One of the star Italian attractions at the Autosport
International Show this weekend is the new Autodelta GT
Super, which has proudly taken its place in EVO magazine's
'Road & Track Gallery'.
This very latest appearance follows
hard on the heels of the supercharged 3.2-lire V6-engined
car's much anticipated 'world premiere' at the MPH04 Motor
Show at
Earls Court, London back in mid-November.
The Autosport
International event proudly bills itself as the world's
leading showcase for all aspects of motorsport, and the vast halls of the
National Exhibition Centre are, for these four days bursting, with
the cream and cutting edge of modern-day performance
engineering.
Into this heady mix, which is embellished with sheer
glitz and razzmatazz, comes the new Autodelta GT Super, and
in the words of company boss, Jano Djelian, the car is 'more
appropriately dressed for the occasion', boasting as it does a new, and much
more prominent, boot spoiler. It is a new feature that works
extremely well, giving the GT Super's smooth, Bertone-penned
curves, a slightly more aggressive edge, that hints at the
car's pent-up power increase.
On the spacious
stand of EVO magazine, the Autodelta GT Super is in truly
excellent company. The Italian beauty sits next to the brand
new GBP325,000 V8-engined 'Ascari' supercar, which is making
its 'world debut' at this show, while it is flanked on the
other side by the Ultima GTR, the extreme track day car,
which is also a 'racer for the road'.
Joining this illustrious trio is the ESMotorsport-built,
Ferrari-based, 550 LM, a ultra-performance version of this
car inspired by the Le Mans GT-class winning, Prodrive-built
Ferrari 550 Maranello sportcars.
Based, as the Autodelta GT Super is, on the very
successful Alfa Romeo GT,
a recent and justifiable winner of the 'world's most
beautiful car' award, the name
'Super' hints at the technology that has been applied by Autodelta, namely a specially developed
Rotrex supercharger that
sucks enough air to provide the 3.2 V6 engine with a
total of 320bhp at 6,300 rpm.
To put this into
perspective, this is 80bhp more over the standard 240bhp 3.2 V6 and the results in performance are equally as
impressive. The Autodelta GT Super does the 0-60 mph
(0-97 km/h) sprint in 5.4 seconds, shaving the original time
by 1.3 seconds.
When fitted with the optional longer 6th gear (not an overdrive), the GT
Super is able to reach a top speed of 175 mph (284
km/h). These figures become even more astounding when
considering that the performance comes with the
leather-clad, dual-zone, air-conditioned, luxury of Alfa
Romeo’s true 4-seater, flagship coupe.
This
is quite simply a phenomenal car; an Alfa Romeo which
comes without Fiat’s ‘bean-counters’ attached. This is a
car created by skilled engineers, steeped in Alfa Romeo
tradition, who have no concept of the word 'compromise'.
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This
is quite simply a phenomenal car; an Alfa Romeo which
comes without Fiat’s ‘bean-counters’ attached. This is a
car created by skilled engineers, steeped in Alfa Romeo
tradition, who have no concept of the word 'compromise'.
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One of the star Italian attractions at the Autosport
International Show this weekend is the new Autodelta GT
Super, which has proudly taken its place on EVO magazine's
'Road & Track Gallery'. |
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Autodelta’s
attention to engineering excellence is second to none,
and this becomes overly apparent when regarding the GT
Super. The centrifugal supercharger is space-efficient,
running its own electric oil pump and additional oil
cooler independent from the engine, with an intercooler.
Choosing to adopt the Rotrex
supercharger is the result of two and a half years of
durability and reliability testing of the unit in a wide
range of Autodelta Alfa Romeo models. In order to match
fuelling and ignition timing, the factory ECU has been
remapped, and the installation has inbuilt safety
features to control boost levels.
Like
the Autodelta 156 3.7 GTA AM, and its smaller sister
Autodelta 147 3.7 GTA AM, the newcomer has been fitted
with a limited slip differential, to rein in the extra
power, and sports suspension with coil over dampers. Large Brembo brakes at the
front with 330 mm ventilated cross-drilled discs and 4
pot calipers ensure that the braking is up to the
additional power increase.
Autodelta’s
own styling and manufacturing arm
Creativestudio, based in Oxford, is responsible
for the distinctive, overt sporty look of the GT Super.
The sharp, no-nonsense image of the GT Coupe has been
enhanced by new front and rear bumpers, a discreet rear
boot spoiler and a redesigned dual exhaust pipe with a
touch of retro feel, which contributes to the GT Super’s
unique screaming engine
sound.
The
sense of sheer power is abundant in the exhaust note
alone, something however that can unfortunately not be
witnessed in the NEC, yet it sounds like no other
car. The GT Super simply screams and breathes; a living
testament to Alfa Romeo’s epic history in supercharging.
Supercharging and the Alfa Romeo
marque have a mythological status in motoring
history, which grew after their successful P2 racing car
won the Milanese factory their first World Championship
title in 1925. Alfa Romeo’s supercharging technology
soon trickled down to Alfa Romeo exclusive road-going
models, and in the 1930s they offered the world’s
fastest production cars. The most famous of these was
the sublime 8C 2900 series, a series which also brought
Alfa Romeo their most Mille Miglia
wins ever.
Now,
exactly 80 years after the start of Alfa Romeo's
supercharging success, Autodelta have re-engineering the
glory days of the 'Compressore'
for an exciting new chapter in modern-day Alfa
Romeo motoring.
What makes the GT Super truly special, Autodelta
believe, is the customers’ ability to specify precisely
what they want. The complete package costs
£38,925.00, which considering what you get in terms of
performance, luxury and exclusivity is good value for
money.
Autodelta’s
GT Super, like all Autodelta models, is strictly
customer-built, with its own plaque carrying the serial
number.
by Edd
Ellison at the Autosport International, Birmingham
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