Cisitalia 1946

Italy

Piero Dusio za kierownicą Cisitalii D 46 (Dusio 1946)

1946 saw the first car, the D46 completed. Designed by Giacosa it used a Fiat 1090cc engine with 65bhp, a tubular chassis and a three-speed semi-automatic transmission, the latter also designed by Giacosa. Aluminium drum brakes were fitted to all four wheels. The bodywork was in aluminium and made by Motto. With a wheelbase of 2008mm and tracks of 1220mm/1120mm (front/rear) it had a total weight of 350kg. Such a light weight enabled the D46 to reach over 170km/h.
This won its first race at Turin in Spetember 1946 (and also came second, third and fifth), and some backing was found for a one make series. This, however, did not last long before collapsing. Despite this several cars were sold and used by a variety of people in racing. About 40 cars built during 1946 and 47.

The 202 was a Coupé based on the D46 racecar spaceframe chassis. Suspension was basically Fiat 1100 parts, with a transverse leaf spring and lower wishbones at the front, with a live axle and longitudinal leaf springs at the rear. The engine was still the 1100 (1089cc) unit, but with various modifications (including two twin Webers and help from Carlo Abarth) it produced 60bhp. Combined with a kerb weight of around 760kg the car was endowed with good performance. The body, a two seater Coupé, was originally designed by Pinin Farina. It was reworked by Vignale (with only small detail changes being made such as a single piece windscreen, revised grille and larger bumpers) who then produced the production bodies.

Piero Dusio założył firmę budującą samochody sportowe na podzespołach Fiata.
Starty modelu z silnikiem Fiat 1100 OHV w lokalnych wyścigach.

Cisitalia (the name comes from Consorzio Industriale Sportive Italia) was founded at Turin in 1946 by Piero Dusio, an ex-footballer who had become a rich industrialist through the success of his own firm, CISI (textiles, banks, sports goods, hotels). He was an amateur race driver in the 1930s (driving Alfa Romeos) who decided to build his own cars after the Second World War. His idea was to create a race series using his to be cheap single seaters, with mainly Fiat parts (1100 engine and 500 suspension).

Ex-Fiat personnel were employed - Giacosa and Savonuzzi for engineering, Taruffi to manage the team and later Porsche and von Eberhorst for further technical work. The result was the D46.

In the summer of 1946 Cisitalia 202 CMM was designed by Dante Giacosa and Giovanni Savonuzzi. The first Coupé was built by Alfredo Vignale, at the time the departmental head of Stabilimenti Farina.

202 CMM Savonuzzi with body designed by Alfredo Vignale.

202 CMM Savonuzzi

Savonuzzi