A small racing car designed and built in Turin in 1932, by Augusto Monaco, an experienced designer and builder of automobile engines; he may have been assisted by Enrico Nardi, who later donated the car to the Museum, by Massimo Lancia, Vincenzo Lancia’s nephew and by Giulio Aymini, who drove it successfully in a number of races.
However, Monaco was responsible for creating the design, and he used this car to demonstrate the validity of two theories: air cooling of the engine and front-wheel drive (both extensively adopted by the global automotive industry many decades later). He named the car after his lively dachshund, possibly because of a similarity between their shapes.
The project focused on front-wheel drive and this was why the designer preferred to use an engine that was already on the market, in this case a two-cylinder J.A.P., 80 x 99 mm, with a total displacement of 998 cc, and two overhead valves on each cylinder. The high compression ratio of 10.6 delivered 65 bhp at just 5400 rpm. The engine was lubricated by three pumps, one of which sent oil to the cam shaft, one to the right-hand cylinder and the third to the valve gears and valve guides. A great deal of attention was focused on the gearbox, which had five speeds plus reverse, with direct drive on all the gears and a dedicated lubrication system.
The brakes were also particularly interesting, one of the first examples of brakes mounted on the differential. The front wheel brakes were supported by the differential output drive shafts; this lightened the load on the front wheels, which had independent suspension. Each rear wheel supported its own brake and they were mounted on the rear axle. The chassis was simple and light, formed of two perfectly straight longitudinals. The bodywork had an aerodynamic profile, and was made entirely of aluminium sheet. It also enveloped the lower part of the car, effectively improving drag, and was approximately the same width as the chassis, 46 cm as opposed to 45 cm. The car was very low slung: the top of the bonnet was just 83 cm from the ground.
The engine-gearbox-transmission unit weighed 140 kg; the rear axle, with the brakes but without the wheels, weighed just 12 kg. The car weighed just 300 kg empty and without the driver. The kerb weight, including the driver, was 435 kg, distributed as follows: 58% to the front axle and 42% to the rear axle. With its low unit weight, the Monaco was one of the lightest small cars of its day, and proved to be capable of superb performance. When it was tested on the Monza circuit, it achieved an average speed over one kilometre with a flying start of 180 km/h, which was surprising for a car with a one litre engine. Aymini drove the car in a number of uphill races in Italy and abroad, including Stelvio, Pontedecimo-Giovi and Gaisberg in Austria, achieving good results in its category.
