Friday, October 29, 2010
Tom Butters: An American Racing Artist!
For a direct contact with this great oldtimer pilot and painter:
(001 Usa)765 886 5098
TomButtersArt@aol.com
tom's website!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Jack Brabham
"I felt very sad, [...] I didn't feel I was giving up racing because I couldn't do the job. I felt I was just as competitive then as at any other time, and I really should have won the championship in 1970. [...] I'd have been a lot better off if I'd stayed, but sometimes family pressures don't allow you to make the decisions you'd like to."
The World according to Jack, Motor Sport (May 1999) p.36
"There's no way you could call those 1500-cc machines Formula One."
Jack Brabham
Brabham was a Royal Australian Air Force flight mechanic and ran a small engineering workshop before he started racing midget cars in 1948. His successes in midgets and Australian and New Zealand road racing events led to him going to the United Kingdom to further his racing career. There he became part of the Cooper Car Company's racing team, building as well as racing cars. He contributed to the design of the mid-engined cars that Cooper introduced to Formula One and the Indianapolis 500, and won the Formula One world championship in 1959 and 1960. In 1962 he established his own Brabham marque with fellow Australian Ron Tauranac, which became the largest manufacturer of customer racing cars in the world in the 1960s. In 1966 Brabham became the only man to win the Formula One world championship driving one of his own cars.
Brabham retired to Australia after the 1970 Formula One season, where he bought a farm and maintained various business interests, which included the Engine Developments racing engine manufacturer and several garages. He is the oldest surviving Formula One world champion.
Brabham's early career continued the engineering theme. At the age of 15 he left school to work, combining a job at a local garage with an evening course in mechanical engineering. Brabham soon branched out into his own business selling motorbikes, which he bought and repaired for sale, using his parents' back veranda as his workshop.[3]
One month after his 18th birthday on 19 May 1944 Brabham enlisted into the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Although keen on becoming a pilot, there was already a surplus of trained aircrew and the Air Force instead put his mechanical skills to use as a flight mechanic, of which there was a wartime shortage. He was based at RAAF Williamtown where he worked on maintaining Bristol Beaufighters at No 5 Operational Training Unit (5OTU). On his 20th birthday, 2 April 1946, Brabham was discharged from the RAAF at the rank of Leading Aircraftman (LAC). He then started a small service, repair and machining business in a workshop built by his uncle on a plot of land behind his grandfather's house.[4]
Brabham started racing after an American friend, Johnny Schonberg, persuaded him to watch a midget car race. Midget racing was a category for small open-wheel cars racing on dirt ovals. It was popular in Australia, attracting crowds of up to 40,000. Brabham records that he was not taken with the idea of driving, being convinced that the drivers "were all lunatics" but he agreed to build a car with Schonberg.[4]
At first Schonberg drove the homemade device, powered by a modified JAP motorcycle engine built by Brabham in his workshop. In 1948, Schonberg's wife persuaded him to stop racing and on his suggestion Brabham took over. He almost immediately found that he had a knack for the sport, winning on his third night's racing. Brabham has since said that it was "terrific driver training. You had to have quick reflexes: in effect you lived—or possibly died—on them."[5] Due to the time required to prepare the car, the sport also became his living. Brabham won the 1948 Australian Speedway Championship, the 1949 Australian and South Australian Speedcar championships, and the 1950–1951 Australian championship with the car.[6]
After successfully running the midget at some hillclimbing events in 1951, Brabham became interested in road racing. He bought and modified a series of racing cars from the Cooper Car Company, a prolific British constructor, and from 1953 concentrated on this form of racing, in which drivers compete on closed tarmac circuits. He was supported by his father and by the Redex fuel additive company, although his commercially-aware approach—including the title RedeX Special painted on the side of his Cooper-Bristol—did not go down well with the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS), which banned the advertisement.[7] Brabham competed in Australia and New Zealand until early 1955, taking "a long succession of victories", including the 1953 Queensland Road Racing championship.[6] During this time, he picked up the nickname "Black Jack", which motorsport author Phil Drackett suggests may have been due to his black hair, stubble and dark complexion or to his "ruthless" approach on the track.[8] After the 1955 New Zealand Grand Prix, Brabham was persuaded by Dean Delamont, competitions manager of the Royal Automobile Club in the United Kingdom, to try a season of racing in Europe, then the international centre of road racing.[9]
