Buy a new Alfa Romeo 3.2 GT and it comes with 240bhp and 221lb ft of torque. Enough for anyone? Well no. Not for Autodelta’s customers.

The non-standard Alfa-esque ‘Super’ script on the bootlid is the give-away to the GT’s forced induction. Boss Jano Djelalian has been running his independent Alfa Romeo go-faster business since 1987. Based in West London, he even has customers ordering uprated versions of Alfa Romeos that have yet to be launched.

The coupe market is large, competitive and fickle. Personal taste often outweighs technical specification. For instance, the buyer of an Alfa GT wouldn’t be seen dead in a similarly priced Chrysler Crossfire. Not that there is anything wrong with a Crossfire; it simply appeals to people who wear track-suits when they are not on their way to an athletics track. Nothing wrong with that; the writer Gore Vidal said, “Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.” The Audi TT is a fashion statement. It is also super-stable, has joke rear seats and is almost too good. Yes, a car can be no good, because it is too good – eg a BMW. The Nissan 350Z also has hilarious seating arrangements but is rear-wheel drive, very fast and a threat to the coupe bazaar. Alfa’s GT is a serious contender in the coupe market as it is fast, roomy, chic and driven by people with normal clothes.

Let’s see what happens when Autodelta pumps some steroids into a 3.2 GT. Power has been boosted by 35% from 240bhp to 320bhp and torque is up by 25% from 221lb ft to 278lb ft. With a negligible 15kg weight increase due to the Rotrex supercharger and a modest aluminium intercooler, the power-to-weight ratio has vaulted from 170bhp per tonne to 225bhp per tonne – a 33% hike. Alfa leads the field with front-drive technology but has Autodelta taken it too far? Our supercharged test car was also equipped with an lsd, coil over suspension, cross-drilled discs, restyled front and rear bumpers, boot spoiler, 18in alloys, Bridgestone Potenza  225/40/ZR18 and a big exhaust with a Montreal retro theme.

The Rotrex supercharger is a belt-driven compressor. Autodelta uses just 0.35 bar of puff to pressurise the induction charge. With warranties to consider, Autodelta is realistic in its modifications. A low (5psi) boost pressure is enough to transform the car without incurring meltdown. In the blower world, the law of diminishing returns figures highly. The ECU is remapped and the conversion does not require the engine to be opened. Furthermore, the whole process is reversible. The cost of the power upgrade supplied and fitted is £4250+VAT. Uprated lsd costs vary from £1535 to £2905+VAT, depending on the clutch and sixth gear options. Prices for suspension kits, brakes and styling also depend on spec. See www.autodelta.co.uk for details.

With a new Alfa GT 3.2 costing less than its competitors, you already have about £5000 to play with. The Sunday Times Rich List reports that the richest 1000 people in the UK are worth £250 billion. That’s £250, followed by another nine noughts. There is a lot of money out there. There is even a billionaire in Scotland.

Drop behind the wheel of the Alfa GT and there is a feeling of protection, although three-quarter rear vision is poor. The ride is harder than standard but not unacceptably so. As in life, so with cars – fashion rules. Low suspension, big wheels and low-profile rubber does give more grip but means sacrificing comfort and parking damage to wheel rims.
 

Oscar Wilde sums up fashion with, “Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.” Even so, the Alfa’s handling is superb and well up to the task.

At start-up, idling and at low speed, you would never know the GT was supercharged. Use the right pedal, and with all that extra torque, wheelspin becomes an issue, especially nipping out of T-junctions. In straight-line full-throttle brutality, the ‘Super’ elbows its way from side-to-side as it finds minute surface irregularities on which to protest. If it were in the Olympic 100 metres, it would be penalised for lane-changing. On a billiard table, it would be no problem, but in the real world, the front-drive layout struggles with full throttle in first or second gear, be it equipped with its standard 240bhp or Autodelta’s 320bhp. As speed rises, so the GT improves.

We drove it in Italy and Switzerland. To the 3.2 GT Super, the world is downhill with a tailwind. Uphill gradients and wind resistance are not on its agenda and it simply ignores them. Power delivery is amazing. There is no lag, no flat spot, no power surge, no feeling of boost, just a smooth linear build-up of power and torque. The torque curve is astonishing. It looks more like a power curve as it just keeps on climbing up the graph paper all the way to seven thousand rpm. This is a car that can cover great distances very quickly.

If you are in Germany, then the GT Super’s top speed is about 165mph, unless you have the optional sixth gear in which case 175mph is yours. Overtaking is easy and its ability to carry speed through slow or fast turns makes it a true GT car. That it does all this in silence and comfort is part of the deal, otherwise it would be falsely claiming its GT label. Has Autodelta overdosed on the steroids? No. This sporting coupe has been transformed into an athlete. When the four-wheel drive Alfas appear, Autodelta’s work will really come into its own.

Test by Roberto Giordanelli / Photography by Phil Ward