– In the next episode of “Storie Alfa Romeo” the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione plays the main role. – The super sports car with a 2006 kW (332 hp) eight-cylinder engine, introduced in 450, had models in Alfa Romeo's history, but at the same time gave a glimpse into the future of the brand. – Optimum power-to-weight ratio, perfect balance, precise handling and typical Italian design set new standards. – Experts praised Alfa Romeo’s contribution to the transition into the 21st century. – The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione summed up the essence of the brand, starting with the model name: 8C was reminiscent of successful eight-cylinder racing cars of the 1930s, Competizione was a reference to the legendary Alfa Romeo of the 1950s, which celebrated victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the famous Mille Miglia road race, among others. – The design of the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione featured strong references to the brand’s history. – The style of the small-series super sports car inspired later Alfa Romeo production models, including the Giulietta, the MiTo and the 4C. – The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione was a success and a milestone. – Within a few weeks, around 1.400 orders were received – the limited series of 500 pieces was sold out before production even started.
The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione fulfilled a dual role. It represented a return to the roots for the brand and at the same time a laboratory for the future. This unique super sports car was developed in the midst of a period of profound restructuring in the automotive sector. It became a flagship with which Alfa Romeo would redefine its identity and values - a stylistic and technical starting point for future car models.
At the beginning of 2006, Sergio Marchionne, at that time CEO of Fiat Group Automobiles (now Fiat Chrysler Automobiles FCA), gave the signal to start series production of a concept car that had caused a stir at the 2003 IAA in Frankfurt. The Alfa Romeo Centro Stile under the direction of Wolfgang Egger and other design departments of the company developed the Frankfurt show car to series production within just eight months. The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione was presented in its final form at the Paris Motor Show in autumn 2006. Within a few weeks, around 1.400 orders were received from all over the world. The planned edition of 500 numbered units was sold out long before production started.
The essence of Alfa Romeo
The story of the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione begins with its name. 8C - short for "otto cilindri" (eight cylinders) - refers to the Alfa Romeo cars with eight-cylinder engines designed by Vittorio Jano that won races all over the world in the 1930s. With the Tipo 8C 2300, the brand celebrated four consecutive victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and three in the legendary Mille Miglia road race in Italy. The Tipo 8C 2900 contributed four more Mille Miglia victories. "Competizione" - Italian for competition - was first used to designate a racing version of the Alfa Romeo 6C 2500, which the future Formula 1 world champion Juan Manuel Fangio drove in the 1950 Mille Miglia.
The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione of the 21st century was developed to embody and revive the essence of Alfa Romeo. The super sports car took up technical themes that are dear to the brand. These include lightweight construction, in this case through a special chassis design and the use of aluminum, titanium, carbon and composite materials. The so-called transaxle design, with a longitudinally mounted front engine and transmission on the rear axle, ensured a balanced weight distribution between the front and rear axles. The elaborately designed chassis with double wishbones all around guaranteed exceptional driving precision.
The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione was powered by a 8-liter naturally aspirated V4,7 petrol engine that produced 332 kW (450 hp). This enabled acceleration from a standstill to 100 km/h in 4,2 seconds. It was also the first time since the early 1990s that an Alfa Romeo production vehicle was powered exclusively by the rear wheels.
A tribute to the history of automotive design
And then there was the not insignificant question of style. The seemingly rearing up bonnet looked as if it wanted to bite into the asphalt. The side line was soft and sensual. A horizontal bead connected the wheel arches and led into the muscular shape of the rear fenders. The rear window was framed by the C-pillars, which ran into the rear of the vehicle.
The design was a bit like a quiz on quotes from Alfa Romeo's brand history. The headlights, which protruded slightly over the bonnet, resembled those of the famous Tipo 33 Stradale of 1967. The steeply sloping, so-called Kamm tail - called "Coda Tronca" in Italian - was reminiscent of the second series of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta SZ of 1961. The circular taillights were an homage to the Giulia TZ, just as the Giulietta SZ was a queen of the racetrack. In short: the design of the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione flirted with history, as if the Centro Stile was paying tribute to an entire era of automotive design.
Creativity and Science
From the 1930s onwards, designers and coachbuilders had begun to understand and improve the aerodynamics of automobiles. Low air resistance was also recognised as the key to increasing the competitiveness of racing cars. The first step was to integrate external elements such as fenders and headlights into the body. Subsequently, bodies were increasingly flowing, smoother and more streamlined.
