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Some people have all the fun (and money)
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Posted by: Mr. P

86-MPH in first gear, ha ha.

I've always been a fan of the Bizzarrini, although they never were all that refined, they were fast and sinister looking. Here's a recent update on a total restoration of one.

Mr. P

This is Ian’s car in the paddock at Sebring in 1964 where it ran well until the supposedly reliable Borg-Warner gearbox broke.

The story behind the initial acquisition of the car is the usual one of a combination of right place, right time. Ian was working on a photo shoot in California. When perusing a copy of Hemmings [the US equivalent of Auto Trader], he found the car advertised [hook up the brakes and go racing] amongst the usual fare of such publications, and with an eye for both the unusual and a bargain he went to look.

That was 11 years ago. The car, having been stored untouched for some time until the past couple of years then started on the long road back to life. Research showed this particular car to be chassis number 202 - construction of which, started in the Livorno factory in November 1963, being completed in February/March 1964 and shipped to Florida in order to compete at Sebring.
Most of the reconstruction work has been done by Liaz and his small team from Zul Racing - the same people who have run several of Ian’s cars for some years and who are currently entrusted with the Gurney Eagle as well as the Bizzarrini. Although the car was more or less complete when shipped to the UK, it was in something of a state - prompting Liaz to exclaim to Ian “what have you done?” when he first saw the car on the trailer.
Several years plus a lot of time, effort, skill, patience and, as you might expect, a considerable amount of money now sees the car almost back to its former glory. I think Ian might consider it better than new regarding the build quality and general engineering standards.

The car uses independent front suspension, unequal length wishbones, coil springs, hydraulic shocks and an anti-roll bar. On the rear there is a De Dion set up, coil springs, hydraulic shocks, longitudinal struts and a cross bar with large inboard mounted discs. Whilst the brakes can cope with the driver’s retardation requirements, the issue of heat transference from the rear brakes to the differential is something of a knotty problem as Gregor Fisken found out when he raced a similar car in the first Classic Le Mans two years ago. High diff oil temperatures cooked the seals during practice, though the diff was replaced in time for the race.

The Chevrolet engine has now been rebuilt by Knight Racing Services in Daventry to push out close to 500 brake on Webers, as although Bizzarrini was willing to use an American engine, he remained patriotic regarding the carburettor set up. Other similar cars have and do use a Holley set up. With considerably more power than in period and geared for 86mph in first, the car would need some time to set up at the Silverstone test session on the Tuesday before being shipped off to Le Mans.

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