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Villa d'Este 2021. Selection of unique lines and innovative mechanics

Held the first days of this October, Villa d'Este has once again brought a selection of unique pieces where mechanical excellence goes hand in hand with the best design. In addition, seeing its vehicle display is like traversing the evolution of motorsport, as the organization has arranged from pre-war models with a history in the Mille Miglia to Pininfarina creations based on a popular FIAT 500. We select some of the most popular units for you. interesting from the hand of the photographs of Unai Ona.

Photographs: Unai Ona

The first time was in 1929. That was almost a century ago. A time in which many cars could be classic as long as there are models that are born setting a chair, but not historical because the passing of time had not yet made its ruinous march. In fact, the winner was an Isotta Faschini Tipo 8A. Undoubtedly one of the most fascinating cars in the years before the Second World War. Nicknamed by some the “Italian Rolls Royce”. Endowed with majestic qualities presided over by its 7-liter engine. However, the truth is that by 3 the 1929A had only been in production for five years. He even had two more left.

With this genesis, it is impossible not to conceive the Villa d'Este Concours d'Elegance as one of the referential appointments for world classic motorsport. A contest born under the protection of the Automobile Club di Como next to the Grand Hotel Villa d'Este. Two pioneers who noticed the high-end exhibitions that proliferated throughout Europe during the roaring 20s. A calendar where the recently recovered from Biarritz. Curiously, it was also inaugurated in 1929. A time of unique hotels, travel and automobiles. Which was cut short by the bursting of the economic bubble and the bombing of the last world war.

Thus, Villa d'Este failed to recover the splendor of before. And it is that only a few loose editions such as those of 1948 and 1949 could be held. Two brief returns followed by some more serious attempts already in the eighties and early nineties. Isolated glares that failed to ignite until in 1999 the BMW Group took over the contest. Establishing a mix of classic cars and contemporary prototypes. Something that we have been able to see again in the edition held the first days of this October. Sharing space the futuristic electric i4 with Pietro Frua's 2800 GTS prototype.

TO DARE OR STAY ON THE EDGE

When at the beginning of the sixties Pietro Frua obtained a contract to design the new range of the German company Glas, his career took a leap abroad. A fact that at the end of the decade could have been amplified, since the purchase of it by BMW gave Frua the possibility of designing large-series models. Or at least that's what he believed, since in reality those of BMW have always been quite conservative with the choice of their lines. Character for which they never opened the door to the Italian despite the fact that he displayed elegant designs. Much less daring than those executed by Giugiaro or Gandini at that time.

BMW 2800 GTS Pietro Frua restored by BMW Classic

However, the truth is that on Pietro Frua's part there was no passion left to try. Effort demonstrated in the more than ten designs presented to BMW, among which the 2800 GTS Coupé stands out in green, restored two years ago by the brand's classics department. A unit that, by the way, spent many years in Spain after being acquired at the Barcelona Show. A taste of what it's like to stay on the edge. Although BMW never set out to manufacture the Frua design, it did accept it as a show car at international fairs. Just the cautious nature that Lamborghini never had.

And it is understandable, since while the German brand was involved in the development of the massive Serie3, the Italian did so in the Countach. Two totally different products. Since while the BMW one had to please the widest possible public Lamborghini's was called to look extravagant in order to differentiate itself from brands like Ferrari. Thus, in Sant'Agata Bolognese they had to dare to give carte blanche to a ripping designer like Marcello Gandini. Of those, a creator in just over thirty years, willing to sublimate the wedge design with a model that would lay the foundations of later supercars.

Replica of the first prototype of the Countach

Approach that was embodied in a first prototype that today any fan would consider a first-class jewel in the history of motorsports. But what at the time it was destroyed in the framework of crash and safety tests carried out in 1974 during the development of the Countach. Recreating this 500 LP1971 has cost more than 25.000 hours of work between an enthusiast and the specialists at Polo Storico Lamborghini. An artisan work with which to celebrate the half century of Gandini's creation that would end up giving birth to the Countach as standard.

FROM GIVING UP A PROGRESS TO GOING TOO FAST WITH IT

Villa d'Este gives the opportunity to see a multitude of unique creations. Styling exercises carried out on the basis of more or less well-known cars. However, the most interesting thing about this appointment are the models from the twenties and thirties. Jewels from the golden days that are very difficult to see in places that are not up to the standard of the great international competitions. In that sense, the Lancia Dilambda Series 1 Carlton from 1930 is a very special example. On the one hand, this model has the mechanical peculiarity of Lancia. Something seen in the fact that its engine with 8 cylinders and about 100CV is not online. But in a compact V8 at only 24º, very innovative for the time.

