Tag Archives: Pyscho

Louder Option On Demand – Ferrari 360 Spider

Surprisingly the Ferrari F360 Spider introduced in 2000 was only Ferrari’s twentieth road going convertible model.

The aggressive timeless lines were drawn up by Pininfarina.

Despite the chassis strengthening required to maintain rigidity and safety of the all aluminium space frame the 360 Spider weighs only 60 kgs / 132 lbs more than the 360 Coupé upon which the Spider is based.

Power comes from a 400 hp 3.6 litre / 219 cui V8 fed fresh air by these side grills.

The electrically powered roof folds away between the roll bars and engine in just 20 seconds.

Options for the 360 Spider included a Tubi Style exhaust system which provided a modest increase in peak horse power and made the car sound louder.

If any one wants to swap their 360 Spider for my entire collection of Hotwheels Ferrari’s please leave a message below.

My thanks to the Pistonhead who brought this timeless beauty along to the Sunday Service at the BMW plant back in January.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s Tubi Style edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ and that you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Double Bubble – FIAT Abarth 750 GT Zagato Coupé

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Continuing the series of posts relating to Race 1 at Thompson CT on the 20th July 1958 captured on camera by Ed Arnaudin, today we are looking at the fascinating FIAT Abarth 750 Zagato driven by Paul Sagan to 6th place overall the only class H finisher.

After the 22 hp FIAT 600 was launched in 1955 Carlo Abarth set about maximising the potential of tuning the engine by increasing the size from 633 / 38.6 cui to 747 / 45.6 cui fitting a Nardi inlet manifold and increasing the compression ratio to produce 47 hp.

Meanwhile while Zagato set about building a Coupé based on the same car the 30 hp 600 TS, when Abarth saw the coupe he suggested to Zagato they work together to produce a vehicle for racing in the popular 750 cc 45.6 cui sports car class prevalent in national and international racing at the time.

Over 600 of these successful racing vehicles which won the SCCA class H in ’59 ’60 and ’61, are thought to have been built between 1956 and 1960 when the maximum permitted engine sizes for the various national racing classes were changed. The ‘double bubble’ name which is derived from the two humps in the roof stuck in America where a chewing gum brand bearing the same name was popular.

Paul Sagan is known to have been successful driving Porsche 550’s in 1956 and 1957 before he moved over to running the #27 FIAT Abarth 750 during and after which his record is sketchy though he seems to have returned to racing Porsches by 1961.

My thanks to Terry O’Neil for the race results and Steve Arnaudin for his Dad Ed’s pictures, wishing Ed all the best on his return home from hospital.

Hope you have enjoyed today’s double bubble edition of ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres and that you’ll join me again tomorrow for a look at the cool 2nd place Lotus IX of Race 1 at Thompson CT on the 20 July 1958. Don’t forget to come back know !

All about the anodised alloy – Triumph Vitesse 6

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The Triumph Vitesse 6 was a four seat sports car available as a four seat convertible.

Styled like the Triumph Herald, with separate chassis and body panels, by Michelotti, the Vitesse 6 is distinguished by the twin head light bonnet, a 6 cylinder engine and up rated brakes and front suspension.

From the rear there is little to help distinguish a Vitesse from a Herald apart from the anodised alloy bumper bar in place of the white plastic covered item of the Herald and the chrome mid rift trim of the Vitesse goes all the way back to the tail lights.

The twin carb 6 cylinder engine of the Vitesse 6 can trace its origins back to the 4 cylinder Standard 8 of 1953, a weld seam on the block shows where the ‘extra cylinders’ were added.

This model registered in Guildford in 1966 with around 80 hp has a top speed of 91 mph. The Vitesse was superseded by the Vitesse Mk2 in 1968.

I’d like to round out today’s edition with congratulations to ‘Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres’ contributors Ed and Steve Arnaudin, father and son who celebrate their wedding anniversaries today, not forgetting to congratulate their undoubtedly better halves 🙂

Hope you have enjoyed todays 6 cylinder edition of ‘Getting a lil’ psycho on tyres and that you’ll join me tomorrow for Ferrari Friday any one for seven Ferraris on 7th day of Christmas ? Don’t forget to come back now !

Type 3 – Volkswagen Variant

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Hard to believe that between 1938 and 1961 there were essentially only three VW models the Type 1 ‘Beetle’ that became the most popular car of it’s time, the Type 2 VW Bus / Van / Pickup and this fabulous Type 3 Volkswagen 1500 / 1600 joined in 1962 by an estate / station wagon known as the Variant / Square back.

