Dallara introduced a celebratory livery for its road-legal Stradale and track-ready EXP. The new livery is a tribute to the Dallara IR8, which won the Indy 500 in 1998 with Eddie Cheever driving.
It has been 25 years since Cheever scored the W at Indianapolis, which is what the XXV on the hood refers to. The livery is not complete, however. While the blue and black hues are a perfect match, Dallara chose not to include the sponsor stickers. In 1998, the main sponsors were Goodyear, Coca-Cola, and Rachel's Gourmet Potato Chips. Putting the full livery on would have been a legal nightmare, and a bit awkward since the Dallara's EXP comes standard with Pirelli P Zero racing slicks.
On the inside, Dallara adds Alcantara seats, yellow paddle shifters, a silhouette of the original racing car, and a model-specific digital instrument cluster, which provides all the basics and some racing telemetry.
The Stradale is Dallara's road-biased model, although it's a lightly disguised racing chassis powered by a 400-horsepower 2.3-liter Ford EcoBoost engine. It's the same engine used in the entry-level EcoBoost Mustang with some extra grunt.
Dallara announced the car in 2017, stating that only 600 would be made at a rate of 120 per year. That was before the COVID-19 pandemic, which would have impacted the business plan. The Italian company did not provide an update on sales figures, but it has made some changes to the Stradale.
A manual gearbox is no longer an option, and each car will be equipped with the automated manual system from the EXP track car.
While on the topic of the EXP, it will soldier on as is. Not that we care, because it was already brilliant to begin with. The EXP loses the roof but gains several aerodynamic tweaks that produce 2,755 pounds of downforce at 181 mph. The entire car only weighs 1,962 lbs, which means this is theoretically one of those cars with enough downforce to drive upside down.
The Mustang-derived EcoBoost engine here is dialed up to 11 and produces 492 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque in the EXP.
Only 25 of each will be made. Dallara has not released pricing for the EXP or this livery. A Stradale costs roughly $225,000 (depending on the exchange rate), so if you have to ask, this probably isn't the right car or livery for your wallet.