A little known but significant Italian sports car brand has been revived, and delivery of its first new car in decades is now complete.
We are of course talking about Bizzarrini, the company founded in 1964 by Ferrari 250 GTO engineer Giotto Bizzarrini and responsible for the stunning 5300 GT sports car.
The original Bizzarrini only survived until 1969 but the company was revived in 2020, with the new owner, Kuwaiti investor Rezam Al Roumi, planning to offer both a modern supercar as well as continuation examples of the 5300 GT.
The continuation car, known as the Bizzarrini 5300 GT Revival Corsa, is the car that was just delivered. Just 24 customer examples are planned, with production handled at Bizzarrini’s newly constructed facility in the U.K. Customer deliveries are expected to run through 2023.
The team at Bizzarrini relied on more than a thousand original drawings and documents, plus an original 1965 5300 GT Corsa race car, when going about developing the continuation car and the production processes for it. Some of the people who worked on the original car back in the ’60s were also able to provide some input.
The modern Bizzarrini also studied an earlier example of the 5300 GT that won its class and finished ninth overall in the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans, with some elements from that successful racer reproduced for the continuation car. Impressively, the team also had an original body panel that had been hidden from light all these years, and this was color-matched to achieve the shade of Rosso Corsa that will be applied to all 5300 GT Revival Corsas. Each of the cars will also have a white numbered roundel, with the owner able to specify the number applied to their car.
Bizzarrini 5300 GT Revival Corsa production
Bizzarrini 5300 GT Revival Corsa production
Bizzarrini 5300 GT Revival Corsa
The resulting design is true to the original apart from changes required for modern regulations, specifically the FIA’s Appendix K regulations for historic racing events. New items include the roll cage, an independent rear suspension, and disc brakes at each corner. The modern Bizzarrini also designed a new fuel tank, shaped specifically to fit a void in the chassis, as opposed to using the original fuel tank design located deep in the sills as well as behind the driver.
Like the original, the 5300 GT Revival Corsa features a tubular steel frame. There’s also a period-specific 5.3-liter V-8 with Weber carburetors and a peak output falling somewhere between 400 hp and 480 hp. Considering the car weighs just 2,711 lb, performance should be scintillating.
Should the customer desire, the car can also be built to 5300 GT Strada specification for use on the road. Bizzarrini will also build the body out of carbon fiber, unless the buyer wants the car to confirm to historic racing regulations, in which case fiberglass will be used, just like the original.
Bizzarrini 5300 GT Revival Corsa
The price for one starts at 1.65 million British pounds (approximately $1.67 million). However, as is normally the case with such cars, all build slots are likely already gone.
As for what’s next, Simon Busby, Bizzarrini’s marketing chief, has confirmed a supercar.
“We relaunched Bizzarrini earlier this year as the start of a long-term vision; this first customer delivery is an important step along the road to fully realizing that vision,” he said. “As we continue to produce the rest of this series of vehicles we will continue building on the passion and values of the founder with the next stage of the ongoing development of our modern supercar.”
