Italone

I m looking more informations about this car . I know she was build with hispano aircraft engine with Itala chassis pre war GP car ? and was successful raced with Materassi at the beginning of the twenties, what s was the future of this car and what did she look alike

ROBERT

Little is known about this car which can be considered as a "Special". During WW1 Itala built Hispano-Suiza aircraft V8 engines of 200 and 300 hp under license.
After the war this car appeared and it was raced in Italy until at least 1927.
The chassis was a special one the origin of which I ignore. It was fitted with a very modified Hispano engine. In fact one half of the V8 was used and so give a 4 cylinder OHC unit of 100x150 and 4722 cc.
The car was mainly driven by Emilio Materassi and up to 1928 was in constant evolution.
Amongst the victories and placings:
1 st in Coppa della Perugina 18/05/1924
(dnf in Circuito del Savio 25/05/1924)
4 th in Circuito del Mugello 31/08/1924
2 nd in Premio Reale di Roma 22/02/1925
2 nd in Coppa della Perugina 24/05/1925
1 st in Circuito di Mugello 31/05/1925
(dnf in Coppa Acerbo 21/06/1925)
1 st in Circuito del Montereno 16/08/1925
(dnf in Premio Reale di Roma 28/03/1926)
4 th in Targa Florio 25/04/1926
fastest lap in Coppa Acerbo 07/08/1926
1 st in Circuito del Montenero 15/0/1926
(dnf in Gran Premio di Milano 12/09/1926)
1 st Coppa della Perugina 29/05/1927
(crash in Premio Reale di Roma 12/06/1927)
In 1928 Emilio Materassi created his Scuderia with 1500-8 cyl Talbots and the car did'nt appear.
At the end of the season Materassi met his death at the GP d'Europe at Monza.
Maybe italian members can give more information.

The chassis was a 1913 Indy Isotta Fraschini type-IM. The engine was indeed half of a Hispano-Suiza 8V. The correct name was Italona.
I am quoting from memory, so beware.

Materassi's car appears in the "Black Books" as Itala Special. In AUTOMOBIL-REVUE report of the 1925 Rome GP, Materassi's car is given in the results as Itala and described in the text as ...Materassi with his monster of an Itala...

Taking into consideration the close contact between Materassi and Maserati, is it possible that the Italona was the Hispano engined Isotta special, which Alfieri Maserati had built in 1920/21, fitted with an Itala radiator?
Or is it sure that Maserati’s Isotta and Materassi’s Itala were two different cars?

= = = = =

Half of an Hispano Vee-eight : In 1914 Hispano had produced a 100/150 mm OHC 4-cylinder stock chassis. Did the “half Vee-eight” use the crankcase/crankshaft of such a stock engine?

Robert, there was only one car, the one you describe.
In Lurani words: "... and then Materassi's Itala which of Italas had only the name".
I think that "Itala" in this case does not refer to a factory, but it is a patriotic cognomen. Itala is poetic for Italian or Italic (feminine).

thanks ,
you we re describing that the chassis was an ex Isotta Indy/ GP car 1913, could you tell me more about this one, I don't understand why the Hispano engine was cut ?

At the end of WW I there was plenty ''surplus'' engines and we started a new era made from bitza
but this one was almost driven on the road not like the brookland s special

The Maserati connection seems plausible, but why then the car raced so lated according to the table of JM GICLEUX or did she only victory at this period ?

Those engines were on the market short after the war ??

Robert

Indianapolis Isottas :
At Indianapolis, in 1913, three Isottas were driven by Trucco, Grant and Tetzlaff : SOHC, 4 valves per cylinder, bore/stroke 120/160 mm, chain drive. I don’t know if one of these cars came back to Italy.
see : http://cmac.smugmug..../18762/8/640517

Hispano Vee-eight :
By the end of WWI, there was a huge surplus. Only half the Vee-eight to save weight, especially on the front axle. A lot of pure sprint/record specials used the entire Vee-eight.

A further explanation in order to avoid confusion on Isotta Fraschini based Hispano Specials.
Alfieri Maserati, who had prepared the Italona for racing, built two further specials. First an Isotta Fraschini with 4-cylinder Isotta Fraschini engine and chassis both designed by Cattaneo the chief designer at Isotta , but built by Alfieri. This car was the Mugello 1922 winner. Second a special with V8 Hispano engine - probably on the same Isotta chassis - which was ordered by the firm DIATTO and a as such was raced.

Th Italona raced at least until 1930. I found it at the Monza GP that year driven by Amedeo Ruggeri.

Thanks everybody,

just a picture of it ??

It seems that this car got succes for such a heavy car, Example 4th at the Targa , was it due to the lack of big competitors or outclassed cars ?
or due to the driver ability ?

ROBERT

For a photo, Robert, e-mail me at silva@mat.uniroma1.it.
I cannot post pictures on the Forum.
Send me also your mail address because I lost it, I am afraid.

