This unbelievable Fiat S76, the so-called Beast of Turin, is the one surviving example of a pair of speed-record contenders the Italian automaker built before WWI. Its gargantuan 28.5-liter inline-four was capable of providing an impressive 300 hp -- enough to propel the car to 116 mph, and a one-mile land speed record, in 1911. An even higher-speed run the following year was disqualified when the car couldn’t make the required return run.
Even if you don’t care much for history, though, the car itself is impossible to ignore. Its towering engine -- did we mention that it displaces 28.5 liters -- necessitates a comically high cowl, resulting in some truly bizarre proportions. It’s sort of like a road-going Gee Bee Model R and probably just as dangerous to pilot.
Plus, it spits hellfire and sounds meaner than anything an army of 10,000 Carlo Abarths could have ever dreamed up.
Watch the video above if you don't believe us. And even if you do believe us. It shows owner Duncan Pittaway driving the car on the Goodwood Hillclimb with Lord March beside him. Are they really pushing it? We don’t know. But can a car this pissed-off ever be driven in anything other than anger?
The Beast was reawakened back in December, but this Goodwood Hillclimb run is supposedly the first time it’s actually been driven in over a century. It will reappear at the 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed; needless to say, attendees are in for a treat. Well, an extra-special treat, as the Goodwood events are already pretty spectacular.
And if that weren’t enough, the Beast will be joined by a range of “leviathans” from the likes of Mercedes, Metallurgique-Maybach, Benz, Napier and more. We’ve ridden in such brass era colossi before, but this thing operates at another level entirely.
Read more about the car at Goodwood Road & Racing.