On arriving in Europe in early 1955, Brabham based himself in the UK, where he raced his own Cooper-Alta, bought from Peter Whitehead, in national events. His driving style initally betrayed his dirt track origins: as he put it, he took corners "by using full [steering] lock and lots of throttle",[10] an approach that pleased spectators. As motorsport author Mike Lawrence describes it, Brabham soon "seemed to merge into Cooper Cars, turning up and turning his hand to anything and doing it all well."[11] Brabham recollects that he started working at Cooper on a daily basis from the mid point of the 1955 season, although he was not paid. He built a Cooper Bobtail mid-engined sportscar at the factory, fitted with a Bristol engine and intended for Formula One, the top category of single seater racing.[12] Brabham made his Grand Prix debut at the age of 29 driving the car at the 1955 British Grand Prix. It was underpowered, having an engine capacity half a litre less than the 2.5-litre maximum, and ran slowly with a broken clutch before retiring.[11][13]
Later in the year Brabham, again driving the Bobtail, tussled with Stirling Moss in a 2.5-litre Maserati 250F for third place in a non-championship Formula One race at Snetterton. Although Moss finished ahead, Brabham sees the race as a turning point, proving that he could compete at this level. As a result he returned to the UK the following year, having used the Bobtail to win the 1955 Australian Grand Prix at Port Wakefield.[14]
Using the proceeds from the sale of the Bobtail, Brabham bought his own Maserati 250F from BRM in 1956. The 250F was a popular and competitive model, but Brabham campaigned it only briefly and unsuccessfully before abandoning it. Brabham's 1956 season was saved by drives for Cooper in sports cars and Formula Two, the junior category to Formula One, where the mid-engined cars had been having increasing success. Having the engine behind the driver has the advantage that the weight is concentrated on the powered rear wheels for more traction. In 1957, he drove the first mid-engined Cooper-Climax at the Monaco Grand Prix. He was running third before a component broke. Brabham pushed the car to the line to finish sixth, just outside the points.[15] The following year, Brabham was Autocar Formula Two champion in a Cooper, while continuing to score minor pointscoring positions with the small-engined Coopers in the World Drivers Championship and driving for Aston Martin in Sportscars.[6]
In 1959, Brabham won the World Championship with a Coventry Climax engined Cooper. He started the season strongly, with his first F1 World Championship race victory in the season-opening Monaco Grand Prix. A second win in the British Grand Prix at Aintree gave him a 13-point championship lead with four races to go, although Brabham was fortunate to escape without serious injury from a major accident in the Portuguese Grand Prix at Monsanto Park. He was chasing race leader Stirling Moss when a backmarker, Nicha Cabral, moved over on him and launched the Cooper into the air. Brabham was thrown from the car after hitting a telegraph pole, saving him from plunging into a ravine, and landed on the track while his Cooper was destroyed.[16] Brabham clinched the championship in the final race of the season, the United States Grand Prix at Sebring. He famously pushed his car over the line after running out of fuel while leading on the last lap, although his fourth-place finish didn't count towards his championship-winning tally because a driver only counted their best five results under that year's regulations. His winning margin over Ferrari's Tony Brooks was four points.
Despite their lead in putting the engine behind the driver, the Coopers and their Chief Designer Owen Maddock were resistant to developing their cars. Brabham pushed for further advances, and played a significant role in developing Cooper's highly successful 1960 T53 'lowline' car.[17] Brabham won the championship again in 1960 driving the T53.
Brabham took the Championship-winning Cooper to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a test following the 1960 season, then entered the famous 500-mile race in a modified version of the Formula One car in 1961. The "funny" little car from Europe was mocked by the Americans with their front-engined roadsters, but Brabham ran as high as third before finishing ninth. To this day, Brabham is certain that he would have won had Dunlop supplied harder-wearing tyres better-suited to the track after having to make far more pit-stops than his rivals.[16] The Indianapolis establishment gradually realized the writing was on the wall as Brabham and his team principal John Cooper had shown that the days of front-engined roadsters were numbered. Ironically, Cooper was not as competitive this year, as the 1.5 litre engine rules were introduced and the famous Shark Nose Ferrari dominated.
