What could be more attractive five years ago than the unusual design of the Bertone Mantide sports car at that time. And today it remains much more futuristic than the rest of the mass of cars!
The Bertone Mantide is an eye-catching, cool and, without a doubt, the most controversial Italian supercar. Its appearance was preceded by a long and exciting history associated with the creation of one-off pieces of wonderful cars, which were built by the Bertone design studio, located in Turin.
A quick Google search will bring up several pages of precious information about this futuristic looking racing car. But unfortunately, not everything that is written about Bertone Mantide on the Internet is true... Many fans of the rare muscle car have a misconception about this model, which was created by Jason Castriota, who served as chief designer of Bertone.
What is the main misconception? Two messages served as the basis for it. According to the first, the release of 10 copies of the Mantide was promised, and the second concerned the color of the car body paint.
The Mantide, which was custom built for English collector and Ferrari driver Dan Watkins, was first painted red. Castriota has always opposed red, but the director of Bertone insisted on this option. When a year passed after the car was launched, Jason convinced Dan to repaint it pearlescent white, which, in his opinion, was what the Mantide should look like. But people began to think that red and white are two different cars, and another, the third in their opinion, was seen a couple of times in Dubai.
And why did the message about the planned release of 10 cars appear? Yes, these were rumors. After several months, after Dan had a Mantide, he wanted his copy to be the only one, unique. And so that no one else has such a sports car. But between 2009 and 2010, the serial production of an exclusive Italian sports car was planned in Nuremberg, Germany, but the plans were not destined to come true. This is likely to change in the future, as Jason has an intention to bring the Mantide to the Northern European Ring racetrack and test it in the 20km circuit.
And now there is no need to search the Internet for an answer to the query: "Bertone Mantide price", since the car is not sold and is not even assembled to order. But earlier there were rumors that the car was supposedly going to sell for $ 2 million.
Bertone Mantide Specifications
While most fans of exclusive supercars will probably know almost everything about the Bertone Mantide, it may still surprise some to see that it is based on a 2009 C6 Corvette ZR1. This brutal 6.2-liter V8 supercharged muscle car from Chevrolet is renowned for being able to complete the Nordschleife circuit in 7 minutes 26.4 seconds - faster than any production road car. And now he still feels good in the top 10 fastest cars, that's a fact.
The ZR1 has a lightweight aluminum chassis, tremendous power and excellent road-sticking ability, that is, an excellent base for a lighter, more powerful and more aerodynamically efficient Mantide.
But Bertone first wanted to build a Mantide based on an Alfa Romeo. But based on the ZR1, it is much faster than it would have been if the Alfa were the final choice. The ZR1 is initially very light for its size at 1544 kg. Bertone was able to reduce the weight by an additional 110 kg, thanks to the use of lighter materials. For example, each side panel is made from high quality carbon fiber by Belco Aria.
As for the equipment and interior trim, then you can see carbon everywhere. The lightest instrument panel and special chairs are made of it. But the safety cage cannot be seen. However, this does not mean that it does not exist: you cannot save on security. The traditional set of gauges has been replaced by an LCD screen, around which there is a lot of Alcantara leather. Through the transparent hood lid you can see the very heart of the Mantide - the powerful 6.2-liter Chevy V8. It's an amazing engine: an Eaton supercharger draws air to the cylinders through two separate water-to-air intercoolers. As a result, the LS9 reaches 638 hp. (476 kW), and the torque is 819 Nm. Although no more power increase is needed, the LS9 is capable of adding about 40 more horsepower. thanks to the Capristo exhaust system. Eventually engine power reaches up to 680 hp.
Interestingly, despite the fantastic engine performance, the most attractive thing about the Mantide is its unusual bodywork.
Controversial car design
The design of this sports car has always caused a lot of discussion. This tradition is likely to continue in the future. For this reason, Bertone Mantide is either very much liked or rejected. Jason always kept this in mind, which is why he was not surprised when the plasticine concept, first shown at the Shanghai International Auto Show, caused a mixed reaction. At that time, the design of the Mantide was presented in its early version, when the brutality of the geometry of the supercar was still in its infancy.
When developing the concept, Jason Castriota focused on the aerodynamic efficiency of the car, carefully considering the shape of every inch of the body. Unique "flying flying buttresses" replace the rear fender on the trunk lid. They help to create vortexes that accelerate the air flow towards the rear spoiler. This increases the downforce, but does not increase the friction of the wheels on the road surface.
A functional design approach has resulted in the Mantide having a coefficient of friction of 0.29 (0.38 on the ZR1), but downforce is comparable to that of supercars. The air balance is also neutral - 50/50 from axle to axle, and leads to excellent stability and predictability of the car's behavior at high speeds (do not forget that Bertone Mantide can accelerate to 354 km / h and more. The wheels of this supercar are exactly the same same as the ZR1 - 19 × 10 ″ and 20 × 12 ″, their design has not changed at all and remains the same as the show models of Bertone 70s - 80s.
It's been five years since Mantide debuted. During this time, a lot has changed at the exhibition grounds. In the design of many cars, the same geometric shapes are visible. The question is: Was Mantide really far ahead of its time? Did the rest of the world manage to catch up with Mantide, or did the recognition of the shapes melt our hearts? Five years ago, many people took this car with hostility, but in recent years their opinion has slowly but surely changed by 180 degrees.
Other photos of the car body and interior:
