For this year's edition
of the Mille Miglia, the Alfa Romeo Automobilismo
Storico team will be lining up four official museum
vehicles, two pre-war - the "1500 SS" and the "1750 GS"
- and two models from the 1950s - the "1900 SS" and the
"2000 Sportiva" - which in accordance with the
regulations, took part in the Mille Miglia race, held
from 1927 to 1957, and which saw Alfa Romeo vehicles
triumph some eleven times: a record which remains
unbeaten.
The Mille Miglia 2012
will start off in a year packed with Alfa Romeo
anniversaries. In addition to the Giulia's 50th birthday
and celebration of the Alfetta's 40th, it is the 80th
anniversary of the first win of an "8C" at the Mille
Miglia. In 1932 Baconin Borzacchini and Amedeo Bignami
crossed the finish line in Brescia aboard an "8C 2300"
followed by a twin car and another five Alfa Romeos that
filled the order of arrival up to seventh place.
The "6C 1500 Super Sport"
of 1928 (Stabilimenti Farina bodywork) is the first "turismo"
model of the "Jano" era. The "1500" made its début by
winning the 1927 Modena Circuit with the team of Enzo
Ferrari-Giulio Ramponi. It won the first of 11 Alfa
victories at the Mille Miglia the following year, with
Giuseppe Campari and Giulio Ramponi, who clinched the
win with a car similar to that of the Alfa Romeo Museum.
The "6C 1750 Gran Sport"
of 1930 (Zagato body) is a car that became a legend at
the Mille Miglia. Tazio Nuvolari and Giovanni Battista
Guidotti won the 1930 edition with a 1750, and it was at
this edition that the driver from Mantua beat the record
of 100 km/h average speed over the entire course. The
contrast with Achille Varzi - also behind the wheel of
an Alfa Romeo 1750 - was the leitmotif of the
race, which reached its climax in the legend of his
"overtaking with headlights off", to the detriment of
the driver from Galliate.
The 1956 "1900 Super
Sprint" is an elegant coupé with a body of a Touring car
typical of the 1900s, a prestigious gran turismo in the
1950s and the top of the Alfa Romeo range at the time
(the "family saloon that wins races"). The 1900 SS took
part in a large number of Mille Miglia race editions. It
was the favourite car of many private drivers because it
guaranteed an effective blend of performance and
reliability.
The "2000 Sportiva"
closes the group of Alfa Romeo Museum cars, an exclusive
gran turismo sporting glamorous and dynamic lines. The
"Sportiva" was designed by Franco Scaglione, the same
designer who created the "Giulietta Sprint" and the "33
Stradale". From the mechanical viewpoint, the "2000
Sportiva" was derived from the "1900", with the
sophistication of the rear "De-Dion" axle, a solution
that was adopted on the "Alfetta" saloon 20 years later.
The official historic
cars of the Alfa Romeo Museum will be accompanied by a
fleet of Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1.4 MultiAir TCTs.