Despite his success with Cooper, Brabham was sure he could do better, and in late 1959 he asked his friend Ron Tauranac to come to the UK and work with him, initially producing upgrade kits for Sunbeam Rapier and Triumph Herald road cars at his car dealership, Jack Brabham Motors, but with the long-term aim of designing racing cars.[18]
To meet that aim, Brabham and Tauranac set up Motor Racing Developments Ltd. (MRD), which initially produced customer racing cars, while Brabham himself continued to race for Cooper. By the 1961 Formula One season, the Lotus and Ferrari teams had developed the mid-engined approach further than Cooper, where Brabham had a poor season, scoring only four points. Having run his own private Coopers in non-championship events during 1961, Brabham left the company in 1962 to drive for his own team: the Brabham Racing Organisation, using cars built by Motor Racing Developments.[19][20] A newly introduced engine limit in Formula One of 1500 cc did not suit Brabham and he did not win a single race with a 1500 cc car.[21] His team suffered poor reliability during this period and motorsport authors Mike Lawrence and David Hodges have said that Brabham's reluctance to spend money may have cost the team results, a view echoed by Tauranac.[22] During the 1965 season, Brabham started to consider retirement in order to manage his team. Gurney took the lead driver role, and the team's first world championship win, while Brabham gave up his car to several other drivers towards the end of the season. At the end of the season, Gurney announced his intention to leave and set up his own team and Brabham decided to carry on.[23]
In 1966, a new 3-litre formula was created for Formula One. The new engines under development by other suppliers all had at least 12 cylinders and proved difficult to develop, being heavy and initially unreliable. Brabham took a different approach to the problem of obtaining a suitable engine: he persuaded Australian engineering company Repco to develop a new 3-litre eight cylinder engine for him.[24] Repco had no experience in designing complete engines. Brabham had identified a supply of suitable engine blocks obtained from Oldsmobile's aluminium alloy 215 engine and persuaded the company that an engine could be designed around the block, largely using existing components. Brabham and Repco were aware that the engine would not compete in terms of outright power, but felt that a lightweight, reliable engine could achieve good championship results while other teams were still making their new designs reliable.
The combination of the Repco engine and the Brabham BT19 chassis designed by Tauranac worked. At the French Grand Prix at Reims-Gueux, Jack Brabham took his first Formula One world championship win since 1960 and became the first man to win such a race in a car of his own construction. Only his two former team mates, Bruce McLaren and Dan Gurney, have since matched this achievement. It was the first in a run of four straight wins for the Australian veteran. The 40-year-old Brabham was annoyed by press stories about his age and, in a highly uncharacteristic stunt, at the Dutch Grand Prix he hobbled to his car on the starting grid before the race wearing a long false beard and leaning on a cane before going on to win the race.[25] Brabham confirmed his third championship at the Italian Grand Prix and became the only driver to win the Formula One World Championship in a car that carried his own name.
The season also saw the fruition of Brabham's relationship with Japanese engine manufacturer Honda in Formula Two. After a generally unsuccessful season in 1965, Honda revised their 1-litre engine completely. Brabham won ten of the year's 16 European Formula Two races in his Brabham-Honda. There was no European Formula Two championship that year, but Brabham won the Trophées de France, a championship consisting of six of the French Formula Two races.[26]
In 1967, the Formula One title went to Brabham's teammate Denny Hulme. Hulme had better reliability through the year, possibly due to Jack Brabham's desire to try new parts first.[27]
Brabham raced alongside his team mate Jochen Rindt during the 1968 season. Partway through the 1969 season, Brabham suffered serious injuries to his foot in a testing accident. He returned to racing before the end of the year, but promised his wife that he would retire after the season finished and sold his share of the team to Tauranac.
