Last weekend saw a record gathering of Alfa SZ's and RZ's take place at the wonderful Spettacolo Sportivo Alfa Romeo, held at the legendary Zandvoort racing circuit in the Netherlands.

The record-bashing event counted no fewer than 46 SZ‘s and RZ's over the entire weekend. The beautiful weather may have helped the local turnout, seeing that 24 cars came from the Netherlands, but all the same, 5 cars came from the UK and 4 cars travelled from as far as Switzerland. Other cars drove from Luxembourg (1), Germany (7) and Belgium (5).

On Saturday the paddock counted 24 cars, but it was on Sunday when 43 cars broke the previous record of 35. Eduard van de Beek is the man who can be recognised for this achievement. Eduard has been trying to achieve such a turnout ever since he started the International Alfa Romeo SZ & RZ Register in 1999. In 2000, he managed to arrange 13 cars over the entire weekend in Assen during an event organised by SCARB (Stichting Club Alfa Romeo Bezitters). A year later, 15 cars were present at the Spettacolo Sportivo, the weekend event then being hosted at the circuit in Assen. In 2002 the same event counted 22 cars, a number that was equalled by Japanese enthusiasts in 2003 during a meeting in Kyoto (there are about 100 SZ's and RZ's in Japan). In 2003, he felt that he could do better, and managed to organise an impressive turn-out of 35 cars at the Spettacolo Sportivo, then hosted for the first time at Zandvoort. 2004 saw a good attempt at SpaItalia, but only 31 cars were counted. Nonetheless, the turnout looked impressive, with the cars lined up alongside the 24 hour pit boxes on the sloping paddock in an extremely photogenic fashion. But it was this year when the mammoth meeting took place. To arrange 46 of these sought-after cars from six different countries is a truly astonishing feat.

ALFA ROMEO SZ

The Alfa Romeo SZ (ES-30, or Experimental Sportscar 3.0 litre) was launched at the 1989 Geneva Motor Show to a bewildered public. Bewilderment and image-building was exactly what Alfa Romeo needed, and this is what Fiat set out to do with the SZ project after acquiring Alfa Romeo in 1987.

The design was the result of a collaboration between Centro Stile Alfa Romeo (under the direction of Walter de Silva and Alberto Bertelli), Centro Stile Zagato and Centro Stile Fiat (under the direction of Mario Maioli and Robert Opron). The Zagato proposal, which drew on similar lines to their Aston Martin V8 Zagato of 1986, was quickly rejected and the proposal from Centro Stile Fiat was put forward. Robert Opron was responsible for the intial sketches, and obviously had a huge influence on the characteristic headlight design (with regard to his Renault 11 and Citroen SM). Young designer Antonio Castellana was largely responsible for the final styling details and interior.

The SZ was effectively based on the Alfa 75 floorpan and mechanicals, and production was carried out by Zagato at Via Arese near the Alfa Romeo factory in Milan. Interestingly the thermoplastic body panels were produced by Carplast (Italy) and Stratime (France).
 

Also taken from the Alfa Romeo 75 was the 3.0 V6 engine (2959 cc), but it was tuned to give 210 bhp. The suspension was modified and fettled by Giorgio Pianta (of Lancia and Fiat rally car fame) to cope with the extra power. Suspension improvements included the replacement of the torsion bars with coil over units and uniball joints replaced all rubber bushes. The front setup was largely based on the Group A / IMSA Alfa 75 racing cars. The suspension updates worked incredibly well, with the SZ capable of pulling 1.4 G around corners (more than a Ferrari 360 F1 at 1.13 G). A special hydraulic ride-height system that could be activated from the interior was also included, so that the low-slung car could be lifted by 50 mm to negotiate speed bumps and rough terrain easier. The brakes were taken directly from the high-performance Alfa 75 Turbo Evoluzione.

The car's stunning bodywork, either loved or loathed, was developed extensively in the wind tunnel. A drag coefficient of 0.30 was acheived, as well as very low lift. All body panels were made from injection moulded composite (Modar resin and glass fibre) apart from the roof, which was aluminium, and the tailgate spoiler, which was made from carbon fibre. The body panels were bonded onto the main steel structure which retained the Alfa 75's wheelbase. Almost all SZ's were finished in Rosso Alfa 130 Duo Tone, however a unique example was finished in black for Andrea Zagato. There were also a few examples that were finished in yellow for the Japanese market. The final SZ was produced in 1991.

In 1992 the RZ roadster version was introduced, and followed the SZ Spider prototype presented a year before. Despite this, the RZ was more chunky than the curvaceous Spider prototype and closely continued the line from the SZ. The production version of the RZ was a handsome beast, although some find it less beautiful than the SZ coupe from which it was derived. The RZ, most of which were finished in red, yellow and black, was to be produced until 1993, the last RZ rolling off the line in September of that year. Three examples of the RZ were finished in silver, whilst a unique version was also finished in pearlescent white.

The Alfa SZ was clearly a design icon from its era. No manufacturer during the '80s had dared to produce such a dramatic design: the SZ's high flanks and wasp-waist were years ahead of its contemporaries. Even today the SZ looks as radical and as special as it did when it was first launched, and this is perhaps why the SZ was voted last year by CAR magazine as being the world's 14th coolest car. In fact it beat the Jaguar E-Type in that competition by one place...

The detailing of the SZ can still be seen in the latest Alfa 159 and Brera models.

By James Granger