Ultimostile

Video from the Sicilia trip

 

 

 

Greetings from fabulous Sweden!

Giulietta SV followed but unfortunate Ginetta (click for full size)

I spent friday through sunday in Sweden at the fabulous Ring Knutstorp for the final race weekend in the Danish Master series. Video and full report will follow shortly, but let me say already now that it was one of the most fantastic things I have ever experienced in the classic car community. Thank you all who stopped by and who helped me during the weekend! These pictures are all by Matthias Jensen, who is developing into a very good race photographer!

 

Racing in period

He got the number wrong - but it is actually a very special car.

Alfisti Johan de Munck from Belgium pointed out that a Giulietta SV raced at the Spa 6H meeting in september - and that it ran with number 41. His point was that I should have been there, and that I could have raced with number 42. This was in the pre-1963 GT race; a race in which I would very much like to take part. He posted these two shots on Facebook, and after I had stopped dreaming - I noticed the number plate on the car VYX 2, a british registration, and I was sure I had seen that somewhere before?!

VYX 2 - where did I see that before?

And then I remembered: It was featured in an old article I had read - John Bolster road-testing a Giulietta SV in the may 1959 issue of Autosport (read the report below). I searched the internet and found out that the young guy who lent the car to Mr. Bolster was a quite serious racing gentleman who was also featured in the september 1960 issue of Motorsport - although Boddy and Jenks didn't seem to think much of the young man.

The very kind gentleman who let Bolster borrow the SV for the road test in 1959.

VYX was apparently sold (back) to Italy after its short career in the UK and found its way to Holland in the mid-1980s and around the turn of the millenium it was owned and raced by a Belgian alfisti - Fred Corporaal. It was up for sale some time ago as can be seen in the pictures below. And now we all saw it race at Spa Francorchamps in one of the most fantastic fields on the European classic motor sport calendar. The car was entered by Andrew Lawley and Tom Smith from the UK.

 

John Bolster tests (Autosport 27th of March 1959):

THE ALFA ROMEO GIULIETTA

IN ONE WORD - BEAUTIFUL! The sleek, simple lines of the little Alfa make it undoubtedly one of the loveliest cars ever made.

The Sprint Veloce version of one of the worlds’s most desirable cars.

THERE are certain cars which are acknowledged throughout the motoring world as being thoroughbreds, and among these the Alfa Romeo Giulietta stands very high. Indeed, I would go so far as to suggest that, if a poll of the readers of Autosport were undertaken, the Sprint Veloce version would be voted just about the most desirable car that money can buy. This much-coveted model is the subject of the present road test.

As the concessionaires, Messrs. Thomson and Taylor of Cobham, Surrey, did not have a demonstrator of the latest Veloce type, I borrowed an immaculate example, which had only recently been run in, from a private owner, with their full approval. I have to thank Richard Shepherd-Barron for the loan of his delightful car, and for providing me with a memorable experience.

ALTHOUGH a good deal og chromium is used at the front the result is pleasing and not vulgar.

The Sprint Veloce is a two-seater coupe by Bertone of superb appearance, and in 'Alfa-red' it really looks a picture. It is a practical car, with wide doors and ample luggage space, while a very large fuel tank allows for long non-stop journeys. The beautiful finish of every detail is a joy to behold. The machine is small and compact, but it is extremely sturdily constructed for continuous high-speed use on Continental roads. It is therefore not exceptionally light.

The engine is a magnificent piece of work. The sturdy counterbalanced crankshaft runs in five main bearings; an almost unheard-of refinement in an engine of only 1.3-litre capacity. The bore and stroke are virtually 'square', and the three-ringed domed pistons run in wet liners. Naturally, the light-alloy head has the 'four-per-pot' arrangement of holding-down studs, which is standard on all the best 2-ohc engines.

The camshafts operate the inclined valves through inverted pistons. A two-stage duplex roller chain drive is employed, with a jockey sprocket on the upper run. The steel-backed main and big-end bearings are of lead-bronze. with a lead-indium overlay. There is a large oil filter, and the light alloy sump has what is, in effect, an oil radiator beneath it. This is a separate ribbed compartment, containing a labyrinth through which all the oil must pass. It is detachable for cleaning.