Finding no top drivers available despite coming close to bringing Rindt back to the team, Brabham decided to race for one more year. He began auspiciously, winning the first race of season, the South African Grand Prix, and then led the third race, the Monaco Grand Prix until the very last turn of the last lap. Brabham was about to hold off the onrushing Rindt (the eventual 1970 F1 champion) when his front wheels locked in a skid on the sharp right turn only yards from the finish and he ended up second. While leading at the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, he ran out of fuel at Clearways and Rindt passed him to take the win while Brabham coasted to the finish in second place. After the 13th and final race of the season, the Mexican Grand Prix, Brabham did retire. He had tied Jackie Stewart for fifth in the points standings in the season he drove at the age of 44. Brabham then made a complete break from racing and returned to Australia.
In 1976 Brabham competed at Bathurst in a Holden Torana with Stirling Moss. Although the car was crash-damaged on the starting grid, it was repaired, and survives still as a museum piece to this day.
In 1995 Sir Jack competed again in the James Hardie Sydney 12 hrs endurance race with Ross Palmer & G.Crick co-driving the No.15 Honda NSX car and recorded a highly respectable 5th place position which he recorded in pictures on his official website.
In 1998, Sir Jack Brabham returned to Europe and the old Nürburgring to race a VW New Beetle 1.8T in the 6 Hours VLN with Ross Palmer and Melinda Price, scoring the fastest lap among the three drivers with over 134 km/h in average. Brabham said he returned to the "Ring" for the first time since 1970, and was surprised about the changes in safety – and the sunshine.
He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990.
Brabham was honoured, along with featured marque Cooper, at the 2006 Monterey Historic Automobile Races.[30]
In January 2008, Brabham was named an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) on Australia Day for services to motor sport.[31] In June 2008, the Brisbane-based racing yacht 'Black Jack' was named in honour of Brabham, who attended the launch.[32]
The couple divorced in 1994. Brabham married his second wife, Margaret in 1995 and they live on the Gold Coast, not far from where Geoff and Gary have made homes in retirement from their careers.[33]
Brabham and Ron Tauranac founded Motor Racing Developments in 1960. The company built the cars the Brabham Racing Organisation used in the Formula One world championship, and was also the biggest manufacturer of customer racing cars in the world for a period in the late 1960s. Although references to Brabham "building his own cars" are exaggerated (the cars were designed by Tauranac and built by a small team of people), Brabham did machine components and build up chassis. He also contributed ideas to the design process and acted as a very highly rated test driver. Brabham himself was often on hand to help customers with the set up of their cars. The company pulled out of the customer car business soon after Tauranac left in 1972. The Brabham Formula One team won further world championships in 1981 and 1983 under the ownership of Bernie Ecclestone before going bankrupt in 1992 while owned by the Japanese Middlebridge group.
In 1970, Brabham set up Engine Developments Ltd. with John Judd; Brabham had employed Judd in 1966 to work at Repco on the V8 engine project. Engine Developments became a respected engine design company. A range of Judd racing engines are used in sportscars today, and Judd engines were used in Formula One and Indycar (branded as 'Brabham-Honda') in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Brabham played a small role as a consultant to the Simtek Formula One team for which his son David drove in 1994.
Sir John Arthur Brabham (Hurtsville, 2 aprile 1926) è un ex pilota di Formula 1 australiano, tre volte Campione del Mondo di Formula 1 nel 1959, 1960 e 1966 vincendo un totale di 14 Gran Premi. La vittoria del 1966 è avvenuta della guida della vettura col suo stesso nome costruita dalla Brabham Racing Organisation, che poi diventerà una delle principali scuderie di Formula 1.
Jack Brabham, o "Black Jack" fa una fugace apparizione al Gran Premio di Gran Bretagna 1955 alla guida di una Cooper, come pilota privato. Si qualifica ultimo e si ritira al 31º giro per la rottura del motore. Lo si rivede un anno dopo, sempre in Gran Bretagna e sempre con il motore ko, ma stavolta è fuori già al 4º passaggio. Nel 1957 partecipa con più frequenza alle gare di Formula 1.A Monaco conquista la sesta piazza, che all'epoca non veniva inclusa nel punteggio: solo i primi cinque andavano a punti. Per gran parte della stagione non riesce a finire le gare e termina il campionato a zero punti. Finalmente, nel 1958, Brabham ottiene il quarto posto a Monaco. Poi più niente.
