By Stefan Marjoram: A ridiculously exciting day yesterday! I’ve been sketching and photographing the rebuild of the 300 h.p. FIAT S76 land speed record car for a few years now. Yesterday, over 100 years since it had last run, The Beast of Turin was brought back to life again. A misbehaving coil caused a lot of head scratching in the morning, and it was a good twenty or so attempts before the best settings for the timing and mixture were found.
But when the engine finally burst into life the noise was spectacular – as were the flames (despite running a bit lean). The first burst from the 28-litre (1729 c.i.) engine shook the whole car, but it soon calmed down and ran smoothly – without losing any oil and without any worrying noises. Duncan, Bruce and Tucker’s patience and attention to detail and hard work has paid off. The next task will be to find a wide open space in which to try driving it.
Editors Note: A BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Duncan Pittaway and Company, all of Southwestern England for accomplishing this long-term project. We have been following Duncan’s progress on it since May of 2011 thanks to Stefan Marjoram of Lower Langford, North Somerset, England. You can look back here at all of our coverage and Stefan’s earlier artwork and photography of the Fiat S76 on The Old Motor.
Below you can see and hear the start-up of the Fiat yesterday in the trailer by Stefan Marjoram for The Beast of Turin, a film that is upcoming in February of 2015.
WOW! I jumped back from my desk when that beast started. It must have been incredible to be standing next to it!
Wonderful project, so great to see it completed.
My secretary and I leaped under my desk…and remained there till we adequately comforted one another!
That’s outrageous!! Wish I would have been there to hear it live. Thanks.
I think I felt the earth tremor a bit yesterday morning here in New England when they lit the Beast off in the UK.
What a fantastic achievement!
Cheers,
Joe P
Many thanks for giving us the chance to view this auspicious occasion!
The thanks should go out to Stefan Marjoram, he has done a great job of covering this project.
I feel something running up and down over my back! Those flames and macho sound !!!Brrr awesome !!!
At last! Even more impressive than I’d dared hope. Congratulations to all involved.
Wonderful restoration. Where can we find more of the race car history? Where will the movie be released?
J.D You can learn quite a bit here by looking back through our earlier posts: http://theoldmotor.com/?s=Fiat+S76&paged=1
Stefan hopes to have his movie done by Feburary of 2015 and hopefully we will show it here on The Old Motor.
Fantastico! I can’t wait to see the Beast in the flesh. A great achievement. Congratulations to Duncan and co for resurrecting this historic monster.
Very, very impressive! A weird moment was the long lasting split second after the last turn of the crank and before it burst into life. The moment of seemingly rest before the jump! Good luck to the man who will drive it first !!
Ariejan, The cranking was to get it over TDC before it was started after being primed with gas and then by switching on the Bosch trembler coil.
What an incredible video!
Interesting that the FIAT seems to be sharing garage space with a 1st-generation blue Plymouth Barracuda.
Not just any 1st-generation blue Plymouth Barracuda. That’s the factory-backed Team Starfish Barracuda from the 1st year of the Trans-Am series. Or a replica of it.
Wow been waiting awhile to hear/see that! Thanks David. Did he bring the beast to just over TDC and then hit the ignition? I hope there will be more vid of it running.
John, Yes primed and just past TDC then the Bosch trembler coil it turned on. Look for Stefan’s film in Feburary 2015.
I am speachless, what a project!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations.
Awakening an old engine is an awe-inspiring step, kind of like creating life. When I brought back an old stationary engine — after how many decades of silence? — it also spewed fire and explosion. No better way to have it happen!
Thats wonderful.. Congratulations to all concerned. Hope I can see and hear it myself some day!. I hope old Pietro heard it!.
Holy cow! The reason for it’s name is now abundantly clear. A thunderous debut for a remarkable project.
Wow!
Thats what Grandpa Munster should have driven instead of Dragula!
That was absolutely the purest form of magic I’ve seen. David Copperfield , move over!
“B-E-A-S-T” is a gross understatement!!
A wonderful achievement – congratulations to all concerned.
Wow, that must have been quite a joy to hear start up.
Holy Guacamole!
I have to admire those Englishmen for their skill and tenacity in re-building and firing The Beast.
I also admire their fine taste in garage wear. I have never seen anyone wear a necktie while tightening wheels or hand cranking a motor !
It is great work on all counts…
That’s sublime. Period.
Thank you, Duncan Pittaway, for bringing back a car I read of over 40 years ago and had presumed lost until I saw a photo of you holding one of the connecting rods…
Bill.
there is one bigger thrill in life
They have done something that will never be done again! There is only one of these fabulous cars and they have breathed new life into it. An act of pride that can never be replicated or forgotten!