The Veloce engine is rated at over 90 bhp at 6,000 rpm, but it can run considerably faster than this. It differs from the 70 bhp Sprint engine in having a higher compression ratio and extremely radical camshafts, giving no less than 64 degrees of overlap. It also has two Weber twin-choke horizontal carburetors, which are fed from a cold-air box.

POWER UNIT: The twin-cam 1,290 cc engine develops 94.8 bhp at 6,000 rpm, which is a lot of horses from so small an engine!

In the past, the gearbox has been the least satisfactory feature of the Alfa Romeo. Now, an entirely new box, with Porsche-type synchromesh on all four speeds, has been standardized. The propeller shaft is in two sections, the front end having rubber universal joints for damping. The rear axle is very light, being built-up with steel side tubes and it is located positively by a pair of sturdy trailing arms beneath, and above, just to the left of the light alloy centre section, there is a tubular triangular member with very widely spaced pivots. Obviously, immense trouble has been taken in locating the axle so that cornering and torque reaction forces may be well resisted.

Helical springs and telescopic dampers are the suspension medium all round. In front, the wishbones have a very wide base to give excellent stability to the car. The present steering column could not readily be transferred to the right, without interposing several universal joints in the shaft. Indeed, the Veloce engine has to be canted 8 degrees to the left, for the big Weber carburetors fill the whole of the right side of the bonnet. The brake drums, with turbo-fins, are literally enormous for the size of the car. The two pairs of exhaust pipes do not join until they are about to enter the first of the two silencers.

'THE DRIVING POSITION' says Bolster, 'is very ‘Doctor Farina’. The gearbox is a delight with synchromesh on all four gears.

This Alfa Romeo is thus a small sporting car of immense technical interest. When I took my seat, I found that entry is easy, and that the all-round visibility is excellent, aided by the deletion of triangular ventilating panels from the front windows. The rear windows may be opened slightly outwards to give a draught-free extractor effect. The driving position is very 'Doctor Farina'. The engine takes a few moments to fire regularly on a cold morning, and twin batteries had been fitted to the test car for this reason. At all other times it is an instant starter, and idles regularly almost at once. At moderate speeds, the smoothness and silence are literally beyond belief, which I put down largely to the five-bearing crankshaft. As the revs mount, a hard and purposeful note is heard, though the unit is never noisy, and remains so throughout the range. The red mark on the rev-counter dial begins at 6,750 rpm.

Naturally, a race-bred unit of this type does its best work above 4,000 rpm. It behaves impeccably in traffic, however, if one uses a little consideration with the accelerator pedal. The performance figures, as shown on the data panel and the graph, are really outstanding for a 1.3-litre car. However, I treated the clutch gently and observed the rev-limit scrupulously as I was driving a private owner’s pride and joy. With a little more brutality, my figures could be beaten. The maximum speed of 112.5 mph is tremendous, and the little car certainly felt as though it was traveling. As is usual, the speedometer became rather gay at the top end, indicating as much as 125 mph. The engine was running well within its limit and seemed entirely happy to maintain this considerable velocity. Around 90 mph is a very pleasant cruising speed.

The Alfa handles particularly well, especially on wet roads. The cornering power is very high, and one gets a splendid feeling of being fully in command of the little machine. There is a certain amount of roll, but this is scarcely noticed from inside the car. The suspension, steering and roadholding are all of a very high standard. The rear suspension may appear complicated, but it achieves results that could never be approached by a conventional semi-elliptic layout. Larger cars can equal the performance figures of the Veloce, but they cannot be flung around with the abandon which one may employ with this machine.

THE BOOT is not very large, and the spare wheel takes up a lot of space, but there is plenty of room behind the seats.

It is necessary to emphasize that this is a meticulously constructed luxury car, and not an ultra-light machine which will need rebuilding after one season. The controls work beautifully, and in this connection one must give full marks to the new gearbox. It is light and quick in action, yet the synchromesh is unbeatable. With this type of engine, one often wants to engage bottom gear at quite appreciable speeds. The perfection of the synchromesh encourages one to do this, rather than let the engine labour while pulling away on second. This box is so much better than the old one that it transforms the pleasure of driving the car.

