Bravo New World
We fly to Rome for the launch of the Fiat Bravo, which is available with turbocharged diesels and a brand new range of petrol turbo engines. Adam Swift writes: “Both of these engines are a meagre-sounding 1.4-litre in size, but don’t let that fool you. We sneaked off from the press conference a little early and bagged one of the scarce high-powered 150bhp versions, which pulled strongly enough for torque steer to raise its head in the lower gears.”

Midnight Blue
Ian Kuah drives a beautifully restored Ferrari 275GTB/4. Only 350 of these cars were made by Ferrari in a short production run between 1966 and 1968, because of the race to create the fastest and best car of the era.

Officine Stampaggi Industriali
Richard Heseltine investigates the intriguing story of an OSI coupe that was discovered by its present owner on Italian ebay. After a trip to Sardinia, the car, powered by a Ford V6, was driven back to England. It was spotted by us at the 2006 Auto Italia Stanford Hall Italian Car Concours.

Great Small Fiats
Our series on classic Fiats continues with Andrew Roberts taking a look at the Vignale Gamine and Fiat Multipla: “The steering column was universally jointed and the Multipla’s radiator was front mounted behind a tiny grille. Such space-saving innovations allowed Fiat to manufacture a six-seater car that was only 11ft 7in in length – a mere 1ft 7in longer than a Mini.”

A smooth shot in the arm for Maserati’s QP
John Simister tries out the new Quattroporte Automatica, which is being made available to attract potential customers who have until now been put off by the original ‘robotised manual’ system: “The QP’s [original] transmission has gained little praise from critics, who regard it as a perverse foot-shooting exercise given how good regular torque converter automatics have become.”

The Brooklands Revival
We take an in-depth look at the new Mercedes-Benz World public facility, with a track test by Roberto Giordanelli: “The Alfa Romeo Brera pictured here by Michael Ward, is the first Italian car to drive on this tight 2.5km circuit, and it begs the question that dare not speak its name. It concerns Alfa Romeo and which end of the car it sends the drive to.”
Three fast laps in your own car on the new track are available at the Auto Italia Brooklands Spring Italian Car Day on Saturday May 5th. See page 65 for more information.

Stealth Bomber
We go to Austria to test the Reiter Engineering FIA GT3 Lamborghini Gallardo racecar. Says Roberto Giordanelli: “I have driven horrendously powerful cars that accelerate slower than this Gallardo. No single element jumps out from the Gallardo’s spec sheet. It is the combination of torque, power, traction and instantly correct gear ratios which make this car so quick.”

The X Files
Our undercover reporter Roberto Motta picks up on the scent of the Fiat Abarth X1/9 Prototipo story, one which Auto Italia has investigated before, but not in as much depth as has now been made available. Test driver Giorgio Pianta told Motta: “At the time, the X1/9s were competitive, easier to steer and faster than the Stratos. Sure it needed some fine tuning but now the X1/9 was ready to compete and could have given much satisfaction.”