Albert Ferreras
Perhaps it should have been called Leviathan, as a synonym for the great monster of monsters, but Mephistofele doesn't feel bad either. And especially considering that that name refers to an Evil One sent to capture souls; of course, those of many have already been captivated by its history ... And those that are yet to be tempted.
Until its conversion into a demon, the Mefistofele was a Fiat SB4. Its owner was Ernest Arthur Douglas Eldridge, a British racer who after risking his life eagerly searching for speed records by mixing different cars with aeronautical engines - in addition to being an automobile engineer, he was an aircraft pilot - died prematurely of pneumonia at the 40 years old. Things of destiny.
In 1922 he began his career with an Isotta Fraschini that was fitted with a Maybach 16.5-liter, six-cylinder, 250 hp jet engine. This one was eventually sold to a Frenchman known by the nickname of LeChampion, the record hunter was then switched to Fiat.
[su_youtube_advanced https=»yes» url='https://youtube.com/watch?v=a9Ki4s_gsCM' ]
The engine of the Mefistofele would be that of the Italian bombers of the terrible World War I.
Video credit: Andy Watting, from Youtube
His new machine, although with a smaller displacement - «only» 10 liters-, served him to achieve small successes until, after successive transformations, it was converted into the SB4 Eldridge o Mephistophele. An indomitable monster with which the British pilot finally managed to break the kilometer speed record set on July 12, 1924.
The Arpajon speed circuit, near Paris, witnessed the 234,97 km / h that the Fiat reached on the track where, on that occasion, the losers of the bet were René Thomas and his 12-liter Delage V10,5 and 350 horses. Accomplished his feat, Eldridge also sold the Mephistofele to the enigmatic Le Champion, in 1925; their lives spent pushing the limits of speed would never be crossed again.
[su_note note_color = »# f4f4f4 ″]
The Record
But let's go back to the process by which an earthly car was transformed into one from hell. The English racer acquired the SB4, an ancient competition vehicle from 1908 -Fiat competed at the highest level until the early 20s-, and changed the original engine for an aeronautical FIAT engine of almost 22 liters and more than 300 CV that they mounted, for example, the Italian Caproni Ca 46 bombers.
[/ su_note]
[su_note note_color = »# f4f4f4 ″]
However, to install this propeller a new chassis of at least 5,1 meters long was necessary, something that was solved - according to legend - by replacing the original one with one of an old London bus capable of supporting the 1,75 tonnes of the vehicle. beast. The car then acquired a balanced appearance, although the behavior was brutal.
Even so, the speed record was not achieved the first time: in a previous confrontation between Eldridge and René Thomas, the latter filed a claim denouncing that the Mephistofele did not have a reverse gear, what was illegal. Despite having won, he was then disqualified.
Six days later, its owner managed to ensure that the car had the spared mechanism, so Arpajon's record, made at the last kilometer launched, was approved in his favor. However, how he made the transformation in the gearbox without replacing it with another remains a mystery today.
According to some sources, the box suddenly disappeared from the vehicle and was never found again ...
[/ su_note]
[su_youtube_advanced https=»yes» url='https://youtube.com/watch?v=BhcjAyMTV8o' ]
[su_note note_color = »# f4f4f4 ″]
After having sold to Le Champion - actually Gary Le Massurier -, and although some claim to have proof that he raced with the Mefistofele in Adelaide, Australia, it is a fact that the infernal machine returned to England peobbly in the late 40s There it was bought by Peter Wike and brothers Jonh and Charles Naylor.
With her they would continue participating in races until she stopped being competitive and was relegated to oblivion. In 1962 it would be acquired by Fiat still in working order and presented again in society eight years later, at the Turin Motor Show.
[/ su_note]
A cult spawn
Currently, the vehicle is on display at the Centro Storico Fiat, museum that the brand maintains in Turin located specifically in what were the group's first workshops. Paradoxically, the Mefistofele occupies the central hall, being in exactly the same place where years ago the workshop in which racing cars were prepared, including the SB4s, would be located.
In June 2011, the vehicle went to the Fiat-owned test track in the Piedmont town of Balocco, on the occasion of a press presentation of another car of the brand. Since 1996 it had been pulled out only three times and, since the last, underwent a meticulous restoration carried out by its mechanical manager, the Italian Gianfranco Dazia. The process took five years.
A month after the Balocco exhibition, the car traveled to England, where it participated in the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The last time the Mefistofele was seen in public was during the past 2 and 4 August, at the Schloss Dyck Classic Days 2013, a festival that is considered by some fans as the German replica to English that we just mentioned.
You just need to attend one of the elegance contests that are held annually in America, such as Pebble Beach or Amelia Island, for this demon to have left his mark on the five continents ...
[su_note note_color = »# f4f4f4 ″]
Mephistofele's Guardian Angels
Two people are in charge of the maintenance and driving of the monster: its mechanic, Gianfranco Dazia, and its pilot, Michele Lucente. Both are the perfect tandem authorized by Fiat to revive this unique vehicle.
Starting the Mefistofele is by crank, and Dazia usually takes about 10 minutes of constant trying to get the impressive engine powered by four carburettors and 24 magneto-fired spark plugs.
"It takes longer to start this car than a space shuttle", affirms the mechanic. All this preceded by a process of meticulous manual greasing of valves and other mechanical elements that would also seem to a modern driver to last forever.
[/ su_note]
[su_youtube_advanced https=»yes» url='https://youtube.com/watch?v=elwP3EKvpyw' ]
[su_note note_color = »# f4f4f4 ″]
Michele Lucente is the one who is in charge of driving it regularly. He acknowledges that the Mefistofele is as fast as a mid-range race car, and there is no reason to doubt it despite its chain drive as it lacks front brakes.
Today, launching 170 km / h with him on a test track is not the same as doing it in 1924 at 234,97 km / h on a circuit of the time, although it may give us a slight idea of what Eldridge He "suffered" when he piloted it. In Lucente's words, "When I get out of the car, my hands continue to move as if I had the San Vito dance." Needless to say more.
[/ su_note]
