Alfa Romeo honour at the PistonHeads Performance Car Show last weekend was capably upheld by leading tuner Autodelta which brought two very contrasting examples of its high performance sports cars to the glamorous event.

Alfa Romeo honour at the PistonHeads Performance Car Show last weekend was capably upheld by leading tuner Autodelta which brought two very contrasting examples of its high performance sports cars to the glamorous event. Always designed to be the ultimate pleasurable driving machines, Autodelta however make quite sure they infuse plenty of day-to-day practicality into their testosterone-fuelled monsters, particularly important as most of their customers use their cars to drive to work!

Last summer Autodelta introduced the latest member of its prestigious J-series range to the world, the Autodelta 159 J4 2.2 C, and this car was the centrepiece of its display at the NEC, which was situated in the PistonHeads show’s prime location, directly opposite to the main entrance. With this project Autodelta has taken a very slightly different route, the Alfa 159 has been turned into a majestic ‘Grand Tourer’ that adheres to the finest of Italian traditions, a car that combines raw speed and handling with luxurious motoring, an effortless cruiser to gobble up the kilometres across Europe.

Under the bonnet Autodelta has worked its magic on Alfa Romeo’s 2.2-litre petrol engine, in doing so it is the first company in the world to apply forced induction principles to this power unit. Autodelta’s engineering credentials really need no burnishing, and few big car manufacturers around the world have successfully supercharged direct injection engines. However this is a route that never fazes the London-based tuner. As with all its projects the Rotrex supercharger (which is also used by Koenigsegg), meaty intercooler and all the shiny associated plumbing is superbly packaged in the busy engine bay. The package adds up to an extra 60 bhp (now 245 bhp), and 60 Nm more torque (now 290 Nm) as well as improved acceleration.

Being a high performance car show Autodelta was not to be left out and so it complimented the refined charms of the 159 J4 with the much more brutal Alfa 147 GTA AM 3.7 Super, a car that now has an astounding 440 bhp squeezed out of the classic Arese-built V6 engine. Used by its owner for track days as well as driving to work, this version of the muscular 147 GTA is also a fearsome track machine that has despatched many big reputations with disdainful ease. Recently it has faced many highly touted rivals against the clock and emerged victorious, and the car’s enthusiastic owner, Paul Paggiosi, promises much more of the same this year. It’s sheer driveability and timed success on the tracks has delighted Autodelta’s engineers as it has answered the constant question about delivering dollops of power through the front wheels in the firmest possible manner.