This challenge for the great designers of their time also stimulated their imagination. They believed that everything that is beautiful must also be efficient. The designers unleashed their creativity and skill and designed some of the most beautiful and racing-successful cars of all time. And many of them bore the Alfa Romeo crest.
The 8 Alfa Romeo 2006C Competizione was a tribute to cars from that era, symbolically bowing to them through the bold design of the body, its clean lines and the almost provocative references to distinctive brand features from Alfa Romeo's past.
Alfa Romeo and the "Trilobo"
From the frontal perspective, every Alfa Romeo is unmistakable. The central, shield-shaped radiator - "Scudetto" in Italian - and horizontal air intakes on both sides are striking. This combination, perhaps the most famous face in the world of automobiles, is called "Trilobo" in Italian. It was created in the 1930s.
Until then, little attention was paid to the design of the front of the vehicle. It usually consisted only of the radiator flanked by free-standing headlights, only sometimes protected from stones thrown up by a grille. The "Scudetto" from Alfa Romeo was one of the first attempts to give the air intake to the radiator a distinctive shape. When the opening of the "Scudetto" became too small to supply the increasingly powerful engines with cooling air, the engineers supplemented it with additional, horizontal air intakes. Fans gave them the name "Baffi", Italian for moustache.
The "Trilobo", which arose more or less by chance due to technical constraints, was officially used as a brand symbol for the first time on the Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Freccia d'Oro in 1946. Like all icons, the "Trilobo" evolved over time and reflected tastes and fashions. Nevertheless, it remained unique and unmistakable. The Alfa Romeo 1900 had a more curved and concise "Trilobo", while on the Giulietta model it became almost delicate. For the Alfa Romeo Giulia it took on a more aerodynamic shape, only to become more angular in the 1970s and 80s. In the 1990s the "Trilobo" became minimalist and almost stylized. It was not until the Alfa Romeo 156 and the 8C Competizione that the "Scudetto" and "Baffi" became clearly visible again. Alfa Romeo retained this basic design in all subsequent models.
The legacy of the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
The body design of the 8C Competizione cited the most famous elements of Alfa Romeo's style and became a natural inspiration for all subsequent series of the brand, including mass-produced models such as the Alfa Romeo MiTo and Alfa Romeo Giulietta. In 2011, the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione received a younger sister - in Italy, cars are traditionally feminine - the compact, high-tech sports car Alfa Romeo 4C. The relationship was clear, but the Alfa Romeo 4C was not built in a limited edition.
With the 4C model, Alfa Romeo not only returned to the compact sports car segment. The Alfa Romeo 4C also offered innovative materials and technologies, combined with minimal weight and exceptional dynamic characteristics.
The Alfa Romeo 4C
When developing the Alfa Romeo 4C, the engineers did not use the popular strategy of focusing on the highest possible engine power. Instead, they reduced the weight by using high-tech materials. Ready to drive, the Alfa Romeo 4C weighed just over 1.000 kilograms, and the power-to-weight ratio was less than four kilograms per horsepower. Two values that guaranteed maximum agility and high performance.
In order to achieve the lowest possible weight, the body was partly made of special plastics. The most innovative component, however, was the monocoque made of carbon fiber using the so-called honeycomb construction, a technology also used in Formula 1. The monocoque, formed from individual fiber mats soaked in resin, consisted of a single component that was baked in a large oven under vacuum. The entire monocoque of the Alfa Romeo 4C weighed just 65 kilograms, but still fulfilled the tasks of a load-bearing structure.
The engine of the Alfa Romeo 4C was also ultra-light. The turbo engine, which produced 1.750 kW (177 hp) from a displacement of 240 cubic centimeters, was made almost entirely of aluminum. In order to achieve optimal weight distribution of the entire vehicle, the four-cylinder engine - hence the model name 4C - was placed transversely behind the cockpit as a mid-engine. A dual-clutch transmission provided the connection to the rear axle.
The chassis of the Alfa Romeo 4C also showed its proximity to racing. The front axle was guided by double wishbones, the spring/damper group was bolted directly to the monocoque. A further development of the classic McPherson system was used on the rear axle. The Alfa Romeo 4C reached a top speed of over 255 km/h and accelerated from a standstill to 4,5 km/h in 100 seconds.
The other episodes of the “Storie Alfa Romeo” can be found at: http://www.media.fcaemea.com/de-de/alfa-romeo/special/storie-alfa-romeo/storie-alfa-romeo-de
Press contact:
Anne Wollek
Phone: +49 69 66988-450
Email: anne.wollek@fcagroup.com
