 What do you think of when you hear "land speed record"? An early PreWarCar fanatic will immediately think of Jenatzy's "La Jamais Contente", while others might think of Campbell's Bluebird(s) or the Salt Flats of Bonneville. The records most people remember are the ultimate, overall records broken by "four wheeled planes" rather than cars. Around WW II, small automobile manufacturers started focusing on a different kind of record attempt: the quest for the highest speed with the smallest displacement! Records were broken with as little as 500, 350 or even 250cc. A name closely associated with these record attempts is that of Giovanni "Johnny" Lurani, whose Moto Guzzi engined Nibbio(first photo) was the first 500cc car to break the 100 mph barrier (... and more than eighty years later, the freshly restored Nibbio won the Coppa d'Oro at this year's Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este (second photo)). In the 350cc class, competition was also fierce, with Cecchini's Moscerino (third photo) setting the bar at 146,9 km/h in 1939, the USSR-built Zvezda 2 (fourth photo) raising it to 159,6 km/h in 1947, only to be beaten by the Nibbio II (fifth photo) of Lurani in the same year. The battle between these small displacement cars continued until late in the sixties. As often in history, some side-notes are as fascinating as the main story, and one of these side-notes could be admired at Chantilly Arts & Elegance last weekend: the Siata 500 Record Car (sixth photo). Built in 1938 on a customized Topolino chassis with a modified Topolino engine (capacity reduced to less than 500cc, fitted with a Siata Super-Testa cylinder head and a compressor) and with an aerodynamic alloy coachwork by Motto, this "mighty mouse" saw its record-breaking attempts thwarted by the start of WW II. Siata's small factory was even flattened by allied bombing, but luckily the record car survived. After the war, Alfredo Bosi, Citroën dealer in Milan, tried to fulfil Siata's prewar record dreams, but unfortunately for him automotive technology hadn't stopped evolving during the war. The car succesfully competed in some smaller competitions of the 750cc class, but didn’t succeed in what it was made for: make history as a record-breaker. Luckily, the car has been more successful in very recent history, winning 1st prize in the Etceterini Barchetta class in Chantilly. It's now well on its way to build a successful concours palmares. … and why not try to break that prewar record, almost eighty years later? Words and photos by Vincent Mahy, Marreyt Classics. |
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The land speed record that never materialised
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