The quiet rebirth of Testadoro at the 2026 Festival of Speed | Axon’s Automotive Anorak

Although Testadoro follows in the wheel tracks of Abarth, Alpine, De Tomaso and various other once-dormant car marques in using Goodwood as the most fitting occasion to relaunch its brand to a global audience, Testadoro is possibly the least known of these names.

Unlike the others, however, Testadoro never quite achieved international fame, building just nine cars in Turin during its very short four-year career. This was despite famous names such as Nuccio Bertone, Elio Zagato, Uno Puma and Gino Valenzano all officially driving for the ‘Squadra Testadoro’ works racing team and winning races.

During its short life, Testadoro enjoyed many motor racing successes and produced no fewer than four distinct models, the latter three all created by Zagato with hand-crafted coachwork. The original 1947 Testadoro 750 Sport two-seater barchetta participated in the most important Italian post-war races, using contemporary Fiat 500 Topolino running gear, modified by Giusti to 660cc with a special tuned ‘Testadoro’ (translated to bronze head — the name was chosen due to the characteristic gold colour of the modified Fiat cylinder head) to produce a vastly more potent 64PS (47kW).

The Topolino B furgone- (van-) based 750 Sport was soon joined in 1947 by the Zagato-bodied Drin-Drin with an advanced tubular chassis construction.  These were followed with the 742cc sports racing Marinella ‘Siluro’ in 1948 and the last Testadoro model, the Daniela, in 1949.

Influential Italian vehicle stylists and coachbuilders Elio Zagato and Nuccio Bertone both cut their motorsport teeth racing a Testadoro in the late 1940s, yet this, plus multiple competition victories after the closure of the brand, failed to make Testadoro a well-known house-hold name. 

The Testadoro name laid dormant and forgotten until 2021, when local Torinese manager, artist and motoring enthusiast Dario Pasqualini rediscovered the brand and chose to revive it, with his key aim of using only local Turin craftsmen capable of hand-beating and shaping metal and aluminium car bodies.

Once Pasqualini had obtained all of the appropriate permissions and blessings from Giorgio Giusti’s family, he was able to achieve his strong desire of reviving the coachbuilding skills that used to be widespread and once typified the art of the fine and famed Torinese ‘carrozzeria’ workshops.

Despite Giorgio Giusti ceasing all Testadoro racing activities in 1949, in 1951 he designed a stillborn Barchetta with flowing open coachwork. Seventy years later Dario Pasqualini had this Barchetta 1951 recreated in 2021 by local Torinese carrozzeria Martelleria Giacometto, using traditional hand-beaten aluminium panels taken from  Giusti’s original drawings.

Pasqualini then modelled a second ‘new’ Testadoro in 2023 — the eight-cylinder Berlinette Essenziale — during a six-month live workshop performance at Turin’s Museo Nazionale dell’Automobile, to help demonstrate the traditional handcrafted panel beating of its unpainted aluminium coupe bodywork.

Fast forward to July 2026, and the Goodwood Festival of Speed witnessed a new, production-ready bespoke Testadoro Siluro, making its international debut on the CAI (Caerbont Automotive Instruments Ltd) stand.

An open two-seater with distinctive styling, intended to evoke the allure of a 1950s roadster, the new hand-crafted Testadoro combines modern technology and reliability, utilising an ultra-lightweight alloy body allied to a Caterham SuperSeven steel tubular spaceframe chassis that was developed by Caterham Cars in Dartford, Kent.

Weighing just 600kg, the SuperSeven-derived Testadoro uses a 177PS (130kW) Ford 2.0-litre engine, this base unit being chosen as it’s easy to service and find spare parts, and is already fully homologated for sale in most places, benefitting from modern technology such as disc brakes. Prices have yet to be confirmed due to the bespoke nature of each Testadoro build. 

The 2027 Festival of Speed will take place on 15th-18th July 2027, sign up for ticket alerts to make sure you don't miss out. Tickets are available for GRRC Members and Fellows, you can join the Fellowship today.