Kimera Automobili has been developing its tribute to the Lancia 037 Group B rally car for some years now. Its latest iteration is the Kimera Evo 38 with a 2.1-liter twin-charged engine, meaning the four-cylinder engine is both supercharged
and turbocharged. It makes over 600 horsepower on a race-spec chassis that includes push rod shocks and is engineered to within an inch of its life. But there's something more on the horizon.
Now, Kimera is teasing the world with its road legal Pikes Peak race car. Based on the teaser image we see and Kimera's penchant for extraordinary builds, this new car looks like an absolute monster.
While Kimera is best known for its Evo cars, it has been teasing a Lancia Beta Montecarlo Group 5-inspired race car for Pikes Peak for a while. Finally, on May 15, at Hotel Villa Flori on Lake Como, Kimera will unveil both the K39 Pikes Peak race car and its road-legal customer version. The K39 follows the Evo models by "reimagining of the legendary 'Silhouette' of the Martini Racing team that dominated the World Sports Car Championship in the late `70s and early `80s.”
Engine Speculation
There's speculation that Kimera will go with a V8, which makes sense for the torque needed for a hill climb race. Twin-charging makes sense as well, as the air gradually gets thinner as the road snakes its way up the mountain. However, the outline under the cover might be that of the Italtecnica ITV6. That would fit, as the ITV6 is a boundary-pushing 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 developed to weigh less than 180 kilograms (396.83 pounds), while developing 610 horsepower at 7,200 rpm.
"The Pikes Peak record currently belongs to an electric car, whose performance is not penalized by the thin air that becomes increasingly oxygen-poor as you climb to the summit, where the Kimera K39 is expected for its greatest challenge."
The ITV6 is also designed to be compact, with a 90 degree V, and the turbos in a hot-V configuration – meaning they are mounted in the valley of the engine. But what really gets our attention about all this is that the ITV6 is developed for different configurations. Italtecnica calls them Steps, with Step one being for the road at
only 610 hp. Step 2 is for endurance racing with the tune set to develop 700 hp at 8,000 rpm. Step 3 is specifically for hill climb racing, with the engine developing 750 hp using a sequential turbocharging system pressure of 1.8 bar.