In Italia poi arriverà un podio che sancirà la conquista del titolo, nonostante il recupero di Tony Brooks. Il 1960, anno del suo secondo titolo, è invece molto più facile. Con una serie di cinque vittorie consecutive Brabham fa via via affievolire le speranze di Bruce McLaren che si ritrova alla fine secondo, staccato di nove punti.
Dopo il secondo titolo Brabham cade in un lunghissimo periodo di crisi, che termina solo nel 1966. Il 1961 è un anno avaro di soddisfazioni. Nel 1962 l'australiano fonda un team che porta il suo nome, ma i risultati sono scarsini: con le "sue" macchine "Black Jack" non va oltre un quarto posto.
Nel 1963 ci sono lievi miglioramenti, col secondo posto in Messico, e così nella stagione successiva (due terzi posti). Poi nel 1965 fa un passo indietro, e conquista solo un terzo posto. Invece il suo compagno di squadra, l'americano Dan Gurney naviga sempre in posizioni alte, con ben sei risultati utili consecutivi.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Lancia thema 8.32(Ferrari)
Lancia thema Ferrari...intro Video
Thema 8.32
The ultimate Thema, the '8.32' ("8" standing for the number of cylinders and "32" for the number of valves) was assembled at Lancia's S. Paolo plant in Turin.[3] It used a 2927 cc Ferrari V8. This engine was based on the unit used in the Ferrari 308 qv and some of the componentry was assembled by Ducati[4] from castings made at Maranello. The engine differed from other Ferrari V8s of the time in that it was equipped with a cross-plane type crankshaft rather than the usual flat-plane crankshaft, smaller valves and different firing order. All this to make the engine characteristics more suitable in a four door luxury saloon. Both Series 1 and 2 cars in non catalysed form produced 215 PS (158 kW; 212 hp) and were capable of 0–100 km/h in 6.8 seconds and 240 km/h (149 mph) whilst catalysed versions were slightly detuned to 205 PS (151 kW; 202 hp) which gave 0–100 km/h in 7.2 seconds and 235 km/h (146 mph).The car offered good performance (though the Turbo version was quicker than the catalytic version from 0 to 100 km/h) and excellent refinement, including a luxurious hand made wood-and-leather interior by Poltrona Frau complete with the same luxury equipment as LX versions of the Thema. Unfortunately, a price tag of £40,000 (or more) in Britain, and the fact that only left hand drive versions were produced, limited its appeal with only 9 being officially sold there. This version of the Thema also sold in limited numbers in Italy with 2370 Series 1 built between 1986 and 1988 and 1601 Series 2 built between 1989 and 1992. 64 numbered vehicles were made, 32 series 1 and 32 series 2. These were only available in Ferrari-red.
Nel maggio 1986 venne presentata la versione 8.32 denominazione che indicava il numero dei cilindri, 8, e delle valvole, 32 del potente motore capace di erogare 215 cv di stretta derivazione Ferrari 308 e Mondial Quattrovalvole che la rese l'auto a trazione anteriore più potente del mondo. Da ciò il nomignolo affibbiato di Thema-Ferrari. Il motore dovette subire numerose modifiche per permetterne l'inserimento nel cofano della vettura. La 8.32 aveva interni sfarzosi per l'epoca, rivestiti interamente di radica, pelle Poltrona Frau e/o Alcantara, in modo tale che la mano del cliente non potesse toccar altro che materiali pregiati. Esclusive e distintive pure le dotazioni, dai poggiatesta posteriori a scomparsa automatica - dalla seconda serie (si sollevano se dei sensori posti sotto i sedili posteriori rilevano un peso di almeno 20 kg), alle sospensioni elettroniche con taratura automatica o sportiva selezionabili dal conducente alla plancia (a richiesta su entrambe le serie ma standard sugli ultimi esemplari della seconda serie), classica e sportiva insieme, realizzata con strumenti analogici montati su un pannello di vera radica e bocchette in stile Ferrari, all'alettone posteriore a scomparsa nel baule attivabile tramite la rotazione