The inaugural ‘European Tour 2005’ saw three of Autodelta’s current high-performance bespoke models, being joined by a new Maserati GranSport, to venture off on a journey that took them through France, Belgium and Switzerland, on the way to an appearance at the ‘My Special Car Show’ at Rimini, in Italy.

The ‘tour’ concept only came into being after Autodelta took up an invitation to present their GT Super at Italy’s leading car styling and tuning show, the ‘My Special Car’ extravaganza, which takes place annually in Rimini, an appearance that came off the back of the car’s presentation at the 75th Geneva Salon back in early March. “Taking the GT across Europe to the show brought up the idea of creating a small tour, and with the individual car’s owners, and our staff enthusiastically getting behind the idea it quickly took off,” recalls Autodelta boss Jano Djelalian. “We are always looking at ways to promote the Alfa Romeo brand in a fresh and positive manner, and this event, which would be a new approach for us, would allow us to show that these high-performance bespoke cars are also practical, drivable day-to-day cars, capably of handling continuous demands. The tour would also be a great opportunity to interact with our customers and guests throughout the route.”

The trio of Autodelta-enhanced Alfa Romeo models to take part were carefully chosen. The comfortable, high-performance new 320bhp supercharged Autodelta GT Super, was a tour ‘must’. Not only because it was due to appear in Rimini, but that the long journey of across Europe would be the very definition of ‘Grand Touring’ motoring, a task which Alfa Romeo and Bertone had originally designed this car to undertake, and which Autodelta has now refined still further in every department.

This car would be complemented by Autodelta’s mainstream model: the 147 GTA AM, a car which revels in the title as the ‘world’s fastest hatchback’. Created to be comfortably at home on any blisteringly fast race track, Autodelta now wanted to prove that it could also be a superb car to travel thousands of miles across the continent. One of these ‘road rockets’, would be the 328bhp Autodelta 147 GTA AM, while the other car was the ‘surprise’: a brand-new 400bhp version, dubbed the ‘Autodelta 147 GTA AM Super’, which was, in fact, only completed just days before the tour was scheduled to go live.

“As the Rimini Show was to be the first serious presentation of our cars in Italy we really wanted a ground breaking new model to display, on what is Alfa Romeo’s ‘home turf’. So we decided to push the front wheel drive performance envelope even further, and the 147 GTA AM Super was created,” comments Jano. “Squeezing 400bhp out of the classic Alfa V6 is also our tribute to an immortal engine that has just ended production, and one which has very much been the focus of our attentions since our company was founded some twenty years ago.”

Day one saw the four ‘tour’ cars, Autodelta staff, and invited journalists, all assembling at Autodelta’s West London HQ at 6am for the short motorway ‘dash’ to Dover, and the Channel Tunnel. Once on the other side of the water, the tour passed through Belgium, Luxembourg and France, before ending the first day in Basel, Switzerland, at Alfa Romeo agent B+K Automobil, who are also happen to be Autodelta’s strategic regional distributor. An early evening reception saw B+K’s guests able to examine and test drive the ‘tour’ cars.

An early start called on day two, the ‘tour’ heading straight for the beautiful banks of Lake Lucerne for the first of two photo shoots that day. The convoy then headed through breathtaking scenery, over the majestic Alps, and down into Italy. An afternoon appointment took in the steeply climbing twists and turns of the famous Vernasca ‘Silver Flag’ hillclimb, before an overnight stop in Modena, a town synonymous with sportscars, beckoned.

Day three saw the tour take in a morning visit to the nearby Maserati factory, before the lush, rolling Italian countryside beckoned, and an early afternoon photo shoot in the grounds of a beautiful old monastery at Santa Clelia. Tea time and the cars pulled up in Rimini, with the GT Super departing from the convoy to go onto display at the ‘My Special Car’ Show.

