I'm glad that some people still care about the golden age of crazy steampunk deathtraps that were basically a giant barely covered engine with a little seat and 4 wheels.
I think that modern manufacturers could take a page out of the S76’s book. A 28.4 L inline 4 motor with 300hp, 2000 ft-lbs of torque would be a hot seller in a Lexus, BMW, or John Deere platform.
10:00 I'll never get over this startup, half a second after the guy lets go of the handle, it suddenly tries to flip over from the sheer torque of that engine firing off. Definitely a beast.
@fastinradfordable First of all on today's combustion engine there's no fire reaching the exhaust, because there's no unfinished combustion, and second, he mentioned it because there's no exhaust pipe as such. So, don't be an a**hole for no reason, "bruh"
@@Rondo2ooo Those flames roaring out the side - strike me as if the car is a fire breathing dragon - it just looks like so much unleashed power, just waiting to be harnessed.
@@Rondo2oooTake off your exhaust manifold, on any ICE car of your choice and there will be fire. I mean look at normally aspirated race and rally cars, between gears and off throttle there's sheets of this orange and blue stuff coming from the exhaust tip, let alone the exhaust port. It's not just hot air that makes exhaust pipes close to the engine glow red hot now is it. You call the other dude out on his comment, he was not only 100% correct, but you've made yourself dingus of the year with your attitude and ignorance. He also said exhaust ports, top job doubling down. Did you even comprehend what he wrote old bean, I think not?!
If you have been buggering for more than 4 hours straight, see your doctor. For 3 years straight, see your doctor, a priest and a representative of the Nobel Prize Committee.
Um, yeah, probably not the best word for what he did! LOL! Pestering, bugging, begging, hassling, may (?) have been more accurate. We shall never know....
The reason "more power" equaled "more displacement" back then was the fuel. They were using straight gasoline, without any additives, notably, any octane boosters - and straight gasoline can only support a 6:1 compression ratio. That was a hard-and-fast limit, and all the modern power / speed improvements centring on higher compression, simply were not possible. When the spark ignites the fuel in a gasoline engine - modern or built back when the S76 took to the road - the fuel must BURN: if it burns it applies gradual pressure to the piston as it travels down the length of the cylinder, but if it explodes instead, it will generate instant extremely high pressure and likely break things or even tear the engine apart. And if you increase engine compression beyond what the fuel is capable of, it tends to explode instead of burn; it's called "detonation" in the trade. This is why all the top racers back then had such enormous engines, because that was the only way to increase power. The fix for this problem is to increase the detonation-resistance of the fuel, so you can squeeze it harder and faster, and it will still wait tamely for the spark and then burn instead of exploding. The first step was to add fractions of one of the refinery's other distillation products they got from crude oil, namely octane; octane not only resisted detonation better than simple gasoline, it gave its name to the entire genre of doping gasoline with detonation-resistant additives. But octane itself - even used straight-up as fuel instead of mixing parts of it with gasoline - can only support a 8:1 compression ratio. So petrochemical research has gone on ever since, seeking further dopants to increase gasoline's compression ratio further.
I remember seeing a video on the discovery / invention of Tetra Ethyl Lead and how the guy who concocted it and marketed it for public use died of lead poisoning. Sort of like Pierre and Madame Curie
@@isthatrubble Engines just don't care about higher-octane fuel; they love it, they'll take all of that shtuff they can get. It's only too little detonation resistance, i.e., too low-octane, that causes trouble. So you can fuel any old engine with newer, higher-octane gasoline; your only concerns are things like no-lead (which requires hardened valve seats, as tetraethyl lead lubricates valve seats and the new stuff doesn't), and if your fuel system is put together with o-rings, some fuels (like methyl alcohol) attack older o-rings. So it's important that your fuel is compatible with your engine seals and components, but higher octane will not cause you any troubles by itself.
@@yknott9873 thanks for the explanation! what do people running engines built to take leaded fuel usually do, just replace those specific parts with ones made from different materials?
@@isthatrubble Either get hardened seats installed by specialty machine shops - some heads have replaceable valve seats from the factory - or buy fuel or oil supplements. I often watch Junkyard Digs, and Kevin says you must use a zinc additive to engine oil in older engines, that does the same thing.
I was lucky enough to park next to the Beast on 5 May 23 when it was on its way to the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry. The location was the Portsmouth Ferry Terminal as it was being driven on public roads (along with a wide range of other amazing cars). It did have an exhaust system fitted because apparently modern car owners object to having their paint removed at traffic lights 🙂
I came to comments section.... just to add this comment if it hadn't been already. EDITED TO ADD - I think i might just occasionally "accidentally slip" this phrase into common usage. see if anyone notices... tho not going to put it in recorded format, plausible deniability and all that...
Old-timey racing was a trip. "I got a screaming deal on these 22 surplus aero engines, guess I'll build some race cars and race them *myself* and maybe I won't die! Huzzah!"
I agree that car museums with static displays are depressing sights. However, I recently visited a vintage tractor museum in Australia and my guide started up two restored tractors. It was the best feeling hearing the engines.
