Just days after its international media première the 500 Abarth is making its public debut at this weekend's Goodwood Festival of Speed; and although it one of the tiniest cars in action at the motorsports extravaganza it is proving to be one of the biggest stars.

Just days after its international media première the 500 Abarth is making its public debut at this weekend's Goodwood Festival of Speed; and although it one of the tiniest cars in action at the motorsports extravaganza it is proving to be one of the biggest stars.

The 500 Abarth if fact is entered amongst the vast array of exotic machinery from past and present era at Goodwood in a new class this year, Class 31, A Taste of Things to Come, described as "a collection of brand-new pre-production and concept cars". Included in this category is the brand new racing VW Scirocco GT24, and the cars are located in the Cathedral Paddock, just yards from the dazzling automotive exotica brought to England by Alfa Romeo's official museum in Milan, Automobilismo Storica Alfa Romeo. With the wild-looking race Scirocco on one side it nestles next to the Alfa Romeo 155 touring car machine that Gabriele Tarquini raced to victory in the 1994 British Touring Car Championship. Also in this batch is the 197 bhp mid-engined Toyota Aygo 'Crazy'.

The 500 Abarth being demonstrated at Goodwood is the 'Opening Edition' special series that celebrates the commencement of production of this Fiat 500 based car, which is the second model from the newly revived Abarth stable following on from the successful introduction of the turbocharged Grande Punto Abarth last autumn.

The 500 Abarth Opening Edition pumps out 160 bhp from the 1.4-litre T-Jet engine, giving it the car an impressive top speed of 211 km/h, and a standstill to 100 km/h time of 7.4 seconds. It is immediately recognisable in the flesh by its aluminium 'Opening Edition' branded kick plates, darkened 'privacy' windows, red painted front and rear brake calipers, bright red leather seats, while the 500 logo on the dashboard has 'powered by Abarth' in text underneath.

It is highly specified  with a number of options being offered as standard equipment on this car including climate control system, radio with CD and MP3, the sophisticated Interscope Hi-Fi Sound System and a Blue&MeTM Map satellite navigation system while in the field of safey the car is fitted with 7 airbags, fog light, ABS with EBD (Electronic Brake Distribution), ESP (Electronic Stability Program) with ASR (Anti Slip Regulation) and Hill Holder in addition to the brand new Torque Transfer Control.

In the Cathedral Paddock at Goodwood yesterday the single 500 Abarth Opening Edition, which is finished in pearlised white and bearing red stripes, attracted a lot of attention from the massed ranks of visitors (around 160,000 are expected over the three days) and while it remained a static exhibit on Friday, today and tomorrow it will be going up the hill as part of the Supercar Run. On Monday the UK dealer launch of the 500 Abarth will take place at Goodwood as its showroon arrival looms into view.