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Chassis:
The first of a pair of S.76s produced, chassis 1 was the only one to have run in anger. In 1911, the 290 bhp machine was driven to the World One-Mile record by Pietro Bordino with a speed of close to 187 km/h. It was also campaigned at Brooklands by Bordino but the Italian failed to break the lap record. Later in the year, it was acquired by Russian aristocrat Boris Shoukhanov. He was clocked on the beach of Oostende at a staggering 213 km/h. Arthur Duray also drove the car at Brooklands but again with little success.
During the great War, the Russian Prince disappeared but his mighty Fiat eventually re-appeared in Australia where it was campaigned with a Stutz engine. It then faded away once more, until the remains were acquired by English enthusiast Duncan Pittaway. Some time later, he was also able to acquire the engine from the second chassis, which had apparently never left the factory. It was slightly different than the original S.76 engine, in that it had three intake and four exhaust ports instead of the pair of intake and exhaust ports fitted to Bordino's record-breaker.
With as many original parts gathered together, Pittaway started to re-assemble the car using the identity from the original chassis. The labour of love was finally completed late in 2014, nearly a decade after Pittaway had started. Not quite ready to run yet, the S.76 had already sparked a lot of attention sitting stationary in the paddock of the 2014 Goodwood Festival of Speed. It grabbed even more attention when it burst into fire-breathing life and ran up the hill in earnest in 2015 when it was the undisputed star of the Festival of Speed.
Chassis details |
Manufactured in |
1911 |
First owner |
Pietro Bordino |
Last known location |
British Historic Racer |
Appearances |
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