Saltburn? Do you have any more info on the beach races there? I live 3 miles away and I want to know more about those days but there's not a lot of documented stuff around here
4:20 Just curious, in what context is it the largest engine ever put in a car? I mean, the Brutus car build by a Museum in Sinsheim, Germany has a 46.9 Litre (2,862 cu in) BMW V12 Plane Engine on the frame of a 1908 American Fire Engine. Granted it was built in the years between 1998 and 2006 (the english Wikipedia entry is wrong in claiming that it was built shorty after WW II, they simply made the thing to look like it was from that era), but it´s still a larger engine in a car.
Largest engine as originally installed by the manufacturer. Its quite easy for individuals or small groups to cobble together a car with a giant engine, just look at insanity like the Triplex Special with its three (!) 27L Liberty V12s for a total of 81L. Like you said Brutus' chassis started life as an American LaFrance fire engine with a comparatively tiny engine 😅
I'm thinking some early fire trucks may have had huge engines to pump all that water - or provide enough horse power to run the pumps, but just a guess.
Very cool, I'm 63 and I've been hearing and reading about "The Beast of Turin" for at least 45 of those years. Really exciting to see and especially hear it run, thank you. PS, already subscribed, I like your presentation style very much!!
I'm lucky enough to have seen this car in action going up the hill at Goodwood Festival Of Speed, the sight sound and smell of this machine is amazing!
Balls of Steel! Not only to drive it, but to even contemplate re-building a monster like that. That 4 cylinder engine has a larger displacement than the v-12 Merlin! I tip my hat to Mr. Pittaway. And to you, Bart. Nice work.
The exhaust is the most rudimentary thing. The 4:2 collectors are all it had in it's racing career. The picture at 9:18 may be from afterwards. Horizontal flames are a bit anti-social.... He has not admitted the speed he reached on the motorway on the way to Goodwood. 130mph in top gear @ around 1000 rpm.
This is a really beautiful video. I feel the same way about machines- it's way better to see them doing their thing. They don't have a will of their own, but complex machines like cars and planes do seem to have a sort of spirit- they all handle differently and have different needs. You treat them with different care, according to what they do. They feel different on the road, and sound different. You could argue that they fill a lot of boxes for being "alive". They need sustenance and perform respiration in order to turn that into energy. And they grumble when they aren't taken care of! I can tell something is off on my Sweetheart (yeah, she's named) by listening to very slight noises. She's not some specialized machine like the Beast, but she gives me a lot of freedom in exchange for what's not that much work. So I guess it's not that odd to feel sentimental about these machines.
9:22 I'm sure he was bugging people, not buggering them for three years! I'm sure I would have relinquished the engine and divulged ALL of my deepest secrets way before three years.
Bugger: (slang, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Commonwealth) A situation that is aggravating or causes dismay; a pain. Some words have multiple meanings. (I know, right??? I was shocked to learn that!)
@@tim3172 OK, I was unfamiliar with that meaning. Thanks for the clarification. I suppose the meaning which first came to mind is also a situation that is aggravating or causes dismay; a pain.
Me also ! Well perhaps they came close to those cars they used to race, trying to break the world speed record, on the salt flats, before they started using rockets instead of piston driven engines.
I really loved this video, paint cans, mustaches and beasts! Of this car my favorite part is the rectangular exhaust tubes with sparks and flames. It's hard to believe that a hundred years later I went to a car dealer to purchase a Dodge Caliber SRT4 that has similar performance as the Beast of Turin, but my wife nicknamed my car "Princess" because I only use premium fuel. I still drive Princess in 2024 because it's been an awesome commuter car, six speed Getrag, 285HP, moon roof.
@@microdesigns2000 wifi-100 and totally computer driven and controlled. People will just hope in, and the cars will drive them where they want to go with no human intervention, would be my guess. Provided society is still around - well modern computer driven society.
I’ve seen some of the videos he’s shared on this monster, and it really is fascinating. Seeing this pre-war (WWI) Racecars thrashed within an inch of their life, wrecked, and rebuilt is genuinely something else. (Some moustache required.)
Totally agree with your ending point. I want to get some antique cars someday, maybe an MG TA or TC, something not too pricey- but not so I can stow it in a garage and take it out three times a year for car shows. Cars are just that-cars! They're meant to be driven and enjoyed, and seeing so many insane driving machines coddled behind garage doors and left to languish in massive collections really makes me quite sad. I mean, even today- how many supercars get stowed away and driven just a couple dozen miles per year? Very disappointing.
Jeremy Clarkson would beg to differ on the claim of largest engine ever put in a car..... Jeremy drove the BMW Brutus. A 12-cylinder BMW aircraft engine installed, with a cylinder capacity of nearly 47 litres.
The fact you stated it exists proves it EXISTS dimwit and it was built as was the engine and they are one now on a vehicle chassis sooooooo ergo it's A CAR WITH A 47 LITRE ENGINE!
