This is Pininfarina’s 500bhp hydrogen track toy

Track day toys are all the rage at the moment. Stuff like the Aston Martin Vulcan and McLaren’s P1 GTR. Allow us to introduce a new boy to the fray: the Pininfarina ‘H2 Speed’.

Unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show, this sleek, one-off concept car is a technology demonstrator to prove that hydrogen-fuelled oversteer is the way forward.

That’s right, it’s hydrogen powered. “It’s a bit different from a normal sportscar,” Pininfarina’s design director Fabrizio Valentini tells TG. “The two hydrogen tanks on the side of the car are very big and difficult to cover with skin, so we decided to leave them naked.”

So, it’s a carbon-fibre chassis housing two ginormous tanks of hydrogen on either side, with a three-piece carbon fibre body – the front, the doors and the rear clamshell – that sports all kind of aero. There are two big radiators on the front to cool the fuel cell, a roof air intake to cool the twin turbos, and two intakes on the bonnet to cool the electric motors.

It’s also rear-wheel-drive only, with proper suspension, a proper working chassis and a working drivetrain. It’s quite quick, too. Maximum power sits at 500bhp, 0-62mph is quoted as 3.4s, and it’ll top out at 186mph.

Valentini tells us the whole package weighs just 1,400kg, and one of the hydrogen tanks can be refuelled in as little as three minutes. “This is not made for racing,” he tells us. “It’s made for the gentleman driver who wants to go to a track and have some fun.”

The idea is to garner enough interest to build a limited series of H2 track racers, though Valentini wouldn’t be pushed on a price. We suspect it’d run into many zeroes...

Paolo Pininfarina adds: “The present concept is a synthesis of technology, sustainability, harmony, aerodynamic flow and above all, speed.

“It is also the best way to confirm Pininfarina’s role as the standard-bearer of the aesthetic values of Italian design in the world,” he adds. Well, looking at it, it’d be hard to disagree with him…