Lancia Dilambda Series 1 Carlton from 1930

On the other hand, on the outside it sports an elegant body but with a certain sporty touch thanks to its two doors in suicide opening and soft pastel tones. Work of the Londoner Carlton Carriage. Which was possible thanks to the fact that Lancia dispensed with the Lambda monocoque in the Dilambda knowing that this high-end car would be bodied by various workshops. Characteristic of prewar cars, which Isotta tried to bury with a design as revolutionary as that of the 8C Monterosa. Without a doubt, one of the most interesting models among all those that were seen at Villa d'Este 2021.

A statement that is based more on what is under the body than on it. Of course, without removing an iota of excellence from the majestic Boneschi design. Which wears this 1948 unit that claims to be one of only two survivors of the four or five 8C prototypes built. A vehicle with which Isotta bet heavily on its reinvention after World War II. A contest in which its accounts survived by manufacturing aeronautical equipment, but which once finished returned the brand to the luxury car segment.

In this sense, Isotta bet big with a novel configuration in which its V8 was put on the rear axle. A groundbreaking design for the moment. Proving that a car could be made without the need for a transmission tunnel. Something that left the cabin with a flat floor, without obstacles, allowing it to accommodate three passengers in each of the two seating benches. Thus, Isotta tried to give a complete turn in terms of driving comfort to the luxury vehicles of the moment by presenting the 8C at the Grand Palais in Paris in 1947. An attempt too ambitious for the moment. Which ended with the closure of the company two years later.

FROM THE RESISTANCE TO THE RACES OF ASCENT. TWO RARE SPORTS CARS

Before moving on definitively to the years after the Second World War, we are going to stop at two rarities seen in this Villa d'Este 2021. One of them little known today. But in his time he reached a technical excellence capable of taking all three podium places in the first edition of the Mille Miglia in 1927. We are talking about OM. A brief name under which the Meccaniche Office, which began manufacturing sports cars in its Brescia workshop from 1917. A task in which it reached excellence with the 665 Sport. A six-cylinder of almost 4 liters that in this case is dressed in a light body by Zagato.

A true symbol of transalpine competition motorsport, which has been seen about ten times in the last two decades of the Mille Miglia Storica. A pearl from the twenties that went well with the Graf & Stift SR4 SP from 1925. An Austrian car although the lion as a hood ornament might make us think of something English, in the manner of those in Trafalgar Square. Born as a short version from the chassis of the saloon model, its 7-liter inline six-cylinder engine produced 8CV powered by two Zenith carburettors. Power that added to the low weight made this Graf & Stift a really competitive model in the ascent races of the moment. Who knows. Perhaps someone considers it a possible ancestor for the Porsche 120 Bergspyder. Another climber with a taste for the Alps.

FROM GOING UP TO HEAVEN TO GOING DOWN TO HELL. TURBINES IN VILLA D'ESTE

When you investigate the history of each production car, you always find fascinating stories from the point of view of technology or business management. However, when we go to the competition everything becomes even more vibrant. And we are not only talking about unique pieces with engineering solutions at the highest level. But also epic biographies of rise and fall. Of those so symptomatic of glories and miseries in the form and manner of classical myths. In this thread, Villa d'Este 2021 offered several examples, including a vehicle that, beyond the hill races towards the peaks of the Alps, seemed to really want to fly

This is the American Howmet TX. An experiment born at the end of the sixties in which an attempt was made to apply the gas turbine engine to motoring. An occurrence a priori not as far-fetched as it might seem. Since, after all, solutions so applied today such as direct injection or turbocharging come from aeronautics where turbine devices were already commonplace. However, despite the engine weighing only 77 kilos and having been at the starting line of races such as Le Mans, Daytona or Sebring, the Howmet TX never came to prosper.

Howmet TX

A pity, because the sound made by its engine originally designed by Ray Aviation & Engineering for a military helicopter is worth listening to. First with a dry click followed by several seconds of silence. moment after which another softer click announces an acceleration of the mechanism similar -but much more powerful- to the sound of the Formula E cars. Really very curious. Even more so due to the fact that this car with a turbine, contrary to trials such as the 1954 FIAT Turbina, did reach the tracks, albeit in a brief way.

