The 600bhp Ares S1 now comes with gullwing doors

Ares Modena – the firm founded by ex-Lotus boss Dany Bahar – has announced that the hardtopped version of its first proper supercar has some new doors.

Of course, this wouldn’t usually be huge breaking news, but a quick look at the images above will tell you that these aren’t just any doors… they’re gullwing doors.

And any use of top-hinged ingress points is exciting. The S1 will also be available as a windscreened speedster, but we can’t get enough of this hardtop that pays tribute to Le Mans racers of the 1960s and 70s.

Of course, underneath the S1 is a mid-engined C8 Corvette, so there’s a naturally aspirated 6.2-litre V8 sending 600bhp and 471lb ft of torque to the rear wheels through an eight-speed DCT gearbox.

The bodywork is all handmade from carbon fibre and has been designed and developed in-house at Ares’ Centro Stile in Modena. As a result, we’re told that the S1 weighs 1,380kg (almost 300kg less than the Corvette) and can sprint from 0-62mph in just 3.0 seconds. It’ll then run on to a top speed of 184mph, but now that it’s got gullwing doors it looks just as dramatic standing still.

An improvement on the original 2020 design?