Fiat Abarth 695 goes to the dogs

Fiat showed a cool, if odd, variant of the Abarth 500 in Geneva.   Celebrating 50 years from the debut of the original 695,  the stripped out Abarth 695 biposto is a street legal, track day version of the 500.

Biposto, means two seater and that means two carbon fiber shells and a stripped out rear.  It comes with a lot of go-fast goodies: fully adjustable shocks and suspension, mechanical limited slip differential, Ackrapovic exhaust, a titanium roll bar, 4 point harnesses, a data logger,  and oversized Brembos .    Fixed windows with sliding poly slits and other assorted weight reduction cut about 300 lbs off the base Abarth while power is up 30 to 190hp allowing for a sub 6 second 0-62.

But what really sets the 695 biposto apart, and will make it a bit of a collector piece is the unusual gearbox:  it comes standard with a non synchronized 5 speed "dog box",  probably the only road legal, factory car in the world to do so in the 21st century!

Curiously, the original Cinquecento had a non synchronized gearbox meaning generations of Italians have double clutching embedded in their DNA.     In a track situation, a non syncro "dog box" allows for super fast, clutch less shifts and so the Abarth 695 biposto should become the hero for all those who champion manuals, because real men don't need syncros!