By 1910, the land speed record was contested fiercely between European manufacturers, and the German Blitzen Benz posed a particular challenge to Italian prestige. Fiat's response was to commission a car around an aircraft-grade aero engine originally developed for Forlanini airships. The resulting S76 engine displaced 28,353 cc across four cylinders — a bore of 190 mm and stroke of 250 mm — and produced approximately 290 metric horsepower at 1400 rpm. Each cylinder was fitted with four valves, ignition was handled by a high-voltage Bosch magneto with two spark plugs per cylinder, and cooling was by water.
Only two examples of the S76 were built. The transmission used a chain drive to the rear axle — an arrangement already falling out of favour among contemporaries — and suspension was rigid with front and rear leaf springs. One innovative feature was all-enveloping bodywork that assisted aerodynamics, a forward-looking design choice for the period. The radiator design developed for the S76 was subsequently reused by Fiat across several production models.
The first S76 was tested by Felice Nazzaro, who judged the 1,700 kg car uncontrollable and declined to attempt a record run. The second example was sold to Russian Prince Boris Soukhanov in 1911. Soukhanov engaged Pietro Bordino to drive at Brooklands in Weybridge, England, but Bordino refused to exceed 90 mph. The car was subsequently tested at Saltburn Sands beach in northeast England, where it achieved 116 mph (187 km/h).
The most serious record attempt came in December 1913, when Belgian driver Arthur Duray drove Soukhanov's S76 at Ostende, Belgium. Duray recorded a one-way speed of 132.27 mph (213 km/h), but was unable to complete a return run within the allotted hour, so no official record was set. The Blitzen Benz had already achieved a faster speed at Daytona Beach in 1911, meaning the S76 held only the informal distinction of being the fastest car in Europe.
Following the First World War, Fiat dismantled the first S76 in 1919. Soukhanov's car, by then stripped of its engine, eventually reached Australia, where it was fitted with a Stutz engine and raced locally before being crashed at Armadale in the early 1920s while practicing for an event — though the precise circumstances remain debated.
The story of the S76 resurfaced in the twenty-first century when Duncan Pittaway acquired an Edwardian Fiat chassis and began a painstaking recreation project in the United Kingdom. Three major components — the double chain-drive gearbox, the body, and the radiator — had to be recreated from scratch using original Fiat drawings and period photographs. Pittaway obtained the surviving S76 engine from the original sister car and began the process of returning it to operational condition.
Italian Air Force consultant Leonardo Sordi provided crucial technical expertise, building a full ignition system including spark plugs, a complete set of white-metal engine bearings, and reworking the original crankcase for realignment. The restoration was completed in 2015, and the "Beast of Turin" was publicly driven for the first time in nearly a century at the 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed, held from 23 to 26 June. Subsequent appearances included the Chateau Impney Hill Climb in July 2015 and the Prescott Speed Hill Climb in May 2016.
The restoration became controversial in 2019 when Italian authorities opened an investigation after it was determined that the S76 engine mounted in the "Beast of Turin" had originally been on loan from the Antonio Capetti Collection at the Politecnico di Torino for research and restoration purposes. The Capetti Collection later discovered that the car had been returned fitted with a non-functional replica block rather than the original.
The Fiat S76 occupies a distinctive place in the history of land speed record machinery as one of the largest-displacement piston engines ever fitted to an automobile intended for competitive use. Its 28.35-litre capacity and its origins in airship propulsion technology reflect the era's willingness to transplant industrial power sources directly into wheeled record-breakers. The car's fame grew considerably following the 2015 restoration, with video footage of the S76 engine starting and running attracting widespread international attention and introducing the car to audiences well beyond traditional motorsport history circles.