This car is amazing, seen it on TV at Goodwood, the owner drives it to and from the event on public roads, would love to see this beast on the motorway spitting flames as it goes by.
The funniest thing is the criminal investigation that's happened in Italy on the restoration process: The claim is, quoting wikipedia (translated from italian media): "In 2019 the Italian authorities started an investigation, as they have ascertained that the S76 engine mounted on the "Beast of Turin" was originally kept in the "Antonio Capetti Collection" of the Polytechnic of Turin: the power unit was loaned to Mr. Pittaway in charge of research and restoration, but the “Collection” discovered after some years that they had been returned with a non-functional replica block."
You need to be pretty brave to drive this thing because there's nothing to stop the chain from ripping your arm off if it snaps. One of the joys of exposed chain drive cars, lol.
Okay, that's awesome. Duncan is the MAN! Engines nailed to a wooden frame- may dad never mentioned that part but he was a decade later so maybe they used bolts by then.
There's a story once posted on the internet by Duncan Pittaway. He entered his original 1925 Bugatti Type 35 at the Monaco Historic Grand Prix to race, despite the fact that the car is just a pile of bits in his garage. In a matter of weeks, the car was assembled and road registered, and then, he drove it from Britain, through France, all the way to Monaco, raced it there, took the class win and drove it back home again!!! There's a video here of Duncan and his friends taking their 100+year old cars to a 1000-mile road trip to Lyon, France, to commemorate the centenary of the 1914 French GP held there...
Wow, that mustache joke was hilarious. I laughed so hard the first 20 times I heard it. Between that and the various testicle jokes and puns I was practically wheezing at your original and not-at-all sophomoric humor.
The Honda CRZ is pretty close to what youre looking for in your sporty Honda Fit. 2 door manual hybrid with an optinal factory supercharger. Its not fast enough to keep up with any real sports car, it's not fuel efficient enough to be a great hybrid, but its by far the most fun i've ever had with a car. Handles like an absolute dream.
I can't believe it actually sounds like paint can cylinders! It's like each piston is on a paint shaker.... while running! That's the angriest engine I've ever heard! I'm in love! 😍
The engine is an S76A derived from the Fiat S53A and F.4 airships and the most curious thing is that it is in turn derived from the engine of the original S76 300hp Record. You should know that Mr. Pittaway had requested to borrow the engine for a short time from the Polytechnic of Turin (where it was on display) and when he returned (after 2 years) after a careful examination they realized that it was a CLONE and missing many internal parts , they had even blocked the bolts with chemical substances to prevent disassembly... an investigation was also started for receiving stolen goods by the Turin Prosecutor's Office but it ended in statute of limitations "thanks" to some bureaucratic technicalities. Having said that: as an Italian and i still prefer to see the Beast of Turin rumble and spit flames rather than see it in a museum forming mould. If he stole it by deception he did well, meanwhile in a museum even a dummy satisfies the eye.
You’re f__king high. Powerful, fast vintage race cars considerably wear out after a day or two of driving. People keep them in collections to avoid having to do twenty $100,000 restorations every year.
@bartscarstories Crazy how no one mentions the fact that Mr Pittaway litteraly stole the only existing original engine from the Politecnico di Torino. The university generously loaned him the engine, with the premise that a perfect copy would be made for the car and the original would be returned... Unfortunately Mr Pittaway returned the copy and kept the original one for the car. Maybe some Britts still think in a British Museum mentality, believing that art theft Is justified...
@@MarinCipollina To quote Stefan Marjoram, who filmed the engine start up: "Here’s a brief version, just the facts… The technical college sold the engine. Some people later regretted it. Duncan was taken to court over it - in Italy - but the case was thrown out. They couldn’t win by legal means so they’ve resorted to putting out false stories instead."
How about Mr. Dunderbak’s? German restaurant. There used to be a bunch of them, but now there’s only 3. Two are in Florida, Daytona and Tampa, and one is in Allentown Pennsylvania.
fortunately there is always someone who is able to bring back works from the past. even if you manage to scratch the only engine left in the world under the eyes of us Italians who only noticed many years later, due to the futurist mentality not inclined to memory. which causes very important pieces to be stored away until they are forgotten and thrown away. As an Italian I can say that it was done well because they would never have done it here.
The importance of having a big bushy moustache can not be overstated when driving the Beast of Turin. So too the ability to bugger large groups of people in Italy. Viva Duncan
Some other cars of that era and type were the "Chitty Chitty Bang Bangs", also chain-driven racing machines with huge engines. They were made famous by Ian Fleming's children's story of the same name. My memory is hazy, but I think there were three different ones, at least one driven by an Italian count whose name began with Z who was later killed racing at Monza. One of them had an 18-liter Maybach Zeppelin engine, which may have inspired Fleming to make the car in his story fly.
Listen these people are heo 's bringing back these cars . Many people whed have left these car to history. But these people put back no matter of the cost keep history still alive I salute you . I wish you the best luck ever
I wanna see a vintage engine design(excessive size) built with today's technology, aluminum block,head,internals, turbo, efi, ecu (with 2 step) Could use original engine mounts and bell housing if possible creating a modern replica
This was an excellent production about truly a beast. At 10:03 I thru my hands up and shouted! From another room the wife shouted back, What happened did you win something?
