AUTODELTA HISTORY
The Alfa Romeo department, that deals with the design, construction and maintenance of their racing cars, has been referred to as the Alfa Romeo Racing Department, but this detachment was also known as Alfa Corse and Autodelta, depending on the period covered. However, during its more than 100 year history, the Alfa Romeos have enjoyed successes and victories in practically all motorsports categories, ranging from the Formula 1 to rallies and single-make championships. Its symbol is well-known - a green four-leaf clover on a white field, which we can find on their cars since 1923, when it was painted by Ugo Sivocci on the hood of his car as a lucky charm before winning his first Targa Florio. A peculiarity of the Milanese company's racing department is, that it was the birthplace of Scuderia Ferrari, founded in 1929 in Modena by its ex-driver Enzo Ferrari for gentlemen-drivers and professional drivers in Alfa Romeo cars.
In 1963, Carlo Chiti and Ludovico Chizzola, supported by the unofficial consent of Alfa Romeo, founded in Udine the Auto Delta - an autonomous company, to design and build Alfa Romeo racing cars. In 1964, the company was renamed Autodelta, directly taken over by Alfa Romeo, and, while remaining an external company, it becomes the official Alfa Romeo racing department. The headquaters was progressively moved to Settimo Milanese and, under this effigy, it would take care of all racing Alfa Romeos, from the Alfasud Trophy to Formula 1, until 1983. Led by the engineer Carlo Chiti, who was in charge of both the design and management of the cars in the track, wins were obtained with Giulia TZ and TZ2, GTA and GTAm, Sport Prototipo Tipo 33, Alfetta GT and GTV rally cars, Alfasud Ti Trofeo and, since 1979, also Formula 1 cars.
OUR CAR
The Alfa Romeo Alfetta GT Gr.2 is a former Autodelta official car with an important sporting history. Its grand touring nature was transformed into that of a racing car by the hands of the official sports department, according to the specifications of Gr.2, and it is dressed in the most classic Alfa Romeo rally livery - Alfa red with a matt black bonnet. Born with 1.8L engine displacement, it was upgraded to 2L, thanks to the increased bore, the gearbox is a fivespeed Autodelta and it also featured a limited-slip differential and ventilated Lockheed brakes and the Alfetta developed a power of around 180 hp and reached 210 hp with the 16-valve head and fuel injection.
The chassis no. 009461 was one of the nine Alfetta GTs prepared by Alfa Romeo for the 1975 rally season and is one of the two surviving and the only red colored Alfetta GT - the other is the yellow chassis no. 001424. It debuted, together with the entire Alfa Romeo team, at the Costa Brava rally in February 1975 with the crew Ballestrieri-Nannini and, a month later, in March, the car scored the first significant result for Alfa Romeo with crew Ballestrieri-Gigli at the rally Lyon Charbonier, finishing in 3rd place overall and 1st in Gr.2. The car ran eight races between France and Italy, winning its group twice - at the aforementioned rally Lyon Charbonier and with crew Svizzero-Masetto at the San Giacomo rally in May 1975, the third round in Italian Rally Championship. The official Alfa Romeo drivers - Ballestrieri, Svizzero and Andruet - raced with this car. In 1976, after the decision not to continue in rallies, Alfa Romeo sold the Alfettas, and our car was bought by the Jolly Club of Milan. With the technical director Mauro Nocentini, the car continued its competitive career with some private drivers of Milan.
In 1982, the car was passed to the Tevar team, owned by the Tevar s.r.l. company, with which it made some races and then ended up in the hands of a private collector. In 2016, the former Alfa Romeo ex-driver Chicco Svizzero, after many years, manages to buy the car and devotes himself to a conservative restoration to keep the originality of the car intact, following his memory and the numerous photographs in his possession - the restoration involved the seat lining, which was replaced with a correct one, and a revision of the mechanics was carried out with the replacement of worn parts. At the end of the restoration, the Alfetta returned to participate with Chicco Svizzero in some events in Italy but never did any competition. The car has all the details of the Alfetta GT ex-Autodelta works car, including some peculiar ones - the footrest, made for the charming Biche, Andruet's codriver, which, being short in stature, needed support to "anchor" himself to the seat; the box for the intercom branded Autodelta, plastic bucket seats, wooden gear knob and finally an important detail - the "window" to access the rear shock absorbers. In the years following the restoration, the car was seen and recognized by the former Alfa Romeo engineer Arnaldo Tonti and also by the former driver Amilcare Ballestrieri, each of whom wrote and signed their testimony on the authenticity of the car. The car has never raced since, it is featured in the book Alfa Romeo and Autodelta in rallies and in an article in the Italian magazine Ruoteclassiche of January 2019 by Emanuele Sanfront. The car is accompanied by the original Milan plates and the original booklet from Autodelta s.p.a.
The preparation of the car with Gr. 2 specifications still includes a very long list of details - battery switch, Halda tripmaster, four Carello Megalux additional front headlights, widened fenders, magnesium rims, carved slick tires, stainless steel open exhaust, complete mechanical preparation, racing seats with fourpoint belts, roll-bar, reinforced and lightened body, and Autodelta intercom system.
We acquired this car in May 2021.
