Eliminating errors
Attention, this is very important: Giampaolo. Any other spelling is simply wrong and would result in an immediate sending-off in football. Giampaolo Dallara, soon to be 90, is also very committed to perfection in other areas. When he talks about his earlier designs, and there are plenty of them, he says this was wrong or that could have been done much better. He doesn’t really have a good word to say about any of his creations, neither the Lamborghini Miura nor the beautiful Lancia Beta Montecarlo for Group 5 nor his first racing car, which won the Indy 500 in 1998. Or to put it another way: there is always room for improvement. Always.
Giampaolo Dallara has had a wild history. Born in Parma in 1936, he earned his doctorate in aeronautical engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan. His first employer was Ferrari in 1959, where he worked closely with Giotto Bizzarrini. He soon moved to Maserati, then joined the newly founded Lamborghini brand in 1963, where he and his subordinate Paolo Stanzani formed the technical backbone of the young company. He transformed the undriveable 350 GTV prototype into the first production Lamborghini 350 GT, was in charge of the Miura and the Espada – and moved to DeTomaso at the end of the 1960s because Ferruccio Lamborghini did not want to engage in motor racing, but Alejandro De Tomaso, like Dallara, dreamed of Formula 1. They designed the DeTomaso 308/505 for Frank Williams, but it was even less successful than the 350 GT (and in which Piers Courage was killed in an accident). Shortly afterwards, however, Dallara had had enough of the chronically cash-strapped Argentine and founded his own company in Varano de’ Melegari in 1972.
He started out small, as is customary for Italians. His first car was a 1300 Group 5 vehicle, followed by a 1600 – and then, in 1975, the Icsunonove, a Fiat X1/9 that Dallara converted into a Group 5 racing car, creating a racing icon weighing just 690 kilograms. Things moved quickly: in 1976, Dallara collaborated with Walter Wolf in the CanAm series; in 1978, they made the leap to Formula 3 (and have won the Italian championship every year since); and in 1980, they began a major collaboration with Lancia (Group 5, Group 6, Group C). In 1988, the F188 and BMS Scuderia Italia marked their first Formula 1 adventure, albeit with little success. But things improved with the F189, perhaps because Swiss engineer Heini Mader was responsible for the Cosworth DFR engines; Andrea de Cesaris finished on the podium at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Dallara was always about chassis. But over the years, more and more was added, such as suspension and aerodynamics. In 1993, the Italians developed a completely new vehicle for Formula 3 – and have had a virtual monopoly on victories ever since. The same applies to Indy Car: they competed for the first time in 1997 and achieved their first victory in 1998 (Eddie Cheever) – meanwhile, all Indy Cars run on Dallara chassis. Oh yes, that also applies to Formula E, by the way, everything is Dallara. Just like in Formula V8 3.5 and the GP2 series, everything is Dallara. Everything. And, of course, everything is made of carbon fibre reinforced plastic. It is no longer known exactly when Dallara discovered this material for himself. However, there is a famous anecdote within the company that one day he drove up to his company in a van with something like a huge oven on the flatbed. Dallara is said to have said: “This is an autoclave. I don’t know what we can use it for yet, but put it away, we’ll find something.” And Dallara certainly did find something: today, the Italians produce all the monocoques for the racing series listed above, are also allowed to supply Formula 1 (the names of the teams remain secret), and count Bugatti among their customers (along with other manufacturers that cannot be named here). Output is enormous, with most of the 700-plus employees working in this production area. The profit margin is likely to be very interesting. Because, of course, all of this is highly specialised, customised craftsmanship. Although larger quantities of parts can be ‘baked’ in the autoclave, the adjustments are made by hand, because every customer has different requirements in terms of dimensions. This is where 3D printers come into play again. They can be used to test the first attempts, albeit at no lower cost, but with significantly less effort. What comes out of the ‘oven’ is then final and meets the highest safety standards.
We were allowed to see even more. And also nothing. Secrecy and discretion are very important issues in Varano de’Melegari. And so we are also given a tour of the aerodynamics department at Dallara, where we can marvel at their own wind tunnel and a dozen state-of-the-art, huge 3D printers. But the Italians do not talk about specific projects. Nor do they talk about past ones. They only tell us that of the six studios in the building, they can currently only use one for their own projects. Another building houses one of the most advanced driving simulators in the world. Dallara does not want to reveal what is currently being tested. Here, too, absolute discretion prevails. A few things can be pieced together in the in-house museum, such as the 2014 Renault Sport R.S. 01. This later became the current Alpine. And then, of course, there is the KTM X-Bow. Dallara contributed much more than just the monocoque to this. We are also familiar with older stories, such as that of the Dallara-Judd SP1, with which Fredy Lienhard won the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2002 – one of the greatest victories in Swiss racing history.
In the middle of the village, a few hundred metres from the factory premises, there is a brand new hall. This is where the Dallara Stradale, the first road car to bear the name of the great master, is handcrafted. Giampaolo made his first attempts at this many years ago, but then new and different projects always got in the way. Such as the Alfa Romeo 4C, for example. The Dallara employees don’t want to tell us this story either, but we know the background: the vehicle was actually supposed to be a Dallara, Alfa wanted a few models, then more models, then took over the entire project. And those who had invented it no longer had the capacity to get anything off the ground themselves. But on 16 November 2017, the time had come: Giampaolo’s 81st birthday was the day his own vehicle was unveiled. Dallara said: ‘In this car, I have eliminated all the mistakes I have made over the past 50 years.’ Production is limited to 600 units, but it didn’t really get off the ground at first because of the coronavirus pandemic. Only now is production up and running, with two to four Stradales being built per week, and there is no reason to believe that they will not all be sold soon. Meanwhile, Dallara is of course already working on an electric sports car, although the Italians would never confirm this. But now we’re driving one, and that’s what matters.
We’re just not used to it anymore. For years now, electronic aids have largely eliminated driver error, somehow even the clumsiest driver can get out of a corner. Even as an experienced driver, you sometimes get a little careless with the tremendous power that modern sports cars unleash, hitting the accelerator too early at the exit of a corner, brushing down before the car has really stabilised. Well, such behaviour is not recommended in the Dallara Stradale, not even with the best will in the world, as it can end badly. The Italian car is a wild, nervous beast, mid-engine, none of those huge wheels – when the grip breaks away, it needs a skilled hand to bring it back under control. Okay, maybe we shouldn’t have turned off the ESP, but we wanted to experience the car exactly as Giampaolo Dallara had imagined it. He didn’t want ESP, but the supplier Bosch, which was also financially involved in the development of the vehicle, vetoed the idea.
Dallara didn’t want a roof either, not even a windscreen. He had to be convinced that there are still many potential customers who can’t tolerate too much fresh air, so in addition to the pure barchetta, there is also a roadster (with windscreen) and something like a coupé with gullwing doors. Both the roadster and the coupé can be converted back to their original form in just a few simple steps. Unfortunately, Dallara locks us into a coupé. Getting in is not that easy, but once you’re inside, you’ll be amazed at how spacious it is. It’s easy to imagine taking a long trip in this Italian car, as the bucket seats are pleasantly comfortable; the only hassle is fastening your seatbelt. And when driving in ‘normal’ mode, the noise level is quite pleasant; the Stradale rolls along smoothly. But that changes abruptly when you switch to ‘sport’ mode, and the car becomes a beast. And the 400 hp four-cylinder engine right behind your ears sings a loud song.
For a modern sports car, 400 hp and 500 Nm of maximum torque don’t sound that impressive. But we’re talking about a Dallara here, and thanks to the grand master’s 50 years of racing experience, a Dallara can shine in a number of areas that make it a great driving machine. There’s the weight: 855 kilos! (One owner says: 867 kilos.) There’s the torsional rigidity: the thing doesn’t roll at all. There’s the chassis: it’s incredible how the Stradale sticks to the asphalt. The steering, without any power assistance, is extremely direct and precise. In terms of pure driving experience, the Dallara is probably closer to a racing car than any other road-legal sports car.
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