Saturday, day five, started with a morning excursion to the Republic of San Marino. The powerful Autodelta cars made easy work of the long, steep climbs that led up to the tiny, mountain-top principality, while that afternoon, saw the two Autodelta 147 GTA AM ‘twins’ dashing off to the legendary Imola ‘Grand Prix’ racetrack to observe a ‘Ferrari Challenge’ practice session.
 

Finally, it was time to head back to England. Firstly, on day six, along the Autostrada from Rimini to Milan, and then on day seven, which saw the tour climbing back over the Alps, through the Mont Blanc Tunnel, and northward across France, to Calais, for the short hop back to London. 2,500 miles had been racked up by the time Autodelta HQ loomed back into view through the damp and darkness of Monday evening.

The Autodelta cars ran perfectly, not one of them missing a single beat on a journey that had taken them many miles on roads ranging from fast motorways stretching away to the horizon, to ultra-tight and highly demanding mountain passes. From the refined ‘luxury at 175mph’ GT Super, to the agile, punchy little 147 GTA AM cars, the superior performance and handling characteristics of the Autodelta-enhanced Alfas made easy work of any surface or condition thrown at the tour.

With the huge dollops of extra horses available, added to the bucket loads of additional torque, steep climbs into the clouds seemed more like sweeping downhill descents. The BBC’s ‘Top Gear’ TV programme clearly demonstrated last year that the 147 GTA AM is the world's undisputed fastest ‘hot hatch’. Now this little rocket has amply showed after a week of tough, demanding schedules, that it can handle every endurance test thrown at it, and, in the true spirit of Autodelta’s historic philosophy: it is a car for everyday use.

Interest in the tour was strong throughout, with Alfa Romeo enthusiasts turning out to see the cars during the series of scheduled stops, and all week the four tour cars grabbed attention, being photographed and filmed by bystanders or passing motorists, while the Autodelta personnel spent much time answering many questions. “We were sincerely flattered at the depth of knowledge of our products, and what we are trying to achieve, from people we met in Italy,” comments Jano. “We are proud that people in Italy respected our company and wished us well, it makes us yet more determined to push Alfa Romeo tuning and enhancements forward even faster.”

Attention now turns to the Auto Italia ‘Spring Italian Car Day’ at Brooklands on the 30th of April. As well as bringing the tour cars and participants together again for a brief ‘reunion’, Autodelta ‘Sportline’ will launch an all-new styling upgrade kit for the original Alfa 147.

“With the recent launch of the facelifted Alfa 147, we want to offer owners a fresh new styling alternative for existing models,” says Jano, “the new Alfa GT Coupe’s Bertone-penned looks, which have already been so well applauded, has formed the focus of a new visual upgrade for he 147 which we hope will breathe fresh life into a car that has become a true icon.”

However before Brooklands takes place, Jano flies to Moscow next week to oversee the first Alfa 156 GTA Super to have an Autodelta Rotrex supercharger installation carried out for the Russian market. “Russia is a market which is rapidly growing in importance for us,” reports Jano. “The Alfa Romeo name is respected amongst Russian car buyers, and there are lots of highly discerning customers, who demand exacting standards of tuning and styling, people who we have been delighted to be able to introduce to Autodelta.”

Anatoly Kolochkov from the firm’s Moscow agent, AlfaRacing, in fact joined the ‘Tour’ during its recent sojourn in Rimini, as did several other members of Autodelta’s global team.

Things are always moving fast at Autodelta. The first deposits for a planned Autodelta-branded GTA AM version of the new Alfa 159 sedan, unveiled at the Geneva Salon last month, have already been taken, and Autodelta’s engineers are now gearing up for the arrival of this new generation of Alfa Romeo’s with anticipation.

“I would like to thank all the tour partners, (Ragazzon Exhausts, Roterx, B+K Automobil, Auto Italia magazine and Italiaspeed) for their input into making this event a success, as well as our staff and the journalists who took part, and all the customers and enthusiasts which we met during the course of the event,” concludes Jano.