pagani or Ferrari? Indeed, the auto brands mentioned were expensive, unique in appearance, and perhaps rare, but many people already have them.

There is only one Sbarro GT1 ever made by Franco Sbarro and his students at the Espera Sbarro School of Design in Grandson, Switzerland back in the 1999. (Picture from: Autoblog)

But if you've seen this one, the premium car brands aforementioned would be eliminated, because this one hypercar combines these three components and is definitely the only one. So apart from having a beautiful body design with sharp curved lines all over its body, the one-off supercar named Sbarro GT1 is classified as a super exclusive vehicle ever made.

The Sbarro GT1 was just a supercar concept which built to tribute for the Mercedes-Benz's victory at the 24-Hours Le Mans racing. (Picture from: Sbarro.phcalvet.fr)

Indeed, in this world there is only one Sbarro GT1 ever made by Franco Sbarro and his students at the Espera Sbarro School of Design in Grandson. Originally it was just a supercar concept which built to tribute for the Mercedes-Benz's victory at the 24-Hours Le Mans racing, and was shown to the public for the first time in June 1999.

The Sbarro GT1's monocoque polyester body is attached on the dual frame concept with three rubber and metal beams, in which the engine is considered a stressed member of the frame. (Picture from: Sbarro.phcalvet.fr)

The most interesting technical aspect of the GT1 is the use of the Sbarro dual frame, which was patented in 1991. In this dual frame concept, the engine is considered a stressed member of the frame. Then the monocoque polyester body is attached to the frame with three rubber and metal beams. This dampens vibrations from the chassis making for a quieter and more comfortable ride without affecting the car's handling.

The entire interior of the Sbarro GT1 is covered in grey and red velvet, including seats, armrests, backrests, parts of the door. (Picture from: Sbarro.phcalvet.fr)

As for the legs, the Sbarro-made concept car uses 18" Anteras wheels at the front and 19" at the rear which are then wrapped respectively by Michelin 245/35 and 365/35 tires. In addition the Sbarro GT1 provided necessary braking system by using a huge 4-pot calipers to grip the vented discs each on its 4 corners.

The Sbarro GT1's seats are integrated into the cabin, which means there's nothing to adjust, vice versa the pedals and steering wheel are adjustable. (Picture from: HotCars)

Uniquely, the one-off concept car also used the unique exhaust system made by Franco himself. Despite this, the Sbarro GT1 weighs around 2,976 lbs (1,350 kg) is made only in metallic gray and is adorned with red brake calipers. Even though this was just a display car, don't ever underestimate its capabilities.

The Sbarro GT1 carries a Mercedes-Benz 7.4 liter (7,400 cc) V8 engine mounted in the middle of the rear which is capable of spewing power up to 450 hp (336 kW) and 451 ft lb (612 Nm) of torque. (Picture from: Sbarro.phcalvet.fr)

Because the concept car carries a Mercedes-Benz 7.4 liter (7,400 cc) V8 engine mounted in the middle of the rear which is capable of spewing power up to 450 hp (336 kW) and 451 ft lb (612 Nm) of torque. Power is sent to the rear wheels directly through a five-speed manual transmission so that it can run up to speeds of 323.4 kph with acceleration from rest to 100 kph in just 4.9 seconds. These performance figures are quite fantastic for a car made of the 1990s, when compared to the latest cars such as the Porsche 911 Turbo which has 402 hp or the Ferrari F50 with 513 hp.

If you were curious about its price, of course it is very expensive, which is expected to reach the seven-digit range for Dollars. As an illustration, back in 2010 this Sbarro GT1 had going to be sold with a price tag of around €1 million or (at the time's rate) the equivalent of Rp.12.4 billion. Apparently the creation of this concept car continues when Sbarro launched its second version in 2002 under the name of the Sbarro GT12 which is powered by a V12 engine. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | SBARRO.PHCALVET.FR | SUPERCARS.NET | ASPHALTFANDOM | HOTCARS | AUTOBLOG | SILODROME ]

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