The Beast of Turin Disturbs the Peace at Goodwood

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Written by Lambert Varias | April 2, 2015

Duncan Pittaway has become somewhat of a legend among classic car fans. For the past decade he’s been working to restore his Fiat S76, a car built in 1911 specifically to break the land speed record. Pittaway recently brought the beast to Goodwood for a test drive with Goodwood chairman Charles March. Lower your audio device’s volume before you watch the video. It’s not called The Beast of Turin for nothing.

The Fiat S76 has a crazy 28.5L four cylinder engine that allegedly produces up to 300bhp, all of which is sent to its axle by a poor chain. Fiat built only two units of the car in 1911 to beat the 141.7mph record set by the Blitzen Benz. The car went up to 134mph on the day of the attempt, but the event was discontinued due to a couple of extraneous issues.

Pittaway eventually found the car’s chassis in Australia and the engine in an Italian museum. He’s since spent even more time rebuilding the rest of the car, but as you can see his work has paid off. The 104-year old car will be shown off this June at Goodwood’s Festival of Speed along with other “earth-shattering Edwardian leviathans.” The car will also be the subject of a documentary by filmmaker Stefan Marjoram, who’s been following Pittaway’s restoration work and was on hand when the car was first fired up after over 100 years.

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