To put the S76 engine's displacement into perspective, one cylinder has *more* displacement than a Ford 427 engine found in the likes of the Shelby Cobra.
This is a car I also have an obsession with! Thank you for putting this together. Do you have any interest in Edwardian/Pre-1916 car touring? I grew up touring all over New England with my parents in their 1910 thru 1914 cars, my mom is one of the organizers for the HCCA's week long tours. If you're ever curious we've always got open seats! 🎉 I just bought a 1910 Oakland, I'll be driving it around town regularly. Not exactly the Beast of Turin, but golly are they a blast ❤❤
I live 26 miles from Goodwood and have raced the track many times (pre renovation) in mostly mark 1-3 Mini Coopers and I have seen these beasts in action. I cannot imagine a 150 mile jaunt on public roads to get to the track in one of these, probably more dangerous than racing the circuit.
I'm glad that some people still care about the golden age of crazy steampunk deathtraps that were basically a giant barely covered engine with a little seat and 4 wheels.
It is not golden age, it is stone age of cars. I find them fascinating anyways!
Those are the best ones.
Technically, it’s diesel punk (‘cos not steam powered 😅) But totally agree with the sentiment of your comment 👍
Fair, though these engines have such a low compression ratio that you might as well call it steam rather than combustion lol
Golden words!!!
I think that modern manufacturers could take a page out of the S76’s book. A 28.4 L inline 4 motor with 300hp, 2000 ft-lbs of torque would be a hot seller in a Lexus, BMW, or John Deere platform.
10:00 I'll never get over this startup, half a second after the guy lets go of the handle, it suddenly tries to flip over from the sheer torque of that engine firing off. Definitely a beast.
The lack of torsional stiffness in the chassey helps dampen the engine torque lol
Yeah!
Lol!
It's Awesome!
It may not be an aircraft engine, but it still tried to do a fuckin' barrel roll.
The craziest era of racing when a mustache and huge balls were the driver's protection
you're just jealous
@@bartscarstories absolutely!
My handlebars shall steer me to victory!
That exhaust is amazing, you can basically look into the combustion chamber!
I've seen cars of this era on you tube, when they started up - flames blasted out the exhaust pipes.
@@kfl611flames come from exhaust ports on EVERY ENGINE.
Wanna know why???
Fire is inside the engine.
It’s the principal of the entire thing bruh
@fastinradfordable First of all on today's combustion engine there's no fire reaching the exhaust, because there's no unfinished combustion, and second, he mentioned it because there's no exhaust pipe as such. So, don't be an a**hole for no reason, "bruh"
@@Rondo2ooo Those flames roaring out the side - strike me as if the car is a fire breathing dragon - it just looks like so much unleashed power, just waiting to be harnessed.
@@Rondo2oooTake off your exhaust manifold, on any ICE car of your choice and there will be fire. I mean look at normally aspirated race and rally cars, between gears and off throttle there's sheets of this orange and blue stuff coming from the exhaust tip, let alone the exhaust port. It's not just hot air that makes exhaust pipes close to the engine glow red hot now is it.
You call the other dude out on his comment, he was not only 100% correct, but you've made yourself dingus of the year with your attitude and ignorance. He also said exhaust ports, top job doubling down. Did you even comprehend what he wrote old bean, I think not?!
This car never fails to intrigue me. Look at the size of the pistons and rods. WOW. Each piston is over 7 liters.
The way the torque twists the car when the engine starts is impressive.
No each bore is over 12 , with piston at lowest , displacement is just over 10
7.1 liters per cylinder to be exact!
@@chrishartley4553Absolutely, I actually busted out with a _"Whoa!"_
My wife laughed at me 😂
And that means at 2000 torque.
That means 500tq per piston.
😮
9:25 Three years of constantly buggering people in Italy must have been exhausting.
The key is buggering the right people.
For which party?
@@alastairward2774 both, I imagine.
If you have been buggering for more than 4 hours straight, see your doctor. For 3 years straight, see your doctor, a priest and a representative of the Nobel Prize Committee.
Um, yeah, probably not the best word for what he did! LOL! Pestering, bugging, begging, hassling, may (?) have been more accurate. We shall never know....
The reason "more power" equaled "more displacement" back then was the fuel. They were using straight gasoline, without any additives, notably, any octane boosters - and straight gasoline can only support a 6:1 compression ratio. That was a hard-and-fast limit, and all the modern power / speed improvements centring on higher compression, simply were not possible. When the spark ignites the fuel in a gasoline engine - modern or built back when the S76 took to the road - the fuel must BURN: if it burns it applies gradual pressure to the piston as it travels down the length of the cylinder, but if it explodes instead, it will generate instant extremely high pressure and likely break things or even tear the engine apart. And if you increase engine compression beyond what the fuel is capable of, it tends to explode instead of burn; it's called "detonation" in the trade. This is why all the top racers back then had such enormous engines, because that was the only way to increase power.