The very large brakes have the situation well in hand at all times. They are smooth and progressive, and the wheels are pierced to assist the turbo-fins in their dissipation of heat. Regrettably, the hand-brake is of the umbrella-handle type, which hardly seems worthy of the car. Another small point of criticism is the absence of a high-beam indicator for the headlamps, though there is an indicator for the sidelamps.

The kind of driver who likes to stay in top gear all day will have no use whatever for this Alfa, but the keen motorist, who enjoys making intelligent use of the box, will love every moment of his journeys. It is a pity that punitive import duties render this a car for the very few, for it is as enjoyable to drive as it is beautiful to look at, which is praise indeed. 

SPECIFICATION AND PERFORMANCE DATA

Car Tested: Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce 2-seater coupe, price £2,698 7s. including tax.

Engine: Four cylinders 74 mm x 75 mm (1,290 cc). Twin overhead camshafts. 8.5-to-1 compression ratio. 94.8 bhp. at 6,000 rpm. Two twin-choke Weber carburettors. Coil and distributor ignition.

Transmission: Single dry plate clutch. Four-speed gearbox with central lever and synchromesh on all gears. Open two-piece propeller shaft. Hypoid rear axle.

Chassis: Platform chassis in unit with steel body structure. Independent front suspension by wishbones, helical springs, and telescopic dampers, with torsional anti-roll bar. Worm and roller steering with three-piece track rod. Rear axle on lower trailing arms and single upper triangulated member, with helical springs and telescopic dampers. Girling hydraulic brakes, 2 L.S. in front, in large light alloy turbo-finned drums. Bolt-on pierced disc wheels fitted 155 x 15 Pirelli tyres.

Equipment: 12-volt lighting and starting. Speedometer, Rev-counter, Oil pressure and temperature, water temperature, and fuel gauges. Self-parking windscreen wipers and washers. Self-cancelling flashing indicators. Heater.

Dimensions: Wheelbase 7 ft 6.5 in. Track 4 ft 2 in. Overall length 13 ft 0.5 in. Width 5 ft 0.5 in. Weight 18.75 cwt.

Performance: Maximum speed 112.5 mph. Speeds in gears: 3rd 84 mph. 2nd 57 mph., 1st 34 mph. Standing quarter-mile. 18.4 secs. Acceleration: 0-30 mph. 3.8 secs., 0-50 mph. 8.6 secs., 0-60 mph. 11.8 secs., 0-80 mph. 21.2 secs. Fuel Consumption: 25 mpg. (approx.)

 

What happened between P2 and P3?

Giuseppe Campari in the World Championship winning Alfa Romeo P2 at Spa Francorchamps in 1925. This was the year when Alfa Corse were said to serve a three-course dinner for their drivers at a pit stop - because they were so far ahead. Not true, but they did have time to feed Ascari, Campari and Brilli-Peri. This was the first time the Spa circuit was used - and the Eau Rouge section was a couple of T-junctions down by the stream - with a tough pull up the hill to Radillion. This was later changed to one of the most exciting bends in GP racing.

I am sure that you have wondered - just like I have - what happened in the years between 1925, when the "pi due" convincingly won the World Championship and 1932, when the "pi tre" even more convincingly won almost all Grands Prix on the calendar. Jano's 2-liter/8-cylinder P2 was going to become obsolete in 1926 when the AIACR announced that GPs would be run as a 1500cc formula. He did design the 6c1500, but although it actually won GPs in the following years, that particular model was meant as a touring (and sports) car - not a Grand Prix racer.

Giuseppe Campari again as winner in a P2 at the 1928 Coppa Acerbo posing with his riding mechanic after the race. The racers were by then in private ownership and were continuously improved upon by Portello over the period of 1926-1929, even though they didn't enter any GPs during that period.

According to Luigi Fusi, the Portello built 6 cars, but - although two of them may have been cannibalized over the 1924-1925 seasons because of a couple of serious accidents - there really isn't files for more than 4 cars. Quite impressive for such a convincing row of victories. In 1926 two were sold to Campari, who sold one to Brilli-Peri and another two were sold to a Swiss race driver and an italian gentleman driver. That year many young talents tested and raced the P2s - among them the new star Archille Varzi, who had stopped racing motorcycles, just like another young star, Tazio Nuvolari, who had actually crashed an Alfa Corse P2 severely in a test back in 1924 at Monza.

