CAFÉ RACER 76

"City is my Playground" starring Ernie Vigil

The flicker of street lights and hum of neon signs are the only sounds heard. And into this tranquility is unleashed the ICON hero,

Iso Bizzarrini A3/C: The free-thinker's anti-Ferrari

As an engineer for Ferrari, Lamborghini and Iso, Giotto Bizzarrini created some of the greatest Italian sportscar icons. The cars he created under his own name are less well known – but just as remarkable.

The peak years of his career began in 1957, with a move from Alfa to Ferrari: ‘Il Commendatore’ Enzo Ferrari personally took the young engineer to Maranello, a decision which paid huge dividends. As a development manager, designer, test driver and chief engineer, Bizzarrini influenced not only the development of the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa and the Ferrari 250 GT SWB, but he also designed the world-famous Ferrari 250 GTO. Yet as well as being a brilliant engineer, Bizzarrini valued his freedom – and in 1961 he was one of the instigators of the Ferrari ‘palace revolution’.

After leaving Ferrari, Giotto Bizzarrini worked for Count Giovanni Volpi, for whom he designed the Ferrari 250 GTO ‘Breadvan’, as well as for tractor manufacturer Ferruccio Lamborghini in the development of the V12 engine for the marque’s first sportscar prototype. Iso Rivolta, too, benefited from Bizzarrini’s skill. It was with his help that the Iso Grifo came into being, first as the A3/L road car, and then as the A3/C race version, with an American V8 engine and lightweight aluminum body. It was a direct challenge to Ferrari.

Italian-American cooperation

The A3/C was built on a shortened Iso Rivolta chassis (another car designed by Bizzarrini), with a Corvette V8 front-mounted engine moved so far back that it’s almost mid-engined. While Iso continued to develop its road-going Grifo with help from Bertone, Giotto Bizzarrini worked away on his racing A3/C, with its thunderous 5.4-litre engine.

One of the most successful and famous of the Bizzarrini racers was chassis no. 0222 – the car pictured here (thanks to Fiskens where it currently graces the historic dealership’s showroom). This was the car that famously competed in the 1965 Le Mans 24 Hours, driven by Regis Fraissinet and Jean de Mortemart. At an average speed of 169km/h, chassis 0222 won the over-5-litre class and finished ninth overall, a spectacular result given the technical problems experienced during the race. After its success at Le Mans, Chris Amon started the A3/C at the Austrian Grand Prix, the 1000km of the Nürburgring and in Reims.

With its Chevy V8, the Iso Bizzarrini is a true racing beast. Heavy but nonetheless ferociously quick, it demands maximum muscle use at each gear change, and quick wits to balance the vast power delivered through relatively skinny tyres. This, without doubt, is a car made by real men, for real men.

Photos: Jan Baedeker / Fiskens Archive

VW BEETLE RAT ROD PHOTOGRAPHY BY SAARANG DESAI

Stunning VW Beetle Rat Rod Photography by D.Tek from New Jersey USA. Beetles have always been cool but a low riding rat rod just pushes everything else out of the way in the cool list. D.Tek or Saarang Desai has some serious skills when it comes to automotive photography. He has been perfectly capturing all kinds of custom cars in and around New York, lot’s of VW’s and old custom Japanese cars in the collection. If you want to see the finest collection of dropped and modified VW Golf’s online then please visit D.Tek’s flickr page, sit back and enjoy the goodness.

I spend a lot of time looking at photography for cars and motorcycles and really enjoyed looking through all of D.Teks work on Flickr. My favourite set by him was this VW Beetle. The location has been thought out really well, the rat rod look matches perfectly with the derelict factory and wood boarding . Although the body on the Beetle is pretty rough, the car is in really good condition. It’s taken years of doing nothing to get it like this with nature being the only thing to help, it does look cool as hell though.

It’s the little things that count when capturing the right look in a photograph, the simple addition of a vintage leather suit case just finishes of the car and all the images.

Images: D.Tek

Website: flickr.com/photos/dtek/