SPEED QUEENS: A Secret History of Women in Motorsport

By Rachel Harris-Gardiner 2024 review by James Loveridge To the casual observer it may seem the motorsport is essentially...

From Ballybannon Hill to Magilligan Strand

By Paul Robinson 2024 review by James Loveridge One of the problems with history is that while it is...

Aspects of Motoring History # 19

Published August 2023. 132 pages, 60 black & white illustrations and charts and 26 full-colour images, softbound. Articles: Paul...

Aspects of Motoring History # 18

Published July 2022. 126 pages, 92 black & white illustrations and charts and 24 full-colour images, softbound. Articles: Craig...

SNAPSHOT 100: 1911 FIAT S76 ‘Beast of Turin’

Offered as a supplement to The Motor magazine with the issue dated 7th November 1911, this is a colour print by an unknown artist depicting the 1911, 28.4 Litre monster which has in recent years been regenerated and enthusiastically campaigned by Duncan Pittaway. The car was built with the express intention of beating the World Land Speed Record, held at the time by the Blitzen Benz. It boasted four valves per cylinder, OHC technology and a multi-spark function that helped it achieve 300bhp at the rear wheels. This vehicle made a trial run at Brooklands at the end of the BARC members meeting in June 1911, being driven by Pietro Bordino, who completed a number of circuits of the track with speeds varying between 5 and 90 mph. A month later, the car achieved 116 mph at Saltburn Sands, and a report at the time described the car as ‘sending out sheets of flame, accompanied of volumes of black smoke, to the delight of the crowd’. The car can be viewed being started on www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfYbH7926gk, and Duncan will be talking about the history and rebuild of this historic racing car, at the SAHB seminar to be held in October 2017. He also promises to drive the car to the event!


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