Compare this to Bugatti: In 1924 Ettore Bugatti presented the Type 35; a 2-liter car for GP racing, just like the Alfa Romeo P2. Production numbers for this very efficient design were Type 35 (96 pcs from 1924), Type 35A a more simple and cheaper version with 3-bearing engine (139 pcs from 1925), Type 35C 1.5-liter with compressor (63 made, including a 2.3-liter version called 35T, for Targa Florio, from 1926), Type 35B 2.3-liter with compressor (45 pcs from 1927), Type 37 1.5-liter without compressor (223 pcs from 1928), Type 37A 1.5-liter with compressor (67 pcs from 1929). All in all 633 Bugattis - versus 4 or 6 Alfa Romeos.

Scuderia Ferrari on their way to their first ever race. Having loaned a P2 with uprated suspension, brakes and compressor - and a new 6c1500-type radiator, they drove to the Trieste-Opicina Hillclimb with an open 3-axle lorry. Tazio Nuvolari is the driver and two mechanics join the proud team in Modena. Note that Commendatore Ferrari has already secured sponsorship from Shell.

The 1.5-liter formula only lasted two years. Bugatti took the World Championship while winning 16 out of 28 GPs in 1926 and Delage were World Champions in 1927 by winning 5 of the counting races, although Bugatti won 23 out of the 35 races that year. From 1928 all Grands Prix were run as Formula Libre and this is when the privateers began winning races in Alfa Romeo P2s again: 1 out of 15 races in 1928 and 8 out of 29 races in 1929. Alfa Corse focused on sportscar races like the Mille Miglia and Vittorio Jano was developing the 6c1750 and the 8c2300 during this period.

My all-time favourite Alfa Romeo photograph shows Archille Varzi with Vittorio Jano standing on the right; ready for departure on the 1930 Targa Florio. The P2 looks absolutely fantastic from this angle, and Varzi was the only man brave enough to take the GP bolide on the 540 km Madonie distance. Jano and his team had installed the old type compressor after a new design had seized during practice on the dusty roads, and he was sure that the P2 was the only car who could take victory back from Bugatti, who had won every time since 1925, saying that the 6c1750 wasn't strong enough - and he was right!

For 1930 Alfa Romeo bought the four cars back from the private owners, and made some serious upgrades to them. They got new suspension and brakes from the 6c1750 Gran Sport and the bodywork was altered - especially at the front end where the rounded narrow radiator was changed to wide raked 1750-type brass items on three of the cars. Today only two cars survive; one has the round radiator and is exhibited at the Museo Storico in Milano (I spent a long moment with it at last year's Padova exhibition) and the other one is the car that Varzi won the 1930 Targa Florio in - car #30. The season was a preparation for 1931, when the AIACR would run a European Championship for GP cars, with a 900 kg formula libre rule set. Alfa Romeo was preparing for this by using the 2-liter 8-cylinder P2, and they would learn a lot from these races. Varzi won in Allessandria in April, Nuvolari won three hillclimbs in row at two-week intervals; the Opicina hillclimb in June and the Maddalena hillclimb where he cut best time by ten minutes from the previous year's 40 minutes, and finally at the Consiglio hillclimb at 10 km/h faster than the previous year. The P2 was still a powerful car - 6 years after its conception.

Works driver Borzacchini presenting his ride for the Italian GP at Monza in september 1930. All three modified cars were entered by Scuderia Ferrari for this particular race; the only time all three cars raced together. Campari and Nuvolari had the other two cars, and the race was badly managed with wrong timing of stops in the qualifying heats, and all three cars retiring with worn rubber after only 7-8 laps in the final. Varzi was racing with the Maserati brothers and won in their Tipo 26M.

At Coppa Ciano Varzi was entered by Alfa Corse and Nuvolari was entered by Scuderia Ferrari - both in modified P2s. The rivalry between these two italian aces was at its highest, and they both retired. Archille Varzi left Alfa Romeo for Maserati and they would never run in the same team again. Two weeks later Nuvolari was the sole defender of Alfa honors at Coppa Acerbo, where he retired with plug trouble, giving victory to the new Maserati star, Archille Varzi in the 26M. The same thing happened at Monza in september, when Enzo Ferrari fielded three perfect cars for Borzacchini, Campari and Nuvolari, but totally missed the opportunity and ran a badly organized race, where Varzi once again won in good style on the Maserati 26M.