della leva di comando del tergicristalli. Ne vennero prodotti fra I e II serie 3.870 esemplari (2370 della prima serie e 1500 della seconda). All'interno di queste 3.870 unità, sono conteggiate 64 unità di una serie speciale numerata (32 per la prima serie ed altrettante per la seconda) di color Rosso Ferrari. Ne fu anche realizzato un unico esemplare in versione Station Wagon destinato all'Avvocato Agnelli, di colore argento Nürburgring e interni in pelle blu (non disponibili sulla berlina). I colori disponibili erano il molto apprezzato rosso winner metallizzato (colore di lancio), nero metallizzato, grigio quartz metallizzato (raro), blu blizzard metallizzato e verde reflex metallizzato (il meno diffuso in assoluto) oltre alla serie speciale rosso Ferrari. Le tonalità degli interni in pelle erano 2: nero e cuoio. la carrozzeria aveva un caratteristico filo a doppio colore sulle due fiancate laterali e lungo il bordo del baule. Giallo/rosso in abbinamento al colore rosso winner, Giallo/blu in abbinamento al blu blizzard, Giallo/verde in abbinamento al verde reflex, Giallo/nero in abbinamento al grigio e Giallo/grigio chiaro in abbinamento al nero. Con questo modello Lancia si confronta con l'agguerrita concorrenza straniera, che ha sul mercato vetture come la BMW M5, e le Mercedes-Benz 500E e 190E 2.3 16V.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Alfa Romeo 6C
6C 1500 (1925-1929)
In 1928, a 6C Sport was released, with a dual overhead camshafts engine. Its sport version won many races, including the 1928 Mille Miglia. Total production was 3000 (200 with DOHC engine). Ten copies of a supercharged (compressore, compressor) Super Sport variant were also made.
Variants:
- 6C 1500, 44 bhp @ 4400 rpm, 109 km/h (68 mph) (1925–1929)
- 6C 1500 Sport, 54 bhp @ 4500 rpm, 125 km/h (78 mph) (1928–1929)- 171 cars
- 6C 1500 Super Sport compressore, 76 bhp @ 4800 rpm, 140 km/h (87 mph) (1928–1929)
- 6C 1500 TF, 84 bhp @ 5000 rpm (1928–1929)
[edit] 6C 1750 (1929-1933)
Variants:
- 6C 1750 Turismo, 46 bhp @ 4000 rpm, 109 km/h (68 mph) (1929–1933)
- 6C 1750 Sport/Gran Turismo, 55 bhp @ 4400 rpm, 125 km/h (78 mph) (1929–1932)
- 6C 1750 Super Sport/Gran Sport, 64 bhp @ 4500 rpm, 130 km/h (81 mph) (1929–1932)
- 6C 1750 Super Sport/Gran Sport compressore,85 bhp @ 4500 rpm, 145 km/h (90 mph) (1929–1932)
- 6C 1750 Gran Turismo compressore, 80 bhp @ 4400 rpm, 135 km/h (84 mph) (1931–1932)
- 6C 1750 Super Sport/Gran Sport/TF, 85 bhp @ 4800 rpm, 170 km/h (110 mph) (1929–1930)
[edit] 6C 1900 (1933)
Variants:
- 6C 1900 GT, 68 bhp @ 4500 rpm, 130 km/h (81 mph)
[edit] 6C 2300 (1934-1937)
Variants:
- 6C 2300 Turismo, 68 bhp @ 4400 rpm, 120 km/h (75 mph) (1934)
- 6C 2300 Gran Turismo, 76 bhp @ 4400 rpm, 130 km/h (81 mph) (1934)
- 6C 2300B Gran Turismo, 76 bhp @ 4400 rpm (1935–1937)
- 6C 2300 Pescara, 95 bhp @ 4500 rpm, 144 km/h (89 mph) (1934)
- 6C 2300B Pescara, 95 bhp @ 4500 rpm (1935–1937)
- 6C 2300 B Corto/Lungo (1935)
- 6C 2300 B Mille Miglia
[edit] Aerodinamica Spider
In 1935, Vittorio Jano, working with the brothers Gino and Oscar Jankovitz, created a one-off mid-engine prototype on a 6C 2300 chassis (no. 700316),[1] which Jano had shipped to Fiume, Croatia in 1934. The brothers Jankovitz had been close friends with leading Hungarian aerodynamicist Paul Jaray,[1] and the prototype, called the Alfa Romeo Aerodinamica Spider, was an especially early and clear example of ponton styling — a genre that would overtake automobile styling and last until the 1960s. Jano had intended to fit a V12 engine, though that possibility disappeared when Jano himself was fired from Alfa in 1937.[1][edit] 6C 2500 (1938-1952)
The 6C 2500 Villa d'Este was introduced in 1949 and was produced until 1952, named for the Concorso d'Eleganza held in Villa d'Este;[4] a Touring Superleggera-bodied version won the prize. Villa d'Este was Alfa's last hand built model, only 36 examples made. The last 6C was produced in 1952, and was replaced by the 1900.