The fix for this problem is to increase the detonation-resistance of the fuel, so you can squeeze it harder and faster, and it will still wait tamely for the spark and then burn instead of exploding. The first step was to add fractions of one of the refinery's other distillation products they got from crude oil, namely octane; octane not only resisted detonation better than simple gasoline, it gave its name to the entire genre of doping gasoline with detonation-resistant additives. But octane itself - even used straight-up as fuel instead of mixing parts of it with gasoline - can only support a 8:1 compression ratio. So petrochemical research has gone on ever since, seeking further dopants to increase gasoline's compression ratio further.
I remember seeing a video on the discovery / invention of Tetra Ethyl Lead and how the guy who concocted it and marketed it for public use died of lead poisoning.
Sort of like Pierre and Madame Curie
considering all that, I wonder where they get the fuel for it now, petrol stations not really selling pure gasoline/petrol anymore.....
@@isthatrubble Engines just don't care about higher-octane fuel; they love it, they'll take all of that shtuff they can get. It's only too little detonation resistance, i.e., too low-octane, that causes trouble. So you can fuel any old engine with newer, higher-octane gasoline; your only concerns are things like no-lead (which requires hardened valve seats, as tetraethyl lead lubricates valve seats and the new stuff doesn't), and if your fuel system is put together with o-rings, some fuels (like methyl alcohol) attack older o-rings. So it's important that your fuel is compatible with your engine seals and components, but higher octane will not cause you any troubles by itself.
@@yknott9873 thanks for the explanation! what do people running engines built to take leaded fuel usually do, just replace those specific parts with ones made from different materials?
@@isthatrubble Either get hardened seats installed by specialty machine shops - some heads have replaceable valve seats from the factory - or buy fuel or oil supplements. I often watch Junkyard Digs, and Kevin says you must use a zinc additive to engine oil in older engines, that does the same thing.
That exhaust is like a bomb continuously exploding. Zero back pressure.
You smell like peach cobbler
"do you know why I pulled you over?"
"PACPACAPACPACAPCAPACAPAC"
*gets hearing damage*
*Exhaust blows papers away*
*Neutral-here*
*Puts into first-there*
*Puts second-gone*
*Breaks sound barrier in 7 seconds flat*
Haha, yeah maybe if it had an electric starter …
For a car to sit motionless behind a rope in a museum is like a beautiful supermodel in a trench coat in a closet with the door shut.
Or a beautiful racehorse trapped in a stable, unable to even get out and gallop...
Or a pet bird in a cage
I thought that’s how the billionaires store their supermodels…
I don't think that's a good analogy.... Objectifying people is weird.
I'd say keeping the Mona Lisa behind a curtain is a better one.
@@annunacky4463Naw, they just throw 'em out and get new ones....
I was lucky enough to park next to the Beast on 5 May 23 when it was on its way to the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry. The location was the Portsmouth Ferry Terminal as it was being driven on public roads (along with a wide range of other amazing cars). It did have an exhaust system fitted because apparently modern car owners object to having their paint removed at traffic lights 🙂
Now the statement of "a vortex of sound" makes a whole lot of sense after that start
I don't think "buggering people in Italy" means what you think it means! lol Great video and an awesome bit of engineering!
It's one way of getting what you want!
I thought the same thing!
@@matter9Right?! Maybe he should have said bugging people.
I came to comments section.... just to add this comment if it hadn't been already. EDITED TO ADD - I think i might just occasionally "accidentally slip" this phrase into common usage. see if anyone notices... tho not going to put it in recorded format, plausible deniability and all that...
Those poor Italians 😅
I keep coming back to this. The idea of a 300hp 28.4 Liter straight 4 that makes ridiculous torque at 1000rpm makes me laugh.
Old-timey racing was a trip. "I got a screaming deal on these 22 surplus aero engines, guess I'll build some race cars and race them *myself* and maybe I won't die! Huzzah!"
Cars like that need to be heard, and smelled, as well as being seen.
Had the opportunity to get close and personal with this at the FOS. An incredible visual and audible experience that literally shakes you 👍🏻
This is real appreciation of history not the collectors who put their cars on museums or in private collections just fro their price appreciation.
I agree that car museums with static displays are depressing sights. However, I recently visited a vintage tractor museum in Australia and my guide started up two restored tractors. It was the best feeling hearing the engines.
Couldn't agree more. I'm actually convinced that to best preserve an automobile it has to be driven regularly. Also there's no better way to enjoy it.
-how safe is this car ?
-safe?
-ye how do you survive if you crash.
-you do not crash
That's why you need the mustache to drive it. Cushioning.
10:00 I understand why they called it the Beast when hearing that sound.
He needs to take this car to Jay Leno's Garage for an episode... great story.
Saltburn? Do you have any more info on the beach races there? I live 3 miles away and I want to know more about those days but there's not a lot of documented stuff around here
Those Goodwood races with cars of that era are fantastic to watch.
Almost two thousand cubic inches, and no mention of fuel economy. I think it probably gets around two, as in two gallons per mile.
