George Turner Models’ Fiat S76 “The Beast of Turin”

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Last year I built George Turner Models’ Edwardian Mercedes, which you can read about here: https://motorsportformentalhealth.com/2023/02/18/george-turner-models-edwardian-mercedes/ (last year to the date! That article was published 18/2/23 and this one was published 18/2/24!)

I was really impressed with the kit and there are a number of really interesting cars in that range that I would like to build and race.

Today we’ll be building the first of those cars – the Fiat S76, also known as ‘The Beast Of Turin’.

In 1910 Fiat built two S76s to beat the land speed record held by the Blitzen Benz.

The car was tested by Felice Nazzaro who found it uncontrollable. I’ll be modelling Nazzaro as the driver in this build as he went on to found Automobili Nazzaro, who built some gorgeous cars and I would love to see one in the George Turner range in the future. Nazzaro’s win at Bologna in 1908 also inspired Enzo Ferrari to enter the world of motorsport.

The first chassis was kept by Fiat until 1919 when it was dismantled.

The second was sold to a Russian prince Boris Soukhanov who hired Pietro Bordino to race the car at Brooklands. Bordino refused to drive the car over 90mph (having been to Brooklands, I can tell you that the banking on the remaining corners there are very steep. The S76 is a very tall car so I can imagine it was rather terrifying to race around that banking.)

Soukhanov also used the car to try to break the land speed record.

In December 1913 in Belgium, Arthur Duray drove the car to 132.27mph but was unable to complete a run in the opposite direction within the hour, meaning he didn’t get the record.

Following the First World War Soukhanov’s car ended up in Australia where it was apparently crashed and destroyed.

Fast forward a lot of years and racer and collector Duncan Pittaway had painstakingly rebuilt an S76 using as many parts from the original cars as possible.

In late 2014 this trailer was released for the car, and watching this monster spitting flames on YouTube was what really ignited (pun intended) my passion for prewar cars. https://youtu.be/0TV2l6TOuGA?si=8ZfFyMx9h710ugc-

So of course, when George Turner released his kit of the S76, I immediately had it earmarked.

With resin kits the first step is to clean all of the resin parts to get rid of any left over mould release agent. Get a little tub of warm water and add a couple of drops of washing up liquid. give the parts a gentle scrub and dry with a paper towel.

You’ll also have to cut away any excess resin from the moulding . I use a sharp scalpel to clean up the excess resin and I’ll use a thin file Dremel bit to open up any holes slightly. These kits have steering and you want that whole mechanism to be able to move freely.

The main body of the car is actually in three parts – the ladder chassis that all the mechanical bits fit to and an upper and lower body which all fit together like so:

The bushes for the rear axle to pass through just presses into the chassis. I normally use brass bushes on slot cars and have a set available, so I’m honestly not sure why I didn’t on this one.

I ‘dry assembled’ the chassis and steering mechanism just to make sure that everything fitted together well and moved freely where it needed to.

I put the centre caps into the wheels.

Now it’s time for paint! I’m using a Halfords red primer, then a Halfords Mini Cherry Red top coat and a Hycote clear laquer.

As you can see from the picture of the real car, the wheel nuts are black (photo taken from this site for reference purposes: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-beast-of-turin-is-alive-and.html?m=1)

So they were replicated!

To assemble the steering pop the knuckles over the little tabs on either end of the steering rack. Obviously don’t glue any of this as it all has to move.

Slide the purple metal stub axles through the knuckles and fit the rack and knuckles onto the chassis. Again, don’t glue any of this.

This second part of the chassis with the front leaf springs holds it all together.

The rear bit with the cross bar glues into the slots on the chassis. The front of the leaf springs need to be glued to the chassis. I had to clamp the two parts together.

The guide presses into this mount.

The little brass bar goes into the hole in the centre of the steering rack. A screw holds the guide itself to the chassis.

Glue the front wheels onto the stub axles. Now when you turn the guide the wheels should turn too!

To wire the car, strip about 10mm off the end of your wire and thread it through the metal eyelet. Fold the bare wire that pokes out of the end of the eyelet over the edge of the eyelet to hold it in place.

The braided contacts feed through the guide, then the eyelets press into the little slots behind the braid like so:

I put the rear end together before taking the next picture. There are a couple of things to note. Firstly, the GTM Edwardian chassis is set up so the large cog on the chain drives goes to the front. On the real car the smaller cog goes to the front. You’ll be able to bore out the hole to make it fit with a Dremel bit.

(Photo credit: https://www.autoevolution.com/news/meet-the-beast-of-turin-a-111-year-old-fiat-with-a-monstrous-284-liter-engine-165528.html)

I also use a Scalextric Mabuchi motor rather than the motor Pendle Slot Racing provides. Between my Dad and I we have three of these cars now, and we find them a lot smoother with the Scalex motor.

Because I used the same coloured wires for each side I put a bit of black tape on the end of the left hand wire. The left hand connection to the track needs to go to the left hand terminal on the motor. If you get them the wrong way around the car will go backwards.

The logical thing to do of course, would be to use different coloured wires. I’m awkward though.

This is how I routed the wires.

Then the body goes on!

To detail the interior I used this photo as reference.

(Photo credit: https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/fiat-s76.html?sortBy=relevant)

This is what I came up with! For the wood I used a base of Vallejo English Uniform and then a wash of Vallejo wood grain.

I also tried wrapping the steering wheel. I used cotton thread and I think it looks overscale. I had to give it a go though!

For the driver and riding mechanic, I knew that I wanted to base the driver on Felice Nazzaro.

(Picture credit: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felice_Nazzaro)

For the riding mechanic I decided to go with khaki overalls. I found quite an interesting article on workman’s clothes of the era. I’m pretty sure it’s an American focused article, but you can still use it to get a rough idea of colours for European Edwardian figures: https://vintagedancer.com/1900s/edwardian-mens-motoring-clothes/

This is the finished article! It doesn’t show particularly well in the photos, but I did use a black weathering pigment around the exhausts. When you see the real car in videos, the left hand side of the bonnet quickly gets covered in soot!