Quiz Archive
1925 Itala Tipo 11 V12 ! (about quiz # 161)
This car was on display at the recent Good Wood Festival of Speed but received relative little attention as it didn't run and was not a clearly recognisable supercar. Not even the name was visible from the outside. David Greenlees and Doug Nye discussed the car. Jury member David Greenlees explains based on that meeting and article: "The car is a 1925 Itala Type 11 V-12. It was built for the Grand Prix season of 1926 but was unsuccessful because it was not powerful enough. It was an experiment to build a supercharged engine that was fed through the crankcase as in a two cycle. It was of flat head construction with the cam down in the vee (not OHC as some wrote). The fact that it was so unusual plus the large friction loss of the many cylinders probably accounted for these problems. It is a beautifully built and engineered car with front wheel drive and is very light weight with its aluminium body that is built over a skeleton of light wooden frame work." Still we are not perfectly sure which of the two cars this is. Yet we think that Nicolas Boissier of France came up with the best answer: "This beautiful racer is an ITALA type II 1926 designed by polytechnicien (1904)Giulio Cesare CAPPA for count Conelli de Prosperi with wooden chassis, front wheel drive, 12 cylinder engine 1094 cc, independent suspension on four wheels. A second car was made with a 1450cc engine with Roots blower. This car never raced but I think it still exists today in Turin in Museo Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia." Congratulations Nicolas ! (photos by editor, click for large photo)
Add comment
Friday, 29 July 2005
This car was on display at the recent Good Wood Festival of Speed but received relative little attention as it didn't run and was not a clearly recognisable supercar. Not even the name was visible from the outside. David Greenlees and Doug Nye discussed the car. Jury member David Greenlees explains based on that meeting and article: "The car is a 1925 Itala Type 11 V-12. It was built for the Grand Prix season of 1926 but was unsuccessful because it was not powerful enough. It was an experiment to build a supercharged engine that was fed through the crankcase as in a two cycle. It was of flat head construction with the cam down in the vee (not OHC as some wrote). The fact that it was so unusual plus the large friction loss of the many cylinders probably accounted for these problems. It is a beautifully built and engineered car with front wheel drive and is very light weight with its aluminium body that is built over a skeleton of light wooden frame work." Still we are not perfectly sure which of the two cars this is. Yet we think that Nicolas Boissier of France came up with the best answer: "This beautiful racer is an ITALA type II 1926 designed by polytechnicien (1904)Giulio Cesare CAPPA for count Conelli de Prosperi with wooden chassis, front wheel drive, 12 cylinder engine 1094 cc, independent suspension on four wheels. A second car was made with a 1450cc engine with Roots blower. This car never raced but I think it still exists today in Turin in Museo Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia." Congratulations Nicolas ! (photos by editor, click for large photo)
