Fire breathing Fiat to come to Inveraray
THE ARGYLL Festival of Performance will see the fire breathing Fiat S76, also known as the Beast of Turin, making its Scottish debut.
The inaugural festival, which kicks off on Saturday June 2 at Inveraray Castle, has the support of a number of high end brands including McLaren, Ferrari, Classic Team Lotus together with Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Maserati and Porsche, to name a few.
The Beast of Turin was a Fiat built to challenge the land speed record, which it did in 1911. Boasting a 28.5-litre engine, the car was capable of reaching speeds of 116 mph.
Following intensive resoration by owner Duncan Pittaway, the current model is made up of the chassis and engine of two Fiat S76s. Event director Bill Telford said: ‘We are incredibly privileged that Duncan will bring the legendary Beast to Scotland for the first time for the Argyll Festival of Performance.
‘Not only will visitors to the festival be able to see this unique car up close, but they will also hear the Beast roar as she will be one of the star cars being demonstrated at the event.
‘We have ambitious plans for the festival and bringing unique and interesting cars to Scotland for the first time is a key factor in our plans. The Beast is a fantastic example of the cars that will be on show and we can’t wait to welcome her to Scotland.’
The Beast joins a line-up of cars for the festival including a Lotus 18 raced by Scotland’s first Grand Prix winner, Innes Ireland and Jim Clark.
To mark 50 years since the death of Jim Clark, a one-off Lotus 32B constructed for Jim to race in the 65 Tasman Series will also join the line-up. The Jim Clark Trust is the event’s charity partner with a donation from every ticket sold going to support the trust’s plans to further develop a heritage centre to celebrate this great Scot’s contribution to motor racing.
For more information and tickets, go to argyllfestivalofperformance.com.