New Kimera EVO38: Reborn Lancia Gets Massive Upgrade! | 4K

0:00 This is the new, improved, more powerful version of a car that last year

0:04 we called the greatest performance car on the planet.

0:07 It's called the Chimera Evo 38.

0:09 And can it really improve on the allconquering Evo 37?

0:14 Or have they totally ruined it and made it too polished?

0:21 [groaning] In this video, we're going to be showing you

0:24 what every button and switch does in the interior,

0:27 pointing out all the styling and mechanical upgrades,

0:30 and we'll be driving it flat out on an Italian mountain pass.

0:36 Stick around to the end of the video when we're going to be

0:38 slapping some studded tires on this and going for a drift about

0:41 on our very own private ice racing [music] track with the boss Luca Betty

0:45 to celebrate this car's rallying roots

0:47 and the fact that it's now four-wheel drive.

0:50 We got the weather for it.

0:52 A quick reminder then that this is a tribute

0:54 to the Lancia 037 Group B rally car,

0:57 famously the last rear wheel drive car to win the World Rally Championship.

1:03 It's a resto mod technically with just

1:06 a little lancier Monte Carlo in the chassis, but beyond that, it's entirely new.

1:12 And while the company's first car, the Chimera Evo 37,

1:16 was faithfully rearwheel drive, this new Evo 38 version is four-wheel drive,

1:21 a tribute to a four-wheel drive version of the Lancia

1:24 037 that was in development back in the 80s,

1:28 but was eventually canned in favor of the Delta Integr.

1:32 Right, let's have a poke about inside, shall we?

1:38 Okay, so the snow was coming down pretty good outside,

1:40 so we've moved inside to the garage to show

1:42 you around the interior of the Evo 38,

1:45 and you are in for a treat because the commitment to analog

1:49 in the interior of this car is unlike anything we've ever seen before.

1:54 I'm gonna take my time because there's a lot to get through.

1:56 We'll start with the seats.

1:58 So, you actually sit lower than you do in the Evo 37.

2:01 That's partly down to the fact that you've got a full carbon floor.

2:05 Now, these seats here are the comfort seats.

2:07 You can also get the full carbon seats,

2:10 but according to Luca, these are the ones you want.

2:12 You can raise them up and down electrically,

2:15 back and forth manually, and they've worked on the alignment.

2:20 So, the alignment between the pedals, the steering wheel,

2:24 and the seat is now roughly a straight line.

2:27 Whereas on the Evo 37, your legs were over here somewhere.

2:29 The steering wheel was over here.

2:31 Of course, you didn't really care because you were having so much fun

2:34 and you were so engrossed in the process of driving, but there we go.

2:38 It's been improved.

2:39 Okay, steering wheel as simple as it could possibly be.

2:43 And then behind them, of course,

2:45 you've got analog dials for your speedometer, for your tachometer,

2:50 physical needle, um, physical increments,

2:53 but little tiny digital screens embedded into those dials.

2:57 And these kind of auxiliary dials that stretch across the dash here,

3:01 they have a physical needle as well, but screens in the background.

3:06 Um, so you can change the function of each dial.

3:10 You can flash up messages to the driver as well.

3:13 That blend of digital and analog right there.

3:17 Let's just move across the dash here

3:19 because the feel of these organ stop switches,

3:25 those are for your fog lights, are just phenomenal.

3:28 You can tell someone has sweated over the noise they make,

3:32 the way they feel, and it pays off handsomely.

3:36 Here, a big row of switches.

3:39 Um, I won't take you through all of them, just the most important one.

3:42 This one is your suspension lift.

3:45 So, uh, the suspension, there's motorized, um, hydraulic shocks in the back.

3:49 We'll have a look at those in a minute.

3:51 And it raises the car up by 50 mm,

3:53 so you can go into full-on rally/ Dhakar mode on kind of rougher surfaces.

3:59 And I'm sure we'll be having a go

4:00 with that on the ice track a little bit later on.

4:03 This one here opens up the flap in the exhaust,

4:08 so you get a much louder exhaust note.

4:10 effectively switches it from being rooted through

4:13 the mufflers to just a straight pipe.

4:16 And there's a very cool party trick where you can see

4:19 the turbo glowing red through that central outlet when the flap is open.

4:25 Incredibly cool.

4:26 Right, you'll see here a radio but no screen to control your radio.

4:31 So, this is just the prototype.

4:32 I'm told it's about 85 90% finished.

4:36 representative in the way it dries,

4:37 but just a few little bits that haven't quite been finalized.

4:41 When you hit that radio button,

4:42 a screen is going to emerge magically from under here.

4:45 So, you can adjust what you need.