4:20 Just curious, in what context is it the largest engine ever put in a car? I mean, the Brutus car build by a Museum in Sinsheim, Germany has a 46.9 Litre (2,862 cu in) BMW V12 Plane Engine on the frame of a 1908 American Fire Engine. Granted it was built in the years between 1998 and 2006 (the english Wikipedia entry is wrong in claiming that it was built shorty after WW II, they simply made the thing to look like it was from that era), but it´s still a larger engine in a car.
Largest engine as originally installed by the manufacturer.
Its quite easy for individuals or small groups to cobble together a car with a giant engine, just look at insanity like the Triplex Special with its three (!) 27L Liberty V12s for a total of 81L.
Like you said Brutus' chassis started life as an American LaFrance fire engine with a comparatively tiny engine 😅
@@mrspandel5737 OK, yeah, from that perspective it makes a lot of sense. Like Brutus basically being a Engine Swapped Fire Engine Hot Rod.
I'm thinking some early fire trucks may have had huge engines to pump all that water - or provide enough horse power to run the pumps, but just a guess.
@@mrspandel5737 And was half the horse power the engine generated, used just to get all that weight in motion? I wonder how much that car weighed.
Very cool, I'm 63 and I've been hearing and reading about "The Beast of Turin" for at least 45 of those years. Really exciting to see and especially hear it run, thank you.
PS, already subscribed, I like your presentation style very much!!
I'm lucky enough to have seen this car in action going up the hill at Goodwood Festival Of Speed, the sight sound and smell of this machine is amazing!
The look at the flames spewing out of the exhaust at 8:10 when they get it started by the side of the road at night, is worthy of a poster.
Balls of Steel! Not only to drive it, but to even contemplate re-building a monster like that. That 4 cylinder engine has a larger displacement than the v-12 Merlin! I tip my hat to Mr. Pittaway. And to you, Bart. Nice work.
After seeing fired up on your video, I can see why they called it a BEAST! Geeeze!
The Beast of Turin is not powered by a four banger - it's a four BOOMER!
If a large moustache is what it takes to drive that car, then I would grow one for the next decade.
Good job on the video, Bart. Great pictures and movies, and an enjoyable narration. Subscribed! By the way, I would LOVE to drive this beast!
Have you done a presentation of the Maybach chitty chitty bang bang?
24l straight 8.
Enjoyed that a lot, Thank you. That exhaust is like the ultimate cruise night party trick.
The exhaust is the most rudimentary thing. The 4:2 collectors are all it had in it's racing career. The picture at 9:18 may be from afterwards. Horizontal flames are a bit anti-social....
He has not admitted the speed he reached on the motorway on the way to Goodwood. 130mph in top gear @ around 1000 rpm.
2,000 ft lbs of torque. Bro my peterbilt dont even make that much torque 💀
This is a really beautiful video. I feel the same way about machines- it's way better to see them doing their thing. They don't have a will of their own, but complex machines like cars and planes do seem to have a sort of spirit- they all handle differently and have different needs. You treat them with different care, according to what they do. They feel different on the road, and sound different. You could argue that they fill a lot of boxes for being "alive". They need sustenance and perform respiration in order to turn that into energy. And they grumble when they aren't taken care of! I can tell something is off on my Sweetheart (yeah, she's named) by listening to very slight noises. She's not some specialized machine like the Beast, but she gives me a lot of freedom in exchange for what's not that much work. So I guess it's not that odd to feel sentimental about these machines.
Imagine trying to locate all the parts of a car that was disassembled 100 years ago and parted out to a dozen random people.
Very nice review of the greatest car of the early period.
9:22 I'm sure he was bugging people, not buggering them for three years! I'm sure I would have relinquished the engine and divulged ALL of my deepest secrets way before three years.
Quite....I believe there were laws against such things back on the day.😀😂
Bugger: (slang, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, Commonwealth) A situation that is aggravating or causes dismay; a pain.
Some words have multiple meanings. (I know, right??? I was shocked to learn that!)
@@tim3172 OK, I was unfamiliar with that meaning. Thanks for the clarification. I suppose the meaning which first came to mind is also a situation that is aggravating or causes dismay; a pain.
If a car isn't driven, it's just a statue. Not a car.
Totally agree. Cars are art in motion. Perfick
This is the CRAZIEST car I’ve ever seen. Thanks for producing and posting. Fantastic video.
If that engine sound doesn't make you giggle like a little kid, you're simply not a petrolhead. 😂👌
That sound. Fire. It lives. Art in motion indeed.
I want to see someone build an engine that size with modern engineering.
Me also ! Well perhaps they came close to those cars they used to race, trying to break the world speed record, on the salt flats, before they started using rockets instead of piston driven engines.
I really loved this video, paint cans, mustaches and beasts! Of this car my favorite part is the rectangular exhaust tubes with sparks and flames.