A short route in the competition, but really daring and groundbreaking. A fact that places the Howmet TX among the most interesting concept racing cars of all time. something that has nothing to do with him Ferrari 512BB LM. An old acquaintance for any fan of endurance racing, which was more than a return to heaven or a jug of cold water for Ferrari. Of course, already convinced that it was not worth continuing to invest resources in the Le Mans dominated by Porsche and Matra. Fact that moved the Scuderia to abandon the Sport Prototypes to focus all its attention on F1 in 1974.

Ferrari 512BB LM 1981

However, Ferrari continued to provide sporadic support to certain private teams. One of them -if not the most prominent- was Luigi Chinetti's North American Racing Team. Personal friend of the Commendatore, who had seen enough potential in the 512BB to win Le Mans. So things, Chinetti used his friendship with Enzo Ferrari to provoke a project in which both those from Maranello and Pininfarina worked hard. A version with better aerodynamics, boosted to 470CV for just 1050 kilos of the redesign made by Pininfarina in its wind tunnel.

According to the sources consulted, between 16 and 25 units were manufactured., celebrating four decades this year since its premiere on the circuits in 1981. The 512 BB LM that was on display at Villa d'Este is the one that was delivered to the North American team, American Ron Spangler. Unit that competed in Sebring and Daytona but, curiously, it is now when it is reaping more success thanks to Le Mans Classic.

WANTING TO BE EVEN BETTER THAN YOU ARE. MODIFIED IN VILLA D'ESTE

One of the constants in contests like Villa d'Este is to present unique pieces in which an already magnificent car has been modified to give it better performance. On this point, we find two cars that differ in their origin but converge in the excitement of wanting to be better than what they already are. Thus, on the one hand we have a spectacular and resounding Lamborghini Countach LP400S. And on the other, a modest but very effective FIAT 500. Two models that are well known to the general public, but that in this elegance contest we saw transformed into very interesting creations.

On the one hand, as far as the FIAT 500 is concerned, it had mutated into a Abarth 500 Pininfarina from 1957. A version powered by the Scorpion Workshop. Which really is not a novelty at a mechanical level, but at a design level since its body was completely reworked by Pininfarina to give the small utility of only 3 meters many of the details and qualities present in the Ferraris of the moment. . A piece that is undoubtedly one of the most curious transformations among the many made with the FIAT 30 as a base, which has been in the hands of the same family since its assembly in the Pininfarina workshops.

FIAT-Abarth 500 Pininfarina 1957

On the other hand, and moving in a totally different context of power, the Countach LP400S displayed at Villa d'Este had mutated to be the 1978 Walter Wolf Special Bertone. Possibly one of the most radical Lamborghinis ever built, born out of the belief that the Countach wasn't extreme enough. An assertion that seems to us to be the result of a pilot with suicidal urges. But in the case of Walter Wolf, he took the form of an improved car with the help of the legendary Lamborghini chief engineer Gian Paolo Dallara.

Lamborghini Countach LP400S Walter Wolf Special Bertone 1978

Thus, the collaboration between the brand and the pilot and Canadian oil magnate was embodied in a Countach with more than 500CV for which Pirelli had to manufacture special tires. An interesting experiment in which the experience in F1 -Wolf had that of his own team between 1976 and 1979- turned into a supercar as radical as it was not prodigal on the circuits. In short, the eternal contradiction of Lamborghini. The same as other high-performance models present at Villa d'Este, such as the Bugatti EB110SS or the Isdera Commendatore 112i.

Magnificent examples of the fever for supercars among which a FIAT 508 Balilla Aerodynamics. The creation in 1935 of the Department of Competition and Special Bodywork at FIAT, built on the basis of a 508 with a 36CV engine.

Enough to make this model a car fully inserted in the history of the Mille Miglia, of which only about thirty models were made sporting that magnificent aerodynamic rear. For us, a fascinating car where taking a popular model further becomes possible and useful to enter the world of competition. One last piece that sums up very well the way Italians feel about motorsport.

Rear of the FIAT Balilla Aerodinamica

Photographs: Unai Ona

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Written by Miguel Sánchez

Through the news from La Escudería, we will travel the winding roads of Maranello listening to the roar of the Italian V12; We will travel Route66 in search of the power of the great American engines; we will get lost in the narrow English lanes tracking the elegance of their sports cars; We will speed up the braking in the curves of the Monte Carlo Rally and we will even get dusty in a garage while rescuing lost jewels.

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