A wonderful photograph from Livorno, where - presumably the gentleman with the cane has rented a garage to the Alfa Romeo team. Five mechanics let him and four proud children see the car while posing for this fantastic tableau. Marvelous!

The final race of the the 1930 season - and the final race for the P2 - was only the second time for Scuderia Ferrari abroad. They had sent a 6c1750 to the Klausenpass hillclimb and now it was time to go all the way to Brno in Czechoslovakia. Portello was busy designing the contender for next year's European Championship, so it was quite convenient to send Commendatore Ferrari, two P2s, Nuvolari, Borzacchini and a team of experienced mechanics. The competition was mainly from private Bugattis run by local drivers who new the track very well, and naturally they pulled away. Feeling their way into the race, the Alfa Romeos bettered lap times from approximately 20 minutes to begin with to almost 15 minutes at the end. Nuvolari came in with a cracked crankcase, but Borzacchini motored on and soon looked like a sure winner, until his engine also developed a water leak, and halfway he stopped for a fill-up, when Nuvolari asked if he could take over. Borzacchini was exhausted and let the little Mantuan take the wheel, because everybody else were also getting over-cooked; both men and machines. Local hero, von Morgen, had taken over a more fresh Bugatti, and when Nuvolari had to stop for water again, he was closing in on the red Alfa. On the final lap Nuvolari was out and the Scuderia had two wrecked, worn-out and out-dated P2 Grand prix races on their hands. They drove back to Modena - much wiser, and prepared for 1931.

Borzacchini smiling before the Brno race. Nuvolari is in car #32 on the right. This dramatic race in Czechoslovakia was to become the final swansong for the fabulous race cars who had premiered back in 1924. But in the meantime Jano and his staff were cooking a new winner - without knowing it. They would send the 8c2300 to Monza, where they expected the Tipo A, twin 6c1750-engined, to be their main contender. Jano was preparing the Tipo B (which would ultimately be known as the P3) and with the P2 definitely out, he thought that a bimotore was Alfa Romeo's only chance at winning anything in 1931. But the 8CMonza surprised everybody, and the Tipo A only won a single race - the 1931 Coppa Acerbo with Giuseppe Campari.

Then began the next era - also instrumented by Vittorio Jano!

 

Coast to coast drive

 

As an end-of-year drive, I took the Giulietta SV from the north coast near my place, and drove to the south coast in the nice autumn weather. Enjoy the film and revisit some of the stuff I experienced during the 2015 season. Next year will be more of a racing season - hopefully.

 

Supporting national products

THE HEAD OF GOVERNMENT

Rome, 9 june 1926

Dear Engineer Romeo,

Yesterday while returning from Firenze I directed my attention to the instruments in my Alfa (which runs, I might add, very well) and I made the following observations:

a) the magneto is German (Bosch)

b) the clock is swiss

c) the horn (which does not work) is French!

I do not exclude the possibility that there are other "exorcisms" in the interior.

Is this the way to support national products? Does this mean that there are no magnetos, clocks and horns in Italy?

Yours faithfully

Mussolini

Jeremy Clarkson in the Sunday Times

A very productive gentleman - with an opinion!

When I travel by plane, business or pleasure, I always buy myself a (classic) car magazine to read while sitting idle in the seat - in transfer terminals or on the plane. That or a good paperback novel. Recently I have found two very entertaining books, written by the infamous Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear fame. Apparently, he gets a car delivered to his house every week, and then he writes a column about it for the following Sunday Times. More often than not what he writes about is something entirely different than the car - especially if the car is stupid!

Two examples: Alfa Romeo 4C and Audi S6 4.0 TFSI quattro ...

The passionate collectors

Corrado Lopresto (left) at a classic car meeting in December.

Over the last decade I have been noticing a certain name that kept popping up in international classic car magazines whenever the topic was special designs from Alfa Romeo. Corrado Lopresto has scored many Concorso d'Eleganza prizes at all the major exhibitions with his odd examples of coachbuilt Alfas. But take a look at his collection (see www.loprestocollection.com) and you will see that he has odd cars from many other italian marques as well. From huge 8C Isotta-Fraschini to the little Volpe, designed by Gioachino Colombo in his evenings while he was at Alfa Romeo, preparing the Tipo 159 for its second F1 season.