Variants:
- 6C 2500 Coloniale 90 bhp @ 4500 rpm (1939–1942), 152 produced
- 6C 2500, 90 bhp @ 4600 rpm (1938–1949)
- 6C 2500 Turismo
- 6C 2500 Sport, 95 bhp @ 4600 rpm (1947–1949)
- 6C 2500 Super Sport
- 6C 2500 Super Sport Corsa 120 bhp @ 4750 rpm[5] (1939–1953)
- 6C 2500 Freccia d'Oro 90 bhp @ 4600 rpm (1946–1951)
- 6C 2500 Villa d'Este 110 bhp @ 4800 rpm (1949–1952)
- 6C 2500 GT (1950)
- 6C 2500 Competizione 145 bhp @ 5500 rpm (1948)
[edit] 6C 3000 (1950-1954)
A 6C 3000 was prototype made in 1950, basically a 2500 with a 3L engine. It did not appear until 1952, as the Competizione Maggiorata (CM), built for racing, with a 3.5L engine, in four coupé and two spider versions.
Variants:
- 6C 3000 (1948)
- 6C 3000 50 (1950)
- 6C 3000 CM (1952) 275 bhp, 250 km/h (160 mph) ("Competizione Maggiorata" for enlarged displacement)
- 6C 3000 PR (1954) ("Passo Ridotto" for shortened wheelbase)
[edit] 6C 3000 Competizione Maggiorata
3000 CM was realised in six copies: four coupé and two spider. With the coupé model Juan Manuel Fangio and Giulio Sala got the second position at Mille Miglia, in 1953.[9] Fangio was leading the race, but a problem whit the chassis obliged him to slow down. Still with Fangio, the spider won the First Gran Premio Supercorte Maggiore in Meran, 1953; this car is shown today at Museo Storico Alfa Romeo.
One of the two spider was modified to cope with the new rules of the International Sport Category and the capacity was limited to 3-liters. This car was renamed PR, Passo Ridotto (Reduced Wheelbase).[9] This second spider belongs to the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo’s collection.
During the sixties, at the end of the period of competitions, 6C 3000 CM was used by the Experience Department of Alfa Romeo for testing new components, one of which is the disc brake, which is still present today in this vehicle.
Alfa Romeo 6C è la denominazione di una serie di modelli d'automobile, presentata nel 1925, che nelle varie versioni ed evoluzioni è stata prodotta negli stabilimenti della casa milanese dal 1927 al 1950.
La sigla "6C" è l'acronimo di sei cilindri e descrive il frazionamento del motore che equipaggia le vetture, la cui primigenia realizzazione è dovuta a Vittorio Jano, importante progettista dell'Alfa Romeo che ha legato il suo nome soprattutto ai motori esacilindrici in linea, montati dalla 6C 1500.
Le prime versioni, la 6C 1500 Young del 1927 e la 6C 1500 Touring del 1928 (dai nomi del carrozziere inglese James Young e della carrozzeria italiana Touring) montavano un sei cilindri in linea con un solo albero a camme in testa e aveva 1.500 cc di cilindrata, capace di sviluppare 54 CV e far raggiungere all'auto i 125 Km/h. Il motore di Jano benché piccolo di cilindrata riusciva a sviluppare una così grande potenza proprio a causa della ridotta cilindrata unitaria (250cc) che aveva aumentato del 200% circa la resa termica rispetto agli standard dell'epoca.
