Meet the Beast of Turin, a 111-Year-Old Fiat With a Monstrous 28.4-Liter Engine

Back when Ford was building the 20-hp Model T that was capable of achieving a top speed around 40 mph (64 kph), elsewhere in the world speed addicts were developing automobiles that could go more than five times faster.

This was the case of Carl Benz, the father of the automobile who constructed the Blitzen Benz in 1909. With a 21.5-liter engine that made 200 hp, it set a new land speed record that year averaging 126 mph (202 kph) over a distance of one kilometer (0.62 miles). Behind the wheel was French driver Victor Hémery and the feat was achieved on the Brooklands circuit in Surrey, England.

A year later, driven by the conviction that they can do better than the Germans, several Fiat engineers decided to build their land speed record contender, the S76.

Of course, going faster required a huge engine and what they managed to create was the embodiment of the phrase “no replacement for displacement.” Derived from an airplane unit, the colossal fire-spitting inline-four displaced no less than 28.4 liters (1,730.2 cu in) and produced a whopping 290 hp. It had four valves and two spark plugs per cylinder while ignition was achieved using a crank handle and BOSCH type DR4/4 high voltage magneto.

The chassis featured a rigid axle suspension system with leaf springs and longitudinal struts on the rear. Brakes were only installed on the rear axle which might seem a bit dangerous nowadays but back then, safety was not on the list of priorities.

The body panels were streamlined to reduce drag and were as thin as possible to improve overall weight but thanks to the humongous four-cylinder it was still extremely heavy for the era, weighing about 3,748 lbs (1,700 kg).

Nicknamed “the Beast of Turin”, the S76 was such a monstrosity that when race driver Felice Nazzaro got to test it, he deemed it uncontrollable and never claimed back in it again.

Fiat built a second car a year later and sold it to a wealthy Russian Prince named Boris Soukhanov. Shortly after receiving his beast, Soukhanov hired Pietro Bordino to drive it at Brooklands and attempt to break the land speed record. One of the most promising Italian drivers of the era, the 24-year-old accepted the challenge but when he took it to the track, it was so terrifying that he refused to go over 90 mph (145 kph).

Soukhanov then hired American driver Arthur Duray to finish the job and in December 1913, in Belgium, he managed a one-way speed of 132.27 mph (213 kph), which was faster than what airplanes from that year could achieve. Unfortunately, Duray was unable to complete a return run within the time limit, so the record was never officially recognized.

The first S76 remained in Fiat’s possession but it was dismantled soon after the First World War ended. Little is known about Soukhanov's car which, minus the powerplant, ended up in Australia in 1919. It was rebuilt and fitted with a Stutz engine, but its owner crashed it in the early 1920s while practicing for a race.

The chassis somehow survived as it changed owners over the years and in 2003, it ended up in the possession of a British collector named Duncan Pittaway who began a lengthy restoration process. He discovered that the original engine from the first S76 actually survived and managed to get a hold of it. After several years of hard work that saw the double chain-drive gearbox, body, and many other components being rebuilt using the original Fiat drawings, the Beast of Turin was brought back to life.

In 2015, Pittaway was invited to Goodwood where he raced the fire-spitting monster in a pre-1920 race at the famous Festival of Speed and you can see how the car performed in the video below.

Even if 111 years have passed since the first one was built, the Fiat S76 is still as outrageous as it was when its gargantuan 28.4-liter was cranked up for the first time. A priceless piece of automotive history, it rose from its ashes and will continue to dazzle for generations to come.