whats the difference

[hammerbeirne]

I was wondering can anybody tell me what the difference is between a131 sport and a 131 racing?

[Gremlino]

Only the name  

The draconian insurance companies in the UK would not allow a car called a 'Racing' onto the British market so the safer less dangerous name of Sport was used here instead.

If thats not the case please post what the reason is coz I've believed this for years.

[kev131]

That's what is indicated in the contemporary Autocar magazine Auto test Graham (3rd Feb 1979) and a story I believe has some truth in it.

However my feeling is that only Italy and France (of the major countries) marketed it as a "Racing" model with Sport being the name in most other markets. 

[Gremlino]

Cheers Kev,

I think it was called Racing on the other markets because the 131 Abarth was the Rally (Si will know ).

The Lancia 037 Stradale was sold as the Lancia Racing (except the UK  ) which always puzzled me as the 037 is a Rally based car 

Whats in a name?

[sid131]

We had 131s badged as racing here in Ireland Kevin, my 131 was a racing & there were a few others the one with the orange arches in Dundalk & i saw one at the skerries motorbike races & a silver one from drogheda & these cars were pretty new at the time, was probably just the mainland Uk that had the mirafiorisport

[kev131]

You are quite right Nick - However, what a badge says on the back of a car is not always a conclusive indicator of what the distributor marketed the car as - Especially in the "bad old days" of Fiat. And especially when the same car had two names. 

My generalised view of the answer to this question (and it is in no way supported by any official overall view from Fiat that I am aware of) is gained from collecting marketing and press material over the years and later observations of the classic car market.

[sid131]

Kevin as far as i can remember the ones badged as racings in Dundalk were owner by Italians from new so they may have requested the badge or bought one in Italy for the car as for fib when i bought it had rear damage & i got all the parts to fix with the car (?700 punts)84 or 85, the broken lights on the car had a raging badge & the other lamps had mirafiorisport?? i liked the racing badge cos it was different i kept the car until 89 or 90 & she was sold in london for (?1100gbp) so plenty of use & a nice profit, so sorry i dont still have it if only i left it in Ireland, but it would probably have rotted away on its own.

[ticker131]

found this in some of my papers

[sid131]

Hi Ticker thanks for that something inprint, can you show a pic of the car thats mentioned is that it to the right of the article, just can make out the little uppity spoiler one like kev used to have on his sport! he he he

[mirafioriman]

The article says the sport/racing has twin carbs and 140BHP. Not in the UK.....

[kev131]

And look at the top speed! 

Plus the bonnet scoop suggests Abarth. Either it was a "special" for that market or the reporter was a crap researcher.

[sid131]

i had a carina e Gti that was 158 brake & it did 140 mph on the motorway so if a 140 brake 131 what would it do? Theo yours is 155 brake will she do 140 mph?

[Thotos]

While more power should theoretically give a higher top speed, in practice the top speed is limited by the gearing of the car. I seem to remember that the top speed of the 131 is achieved in fourth gear with fifth gear not having enough power to push a brick shaped car like the 131 through the air fast enough    So increasing the power of a 131 will increase the top speed as there's 'spare gearing' in fifth gear. But at 140mph a 131 will be doing 7000 RPM which is a bit high for the 2 litre twin cam. While I've had my car up to 7000 RPM in lower gears, I don't think I'd be able to push it up to 7000 RPM in fifth; so the short answer to your question "will she do 140 mph?" is probably no. But I'll try when we are in Germany next year  

[kev131]

I'll be in your slip stream Theo!  

Btw, how do Walkers exhausts perform at 140 mph & 7000 RPM? Maybe we should do the speed testing on the way home!  

[sid131]

Well Theo when you are in Germany or wherever to test the 131 make sure there is a good camera to record the event for us to enjoy.