Your classic: Ansaldo Corsa 4CS

| 26 Jul 2024

In 2019, I purchased a recently restored 1923 Ansaldo racing car, one of only a few competition versions left worldwide.

Torpedo tourers were the main products produced by this Italian industrial giant – with its headquarters in Genoa, Gio Ansaldo & C also built railway engines, submarines, ships and armaments.

After the end of WW1, an Ansaldo aero-engine factory in Turin switched to making cars.

Production continued for about 10 years, but fewer than 100 Ansaldo cars in all forms remain today.

Ansaldo’s badge reflects the marque’s history as a munitions maker

Because of the company’s background in armaments, it adopted a crossed-cannon badge for its cars: ‘A shot from the past.’

My interest in this vehicle was stimulated by the fascination I have for mechanical design.

The Ansaldo was quite advanced for its time: a 2-litre engine with a single overhead cam, driven by a vertical shaft connected by skew gears to the crank.

A detachable, crossflow, essentially hemispherical head contains valves that are inclined and are timed to have an overlap.

The Ansaldo’s 2-litre engine was ahead of its time

This is an unusual design from a time when many contemporary cars had sidevalve engines.

The other cars in my collection reflect a diversity of engine design and fuel supply.

These include a 1937 Riley TT Sprite racer (twin high-cam, with four period-correct Amal carburettors), a 1958 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce Spider (twin-overhead-cam, with twin sand-cast Weber DC03 carburettors), a ’65 Mercedes-Benz 230SL Pagoda (high-pressure mechanical fuel injection), a ’71 Volvo 1800E (Bosch D-Jetronic electronic injection) and a 1979 Lotus Esprit (twin Dell’Orto carbs and typical Colin Chapman design features).

This Ansaldo has a central accelerator pedal in its two-seater cockpit

The Ansaldo Corsa 4CS is truly exciting to drive, and I recently demonstrated its speed at a local hillclimb event.

As with many cars of this period, the pedals are arranged with the accelerator in the middle.

Also, the brakes are only on the rear wheels, although there is a transmission brake.

It accelerates quite quickly, making around 50bhp in a body that weighs only 700kg.

Indeed, a model very similar to this was the first vehicle raced by Tazio Nuvolari in 1921, where he came second in the Circuit of Garda, beaten by another Ansaldo driven by Corrado Lotti.

The Ansaldo Corsa 4CS has a spare wheel mounted on the back

He is thought to have purchased a new chassis from the factory and, aided by his cousin, added a basic racing structure including the two-seater driver/passenger compartment, a horizontal fuel drum and spare wheels fastened at the rear.

There exist a few photographs that show Nuvolari and his cousin in the car.

However, Tazio soon moved on to more exotic machines, including from Chiribiri, Bianchi, Bugatti and Alfa Romeo, and he went on to become one of the greatest racing drivers of all time.

There are also several photos that provide evidence that, in the 1920s, Ansaldos very similar to the Nuvolari car competed in UK hillclimbs and at Brooklands.

A similar Ansaldo model was campaigned by Tazio Nuvolari

I have always had a passion for classic cars and bought the Volvo 1800E around 40 years ago.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, my wife and I frequently travelled to the UK and Europe to attend as many classic car events as we could.

Unfortunately, we have had to leave our cars behind at home in Tasmania, where we now live.

The historic races at Monaco and the Mille Miglia re-enactment were our favourite events, but the hillclimbs at Shelsley Walsh and Prescott are next on our list.

In Tasmania, I have campaigned the Riley in the Targa Tasmania and local hillclimbs with some success.

The Volvo has also had some track work, and the Ansaldo is next.

Images: Matthew Bissett/Alastair Watson

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