PININFARINA BATTISTA DRIVE

Richard Lane explores the madness of Pininfarina’s 1876bhp fighter jet on wheels and visits the ‘atelier’ behind the world’s first electric supercar to market

I turn to Loris. From across an intimate cockpit, immaculately trimmed, the man who started his career as an errand boy for Bob Wallace in Lamborghini’s R&D department yet went on to help develop many of the world’s groundbreaking supercars, starting with the quadturbo Bugatti EB110, looks back.

Thing is, Loris Bicocchi wasn’t involved in the development of this groundbreaking supercar. How groundbreaking are we talking? Pure-electric, Bugatti Chironeviscerating pace, Apple CarPlay, at least 222mph, homologated worldwide… Serious, then. But only recently has Bicocchi become involved, mainly to help owners get to grips with their new toy. It means that when I ask him what he thinks will happen if I bury the throttle in Furiosa mode, with the traction control tentatively set to Sport (to cut the powertrain some slack), the silver-haired Italian offers only an apologetic smile, then says he’s not entirely sure.

Having massaged as much temperature into the 1876bhp Automobili Pininfarina Battista’s Michelins as we’re ever going to get on an overcast day in the Langhe, south of Turin, it’s time to find out. As ever when attempting anything so absurdly far beyond the scope of one’s experience, some trepidation is to be expected – nay, welcome. Cars with a quarter of this power can get lairy if you nail it in second gear on roads smoother than the one we’re on (incidentally, lined with the hazelnut trees that helped launch the Ferrero dynasty, according to tour guide Bicocchi).

I remember talking to Porsche Le Mans hero Richard Attwood at around the time the Porsche 918 Spyder and McLaren P1 were launched. A laconic man of 917 Langheck-taming courage, he was concerned that owners would bin their precious acquisitions – and not because that’s what can happen when you give amateurs 1000bhp. Attwood felt the nearinstant electric punch of the hybrid powertrains would overrun the rear tyres before the chassis electronics could get their capes on. And, let’s face it, for sheer force, the Big Mac’s electric motor is a peashooter compared with the quartet of Rimac-designed heifers lurking underneath the carboneverythinged Battista. We’re talking 10 times the power here.