4:47 And then you hit it again and it will disappear because we like analog.

4:51 We don't like screens.

4:52 So, we need it, but it needs to be nice and hidden away.

4:56 Now, you might remember if you watched our Evo

4:58 37 video that the air con wasn't particularly good,

5:02 especially in searing heat in Portugal, but here they've sorted that out.

5:07 This aircon system now runs off a 48vt system.

5:11 And you can see here you've got this little touch screen.

5:13 So, you can hit that, you can adjust your fan speed,

5:16 or you can go back to the menu and you can adjust your temperature there.

5:20 And these vents are inspired, I'm told, by the Ferrari F40,

5:24 as are these kind of slatted vents in the door,

5:28 which is a nice little Easter egg.

5:31 And then we get to the really exciting bit that you've been staring

5:34 at and wondering why on earth I haven't talked about it yet, right?

5:37 So, six-speed manual gearbox as per the Evo 37,

5:41 but here you've got shorter gear ratios.

5:44 The gear lever is also raised up by about 30 mm.

5:48 Reason for that is because it just places

5:50 it that much closer to the steering wheel.

5:52 So, you've got less distance to travel when you're absolutely on it.

5:56 And this arrangement here, it's all aluminium.

5:59 All the uh metal you can see machined billet aluminium.

6:04 This is a little nod to the Lancia Delta Integr.

6:08 But on that car, this was all made out of plastic.

6:11 Here, of course, it's beautiful aluminium screwed together.

6:14 Looks wonderful.

6:16 You can see that exposed linkage from the manual gearbox.

6:19 The big story here is this car is now four-wheel drive.

6:24 The Evo 37, of course, was only rear wheel drive.

6:26 So, when you make a big change like that, what do you do?

6:29 Well, you showcase it in a transparent tunnel here where you can actually see

6:35 the front drive shaft spinning around because they've

6:38 handily drawn some dotted red lines on it.

6:41 to to help you see the spinning motion running to the front axle of the car.

6:46 Gorgeous bit of um engineering art down there.

6:49 Now, the way that this works is you've got a hydraulically

6:52 actuated clutch on that front axle and this lever here,

6:56 which again has such a beautiful listen

6:59 to the click ah as it moves down the mode.

7:03 So, here we have 100% rear wheel drive.

7:08 here 25% front, 75% rear.

7:11 And here, 50% front, 50% rear.

7:15 The way it works is it increases the hydraulic pressure,

7:18 squeezes that clutch together,

7:19 and allows more of the power to go to the front axle.

7:22 But the idea is you can do this on the fly.

7:24 You can do this while you're moving.

7:26 So, if you see a surface change up ahead,

7:28 you can literally change your torque distribution

7:31 on the fly and then get back on it.

7:33 Speaking of on the fly, this thing here, a hydraulic handbrake,

7:38 but cleverly like in WRC cars, it declutches the engine behind.

7:43 So, you don't need to touch the clutch pedal.

7:45 You can stay on the throttle, pull it,

7:48 it will lock up the rears, instigate that slide,

7:50 and then when you release the handbrake,

7:52 it dumps the clutch again, and off you go.

8:03 proper proper rally car stuff.

8:06 Let's come down here.

8:07 As I said, this is a prototype, so there's a few little bits that are going

8:10 to be finished even better in the final car, but we get a good idea here.

8:14 So, map this is uh so you can switch between engine maps.

8:19 You can have effectively 400 horsepower,

8:21 500 horsepower, or the full 600 horsepower.

8:24 Why would you want less power?

8:26 Well, it makes the car slightly smoother when you're um you know

8:29 on the morning commute stuck in a traffic jam in your Evo 38.

8:34 This is to control the level of traction control.

8:38 This prototype doesn't actually have traction control.

8:41 Good luck, Jack.

8:41 But then we are going to be driving around in icy conditions,

8:44 so you wouldn't want it.

8:49 Anyway, here you can uh change how aggressive you want the ABS

8:53 depending on um the amount of grip on the surface you've got.

8:56 And here is for the suspension.

8:58 So, you can adjust how stiff or soft you want that suspension to be.

9:05 Right, I'm building up to the big finale,

9:07 which is showing you the startup sequence for this car.

9:09 But just one more thing to show you here, which is very cool indeed.

9:12 this bit between the two passengers.

9:14 If I can lift it out, it is a removable Chimera backpack.

9:21 Quite some flex that normally people will head into a a bar

9:24 or a restaurant and throw their Porsche Ferrari keys on the bar surface,

9:28 but no, you walk in swagger in rather with your Chimera backpack.

9:32 Right, I said I saved the best for last.