One of the cars seen recently in magazines; Pininfarina 6c2500ss.

During restoration; double headlights and custom brass brightwork.

A well known car; I just didn't know it was his.

Getting the original colour scheme back.

Fabulous Touring prototype; Alfa Romeo 2000 Praho.

Total restoration of the splendid interior.

And he actually has one of the Lancia Florida concepts!

Not a total resto-job, but cartainly a thorough service.

 

Scuderia review of the year 2014

 

2014 has been a very exciting year for the "Scuderia Ultimostile - Berlinetta Alfa Romeo"; I have dedicated most of the year to just enjoying my cars, the experiences they gave and the company of the many friends I have gained by just belonging to this wonderful community.

Waiting in the pit-lane for a rough round of Spa-Francorchamps.

Valve-job on the 2-litre Bertone engine; and then i sold it!

Summer evenings with the other car-nuts.

A whole year of crazy trials in the garage.

Catching it all on video for the Youtube channel.

I have compiled more than 8 hours of video on youtube, my subscribers have exceeded 1,200 and at new-year's the daily viewing rate was at a steady 1,100. All helping me to round the 1,000,000 views corner earlier this year. Not bad for such a narrow field of interest - fantasticly important as it may be for alfisti!

How my daily view rate has risen since the first video in 2008.

Since I posted Mille Miglia videos in 2012 the two last years (2013 and 2014) have had a significant hump of interest during the month of May - followed by a steady growth, catching up over summer and autumn.

In 2013 that took me from 450 to 750 views; and this year it took me from 750 to 1,100 daily view. Let's see what next year will bring. I will try to improve both video quality - and quality of the experience!

 

 

For sale for real at Stelvio

As mentioned back when I sold it, my Bertone GT was purchased by the original vendors. Stelvio Automobili (see: www.stelvio.dk) sold it to me in 1999 as one of the first cars they found in Italy and sourced back to danish enthusiasts fifteen years ago. Now they have repaired the damage and given the paint a thorough once-over (or twice-over, more likely!) and the car looks fabulous.

The car is advertised as "a good old friend" and I certainly hope the car will continue a healthy and worthy life with a new enthusiast. From the ad: "

A good old friend with a very interesting story and perhaps the most well-known Alfa GT in Denmark is back in our stables. We found this car ourselves some 15 years ago in a small village outside Rome. With only 23000 km on the clock it was virtually a new car and a stunning time-warp. Since then it's one Danish owner has kept this jewel on a no expense spared basis. Besides the meticulously care he has made several very sensible upgrades during the years of his ownership.

Engine rebuilt and modified for fast road now showing a healthy 155 BHP on rolling road with a very useful flat torque curve all the way from below 2000 rpm up to red-lining at 7000 rpm. Fresh gearbox with excellent synchros. Suspension upgraded with lower springs and yellow adjustable Koni shocks. Front brakes upgraded with 4-pot aluminium calipers from Alfaholics and vented discs. All suspension bushings and silent blocs in perfect condition. Wheels are 6 x 15" with Pirelli P7.

On the interior side the otherwise less useful rear seat has been substituted with a practical luggage shelf adding to the practicality as the perfect tourer for the couple. Period correct bucket seats for added lateral support. A built-in semi roll cage together with anchor points for a pair of harnesses for added safety on track is also provided. All parts like seats, 14" wheels, air filter box etc. for taking this car back to strictly original is provided with the car.

We are very pleased once again to be able to offer this wonderful Bertone 2000 GT to the market. In this car the buyer will find the perfect dual-purpose classic Alfa as suitable for any long distance touring event across Europe as it is for the occasional track day. This car has done it all. From running the Mille Miglia route, crossing many of the famous mountain passes in the Alps, setting respectable lap times on "the Ring" and done an entire day with wide open trottles at the Spa-Francorchamps. It will do it again with flying colors. We have lots and lots of documentation, invoices, photos, video clips and even a nicely printed book covering the life of this particular Alfa in photos told by its very knowledgeable and enthusiastic owner.