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- Tsukishima-TDUDT
A racer at heart, Giotto Bizzarrini set out to expand his line-up with a mid-engined racing car for the 1966 season. His production based GT racers had been mildly successful, but they could achieve class wins at best. It was a very ambitious project as the small company challenged the big boys Ford and Ferrari, who were engaged in their epic war for Le Mans glory.
After six months development, the first chassis was constructed late in 1965. Designed to cope with the very powerful Chevrolet V8 engine, the chassis was of a tubular design with triangle shaped tubes. With double wishbones and disc brakes added to the mix, the new Bizzarrini was a very conventional racing car. It was dubbed P538, for 'posteriore' or rear(-engined) and 5.3 litre V8. It would get a little more complex when the first customer ordered his car to be equipped with a four litre version of the Bizzarrini designed Lamborghini V12.
By January of 1966 the rolling chassis was merged with the Lamborghini engine and a fiberglass body constructed by a local boatbuilding firm. While some of the P538 cues were lifted from its front-engined road going cousins, the roadster design was somewhat unusual. The front and rear overhang were very short ending in a chopped off Kamm tail and vents were in abundance. Until this point, it had all gone very well, but fortune quickly ran out when experienced test-driver Edgar Berney flipped the prototype during one of the first test sessions.
The hastily constructed car was shipped to Le Mans just in time for the race, but too late to do any real testing. Seven laps into the race the V8 engined P538 was brought into the pits with a vibration in the wheel. The car was jacked up to examine the problem, but in the process a water hose inside one of the triangular tubes was fatally damaged. It was raced again in the fall, achieving a fourth position in a local race. Bizzarrini returned to Le Mans with the same car in 1967, but for reasons unknown to this day, it did not pass scruteneering.
For the new season the big prototype racers, including the P538, were banned, so Bizzarrini was left with a virtually useless racing car. In an attempt to sell the P538 as a racing car, Bizzarrini had the roadster body replaced by a more practical coupe. One of his customers, the Duke of Aosta, was very interested in the car, but sadly he did not fit. Especially for the Duke a fourth chassis was constructed and fitted with a tailormade coupe body. This car was appropriately named the 'Duca d'Aosta' Coupe.
Specs:
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Here are more of Bizzarrini's creations:
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