Rex Schimmer
anyone notice the lack of beer cans sitting round???
eighty years young been around motors 75 never saw anything like that god bless fiat and those lymes who brought it back to life
S. 76 =
Fiat 1911
28.353 ccm
290 CV
1.650 kg
Brooklands 1911, driver Petro Bordino 200 km/h
Ostende; driver Arthur Duray 225 km/h
// it’s told: Long Island. April 1912 ca. 290 km/h
// it’s told: GB, December 2014 > car is inhaling kids ….
Thank you boys, really great job!
Absolutely Fantastic!
well done to all, that really is a tremendous english appreciation and tribute to the original italian engineering . Only you guys could have done it quite so brilliantly, and i look forward to a lot more to come.
Keep it up!
MONO LISA ON WHEELS!!
WELL DONE OLD CHAP!!
Thank you for making that video available, the sound literally gave the chills! I went ahead and posted it on my Facebook page in hopes more people will get to enjoy it……breathtaking!
Emotional magic. Thank you.
Thank You David for this posting…thank you Stephan for your excellence in documenting this story. I have watched this video 100 times (!) and will never tire of it!
Stefan did a REMARKABLE job. He just messaged me and let me know it hit 1.4 million views. We can’t wait to see the feature presentation.
It would be interesting to know how many engine parts had to be fabricated for this restoration. The crankshaft seems to be machined out of a solid billet. The trans axle looks original, as does the huge water pump. Is there a more detailed description of the engine rebuild?
Donald, Other than new replacement connecting rods (He has the undamaged originals) that were replaced in the interest of safety, the balance of the components, including the crankshaft that appears to be built-up are original. I believe that Duncan also changed all the valves and valve springs to be on the safe side.
The chain drive transmission and differential was missing and was the biggest missing link, so a he built built a new one. The body work and radiator were also fabricated.
Damn fool I am- I broke down and cried when that beast fired up.
you are not alone in this. For sure!!
Its projects like this that inspire all of us to continue to chase the cheese !
Gentlemen, Thank you for sharing the video. I appreciate the quality of the video and the tease of the piano – Right up to the START!
I shared the video with my Engineering Classes, and tried to explain the importance, the history, the horsepower, the enormity of such a grand project. Today’s youth need explanation of the importance of historical preservation.
I could swear he was going to break a kneecap starting with the hand crank. I ran back to my amp to turn down the ROAR of the engine as the Beast awoke from slumber. Students looked up to figure the change of volume, only to witness the sparks flying from the exhaust!
I demonstrate my love for old mechanical machines by maintaining a couple Series Rovers. I would rather ‘work on old cars’ than program a new one.
Continue the Good Work!,
H
Complete, hard work and that little used virtue, integrity. No dials, fat tyres, starter added etc. Aluminium or iron pistons? No matter. Today’s oil will protect and preserve the machinery when used in anger.
Magic. Really well done. With a bit of dirt through usage, and it will be perfection.
Wonderful project. I admire what they have done to bring this historic car back to life. However, am I the only one bothered by the jumping video? Watching the video is mostly ruined for me by this “cool” video technique.
Richard, sorry to here of “the jumping video” it is the first we have heard of it.
Found a contemporary article from “The Australian Motorist” journal (Dec 1918), written by Cy. T. Alberione during a visit to Austraia, which describes his experience riding in this monster. Interesting reading, once you get past the flowery early-1900s prose! You’ll find it at http://www.members.dcsi.net.au/ies/FIAT01.jpg.
heartfelt congratulations to all who brought this magnificent ‘beast’ back to life – it is a monument to you all to see and hear it again.
I have to wonder, why doesn’t somebody restore the Golden Arrow and get it running for today’s generation to see and hear what our grandfathers created without 3-d printers , multi-axis cnc machine centre’s etc. the original creators and the ‘recreator’s’ deserve a pat on the back for what they have done for us all.
thank you – it makes my old heart beat a little bit faster.
well done.
cheers
john
Looks fantastic. I was eagerly awaiting for when the engine was started 🙂 And I am eagerly awaiting another video!
I notice some South Australian number plates in the background… I am from Adelaide! Not sure where you guys are though.
Duncan and the Fiat are from the UK. We are from the US and located in New England.
Absolutely amazing, I wish I were there…!!!
They received noise complaints…. from France
I’m really glad to see someone taking the time these very old very rare incredible machines working the way they should. GREAT JOB GUYS!!
The cranks are both in line aren`t they? So how much vibration do you get when on tick-over and then at higher revs? Did that newspaper article say they reached 160? (!)
I apologise re 160 m.p.h. That was referring to actually flying in the article. Even so – doing the ton must have been a fantastic sensation in the big, two cylinder twenty eight litre monster!
Not two cylinder, four of them actually.
Wonderful, was a little worried at first when the guy cranking the engine and the sudden jump, thought for a second he’d lose a leg. And I was a little tickled when the girl walked by the exhaust blast and you guys rev’d it up a bit. But I have one question, why wasn’t the exhaust pipe added like in the old pictures?