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Alfa Romeo: Cars
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Alfa Romeo is an Italian automobile manufacturer that was bought by Fiat in 1986. Known for making cars that permitted sporty driving on common roads, since 1995 they have not been exporting cars to North America. However in 2006, Fiat announced that Alfa Romeos will be again available in North America through Maserati dealerships in late 2007.
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Alfa Romeo is set for a rough couple of years. The carmaker is on the verge of relaunching in the U.S. and to make matters worse the boss of its parent company, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, has laid down the challenge of doubling Alfa’s sales within the next three years. Not surprisingly, Antonio Baravalle stepped […]
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In 1970 Alfa Romeo sold 109,598 cars worldwide, primarily in Europe and the United States. The company was at the height of its success, with a growing share of the sports car market in every country where it sold cars. When Satta retired, accolades were heaped upon him, both by his peers and by the Italian government. After Satta's retirement... Alfa Romeo began to experience managerial and financial problems. Rising production costs and increased competition from Ferrari, Maserati, Jaguar, Porsche, and American car manufacturers led to declining revenues. In addition, the tradition of testing new Alfa Romeo models through the racing circuit was growing less important to the design office, and technical problems began to occur in cars purchased by customers expecting high levels of performance.
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During its history, Alfa Romeo has competed successfully in many different categories of motorsport, including Formula One, sportscar racing, touring car racing and rallies. They have competed both as a constructor and an engine supplier, via works entries (usually under the name Alfa Corse or Autodelta) and private entries. The first racing car was made in 1913, three years after the foundation of A.L.F.A., the 40-60HP had 6 liter straight-4 engine. Alfa Romeo quickly gained a good name in motorsport and gave a sporty image to the whole marque.
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Alfa Romeo's fortunes during World War II slipped even further. In 1936 a Spanish engineer by the name of Wilfredo Ricart was hired to replace Jano as head of the design office at Alfa Romeo. Ricart had extensive experience designing diesel engines and sports and racing cars and ... had organized public transportation in the city of Valencia before arriving in Italy. Expectations of his potential for designing Alfa Romeo cars were very high. But Ricart, it was soon discovered, exhibited some very strange habits, including a penchant for wearing enormously thick rubber-soled shoes. When asked by Enzo Ferrari why he affected these shoes, Ricart replied in all seriousness that a genius's brain must be cushioned against the harsh unevenness of the ground lest its delicate mechanics be disrupted.
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From 1989 to 1991, Alfa Romeo supplied engines to the IndyCar World Series. The 2648 cc, turbocharged V8 engine produced 720 bhp[6], and was partly developed from the unraced Ferrari 637 Indy car. The engine was mated to a chassis specially built by March and prepared by Alex Morales Motorsports in 1989, with Roberto Guerrero at the wheel. Guerrero only managed a best of 8th place at Detroit, before both driver and engine moved onto Patrick Racing for 1990. That season proved to be an improvement, as Guerrero finished 16th place in the points standings, with a best finish of 5th place. The next year would be Alfa's last, as Danny Sullivan took over the drive and finished 11th in the points, with a best finish of 4th.
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