There is no doubt in my mind that the Grand Prix Alfetta is the greatest racing car of all time.<\/p>\n
Just look at the facts for a moment. The 158 was a pre-war chassis, a voiturette, which managed to race for eight seasons over a span of fourteen years, with no fundamental changes to the chassis design or construction. The 158 was first on the drawing board in the mid-1930s, and made a dream debut at the 1938 Coppa Ciano Junior race where Emilio Villoresi won its first event. The 158 was quickly dubbed the Alfetta\u2014the little Alfa\u2014as it was indeed a small voiturette in what was then a \u201cjunior\u201d category. Alfa Romeo was still campaigning much bigger 8- and 12-cylinder cars in full Grand Prix races.<\/p>\n
The 158 won 5 races in the period before the war, and then, with very few changes, came back in 1946 to win two of four races, and repeated that in 1947. The team won all four events in 1948 before taking a year out in 1949. When the World Championship started in 1950, the 158 won every single event it took part in and Nino Farina became the first official World Champion. The year 1951 saw much stronger opposition, especially from Ferrari and lost the British, German, and Italian races…but took victory in everything else. By now the 158 had evolved into the 159, and the 190 bhp had become nearly 400, still with 1.5 liters, though with twin superchargers. As the engine got quicker, the fuel tanks increased in size and number to meet the vastly thirsty motor. And this happened with very little change to the chassis.<\/p>\n
What is amazing is that Alfa Romeo only ever built a total of nine blocks, and these engines were used throughout the entire 1938\u20131951 period. There was a similar number of chassis, and the 159 was virtually the same chassis as the 158. It even seems likely that at least one of the cars running in 1951 was a chassis built in 1938…. Imagine that today!<\/p>\n
The Alfetta was driven by the greats\u2014Fangio especially, and Farina and Fagioli and Wimille. And it won at the great venues in some of the greatest of Grand Prix races. It was my great good fortune to be able to drive Carlo Voegele\u2019s car, the only Alfetta to escape into private hands. This happened as I was writing the book Alfetta:The Alfa Romeo 158\/159 Grand Prix Car. It was an immense privilege to sit in the seat where Fangio, Farina, and Fagioli had sat in 1951. The car was equally amazing to drive. The sound of the 8-cylinder engine was stunning, and the torque staggered the imagination. The car would spin its wheels in any gear if you pressed the pedal to the floor. I had an unbelievable time at 7,000 rpm. Those other guys used a full 10,000…sometimes in the wet.<\/p>\n
I have driven an Eagle-Weslake, Senna\u2019s Toleman Hart, and a Le Mans Matra MS670; they are all great, but the Alfetta is the greatest. Happy 100th Birthday to Alfa Romeo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There is no doubt in my mind that the Grand Prix Alfetta is the greatest racing car of all time. Just look at the facts for a moment. The 158 was a pre-war chassis, a voiturette, which managed to race for eight seasons over a span of fourteen years, with no fundamental changes to the chassis design or construction. The 158 was first on the drawing board in the mid-1930s, and made a dream debut at the 1938 Coppa Ciano […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":109,"featured_media":586809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2183,2184,2185,543,9348,17100],"tags":[3935,16840,544,15041,11616,6715,6420,13061,6722,245],"class_list":["post-491212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-1930s","category-1940s","category-1950s","category-alfa-romeo","category-guides","category-model-guides-race-cars","tag-1930s","tag-1930s-cars","tag-alfa-romeo","tag-alfa-romeo-158","tag-alfetta","tag-alfa-romeo-model-in-depth","tag-alfa-romeo-race-cars-in-depth","tag-car-profiles","tag-race-car-in-depth","tag-race-car"],"yoast_head":"\n