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Written by TopGear.com
This Monoposto was actually built by Pininfarina on behalf of Fiat-Abarth, and made its premiere at the 1960 Turin Motor Show. And as you can expect, many jaws were left gaping.It"s officially dubbed the Abarth 1000 Bialbero Record Car La Principessa" , and was built for speed. And records. Fiat-Abarth approached Pininfarina to design a car using the wind tunnel at the Turin Polytechnic. The engine they used for this 1960 record-breaker was a 1.0-litre four-cylinder engine that produced a nice, clean 100bhp. Yeah, downsizing in 1960. Those frantic little horses fed the rear wheels (with a four-speed gearbox on board) all packaged into that astonishing streamlined body.It stood 1.2m tall, 1.55m wide and 4.56m long and featured a drag co-efficient of just 0.20, which, if you enjoy understanding things like drag co-efficients, is (we"re told) quite remarkable.But no, what you really want to know is fast. The idea was to build a machine capable of sustaining the highest speed over the longest distance to set a new world record. And the little 1.0-litre Fiat delivered. It set nine world records, including one where it travelled 10,000km with an average speed of 118.7mph, along with another record of a straight 72-hour run at 116mph. Talk about punching above your weight.Now, this very car is being offered up by Gooding & Company at its Pebble Beach auction, and remains fully unrestored. In fact, it"s the first time it"s ever been offered up for sale at all, and is thus described as a time capsule".Estimated price? Over 1,000,000. OK, so it won"t exactly be the perfect car to commute in. Nor do the weekly shop. But who cares. Just look at the thingPhotos: Degler Studio
Date written: 19 Jun 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 3908
This Monoposto was actually built by Pininfarina on behalf of Fiat-Abarth, and made its premiere at the 1960 Turin Motor Show. And as you can expect, many jaws were left gaping.It"s officially dubbed the Abarth 1000 Bialbero Record Car La Principessa" , and was built for speed. And records. Fiat-Abarth approached Pininfarina to design a car using the wind tunnel at the Turin Polytechnic. The engine they used for this 1960 record-breaker was a 1.0-litre four-cylinder engine that produced a nice, clean 100bhp. Yeah, downsizing in 1960. Those frantic little horses fed the rear wheels (with a four-speed gearbox on board) all packaged into that astonishing streamlined body.It stood 1.2m tall, 1.55m wide and 4.56m long and featured a drag co-efficient of just 0.20, which, if you enjoy understanding things like drag co-efficients, is (we"re told) quite remarkable.But no, what you really want to know is fast. The idea was to build a machine capable of sustaining the highest speed over the longest distance to set a new world record. And the little 1.0-litre Fiat delivered. It set nine world records, including one where it travelled 10,000km with an average speed of 118.7mph, along with another record of a straight 72-hour run at 116mph. Talk about punching above your weight.Now, this very car is being offered up by Gooding & Company at its Pebble Beach auction, and remains fully unrestored. In fact, it"s the first time it"s ever been offered up for sale at all, and is thus described as a time capsule".Estimated price? Over 1,000,000. OK, so it won"t exactly be the perfect car to commute in. Nor do the weekly shop. But who cares. Just look at the thingPhotos: Degler Studio
Date written: 19 Jun 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 3908
