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We recently brought you a list of 10 supercars that you may not realize are LS-powered [2]. From the Venom GT to the Devel Sixteen, LS engines can be found in some of the best exotics around the world. And now, you might just be able to find not just one, but two LS engines under the deck lid of the Giocattolo Seconda Iterazione—Italian for “second iteration.”
“But second iteration of what?” you may be asking yourself right now. We’re glad you asked. The original Giocattolo—Italian for toy— was first released back in 1986. The car looks somewhat like a Group B rally car—popular in the late ‘80s—and a model was even named the “Giocattolo Group B.” The car was underpinned by an Alfa Romeo Sprint chassis and powered by an Alfa Romeo 2.5-liter V6. However, the V6 was eventually ditched in favor of a 5-liter Holden-sourced V8 due to the Alpha powerplant’s complexity and cost.
[3]The original Giocattola
If you’ve never heard of them, we don’t blame you and it’s not surprising. The company hails from Australia and only produced 15 examples of the vehicle before it was shuttered in 1989. Fast forward to yesterday, and it is looking like Giocattolo is looking to make a come back in a big way.
Yesterday they dropped photos on their Facebook account of the new car’s proposed power unit and transaxle. The setup is striking to say the least. Two LS engines are sitting at 45 degree angles to one another and are coupled with some pretty crazy looking bracketry that appears to have been machined from billets. To make things even more impressive, the company has selected Edelbrock [4]’s new Cross Ram intake manifold to top off both mills.
Since the manifolds is only currently available for the LS3/L99/L92 crowd, it’s a safe bet that these are twin LS3s we’re looking at. It would only make sense since the weight of two iron blocks in an exotic car doesn’t really add up. Both engines are matted using a custom conversion unit and then feed into an Albins transaxle.
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Here you can get a better look at the custom coupler that holds the two LS engines together. Obviously, the engines must be utilizing dry sump oiling systems since otherwise they would starve.
We can only speculate at the combined power output of both LS engines, but even if they are completely stock—which we highly doubt—they would still make 870 horsepower running in tandem. What’s more, the drive train could be made even wilder by the addition of several turbos.
We are pretty interested in how they’ll run the exhaust much less get this thing in an actual vehicle. Obviously, two LS engines sitting side-by-side isn’t a narrow setup—but it is an ultra cool one. If the Second Iterazione ever sees the light of day, we would love to take a look at how they package it all. We think this is one of those situations where you just have to scream “take my money” and worry about the “how they did it” later.
One thing is for sure though, this will be one of the most unique boutique supercars ever built and thank the car gods, it will be LS-powered.
[7]The design for the Seconda Iterazione