Robert I am exactly in the same case as Alessandro. Yesterday I sent you a mail by the way of TNF asking you your e-mail address...but I'm still awaiting your answer.
JeanMauriceGAA@aol.com

4-cylinder Hispano specials :
see : http://winfield.50megs.com/Hisso.htm
and : http://winfield.50me...HissoEngine.htm

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Hispano V8 aero engines :
In principle produced with two bore/stroke dimensions,
- 120/130 mm with outputs between 180 HP at 2000/min and 235 HP at 2300/min, compression ratio 4.7/1 or 5.3/1, weight of the original version 215 kg with coolant and oil, 236 kg for the 235 HP engine;
- 140/150 mm, 300 HP at 2100/min, 5.3/1, 256 kg.
Produced under licence in France by Peugeot/Levallois, Delaunay-Belleville/Saint-Denis, Ariès/Paris, Ballot/Paris, Brasier/Ivry, DFP/Courbevoie, De Dion/Puteaux, Voisin/Issy and Scap/Courbevoie and Five-Lille;
in Italy by Nagliati/Florence, SCAT and Itala/Turin.

= = = = = =

"... a special with Hispano V8 engine ... ordered by Diatto..." :
Any relation to the 8C Diatto specials described at : http://www.bper.it/g...df_64/74_64.pdf ?

Thanks Robert
What s funny that an total engne outdated was still racing after WW II
The picture from the first site showing A. Maserati whith his Isotta powered by a four is I thing the
same at diatto info , and there it seems to be powered by an eight ?
There are other questions like the Bugatti / Diatto cooperation and the birth of the first
Maserati T 26

Robert

Originally posted by VDP
...that an total engne outdated was still racing after WW II

The Hispano V8 aero engines produced between 1916 and 1918 were absolutely not antiquated in the twenties. The famous Hispano H6 engine was nothing else than a civilised street version of the V8s. The H6 was no racing car, but remained competitive and in production until 1934.

The V8s of WWI were outstanding concerning their power per weight ratio. A special like the Italona had around 100 HP at its disposal and the "half-Hispano" weighed at least 50 kg less than a comparable pure "road racing" engine. Hence the weight distribution and handling of such a special was excellent. And the specific output (HP per litre of displacement) was of no importance in formula libre races or in the over 5-litre class. A handicap was the narrow power band; the V8s were aero engines and as such designed to maintain a well defined speed.

ITALONE;
The bore and stroke of the two engines makes the small four cylinder 358 cubic inches and the larger engines 573 cubic inches. Somehow I have some reservation about someone putting a derived 300h.p. in a race car, altho many of the cars were of a very large size. These engines also had very deep crankcases and they might have done something about that also.
All of the engines had dual magnetos.

I have the U.S.A. Army engine manual with all the pictures of this engine, 718 C.I., and one thing that really stands out is the crudeness of the cam lobes. That plus the siamesed intake ports may have caused the engine to have a short r.p.m. range. It also had only one single barrel carburetor and no separation of the right and left banks to divide the engine into two separate four cylinders engines as did the 1930-31-32 Oakland- Pontiac V-8.

One of the things that is very apparent is that the exhaust pipes come out of either the left or right sides of the cars. So there doesn’t seem to be very much appreciation for tilting the engines one way or the other.

These engines were also made by the Wright Corporation in Patterson New Jersey U.S.A. by the thousands some people claiming that Wright made half of the Hissos manufactured. I haven’t seen any figures to verify just who made how many or even any figures to verify the numbers. One place stating that 25,000 were made worldwide. The 49,000 mentioned in one of the places is a very very large number for an engine of this type and although this was done in wartime one would have a very difficult or impossible time justifying this number.

Many aircraft used this engine such as the SPAD 7 &13, plus the British Se5a and others too numerous to mention.

Wolseley of Birmingham put 8 counterweights on some of their engines to alleviate some of the vibration of the 180 degrees crank. It is my belief that they were on the verge of going to a 90 degrees crank but fortunately the ending of WW-1 stopped the killing and the manufacture of any better cranks and engines. According to the book,” BRITISH PISTON AERO-ENGINES” these engines, W-4A Viper & W-4B Adder had the balanced crank weights on page 232. The picture of the crank on the following address is not bolted on and therefore I don’t know if it was a Wolseley crank or not.

http://winfield.50me...HissoEngine.htm

M.L. Anderson

The correct name is ITALONA (in italian language it sounds like "the big Itala").
This car was home-built by Emilio Materassi with an Itala chassis (Materassi was a seller of the Itala cars in Florence at the time) and a Hispano-Suiza engine modified by himself.
The Isotta Special was another car completely different and Materassi never drove it.
Materassi met Alfieri Maserati only few year after when he had started to race with Italona and he was the first driver of the works Maseratis (the type 26) and before of the Diatto GP.
(Thanks to Alessandro Bruni for these informations)