them. After the armistice car production resumed with models based on the pre war cars such as the Tipo 50 25/35 hp and a re-appearance of the Avalve in the Tipo 55 but financial success eluded the company From 1924 the company was being run under receivership, and they appointed Giulio Cesare Cappa from Fiat as general manager. He produced a new car, the Tipo 61 with 7-cylinder alloy engine, which was well received, but he then decided to return to motor sport producing in 1925 the Itala mod.11, a very advanced single seat racing car with a 1050 cc supercharged V12 engine that developed 60 CV at 7,000rpm. It had front-wheel drive and all-round independent suspension, with a top speed of around , but the car never raced. Two Tipo 61s did take part in the 1928 Le Mans 24 hour race, winning the 2-litre class. The company was bought by truck maker Officine Metallurgiche di Tortona in 1929, and a few more cars were made up to 1935. The remains of the company was sold to Fiat. Itala rotary valves A distinctive feature of the pre-World War I 50 hp and 90 hp models was their use of a rotary valve. Each valve fed a pair of cylinders and was mounted alongside, rotating parallel to them. Four ports cast into the valve alternately connected ports to the cylinders through the side of the valve to the inlet and exhaust manifolds at bottom and top of the valves. Leo Villa began his career as a racing mechanic working on these rotary valve engines for the driver Giulio Foresti. He met Malcolm Campbell, when in 1923, Campbell took over the Itala and Ballot concessions in London. Seeing the publicity potential of racing them at Brooklands, Campbell also bought two of Foresti's race-prepared cars. Foresti and Villa delivered them in person from Paris to Campbell's house at Povey Cross. Impressed by Campbell's wealth and ambitions, Villa accepted an offer to become his permanent mechanic. Bibliography Barzini, Luigi and L P De Castelvecchio. Peking to Paris 100th Anniversary Edition. Demontreville Press Inc, 2007. See also List of Italian companies List of automobile companies founded by the Ceirano brothers References External links Ceirano family Italian companies established in 1904 Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Italy Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1904 Turin motor companies Fiat Brass Era vehicles 1900s cars