9:35 If you look above your head now,

9:38 um you'll see uh a camera for a rear view mirror,

9:40 but we're not bothered with that.

9:42 Those are quite common these days.

9:44 It's this the overhead starting procedure.

9:46 So on the Evo 37, it was an amazingly complicated and analog procedure.

9:53 And I think they've gone one better here

9:55 because these switches are lifted directly from a helicopter.

10:01 uh Luca Betetti the CEO he couldn't find the switches that not

10:05 only had the right weight that not only had the right

10:07 feel but also made the right noise and he got into a helicopter

10:11 and he saw these switches and he knew they were perfect.

10:14 He found a supplier and here we go.

10:17 So when you want to start up your car,

10:21 this switches on the electrics, this checks all the systems.

10:27 This turns on the fuel pump.

10:29 put your foot on the clutch and you squeeze these two buttons down here.

10:36 That's so good.

10:37 It's so unnecessarily complicated, but I can't tell you how happy that makes me.

10:42 Oh, and the last thing I forgot to mention was the um the electric window

10:46 switches up here because why wouldn't you

10:50 have your electric window switches above your head?

10:55 This isn't a car interior.

10:57 It's a playground.

11:03 [groaning] Okay, prepare to start dribbling.

11:09 Let's take a look at what's hiding under here.

11:15 Look at that.

11:16 Are you ready for some engineering art?

11:19 Because here we have the familiar 2.1 L 4 cylinder engine,

11:26 supercharged and turbocharged from the Evo 37,

11:29 but of course here it's very different.

11:32 Now on the Evo 37, the turbo was mounted high and up here,

11:37 but of course they wanted more power.

11:39 You've got a four-wheel drive system.

11:41 It saps more power.

11:42 So, they wanted it to feel the same

11:44 in terms of acceleration and response as the Evo 37,

11:48 but with that four-wheel drive system drawing on the engine.

11:51 So, you needed a bigger turbo,

11:53 but they also moved the turbo here directly behind the engine.

11:58 And that created a few little opportunities.

12:01 Number one, you can get a much cleaner, easier um air intake route.

12:06 We'll show you the ram air intake from the roof in a little minute.

12:09 And it comes straight in the top here.

12:12 You've also got these wingshaped coolers.

12:15 This one's for the oil.

12:17 This one is for the intercooler.

12:20 And this rather unique uh exhaust concept that they came up with.

12:25 So in here is a flap.

12:27 Now this isn't the normal exhaust flaps that you might see in in you

12:32 know BMWs and etc where it opens partially to create a bit more noise.

12:36 This is a flap that is either fully open or fully closed.

12:40 When it's fully open,

12:42 you essentially have a straight through exhaust that comes out of this pipe.

12:46 Obviously, a lot louder, a lot noisier.

12:49 When the flap closes,

12:51 the gas is rerooed through these pipes, through these mufflers,

12:55 which unfortunately are going to get slightly bigger

12:57 for the production car to muffle down the noise even more,

13:01 and then out the uh exhaust tips out here.

13:05 Push rod suspension now, front and rear for the Evo 38.

13:10 You can see the adjustable dampers here.

13:12 And in here is the hydraulic lift mechanism.

13:16 So you can raise the car up by 50 mm when you push that button.

13:22 This is still a prototype.

13:24 It's not even the absolutely perfectly finished article,

13:28 but my word is it gorgeous.

13:31 Right.

13:31 And let's have a look around the front because

13:35 there are similarly gorgeous things to look at under here.

13:40 Okay, I'll go around the other side again.

13:43 Push rod suspension benefits in terms of the front

13:46 wheel kinematics in terms of the packaging.

13:50 Of course, they also just look ridiculously cool.

13:53 Down there you can see the battery for the 48V

13:57 system for the aircom that we mentioned earlier.

13:59 Now, this bit's going to be slightly rearranged and repackaged.

14:02 So, you've actually going to have some extra luggage space in the front there.

14:07 Right, let's close this up.

14:11 So, the chassis, by the way, on this is three times stiffer than the Evo 37.

14:16 And remarkably, despite the fact that it's four-wheel

14:19 drive and you've got all this additional hardware,

14:22 thanks to extra carbon fiber and a few other titanium bits,

14:27 it actually weighs 1100 kg.

14:29 It's less.

14:30 It weighs less than the Evo 37.

14:33 Right, take a look at the front of the car.

14:35 Um, these headlights are slightly different.

14:38 Loving [snorts] the yellow light signature.

14:40 You've got this kind of four quarters uh motif in there

14:44 with a little Chimera logo when you get up close.

14:48 The front bumper down here quite different,

14:51 more aggressive, but really it's all designed around function.

