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Bertone Mantide

The Jason Castriota designed Bertone Mantide was one of the vehicles displayed at the 2009 Shanghai Auto Show. Before its unveiling the Mantide concept had been teased for several weeks under the codename "Project M" and a series of images, videos and vague press releases had been circulated by Stile Bertone in order to whip up interest in the concept.

The Bertone Mantide is based on the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 - an outstanding car to begin with, and features the same 638 horsepower, supercharged, 6.2 litre V8 driving the rear wheels. However thanks to the the lightweight carbon fibre body panels and wheels which help shave 100 kgs (220 lbs) off the weight and a more aerodynamic profile the Mantide can sprint to 62 mph (100 km/h) in just 3.2 seconds and carry on to a top speed of 217 mph (351 km/h).

The futuristic and angular styling of the Stile Bertone Mantide was inspired by modern aerospace technology and the world of Formula One racing. These influences are apparent in the way the teardrop-like fuselage tightly wraps around the drivetrain, and the prominent aerodynamic wings which intersect the cabin and fold down into the rear wheel arches.

The Mantide's aerospace and racing inspired styling is further underlined by the low-slung nose, jet fighter style canopy and butterfly opening doors, as well as the numerous air intakes and outlets. However the radical exterior design of the Mantide is not just cosmetic. By using an advanced full scale wind tunnel to fine tune the profile, and thanks to a race-car derived flat floor plan the Mantide features an impressive drag coefficient of Cd 0.298, and also a 30% improvement in downforce over the ZR1. This means that not only is the Mantide more stable at speed, it is also more aerodynamically - and therefore fuel - efficient.

The strictly two-seat interior of the Stile Bertone Mantide features an FIA compliant triangulated roll cage, lightweight carbon fibre racing seats and four-point racing harnesses.

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