It's hard to believe that a hundred years later I went to a car dealer to purchase a Dodge Caliber SRT4 that has similar performance as the Beast of Turin, but my wife nicknamed my car "Princess" because I only use premium fuel. I still drive Princess in 2024 because it's been an awesome commuter car, six speed Getrag, 285HP, moon roof.
But think of the 1900 compression ratio compared to today and the octane of gas from 1900 to 2024, huge difference.
@@kfl611 yes, 1900 cars were amazing! And 2020 cars are amazing too! I wonder what it will look like in 20 more years.
@@microdesigns2000 wifi-100 and totally computer driven and controlled. People will just hope in, and the cars will drive them where they want to go with no human intervention, would be my guess. Provided society is still around - well modern computer driven society.
I’ve seen some of the videos he’s shared on this monster, and it really is fascinating. Seeing this pre-war (WWI) Racecars thrashed within an inch of their life, wrecked, and rebuilt is genuinely something else. (Some moustache required.)
New car : speed comes with design and suitable air compression in the engine
old car : *MO POWA BABEH*
Totally agree with your ending point. I want to get some antique cars someday, maybe an MG TA or TC, something not too pricey- but not so I can stow it in a garage and take it out three times a year for car shows. Cars are just that-cars! They're meant to be driven and enjoyed, and seeing so many insane driving machines coddled behind garage doors and left to languish in massive collections really makes me quite sad. I mean, even today- how many supercars get stowed away and driven just a couple dozen miles per year? Very disappointing.
What a story. What characters! Had to sub.
Jeremy Clarkson would beg to differ on the claim of largest engine ever put in a car..... Jeremy drove the BMW Brutus. A 12-cylinder BMW aircraft engine installed, with a cylinder capacity of nearly 47 litres.
The Brutus never existed, it's a custom car built in 2006, a guy had an airplane engine in stock and thought: why not make a car out of it?
The fact you stated it exists proves it EXISTS dimwit and it was built as was the engine and they are one now on a vehicle chassis sooooooo ergo it's A CAR WITH A 47 LITRE ENGINE!
There’s nothing like hearing that gigantic engine fire up for the first time in a century. What a machine!!!
This car is amazing, seen it on TV at Goodwood, the owner drives it to and from the event on public roads, would love to see this beast on the motorway spitting flames as it goes by.
The funniest thing is the criminal investigation that's happened in Italy on the restoration process: The claim is, quoting wikipedia (translated from italian media): "In 2019 the Italian authorities started an investigation, as they have ascertained that the S76 engine mounted on the "Beast of Turin" was originally kept in the "Antonio Capetti Collection" of the Polytechnic of Turin: the power unit was loaned to Mr. Pittaway in charge of research and restoration, but the “Collection” discovered after some years that they had been returned with a non-functional replica block."
What's that comics you showed on 8:24 ?
Thank you, excellent video. I agree drive them
Good stuff, brother. Love that history.
This car is pure magic as it’s owner too !
Dear Bart,
I will literally pay for you to do a long video about the Lotus S3 and the Citroen DS.
Love the channel
You need to be pretty brave to drive this thing because there's nothing to stop the chain from ripping your arm off if it snaps. One of the joys of exposed chain drive cars, lol.
have you done a video on the bmw brutus from the 20s/30s? thats got a 46 litre spitfire engine in it, i think!
I have had an XKE and a 1970 Citroen Deesss. So I really liked this video!
Okay, that's awesome. Duncan is the MAN!
Engines nailed to a wooden frame- may dad never mentioned that part but he was a decade later so maybe they used bolts by then.
There's a story once posted on the internet by Duncan Pittaway. He entered his original 1925 Bugatti Type 35 at the Monaco Historic Grand Prix to race, despite the fact that the car is just a pile of bits in his garage. In a matter of weeks, the car was assembled and road registered, and then, he drove it from Britain, through France, all the way to Monaco, raced it there, took the class win and drove it back home again!!!
There's a video here of Duncan and his friends taking their 100+year old cars to a 1000-mile road trip to Lyon, France, to commemorate the centenary of the 1914 French GP held there...
Wow, that mustache joke was hilarious. I laughed so hard the first 20 times I heard it.
Between that and the various testicle jokes and puns I was practically wheezing at your original and not-at-all sophomoric humor.
The Honda CRZ is pretty close to what youre looking for in your sporty Honda Fit. 2 door manual hybrid with an optinal factory supercharger. Its not fast enough to keep up with any real sports car, it's not fuel efficient enough to be a great hybrid, but its by far the most fun i've ever had with a car. Handles like an absolute dream.
Great stuff love the video ✌️
Heck yeah, now double it and make it a v8. The thing will be sitting under 60 litres but be capable of moving mountains😂
300hp in the 80s is impressive
300hp these days is still a respectable number
But 300hp back then in 1910s ?
Thats legend right there
I can't believe it actually sounds like paint can cylinders! It's like each piston is on a paint shaker.... while running! That's the angriest engine I've ever heard! I'm in love! 😍
The engine is an S76A derived from the Fiat S53A and F.4 airships and the most curious thing is that it is in turn derived from the engine of the original S76 300hp Record.
