3.0 Alfa Romeo 33TT12In 1972 the 8 cylinder Alfa Romeo 33TT3 was beaten time after time
by the Ferrari 312PB with its flat 12 cylinder engine. So Carlo Chiti insisted
to race this year the new 12 cylinder 2,995cc motor, developing 475bhp
at 11,500rpm. Other sources speak even of ...500 bhp. The unit is based
on a Grand Prix motor of the 1950s which was never used.
It has four valves per cylinder, gear driven twin camshafts on each bank
and a compression ratio of 11:1. Externally the sides of the new body
are completely flat. This radically new body type - which can only
be found on the 2.0 Alpine-Renault A440 - will be in the coming years
of great influence on other manufacturers of sports cars.
It's the intention that Autodelta will enter the car at all rounds of the WCM.
As drivers Rolf Stommelen and Andrea de Adamich are maintained
from the previous year. Clay Regazzoni - free from Ferrari - and
Giancarlo Facetti of the Scuderia Brescia Corse are added to the team.
Unfortunately the new car suffers from all kinds of child diseases so that
it will miss the four first rounds of the WCM, even the for Alfa Romeo
so important Monza 1,000-kms. It will be seen for the first time
at round #5: the Spa-Francorchamps 1,000-kms. Here, however,
a flat tire at top speed during the qualifications will left
the car beyond repair. So we have to wait the Targa Florio - the last
in history counting for the WCM - to see two copies of the
Alfa Romeo 33TT12 in action. But at the qualifications
Regazzoni - having realised the second best time - will write off one
of the two cars, so that Stommelen/de Adamich, having realised
the second best time, are the lonely starters at the wheel of a new Alfa.
The 33TT12 is seriously faster than the 440bhp strong 33TT3 of previous
year (cf. the blue car on the left pics) and handling seems much better,
but due to the strike of the Italian metalworkers, the development
remains unfinished. Eventually Autodelta will send two cars to
the Nürburgring 1,000-kms where both will be retired with motor
problems. Then it is decided that the new car will only be raced next year.
Meanwhile Autodelta mechanics will assist the 3.0 Alfa Romeo 33TT3
of the Scuderia Brescia Corse - an ex-works car, now painted in light
blue and white (cf. picture of the car with #60) at the rounds it enters.
At the Le Mans 24 hours the 33TT3 will be third after 16 hours of
racing, before being blocked in the pits during two complete hours. Nevertheless
the old car will finish the race as 15th.
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2.0 Alfa Romeo Giulia GTAmAt the ETCC Autodelta will race the Alfa Romeo Giulia GTAm in Division I.
There they use the 1,999cc L4 Alfa engine developing
215bhp at 7,400rpm. It's a 2OHC with two valves per cylinder
and Lucas fuel injection. Weight of the car is 970 kgs,
just as for the Capris. Seriously handicapped in power the works
GTAm finishes at the ETCC 5th at Salzburg and 4th
at the Nürburgring 6 hours.
Having too many problems with the Group 5 Alfa Romeo 33TT12,
Autodelta has no time to enter their GTAms at rounds of the 1973 WCM.
Where this is done, such as at the Targa Florio and at the
Nürburgring 1,000-kms, it concerns private owned Alfa Romeos
Giulia GTA (twelve at the start of the Targa Florio!), and only in two
cases a new Giulia GTAm. One of them, entered by
Maurizio Zanetti (for himself and for Achille Marzi) will reach a
top-10 rank at the Targa Florio.
Accueil 
