The Beast of Turin Fiat record car will run up the hill with its 28.5 liter four-cylinder at Goodwood this summer at the Festival of Speed, and here’s its first drive in 104 years with Lord March himself in the passenger seat. It’s a loud one.
It took Duncan Pittaway ten years to restore this unique record car using the surviving example’s chassis and the 28.5-liter engine sourced from the first prototype dismantled by Fiat in order to protect its innovations right after its Belgian run in 1911. After all, this was a 290+ hp machine using four valves per cylinder, multi-spark and an overhead cam built more than a century ago.
Due to a mechanical problem, the Best of Turin was only on static display at last year’s FoS before the team could finally fire her up in December, but now, the glitch is gone and Mr. Pittaway is planning to drive her all the way from Bristol to Goodwood for its run up the hill at the Festival.
That’s a mere 140 miles...
Sheep, a brave pheasant, hellfire and single digit mpg. Just wow.
For Chris Rosamond’s full story packed with Tom Shaxson’s wonderful images, head over to Goodwood Road & Racing!
Contact the author at mate@jalopnik.com.