Infiniti tantalized us with the reveal of the
Project Black S concept at the Geneva Motor Show, turning the
Q60 coupe into a performance prototype that could eventually make production. The project is a collaboration
between the luxury automaker and its corporate allies at the Renault Sport F1
team, and now it's brought in the expertise of another company as well.
That company is Pirelli, the Italian tire manufacturer
that provides the tires that Renault (and all the other teams) use on the
Formula 1 championship. Announced in Montreal during the Canadian Grand Prix
this past weekend, Pirelli's contribution will naturally revolve around designing and creating custom tires for the prototype as
part of its new Color Edition series, with indicative tonal markings on the
sidewalls.
The prototype packs Infiniti's 3.0-liter twin-turbo
V6 coupled with the Kinetic Energy Recovery System from the Renault F1 racer to
deliver 500 horsepower and evaluate production applications for this F1-derived
propulsion system.
That's a heck of a lot of muscle for a hybrid V6,
putting it just ahead of the similar setup in the Porsche Panamera 4 E-Hybrid
with its 462 horsepower, though well clear of the eight-cylinder Panamera Turbo
S E-Hybrid's 680 hp. Of course none of that is worth a dime if it can't be
transferred to the road, which is where this new deal with Pirelli comes in.