Le versioni Sport del 1500 Alfa Romeo furono dotate quasi subito di un doppio albero a camme in testa e di un sistema di sovralimentazione permettendo alla 6C 1500 di poter vincere nel '28 la Mille Miglia, la 24 Ore di Spa, la Targa Florio e il circuito di Modena. Erano uscite così, nel 1928 le 6C 1500 Sport (carrozzata Young) da 76 CV e 140 km/h.
La 6C 1500 Sport Spider del '28 fu appunto la prima spyder dell'Alfa Romeo e una versione di essa venne chiamata 6C 1500 NR in onore di Nicola Romeo che abbandonava la guida dell'azienda. Il piccolo motore da 1500 cc stimolò l'intraprendenza di molti carrozzieri che sfornarono varie altre versioni della 6C. Nel 1929 per esempio la carrozzeria Farina propose un'elegante Torpedo.
Fra le versioni più potenti vi fu la 6C 1500 Sport compressore Zagato del '29 guidata da Antonio Ascari e da Giuseppe Campari. In totale del modello 1500 ne vennero prodotti 1.075 esemplari.
Nel 1929 entrò in produzione la versione successiva della vettura con la cilindrata del motore aumentata a 1.752 cc da cui il nome di Alfa Romeo 6C 1750. Esteticamente non vi furono modifiche importanti e la 1750 rimase in produzione sino al 1933 continuando anche a dominare il mondo delle corse del tempo grazie al suo propulsore ora in grado di erogare 85 CV anche nelle versioni destinate alla vendita. Nei quattro anni in cui rimase in produzione ne vennero realizzati 2.579 esemplari.
Nell'ultimo anno di produzione della 1750 venne anche introdotta la nuova versione Alfa Romeo 6C 1900 dove la cilindrata è portata a 1917 cm3 e su cui è stato introdotta per la prima volta la testata in lega leggera. Gli esemplari prodotti in totale furono 197.
La successiva versione della 6C fu l'Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 presentata nel 1934 e rimasta in produzione fino al 1937. Questa evoluzione presentò molte novità importanti tra cui, prima in Europa le sospensioni a ruote indipendenti.
Venne sostituita dalla Alfa Romeo 6C 2500, ultima vettura della serie prodotta dalla casa di Arese prima della seconda guerra mondiale e ripresa nel primo dopoguerra fino al 1950 in circa 2.800 esemplari.
Della serie 6C vi furono anche versioni speciali tra cui la Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Villa d'Este.
Nel 1952 venne realizzata la 6C 3000 CM, modello creato esclusivamente per gareggiare, ottenendo molti successi sportivi.
La 2500 fu l'ultima versione della serie 6C e venne ritirata dal mercato per far posto alla nuova Alfa Romeo 1900.
Alfa 6C and Mussolini.
A 1935 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 Pescara Spyder that competed in the Mille Miglia and was once owned by Benito Mussolini will be auctioned by H&H at The Centaur, Cheltenham Racecourse on February 27, 2008. Of huge historical importance, the stunning dark red Two-Seater carries an estimate of £600,000-800,000.
Chassis 700635 clothed in striking coachwork by Carozzeria Touring was built to the special order of Benito Mussolini. Before delivery he had it modified with a dickey seat and the engine was specially tuned to deliver 95bhp rather than the 68bhp of the standard model.
The car was driven in the 1936 Mille Miglia by Ercole Boratto – an ex-Alfa Romeo test driver who was Mussolini’s chauffeur at the time. The car finished 13th overall and 3rd in class. Mussolini retained the car until 1939, since when it has only had three owners, the latest of which had it restored by Dino Cognolato to a standard good enough to achieve second in class in the 2005 Pebble Beach Concours and victory in the New York Concours meeting of the same year.
This ‘matching numbers’ car of enormous historical interest even retains traces of the partial alcohol fuelling system it is believed to have operated during the Mille Miglia, when the fascist regime was promoting the use of alternative fuels in the face of stringent petrol sanctions.
The car was driven in the 1936 Mille Miglia by Ercole Boratto – an ex-Alfa Romeo test driver who was Mussolini’s chauffeur at the time. The car finished 13th overall and 3rd in class.
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