My Uncle had a petrol blue one of these Variants that he used as a milk float in Germany, until he got a VW Bus. I remember him coming home from his milk round at lunch time with the roof rack full crates with empty bottles rattling merrily away as he eased down the severely rutted track back to the small holding farm where he lived.

The Type 3 vehicles were essentially bigger version of the Type 1 with exactly the same engineering principles, torsion bar suspension front and rear air cooled engine in the back. between 1961 and 1973 2,542,382 Type 3’s were built mostly in Wolfsburg with some produced in Emden and Sao Bernado do Campo, Brazil.

At the end of 1967 the Type 3 was fitted with electronic fuel injection as standard equipment to become the first German production vehicle so equipped . This ’72 / ’73 model if it is still on its original licence plates was first registered in Greater London.

Hope you have enjoyed this orange edition of Gettin’ a lil’ psycho on tyres, tomorrow I’ll be upping the tempo to conclude my foray into vehicles with engines in the back, hope you’ll join me, don’t forget to come back now.

26/07/11 Post Script, My thanks to Ben the owner of Kubrik seen in these photo’s who has kindly e-mailed me to say that he rescued Kubrik from ‘rotting away in the big smoke (London)’ and that Kubrik is his daily driver with over 200,000 miles on the clock.

You can find out more about Kubrik from this 375 post thread on the Old Volks Club website.

Superleggera ! A Q car to leave Mr Bond eating dust – Aston Martin DB4 GT

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Anybody who thinks of them selves as any kind of a car enthusiast will have to admit a visit to a VSCC meeting at Prescott is worth it just to see the mouth watering vehicles in the car park.

The vehicle above is a case in point. When I first saw it I thought it was a DB5 or DB6 those faired in lights were a bit of a give away… but boy was I ever wrong ! The clue as to the identity of this vehicle is the ‘egg box grill’ which predates the horizontal bars of the grill of a DB5 or DB6, making this model a DB4 of series 3 or earlier.

The red and white badge in the centre of the grill indicates that the owner is a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists.

The car bears the legendary Superleggera badge on the side of the bonnet indicating it is built using the light weight tubeframe duraluminium construction pioneered and licensed by Carrozeria Touring of Milan.

At 5 inches shorter than the 1110 regular DB4’s this car is one of only 75 DB4 GT’s sharing the same short wheel base chassis as the 20 original DB4 GT Zagato’s (plus 4 Sanction II’s and 2 Sanction III’s). The DB4 GT also has thinner body panels than the standard DB4 and an upgraded 302 hp 3750 cc / 228 cui in line 6 cylinder engine distinguishable by a twin spark plug head. It was capable of 153 mph (8 miles and hour faster than Mr Bonds DB5) and 0 – 60 in just 6.1 secs, not bad for 1959 !

The final give away that this model is a DB4 GT are the clearly visible bulky racing fuel filler caps. If like me you like your performance vehicles to be slightly understated, relative to say the DB4 GT Zagato then you’ll absolutely love this car.

Thanks for dropping by, don’t forget to come back now !

Column Shift Racer – Alfa Romeo 1900 Super Sprint 2

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Today’s featured car is a 1954 Alfa Romeo 1900 Super Sprint Series 2 powered by a 1975 cc / 120.5 cui 4 cylinder engine.

This particular car featuring a 5 speed column shift was delivered on the 31st March 1954.

Vehicles of this type are known to have competed in events like the Targa Florio & Mille Miglia .

I am not sure if these vented rear window’s were part of the original specification, but they would indicate this particular car might have a competition history, if you know anything about it leave a comment below.

The body work is made by Touring of Milan using their trade mark Superleggera (Super light) Duraluminim construction technique featuring a light steel frame covered in aluminium panels.

Anyone who has seen Goldfinger might remember James Bond telling one of his molls about his ‘Aston Martin DB5 Superleggera’ in that fabulous Scottish brogue.

Aston Martin bought a licence from Touring to use the Superleggera technique which has one major flaw other than being very expensive, steel and aluminium when they come into contact suffer galvanic corrosion.

Galvanic corrosion occurs between aluminium alloy wheels and steel hubs making it difficult to remove aluminium wheels after they have remained bolted to a vehicle after long periods of time.

A similar problem often occurs between steel screws and aluminium licence plates.

Allegedly Bristol Cars with their experience in the aircraft industry are the only manufacturer to have satisfactorily minimised the problem of galvanic corrosion by using a special paste twixt aluminium and steel.

The sunken rear lights on this car look particularly fetching though the heavy duty steel bumper rather spoils the effect IMHO.

Wishing everyone a fabulous weekend, don’t forget to come back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring