NF500 / f1

What’s that, you’ve not seen enough “limited edition” Fiat 500s being dreamt up lately? Have no fear Fiat have done it again, this time limited to 12 cars only, the “F1TM Limited Edition” will be hitting the track at Singapore this coming weekend. Full Fiat release follows..

On 28 September, Singapore will host the first ever night-time Grand Prix event in the history of Formula 1. As a taster to the exceptional event, a “500 Drive” will take place on 27 September, before the GP qualifying rounds. This will involve 12 Fiat 500 “F1TM Limited Edition” cars being driven round the same track by celebrities.

The drivers on board the special cars will complete a few laps of the brand-new circuit, a 5.067km stretch along the floodlit roads of Singapore.

Lorenzo Sistino, Managing Director of Fiat Automobiles had this to say:

The Fiat 500 is now sold in 57 countries and has won more than 250,000 orders since its launch last year. Not to mention the fact that 50% of its customers chose it without considering other models.

In recent months, we finished launching the Fiat 500 also in Australia, Hong Kong and Japan, where we picked up more than a thousand advance orders and the car has become a veritable craze. Now it is about to hit Singapore as well

We marked the occasion by building 12 unique cars in a Fiat 500 “F1TM Limited Edition that have been pre-booked by selected customers from Singapore. These cars offer special custom features and are enhanced by chrome motifs in addition to the exclusive “F1TM Limited Edition” livery. The cars are equipped with the same lively 1.4 16v engine available on the rest of the range, that develops a maximum power of 100 bhp (73.5 Kw) at 6000 rpm and a maximum torque of 131 Nm (13.4 Kgm) at 4250 rpm. Its performance figures are outstanding: the car can reach a top speed of 182 km/h and accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 10.5 seconds.

F1 champion Kimi Räikkönen will be taking a Fiat 500 onto the ice as part of a joint F1 and MotoGP PR and Ski event taking place at Madonna di Campiglio, the home of Chalet Fiat.

Wrooom 2008 is a publicity event for MotoGP and F1, with Ducati, Alfa, Fiat and Ferrari all on show with a dramatic backdrop and sequence of interesting displays and challenges.

Apparently the 500 will feature heavily, with F1 racers taking the baby Fiat to the ice, as well as featuring in several ice sculptures and a Fiat 500 evening at the Chalet Fiat. The whole thing is rounded off with a fireworks and light display. Sounds like great fun if you can get on the guest list!

You can read a little more, including the full list of events at motograndprix.it.

Not something you’ll see every day, you can almost imagine Luigi from the movie Cars jumping for joy at the sight of this photograph.

This picture was one of many taken featuring Italian republic president Giorgio Napolitano and former F1 Champion Michael Schumacher taking in the new Fiat 500 during the official presentation in Rome’s Quirinale palace, 05 July 2007.

You can view a full set at la Repubblica.it