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www.QV500.com - Abarth Record Monza Part 1: Record Monza Zagato |
 750 Bialbero Record Pininfarina, Monza 1958 |
In 1958, Abarth introduced a flagship GT car that heralded the arrival of a new dual overhead camshaft 'Bialbero' engine. Known as Record Monza, it was also significant for being the last collaboration between Abarth and Zagato of Milan. The name stemmed from a series of world speed records set on October 25th 1957 at Monza. For the task, Abarth had built a single seat chassis that was cloaked in a super smooth Pininfarina body. However, the tie-in was more than skin deep as a prototype of the twin cam engine found in the Record Monza had powered Paul Frere and Marino Guarnieri to their three Class H honours. |
| A fundamentally standard Fiat 600 chassis was the starting point, this coming equipped as standard with independent suspension on all four wheels. Abarth fitted uprated springs (transverse at the front, helical at the back) and stiffer telescopic shocks. Brakes were uprated at the front with each drum getting an extra hydarulic cylinder and a double rather than single leading shoe arrangement. The heart of this car though was its new twin cam engine. Work on a dual overhead camshaft head to fit directly on the Fiat 600 engine block had begun in 1956 with legendary engineer Gioachino Colombo in Milan being contracted to design it. Colombo's device featured hemispherical combustion chambers that allowed the use of high-domed pistons and the finished article was fitted to a bored out Fiat 600 block of 747cc. All the usual Abarth tuning parts were included, special camshafts, cylinder heads, valves, manifolds, carbs and exhausts transforming the humble 22bhp original to one of the most potent sub 1-litre engines available. With compression increased to 9.7:1 and a pair of twin choke downdraught Weber 36 DCL3 carbs, output rose to 61bhp at 7000rpm. There was also a single carb option that produced 57bhp at 6800rpm. All Record Monza's used a standard four-speed Fiat 600 gearbox albeit equipped one with specific ratios according to the customers intentions. |
 750 Bialbero Record Monza Zagato #670485 |
Zagato were responsible for the Record Monza's bodywork and the Milanese firm created an all-time classic. Fabricated from lightweight alloy, the new shell had a more gently rounded form than the pushrod-engined 750 GT. Interesting features included a novel three-piece rear window arrangement, a large central air intake on the engine cover and Plexiglas-covered headlights. Customers could choose from a good range of colours including red, white, blue, grey, pale yellow and pale blue. The interior was surprisingly accomodative, even drivers of more than six feet being able to comfortably shoehorn themselves in. |
The aluminium dash housed an instrument binnacle containing (from left to right) a combined, water, fuel and oil guage, a 10,000rpm tach and 160mph speedo. There were also a variety of toggle switches positioned centrally. Map pockets were provided on each door and to make up for the entire front compartment being filled with a fuel tank and spare wheel, there was a generous amount of storage space behind the two seats. Weighing in at just 540kg, the Record Monza was the most potent GT car Abarth had offered and with the twin carbed 61bhp engine was capable of reaching 190kmh when suitably geared. Unveiled at the Paris Salon in October 1958, this was appropriately on the back of setting more Class H speed records earlier in the month. For the task, Abarth had prepared a special version of the 747cc engine that produced 75bhp at 7500rpm. Pininfarina designed an even more streamlined body and driven by Cattini, the new car established record times for travelling 100-miles, 200km, one hour, 200 miles and 500km. A production run of 100 Record Monza's went ahead immediately to obtain homologation in the GT category for the 1959 season. For those customers wanting to go racing, Abarth could fit Zagato racing seats and oversize front drum brakes. Other options included body-coloured seat piping, a wooden steering wheel and chromed centre caps for the wheels. |
 750 Bialbero Record Monza Zagato #670485 |
Soon after production began, the horizontal tail lights initially positioned at each bottom corner of the engine cover were ditched in favour of vertically mounted lenses located at the back of each rear wing. Some early cars also used 21-hole alloy wheels but most Record Monza's came with updated seven hole items. All originally ran on 12-inch rims. Because the original downdraught Weber DCL3 carbs were designed for racing and had to be expertly set up, Abarth soon designed intake manifolds that allowed the use of sidedraught carbs. Other cars were later upgraded with Girling disc brakes too. |
The 1959 season was a great success for Abarth with the Record Monza quickly becoming the car to beat. Big international wins came at the Sebring 12 Hours (Rutan / Richards / Cuomo), Targa Florio (Carini / Prinoth) and Mille Miglia (Prinot / Pitscheider), Abarth's huge cachet of privateer drivers backing these up with countless other victories around the world. Demand for the car was far outstripping supply and held back by the limited production availablity of the twin cam engine, Abarth began offering the Record Monza with 750 pushrod engines (sometimes referred to as Monoalbero). Most of these came with single carbs and featured different tachometers. For 1960, new FIA GT regulations would be coming into force that ditched the under 750cc class in favour of 700 and 850cc categories. In anticipation, Abarth launched an enlarged 850cc twin cam Record Monza in the autumn of 1959. With displacement stretched to 847cc, Abarth were able to slightly drop the compression ratio from 9.7 to 9.5:1 and still see peak output rise to 72bhp at 200rpm less (6800rpm). There was also a 695cc twin cam option on stream in early 1960. Used almost exclusively for racing, these 700 Bialbero screamers came in a very high state of tune with 10.0:1 compression ratios and 64bhp at 7900rpm. |
 The four Team Roosevelt Record Monza's that finished 1-2-3-4 in class at the 1959 Sebring 12 Hours |
| 1960 saw the Record Monza continue its domination of circuit racing and hillclimb events around the globe. High profile wins came at the Sebring 4 Hours (Richards / Callanan), and Hockenheim 6 Hours (Seidel / Poltronieri). Equally significant developments were taking place off the track too in 1960 with Fiat launching their revised 600D that October. Featuring an engine enlarged from 633 to 767cc, Abarth were ready with there own set of three new pushrod engines available for installation in the Record Monza. The entry level 850 produced 52bhp at 6000rpm, the 850S had 54bhp at 6300rpm and the 850SS had 57bhp at 6500rpm. Compression ratios spanned 8.8 to 9.9:1, however, Abarth had bigger plans for the 600D in the form of a rebodied 1-litre twin cam Record Monza. Launched at the Turin Salon in November 1960, the second series Record Monza's were no longer designed or bodied by Zagato but a local Turin firm, Corna, instead. Immediately identifiable thanks to their open headlight treatment, the introduction of Corna-bodied Record Monza's meant Zagato examples were discontinued in late 1960. Exact production figures are unknown but are estimated to have been around 200 units. |