 |
|
With a century of sporting success behind it
Alfa Romeo was one of the star turns earlier
this month at the Goodwood Festival of
Speed: spanning its legendary historic
racers in the Cathedral Paddock to its
latest high performance machine in the
Supercar Run. |
|
 |
|
|
|
With a century of
sporting success behind it Alfa Romeo was one of the
star turns earlier this month at the Goodwood Festival
of Speed: spanning its legendary historic racers in the
Cathedral Paddock to its latest high performance machine
in the Supercar Run.
Goodwood is a celebration of motorsports achievement,
possibly the biggest such event in the world today, so
it is only fitting that Alfa Romeo should be at the
heart of this huge extravaganza. Each year the
Automobilismo Storico Alfa Romeo brings a clutch of
historic legends from the official museum at Arese. The
passion and enthusiasm of the museum's technicians keep
alive a tradition of excellence, allowing the pages of
motorsport history to come to life again and again. The
museum has a busy annual programme headlined by the
Mille Miglia and Goodwood has grown in stature to become
one of the most important dates on its calendar.
This year the museum brought over four cars, each one a
racing icon and each one nestling in the Cathedral
Paddock before make its runs up the 1.16 mile long
hillclimb.
The oldest member of the quartet was the 6C 1750 Gran
Sport, it is also one of the most successful: designed
by Vittorio Jano this 1750cc online 4-cylinder engined
racing car with around 101 bhp on tap kicks off its long
roll call of honors with victory on the 1930 Mille
Miglia in the hands of Tazio Nuvolari.
Then there were three museum cars from the fifties at
Goodwood, led out by the Alfetta 159 which won the 1951
FIA World Championship with Juan-Manuel Fangio. This
year in fact is the sixtieth anniversary of that title,
the first of five championships that the Argentine was
to win, and adding more significance as late last month
saw the one hundredth anniversary of the legendary
driver's birth.
Wrapping up what was to be a golden decade for Alfa
Romeo was the 6C 3000 CM, a 3.5-litre inline 6-cylinder
and one of a handful of spiders built that notably won
the 1953 Grand Prix Supercortemaggiori with Fangio
behind the wheel, and a 750 Competizione from 1955
fitted with the in-line 4-cylinder engine from the
Giulietta. The final museum member to be found lurking
under the canvas covers of the Cathedral Paddock out of
the glare of the sunshine was the 33TT12 which won the
World Championship for Makes in 1975.
The latest sports car from Alfa Romeo, the 8C Spider,
was in the Supercar Paddock, its sweeping carbon fibre
bodywork, retro cues and rasping 4.7 litre V8 Maserati
engine meaning this Alfa Romeo Centro Stile designed car
was always at the centre of visitor's attentions.
Finally Alfa Romeo UK had a large marquee where the 4C
Concept, which was first shown at the Geneva Motor Show
in the spring, was presented. Alfa Romeo claims that it
will build this showcar to spearhead a potential return
to the U.S. market next year. Also on show at the Alfa
Romeo booth were the latest Model Year versions of the
MiTo and Giulietta, both in range-topping Quadrifoglio
Verde specification. The MiTo QV in particular has just
benefitted from a specification upgrade.
|
|
|
