Even before its recent relaunch into an automotive homage for suburban hipsters, the Fiat 500 has carried a reputation as a cutesy little car. The original Cinquecento was a miniscule city car with just enough power from its two-cylinder engine to make the microcar move and little else. But, one supposes, throwing 1.3-liter sportbike motor into a car that barely weighs a half-ton should liven up the car a bit. This mighty mite of an Italian hot rod packs exactly that: the Suzuki Hayabusa engine that could propel hat bike to north of 180 mph.
While there’s not a ton of detail from the short video of it screaming around a track day at Italy’s Misano Circuit—where it makes a Renault Clio look like a Lincoln Navigator—there’s enough there to tell that the car was built with serious performance in mind. People don’t just drop push-rod suspensions into cars for giggles, although a glance under the engine cover will tell you there’s nowhere in the world you could fit upright struts. The rollcage, huge fender flares, and center driving position let you know this thing isn’t muckin’ about. In case that didn’t sell you on it, the banshee wail of the high-revving engine as the 500 rips past the camera clues you in.