14:55 This is for cooling the brakes.

14:57 This is basically an S duct.

14:58 You've probably seen that on a lot of the mid-engineed V8 Ferraris there.

15:03 It's it's often used for to create extra downforce.

15:06 Here really it's all about cooling.

15:07 So under there you have the big radiator draws the air in through here and then

15:12 up through the bonnet over the top of the car and into the intake down there.

15:18 Speaking of which, so these are the intakes that we mentioned earlier.

15:22 So on the 37, this was um feeding uh air into the engine.

15:27 Here it's for the oil cooler.

15:29 Uh the intercooler is on the other side.

15:32 And then you've got this Ram air intake on the roof,

15:35 which we're always a fan of, but actually it

15:37 means you get more power the faster you go.

15:42 Come around the back.

15:44 The engine cover inspired by the Ferrari F40.

15:47 CEO Luca Betty loves that car.

15:50 It's a it's a representative of the era that this this car speaks to as well.

15:55 And then round the back, of course, the unique uh ducttail spoiler here.

16:01 And now for the bad news.

16:02 They're only building 38 of these cars and they're all sold out.

16:07 Although I have been told by Luca, and this is a world exclusive,

16:11 that there may be some Martini special editions

16:14 coming along and a few more allocations for those.

16:17 So keep your eyes and ears to the ground for that.

16:20 Uh, in terms of price, €880,000 plus local taxes.

16:25 So, if we translate that into the great

16:28 British pound plus 20% VAT, that's £918,000.

16:35 And with that terrifying number in mind,

16:38 it was time to give it a gentle ticking over.

16:45 Ah, yeah.

16:46 Yeah, that's annoying.

16:47 You see what's happened here is we've driven into a tunnel and as we

16:50 all know international law dictates that means

16:53 we have to um crack the windows slightly,

16:56 open up the flaps and the exhaust and um give it some Oh yes.

17:07 The way this car sounds is just spectacular.

17:11 There's nothing fake about it.

17:13 It's just mechanical anger coming from behind you and you

17:17 got these lovely whistles and chuffs from the turbo.

17:22 Oh, who said that four cylinders were boring, eh?

17:33 Okay, so let's talk about the gear shift [music] here.

17:36 It's perhaps slightly stiffer than you got in the Evo 37.

17:41 Same goes for the clutch, but I don't mind that at all.

17:44 It matches the character of the car.

17:47 It's nice that it's got some motorsport precision to the controls.

17:52 This car keeps you so entertained.

17:56 All the senses are catered for.

17:58 Your hands busy with the gear lever.

18:01 Your feet are dancing around on the pedals.

18:04 Your ears, of course, are listening to that thing behind you.

18:07 Your eyes have got this gorgeous dashboard to look

18:11 at and your bum is even talking to you.

18:14 It's telling you how the car's behaving underneath you.

18:17 Honestly, I don't think you could ever

18:20 drive this car and get even remotely bored.

18:26 So, have they knocked a few of the edges off the Evo 37?

18:31 Yeah, perhaps slightly.

18:32 But make no mistake, this car has not been sanitized.

18:38 It's still got that rally car DNA.

18:41 It still feels raw and unfiltered.

18:44 And the steering, especially every time you turn the wheel,

18:48 you can feel the car just wants to rotate.

18:52 Of course, in these wintry conditions,

18:54 I'm fairly happy about the security of the four-wheel drive.

18:59 and you've got a load more toys to play with than the Evo 37.

19:04 But nothing, and I'm so happy to be able to say this, nothing has been lost.

19:10 I mean, come on.

19:12 I'm driving a gorgeous tribute to Italian

19:17 rallying royalty on an incredible Italian road.

19:21 It snowed all last night.

19:23 The sun's just peaked out over the top of that mountain over there.

19:28 Life doesn't get any better than this.

19:37 Except in this fantasy, it actually does.

19:39 With a driving lesson from CEO and ex WRC driver Luca Betty.

19:49 Oh yes.

19:50 [music] Oh, it's so beautifully balanced.

19:56 [music] The steering's kind of sharp, but you have to be patient.

20:03 Oh, yes.

20:04 No.

20:05 No.

20:06 Oh, you can keep it, you know.

20:08 Nearly spun it.

20:09 Nearly spun it.

20:10 Do you know what I love, Nuka?

20:13 This car is worth a lot of money.

20:15 But I can see on your face that this is

20:18 this is what you want people to be doing in it.

20:21 Yeah.

20:21 You don't want it in a garage.

20:23 No.

20:24 You have to enjoy what uh you have.

20:27 Of course, it has to be beauty,

20:28 but also let you enjoy and let you feel the emotion.

