Barry Rabbitt's Fiat Punto Abarth

Barry Rabbitt has prepared his Fiat Punto Abarth for the Irish Fiat Cup 2003. Steve from Irishfiat together with the driver, took a good collection of pictures during the phases of the car setup. More pictures and information are coming very soon.

The 2003 Punto Abarth Cup kicks of on April 5th 2003 with the first race at Kirkistown Park. We will be reporting the results of each race and we will also be following the progress of Barry Rabbitt, winner of the 2002 Fiat Uno Cup.
Barry took delivery of a brand new Punto Abarth in November 2002 and is currently preparing it for the start of the season. On this page we will show you the progress Barry has made. Preparing the car involves stripping it down to almost a bare shell before rebuilding it to race spec.
The pictures below show the car in November/December 2003. The car was completely stripped down to a shell in preparation for the fitting of the roll cage.

Phase 1: stripdown


Picture no.1
Picture no.2
Picture no.3

All the pictures have been made on November 15th and December 10th, 2002.

Phase 2: rebuild

These pictures show the car being rebuilt in February 2003. Here you can see the roll cage welded in with plenty of triangulation. The first coat of paint, Mercedes Silver was also applied.


Picture no.4
Picture no.5
Picture no.6
Picture no.7
Picture no.8
Picture no.9

Picture no.10
Picture no.11
Picture no.12

All the pictures have been made from January 18th to February 2003.

Phase 3: mechanical assembly

This is the car as of March 2003. The first race is at Kirkistown on April 5th with testing before that. Here you can see the car starting to look like a Punto again. The dashboard is back in place, although it had to be cut to fit around the roll cage. Also in place is the front sub-frame, steering wheel column and rack, front suspension and anti-roll bar, gearlever and cables and the fuel tank.


Picture no.13
Picture no.14
Picture no.15

Picture no.16
Picture no.17
Picture no.18

All the pictures have been made in March 1st, 2003.

Phase 4: final setup

These are the latest pictures of the Punto Abarth taken on March 21st, 2003. As you can see, it's almost complete. With less than 2 weeks before the first race the car still has some work to be completed. The suspension has to be lowered further, it will be dropped by up to another 3 inches! The ECU also has to be fitted and the graphics are being added. The interior is race ready with the safety gear all in place.


Picture no.19
Picture no.20
Picture no.21

Picture no.22
Picture no.23
Picture no.24

All the pictures have been made in March 1st, 2003.

Phase 5: rapid testing

Here are some pics I took on 4th April on the final day of testing. The car is looking well, it's almost ready. It looks like it will be racing on April 5th with no graphics, as Barry and his team are focusing on making the car as fast as possible for the race day, time is running tight and stickers are way down the list. Barrys main concern now is that the engine still hasn't been run in. There are still less than 150 miles on the car. The car has passed scrutiny and if it goes as good as it looks it'll win for sure. The wee boy in the pic below is my son Tristan, this made his day.


Picture no.25
Picture no.26
Picture no.27
Picture no.28

Picture no.29
Picture no.30
Picture no.31
Picture no.32