The Beast of Turin

December 3, 2014 12:42 PM

100 years ago bigger was better in search for speed and this is the biggest of them all. The beast of Turin

Built to break the land speed record in 1911 a 28.5 liter (1729 cubic inch) motor was used in a FIAT. It was recently restored and is now running. Here it is on a speed run in 1913.

posted by alfanut (26 comments total)

Exhaust manifold? Pah. For babies.
posted by GuyZero at 12:44 PM on December 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

I'll never be your Beast of Turin...
posted by Cookiebastard at 12:53 PM on December 3, 2014 [11 favorites]

300 HP from 28 liters, boy have we come a long way.
posted by doctor_negative at 12:56 PM on December 3, 2014 [2 favorites]

Well that looks dangerous.
posted by oceanjesse at 12:59 PM on December 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

Why can cars still have great names like that? Why would anybody ever name a car a Chevrolet Equinox when you could call it a Detroit God-Thing?
posted by maxsparber at 1:02 PM on December 3, 2014 [8 favorites]

Well that looks dangerous awesome. FTFY
posted by Confess, Fletch at 1:03 PM on December 3, 2014

From the "restored" link: the whole series of articles on the project. Those pistons are the size of a man's head! I look forward to finding some more technical info on the car. I hope some of MeFi's racing experts weigh in here.

I see it got up to 116 MPH; my old Miata would do that with an engine smaller than one of the cylinders in that monster. I wonder how low the compression ratio is.
posted by TedW at 1:03 PM on December 3, 2014 [2 favorites]

It's the automotive predecessor of the Gee Bee!
posted by TedW at 1:05 PM on December 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

But I bet your old Miata wouldn't frighten all the livestock in a half-mile radius, now, would it?
posted by clawsoon at 1:19 PM on December 3, 2014 [7 favorites]

I was amused to start the video and realize that we got a full two minutes of contemplative piano music before they actually started the thing up, which immediately produced the expected effect of some dual gatling steampunk weapon meant to bring down the Kaiser's battle zeppelins.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:21 PM on December 3, 2014 [4 favorites]

A sound not unlike God's lawnmower out to shorten the ranks of the wicked.
posted by wotsac at 1:22 PM on December 3, 2014 [7 favorites]

Put me in mind of The Brutus (SLYT) as demonstrated on Top Gear.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 1:23 PM on December 3, 2014

Just a boy and his car...
posted by Thorzdad at 1:52 PM on December 3, 2014

Boy, I heard them start that engine, and realized why there is a large hole in the center of the driver's seat.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 2:16 PM on December 3, 2014 [3 favorites]

That'll piss off the neighbors.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 4:06 PM on December 3, 2014

If the Beast of Turin is at one end of a spectrum of motors, here's something at the other end: displacing a scant 0.045 liters (45cc, or ~2 cubic inches) this amazing hand machined, 1/4 scale, electronic fuel injected, fully operational DOHC V8 model [YT] and its corresponding build thread.
posted by mosk at 4:31 PM on December 3, 2014 [5 favorites]

..dual gatling steampunk weapon meant to bring down the Kaiser's battle zeppelins.

Funny you should mention that. While looking through the links, I found this amusing item:

Clement Bayard OHC Aero Motors Power French Dirigibles

After our post yesterday covering the S76 Fiat LSR Car, our thoughts turned to its engine, which served as the basis for a redesign that later resulted in engines used in Italian Forlanini F.5 dirigibles. In our files, we have had the pair of photos below for quite some time that show four and six-cylinder French Clement Bayard OHC engines used for powering French dirigibles circa 1909.

BTW, when they fired up that engine, what was causing all the sparks? That didn't look good. I know the manifold wasn't installed over the exhaust ports, but I am not aware of any good reason why burning chunks of stuff would come out of the cylinders.
posted by charlie don't surf at 5:13 PM on December 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

mosk, that V8 was awesome, but I'll need to one-up you with a fully-functional 1:3 scale Ferrari 312PB race car with a working, 103cc flat 12 cylinder engine.
posted by jalexei at 7:10 PM on December 3, 2014 [2 favorites]

I've seen that Ferrari, jalexei, and it IS awesome. Thanks for linking to it.
posted by mosk at 7:35 PM on December 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

You guys should see some of the tiny gas engines used in RC aircraft models. There are mass produced engines like this tiny 10CC (.60 CU IN) 2-stroke Gas RC Engine and this ingenious 7-Cyl 160CC 4-stroke Gas Radial Engine. Too big for you? Try this 3.5cc Nitro engine.
posted by charlie don't surf at 11:37 PM on December 3, 2014

Pfft; all torque, no action. Instead, I give you the Valentine Mini Bee 0.021 ccm Mk II diesel engine: 0.0013 in³, 16200 rpm. 3mm bore, 3 mm stroke. Nice.
posted by scruss at 5:21 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

I find I have a growing fascination with these pre-war racers - the profusion of engine types, and the competition and transition between types (Gasoline! Steam! Electric!) is reflected in the modern day, as various varieties of electric vehicles are duking it out (Fast charge! Hybrid! Fuel-cell!) and this competition is making its way to the racecourse. The engineering of these motors is beautiful, too - most modern engines are ugly, irregular lumps, designed for cheap and easy casting of the large pieces and a quick run through an assembly-line. Only V-twin and single-cylinder motorcycle engines bother to actually look like something these days, and that's more because they're pretending to be old-timey rather than taking pride in a clean and elegant design. It says something that the first thing you see when you open the hood of a new car is a sheet of black plastic bolted to the motor, hiding the ungainly mess of hoses, wires, belts and ungainly plastic and metal lumps. The engineers are too embarrassed to let you see their work.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:36 AM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]

Very nice. I used to fly RC aircraft models with those engines when I was a little kid, and I am just amazed at how the technology has improved with CNC and 3D printing technologies.
posted by charlie don't surf at 7:37 AM on December 4, 2014

BTW, when they fired up that engine, what was causing all the sparks? That didn't look good. I know the manifold wasn't installed over the exhaust ports, but I am not aware of any good reason why burning chunks of stuff would come out of the cylinders.

My guess is that the engine isn't tuned at all and it's sucking in much more gas than it has oxygen available to burn in the cylinder. So when the super-hot exhaust complete with unburnt gas gets pushed out and hits the air where there's fresh oxygen - BOOM. the carb (I assume it has a carb) is running way to rich.

But I know zero about engines, so maybe not.
posted by GuyZero at 7:51 AM on December 4, 2014 [1 favorite]

Also, I'd imagine there's some oil leakage into the cylinders - piston rings were not a perfected art in 1911.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:41 AM on December 4, 2014

BTW, when they fired up that engine, what was causing all the sparks? That didn't look good. I know the manifold wasn't installed over the exhaust ports, but I am not aware of any good reason why burning chunks of stuff would come out of the cylinders.

When you first fire up an engine after replacing the piston rings and honing the cylinders, the rings need to seat. This is because, at the microscopic level, the cylinder walls are actually a series of ridges and valleys, and the steel piston ring, which is exceptionally hard, is being pressurized to form a seal against that uneven surface. So for the first 200 to 2k miles, your newly rebuilt engine is deforming itself as these parts wear against one another, until the rough surfaces are smooth. On smaller cylinders, there is less debris. With a big ol' paint can of a piston like these, there is a lot more debris, and this is what you are seeing fly off as sparks and such. It will settle down after the rings are seated.
posted by mosk at 1:00 PM on December 4, 2014 [3 favorites]