Due Cento R5
and Stock
Racing Records

Four Avantis at Bonneville. From left to right : Dan Wathen's Avanti II (Ford engine), Jim Davis' Avanti II (Chevy engine), Jim Lange's Avanti (Studebaker engine), and Dave Bloomberg's Avanti (Studebaker engine). Two engines developed through the efforts of the Granatelli brothers, were known as the R3 and the R4. Buoyed by these new engines, Studebaker tried for performance records in the summer and fall of 1963 at the Bonneville Speedway. To add some excitement, the Granatellis put together a mind-boggling R5 Avanti, known as the Due Cento equipped with twin superchargers. In 1984 Herb Adams, a California engineering consultant, created a race car-style Avanti with coil springs mounted over shock absorbers and double wish-bone A-arms at each corner. The car was outfitted with four-wheel disc brakes and the wheels were shod with wide-profile Goodyear Eagle Gatorback tires. This Avanti finished 29th overall and 3rd in the prototype class in the around-the-clock endurance contest for Showroom Stock cars.