20:32 Look at that.

20:34 Very well done.

20:37 Oh, Luca.

20:39 A car shouldn't look this good, sound this good, and feel this robust.

20:51 Sometimes you might feel like you're abusing a car, but this car loves it.

20:55 It's made for death.

20:57 I mean, when we are designing, uh,

21:00 we we look to be a rally car and it remains the DNA of a rally car.

21:07 Yeah.

21:06 If you also want to try different setups, you know,

21:10 you can even play for sure if you go with, let's say, more rear end drive.

21:16 Let's try.

21:17 So now 75 rear.

21:19 Yeah.

21:20 Look how much you are leaving anymore.

21:25 Okay.

21:29 You have to be so patient.

21:31 Right.

21:31 The snow is coming down now, so the visibility isn't quite as good.

21:38 Tell me honestly, can I make the WRC?

21:42 Well, I just took two cones out.

21:47 Oh, it sounds so good.

21:49 This is just about the most fun that you can have in a car.

21:57 [laughter] This is amazing.

22:01 But I want a driving lesson from the man himself.

22:05 Do you uh do you fancy a go?

22:08 And box.

22:14 Very good.

22:17 [music] And then because I'm a nice guy,

22:19 I let Luca swap seats with me and drive his own car.

22:24 Lucky I brought my pace notes.

22:28 [music] Do you still get a buzz out of driving these cars?

22:36 Every time I I enjoy honestly like a kid,

22:40 you know, it take me back to my previous life.

22:44 And sometimes my mind immediately switch in order to go not for enjoy

22:51 but immediately for the time lapse is a sort of obsession you know.

22:55 So to find the the proper way and go fast without losing time.

23:00 Yeah.

23:00 Yeah.

23:00 Yeah.

23:03 Oh just it's like a Yeah.

23:06 And I love to be very close to the corner you know.

23:12 Yeah.

23:11 To kiss the code.

23:12 Can you learn anything about the car when you're setting it up,

23:16 when you're developing it from driving it on ice?

23:20 Look, uh, in the ice,

23:21 you have all the reaction that the car normally do, uh, in an augmented way.

23:29 So, every kind of change of direction give you

23:32 the idea of how the setup is balanced or not.

23:36 And thanks to the original layout of the uh 037

23:40 that was completely longitudinal with everything with a a very central weight,

23:45 you have a great balance.

23:46 So you don't have any time the car that go away in a strange way.

23:52 And this permit you this vans.

23:57 Jesus.

23:59 I've got my window slightly open to let a bit

24:03 of air through so we don't mix up with all the moisture.

24:06 And I'm just getting pelted by the snow.

24:09 Oh, this is amazing.

24:14 Hands down, I think this is the most fun you can have in a car.

24:18 You know, my friend Mickey Bazion, I remember,

24:22 told me that driving and sliding is a beautiful

24:28 uh thing that a man can do, not be naked.

24:33 The most fun you can have with your clothes on.

24:37 Exactly.

24:46 You just can't get the drivers these days, you know.

24:49 I was showing Luca how it was done and I let him have a go cuz he was,

24:53 you know, in my ear and then I looked very princip.

24:56 Unbelievable behavior.

25:01 Fortunately, the Italian snow is so soft and fluffy

25:04 that after we dragged Luca out of the wall, we were back on our way again.

25:11 Flipping hell.

25:12 This car.

25:14 What a machine.

25:17 What a machine.

25:18 Hands down, this is the most exciting car I've ever driven.

25:22 And I do not say that lightly,

25:23 but it's the combination of things coming together.

25:27 The way it looks, the backstory, all the touch points,

25:32 the way it sounds, the way it behaves.

25:36 It's just so exciting.

25:39 Whether you're driving slowly, not moving at all,

25:43 or preferably, giving it the full beans.

25:50 Okay, time to gather my thoughts.

25:53 for a small car company like this to so emphatically nail their first car

25:59 and win a competition as prestigious as Top Gear's performance car of the year,

26:04 but then to make fundamental changes to that car and make it better still.

26:10 [music] Well, it's a bit of a phenomenal achievement.

26:14 Again, this car is the antidote [music] to modern supercars.

26:18 They're getting bigger and heavier and more complicated and more electrified.

26:23 But this thing is just small and angry

26:27 and noisy and just bursting with character.

26:30 And let's face it, it's pretty much the coolest thing I've ever seen.

26:34 I suppose the big question is where do they go from here?

26:38 What's next for Chimera?

26:39 Well, what's next is something called the K39.

26:43 And if you like your fast cars a little

26:44 bit more track focused rather than rally focused, you're in for a treat.