A museum piece. This is how the well-known Fiat 1000tipla from the Vilebrequin duo should look. A racing car, with about 1,294 horses (all the same) and capable of reaching the stratospheric speed of 292 km/h (faster than the LMGTE Chevrolet Corvette C8. R which reached, in 2022, 289 km/h), will have its place at an exhibition for car enthusiasts. Just to keep his legend alive a little longer.
“In our opinion, the 1000tipla project is finished,” the two admitted in their latest video on YouTube.
“We would like it to still be accessible to many people. The plan that is emerging is the most obvious: to display it in a museum.”
Vilebrequin, in the video, remembers a “great project” that kept the channel “alive” for “some time.”
The 1000tipla was Vilebrequin’s core project since its appearance in 2018. The Fiat Multipla, an Italian car produced in 40,000 examples (only), was mocked by many automobile enthusiasts. Its unusual shapes and curves made it the “worst car in the world,” according to Vilebrequin, in the vehicle’s presentation video.
For the prank, the duo took the rave a little further than a simple test. The objective: increase the power of the Italian vehicle from 120 to 1,000 horsepower. And who says mechanical changes, necessarily means important investments. The channel launches a fundraising campaign, with the goal of raising 500,000 euros. But the success of the project and the enormous investment from the community ruined the goal. Sylvain Levy and Pierre Chabrier raised more than one million euros to make their “crazy dream” come true.
Chevrolet V8 and Bad Bunny Kit
From then on the project took shape. The car is dismantled, only the chassis is kept intact, and work begins. The small Multipla engine is replaced by a huge American V8. That of the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (C7 generation), a 6.2-liter V8, with a compressor, which alone develops 659 horsepower. If we add to that an optional eight-speed automatic gearbox – from the same Chevrolet -, we already have a car built for the circuit.
The engine will undergo some reprogramming, followed by testing on an automotive dyno. Therefore, the total amounts to 1294 horses, in a deafening thunder. In addition to the “mill”, the car will undergo some aesthetic changes. A body kit designed by Rocket Bunny is placed on the chassis. The 1000tipla thus becomes a track bodybuilder thanks to W Auto Sport, responsible for the assembly project.
Sponsored by the international leader in tire manufacturing, Michelin, the 1000tipla will, for a time, have yellow and blue as its main colors. Before Vilebrequin changed his mind, at the discretion of his community, and returned to the color red, paying tribute to “Loulous” (the nickname the two friends gave him to evoke their subscribers).
The car will take its first laps at the Nevers Magny-Cours circuit (Nièvre), before parading at the legendary 24 hours of Le Mans (Sarthe). As announced in the farewell video, the 1000tipla will never be homologated on the road, and should not return to a circuit soon.
“So that Loulous can admire it”, the car will therefore be displayed in a museum. Which ? The mystery remains.
Source: BFM TV
