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Perfect balance of passion and rationality : 8C Competizione
Perfect balance of passion and rationality : 8C Competizione
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The Alfa Romeo 8C name was used on road, race and sports cars of the 1930s. The 8C means 8 cylinders, and originally referred to a straight 8 cylinder engine. The Vittorio Jano designed 8C was Alfa Romeos primary racing engine from its introduction in 1931 to its retirement in 1939. In its later development it powered such vehicles as the twin engined 1935 6.3 litre Bimotore, the 1935 3.8 litre Monoposto 8C 35 Type C, and the Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Mille Miglia Roadster. It also powered top of the range coachbuilt production models. In 2004 Alfa Romeo revived the 8C name for a V8 engined concept car which has made it into production for 2007, the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione.
n 1924, Vittorio Jano created his first straight eight cylinder engine, the 1987 cc P2, with common crankcase and four plated steel two cylinder blocks, which was used in racing till 1930, but the 8C designation was not used. The P3 8C engine had a common crankcase, now with two alloy four cylinder blocks, which also incorporated the heads. There was no separate head, and no head gasket to fail, but this made valve maintenance more difficult. A central gear tower drove the overhead camshafts, superchargers and ancillaries. The first model was the 1931 8C 2300, a reference to the car's 2.3 L (2300 cc) engine. Now that racing cars were no longer required to carry a mechanic, Alfa Romeo built the first single seater race car, the Monoposto Tipo B P3 for the 1932 Grand Prix season. This car won the Targa Florio race in Sicily, but it was the Italian Grand Prix victory at Monza that gave it its "Monza" name. The Alfa Romeo factory often added the name of events won to the name of a car.
A range of roadster and coupes were available in Lungo (long) or Corto (short) chassis, usually with bodies from a selection of coachbuilders (Carrozzeria), even though Alfa Romeo did make bodies. They also had a practice of rebodying cars for clients, and some racing vehicles were sold rebodied as road vehicles. While the more expensive 8C engine ceased production in 1939, 6C engined models continued in production till after WWII. Improvements made to the racing cars often appeared in production models in following years.
In 1933 the supercharged dual overhead cam straight-8 engine was enlarged to 2.6 litres, but Alfa Romeo's economic problems meant most racing was now being done by Scuderia Ferrari. In this guise, the Monoposto 8C Type B (P3) racer could accelerate to 60 mph (97 km/h) in less than 7 seconds and could eventually reach 135 mph (217 km/h). For 1934 the race engines became 2.9 litres.
In 1935 the 8C 2900A production models were introduced, still using the live rear axle, but only 11 were built in the two years before the 8C 2900B appeared. At the same time Alfa Romeo's Tipo B 3.2 litre was becoming less competitive, but the blocks had reached their capacity limit. The Bimotore and Monoposto 8C 35 Type C 3.8 came into use but the Monoposto 12C 36 and 37 did not perform, and could not match the Mercedes and Auto-Union cars.
The production 1937 2900B gained the stiff chassis and fully independent suspension already in use on the racers.
[edit] 1935 Bimotore
In 1935, to compete with Mercedes Benz and Auto Union, Enzo Ferrari (Race team manager) and Luigi Bazzi (Designer) built a racer with two 3.2 (3.165 litre) engines, one in the front and one in the rear, giving 6.3 litres and 540 bhp. The drivetrain layout was unusual. The two engines were connected by separate driveshaft to a gearbox with two input shafts, and two angled output shafts, so each of the rear wheels had its own driveshaft. It could never quite succeed against the Mercedes W25 B of Rudolph Caracciola, and was hard on fuel and tyres. The gain in speed was offset by increased pit times. On May 12, 1935, two were entered in the Tripoli Grand Prix driven by Nuvolari and Chiron who finished fourth and fifth. Chiron managed a second at the following 1935 Avus race. After that it was sidelined in favour of the Tipo C.[2] It was the first racer to use the Dubonnet independent trailing arm front suspension. A V12 was under development, but was not race ready. It was noticed that the Bimotore had a traction advantage on rough ground, so a version of the Bimotore chassis with the independent Dubonnet front end, and a new independent rear with swing axles with radius rods and a transverse leaf spring was used for the Tipo C 3.8s.
Alfa Romeo launched the '8C Competizione' concept car at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2003.
The lines of the twin seater are meant to echo the styling of Alfa's of the 30's and 40's, and the 'Competizione' name is a pointer to the '1948 6C 2500 Competizione',[9] which competed in the 1949 and 1950 Mille Miglia race, coming third both times. In the 1950 Mille Miglia Juan-Manuel Fangio and Augusto Zanardi drove. It won the 1950 Targa Florio. A 3 litre prototype was built but not produced. These 6C 2500 models were among the last vehicles with links to the pre-war cars.[10]
According to italian media, Sergio Marchionne, CEO of the Fiat Group, has confirmed that there will be a limited production run of 500.
At the 2005 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, Alfa Romeo released the Alfa 8C Spider, a roadster version of the coupe, with different alloy wheels.
During the 2006 Paris Mondial de l'Automobile 2006, Alfa Romeo announced the production of a limited series of intially 500 units of 8C Competizione. The production version features a Ferrari/Maserati derived 4.7 V8. The top engine performance figures may be summarised as a maximum power output of 450 hp at 7000 rpm, a peak torque of 470 nm at 4750 rpm (80% at 2500 rpm) with a rev limit of 7500 rpm.
The 6–speed gearbox has computerised speed selection by means of levers behind the steering wheel and may be used in Manual-Normal; Manual-Sport; Automatic-Normal; Automatic-Sport and Ice modes. It has a limited slip differential.
It is fitted with specially developed 20 inch tyres: 245/35 at the front and 285/35 at the rear, fitted on perforated rims in fluid moulded aluminium.
The 8C will be sold as Alfa Romeo's returning foray into the United States market, starting in 2008. Alfa Romeo is dedicating 99 Alfa Romeo 8C Competiziones for U.S. market sale.
source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_8C
