- 551
- Hilversum, NL
- ROBENDEN2
Personally, I really like the early years of motor racing. Those crazy days of lots of races, endurances, and speed record events that were mostly held on dusty country roads, where drivers and mechanics risked their lives (and often lost it) in monstrous race cars, not protected by any driving aids or even seat belts, are the source of fascinating stories. These kind of dangerous races are likely never to come back (and maybe that's a good thing), but they are a significant part of early automotive history.
Since GT is more and more presented as a car encyclopedia with old, new and future cars, one or more representatives of this era would be suitable, imo. If one of them would appear in the GT series, why not one of the most bizarre ones?
This enormous beast (or actually beasts, since two were built) had 300 BHP. Not really impressive now, but it was in 1911. To get to that figure, Fiat (fun fact: it was written as 'F.I.A.T.' back then) used a massive aeroplane engine with a displacement of 28,3 litres (that'll be 1,727 cubic inches):
With this powerplant, the first S76 built did 200 km/h at Brooklands, and reached 290 km/h at Long Island during a succesfull speed record attempt one year later. In 1913 it was sold to Boris Soukanhoff, whose driver got it to 211 km/h at Ostende. Later, both cars were partly destroyed, but parts of them remained and are now being used to build an accurate replica.
It would certainly be very challenging to drive, and might still be capable of taking on much newer cars. Just imagine the stir it would cause when the online kids got beaten by a 103-year old car...
Since GT is more and more presented as a car encyclopedia with old, new and future cars, one or more representatives of this era would be suitable, imo. If one of them would appear in the GT series, why not one of the most bizarre ones?
This enormous beast (or actually beasts, since two were built) had 300 BHP. Not really impressive now, but it was in 1911. To get to that figure, Fiat (fun fact: it was written as 'F.I.A.T.' back then) used a massive aeroplane engine with a displacement of 28,3 litres (that'll be 1,727 cubic inches):
With this powerplant, the first S76 built did 200 km/h at Brooklands, and reached 290 km/h at Long Island during a succesfull speed record attempt one year later. In 1913 it was sold to Boris Soukanhoff, whose driver got it to 211 km/h at Ostende. Later, both cars were partly destroyed, but parts of them remained and are now being used to build an accurate replica.
It would certainly be very challenging to drive, and might still be capable of taking on much newer cars. Just imagine the stir it would cause when the online kids got beaten by a 103-year old car...