You should know that Mr. Pittaway had requested to borrow the engine for a short time from the Polytechnic of Turin (where it was on display) and when he returned (after 2 years) after a careful examination they realized that it was a CLONE and missing many internal parts , they had even blocked the bolts with chemical substances to prevent disassembly... an investigation was also started for receiving stolen goods by the Turin Prosecutor's Office but it ended in statute of limitations "thanks" to some bureaucratic technicalities.
Having said that: as an Italian and i still prefer to see the Beast of Turin rumble and spit flames rather than see it in a museum forming mould.
If he stole it by deception he did well, meanwhile in a museum even a dummy satisfies the eye.
seen heard and felt the power of that amazing Fiat at Goodwood many times
10:18 damn, that is one angry thunder😍 if Zeus had a car, he would be driving this beast❤
You’re f__king high.
Powerful, fast vintage race cars considerably wear out after a day or two of driving. People keep them in collections to avoid having to do twenty $100,000 restorations every year.
@bartscarstories Crazy how no one mentions the fact that Mr Pittaway litteraly stole the only existing original engine from the Politecnico di Torino. The university generously loaned him the engine, with the premise that a perfect copy would be made for the car and the original would be returned... Unfortunately Mr Pittaway returned the copy and kept the original one for the car.
Maybe some Britts still think in a British Museum mentality, believing that art theft Is justified...
Sounds like theft to me. Why wasn't he arrested ?
@@MarinCipollina To quote Stefan Marjoram, who filmed the engine start up: "Here’s a brief version, just the facts… The technical college sold the engine. Some people later regretted it. Duncan was taken to court over it - in Italy - but the case was thrown out. They couldn’t win by legal means so they’ve resorted to putting out false stories instead."
Great video congrats Duncan congrats and continue
How about Mr. Dunderbak’s? German restaurant. There used to be a bunch of them, but now there’s only 3. Two are in Florida, Daytona and Tampa, and one is in Allentown Pennsylvania.
What is that car at 12:29? Looks like a very interesting engine design.
fortunately there is always someone who is able to bring back works from the past. even if you manage to scratch the only engine left in the world under the eyes of us Italians who only noticed many years later, due to the futurist mentality not inclined to memory. which causes very important pieces to be stored away until they are forgotten and thrown away. As an Italian I can say that it was done well because they would never have done it here.
The importance of having a big bushy moustache can not be overstated when driving the Beast of Turin. So too the ability to bugger large groups of people in Italy. Viva Duncan
Some other cars of that era and type were the "Chitty Chitty Bang Bangs", also chain-driven racing machines with huge engines. They were made famous by Ian Fleming's children's story of the same name. My memory is hazy, but I think there were three different ones, at least one driven by an Italian count whose name began with Z who was later killed racing at Monza. One of them had an 18-liter Maybach Zeppelin engine, which may have inspired Fleming to make the car in his story fly.
I have to agree with your statement about museums. It's a shame how most of those cars won't ever be started and ran again.
Where are those antique car races held?
Why did they make the wheel base so narrow? Thing looks like it could flip doing it a 15 mph turn. I guess to make sure the puny frame didn’t snap?…
Listen these people are heo 's bringing back these cars . Many people whed have left these car to history. But these people put back no matter of the cost keep history still alive
I salute you . I wish you the best luck ever
The S76 and the packard bentley are my 2 favorite cars in the world. Lunatic on wheels
This is so cool, I am glad he saved the car, those bike tires on a car scare me. takes some courage to drive that.
I wanna see a vintage engine design(excessive size) built with today's technology, aluminum block,head,internals, turbo, efi, ecu (with 2 step)
Could use original engine mounts and bell housing if possible creating a modern replica
This was an excellent production about truly a beast. At 10:03 I thru my hands up and shouted! From another room the wife shouted back, What happened did you win something?
That thing sounds brutal!
This car makes clear what an internal combustion engine is - a controlled explosion machine.
can you please do a video on the mercedes t80? if youve never heard of it it's gonna be a wild night of digging through rabbit holes thats for sure!
To put the S76 engine's displacement into perspective, one cylinder has *more* displacement than a Ford 427 engine found in the likes of the Shelby Cobra.
This is a car I also have an obsession with! Thank you for putting this together.
Do you have any interest in Edwardian/Pre-1916 car touring? I grew up touring all over New England with my parents in their 1910 thru 1914 cars, my mom is one of the organizers for the HCCA's week long tours. If you're ever curious we've always got open seats! 🎉
I just bought a 1910 Oakland, I'll be driving it around town regularly. Not exactly the Beast of Turin, but golly are they a blast ❤❤
The Beast of Turin is thee coolest name given to car
I live 26 miles from Goodwood and have raced the track many times (pre renovation) in mostly mark 1-3 Mini Coopers and I have seen these beasts in action. I cannot imagine a 150 mile jaunt on public roads to get to the track in one of these, probably more dangerous than racing the circuit.
The modern rebuild was the best part, looks like something Allen Millyard would invent!
Allen would take the two and make a 600hp V8.