AutoItalia 194

ALSOFerrari 308 GT4/LM Victim of CircumstanceThe Mighty Bora Maserati’s ’70s SupercarFrom the Archives Lancia Appia ConvertibleAlfa Romeo Giulietta TCT Twin Clutch Technology Tested

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GALLARDOTWIN TEST

Issue 194 April 2012 £4.35 US$9.99

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ITALIAN EVENTSHILLCLIMB AND TRACK ACTION PREVIEWREADER OFFEREXCLUSIVE MODENA EXPERIENCE

BLACK&WHITE

DaytonaTHE OTHER

ALFA ROMEOTIPO 33/2

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DAYTONANot a Ferrari, but an Alfa Romeothat also adopted the USA track’sname following a 1-2-3 finish

Story by Peter CollinsPhotography by Simon Clay and RM Auctions

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Carlo Chiti was talking about the transfer ofthe Autodelta company to Alfa Romeo in1965: “Maybe I shouldn’t have accepted thefirst offer they made, but I have always beenaffected by that crazy passion of mine for

racing.... also, Luraghi’s [Chairman of Alfa Romeo]programmes were brilliant. He wanted, step by step, tobring Alfa back to the level of the great internationalcompetitions.”

Together they did it with the car you see here – aTipo 33/2 – being an important step in that process,but the actual creation of Autodelta as a company,had taken place in Udine, almost on theItalian/Yugoslavian border, in 1963. Originally calledDelta Auto, it had been set up by Carlo Chiti and

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ALFA ROMEO TIPO 33/2


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Playing PoliticsStory by Richard Heseltine Photography by Michael Ward

A look back to 1975 when the North American RacingTeam had a run-in with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest


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FERRARI 308 GT4/LM

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Black& WhiteOpen and closed Lamborghini Gallardos on California’s Highway OneWords & Photos by Ian Kuah Additional Photos by Bruce Benedict


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LAMBORGHINI GALLARDO

When I was test driving Italian cars in LosAngeles recently, I made up a drivingritual to help me extract maximumenjoyment from the LamborghiniGallardo Spyder Performante and

Superleggera. It goes like this. On one of the sunny days that are so frequent in this

part of the world, check your oil and tyre pressures,and drive to the legendary Highway One that followsalong the picturesque Pacific coastline. Along thecoast near Malibu, turn right onto one of the lightlytrafficked roads that wind their way up into themountains. To be sure of having the road largely toyourself, time your drive for off-peak hours or early ona Sunday morning.

Once up in the hills, find a layby and stop for a fewminutes to enjoy the scenery and clear your mind ofeveryday clutter. Once you feel calm, start rollingagain, and get into the groove by building your speedgradually. You will know you have settled into a goodrhythm when you feel relaxed and at one with the carand the road.

A major part of the Gallardo’s unique sensoryexperience comes from hearing the four-cam V10’ssoundtrack in all its glory as it rips up and downthrough its wide rev band. If you are in the fixed-headSuperleggera, drop the windows so that the full effectof the offbeat growl at moderate revs and its top-endyelp reaches your ears. If you are in the SpyderPerformante, driving al fresco on a road like this

presents you with a really visceral driving experience. Once you are firmly in the zone, the driver’s natural

instinct takes over. If it is part of your repertoire, youwill soon find yourself trail braking into the slowerturns to maximise front-end grip and rotate the tail.Through and out of each bend, your smoothness andconfidence with the throttle is clearly read back to youby the steady increase or decrease of decibels in theV10’s warbling melody. Catch a glimpse of the revcounter needle flying round the dial in your peripheralvision, and as it approaches the 6000rpm mark, you willfeel the push in your back going from strong to solid.And there is more to come.

Well before the 8500rpm redline, the rising crescendobehind your head has morphed into a racecar-likescream, and the rocky scenery whizzing past the carfurther amplifies the aural experience into somethingclose to transcendental. At the rev limiter, pull theright paddle to trigger an upshift, and start all overagain. Adrenalin junkies should repeat this treatmentas often as possible.

The LP 570-4 Superleggera was left in my custody onthe first day, and its exquisite cabin furnishingsrecalled my inspirational drive in an orange firstgeneration Superleggera in the hills above Marbella,Spain in 2008. In metallic black, the car actually looksfairly subtle. So while it attracted some attention inthe Malibu area, where expensive cars are a dime adozen, it does not shout out loud, or fry onlookers’retinas like one painted yellow or orange tends to do


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BORA! BORA! BORA!Simon Park extolls the virtues of the mighty mid-enginedMaser, with the help of his own newly-acquired example Photography by Michael Ward

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MASERATI BORA

It’s a grainy black and white photo, the more so forbeing stretched over two half-pages – a tightcorner somewhere out in the undulatingcountryside of Emilia Romagna, and a Maserati,seriously sideways, armfuls of opposite lock clearly

on display. An image that still haunts the mind nearly40 years on, it was the perfect visual expression of‘High Wind In The Hills’, Doug Blain’s evocative account,in the September 1972 edition of Car, of a gale-forceblast around the Modenese back roads in Maserati’slatest piece of motorised meteorology: Bora – a coldwind and a hot car. I was hooked.

Fast-forward 39 years... It’s 7.0pm on a dark, wetSaturday evening in early October, on the outskirts ofGlasgow. The headlights are a virtually non-existentjoke, the oil pressure gauge has plunged to zero (butI’m betting on an electrical rather than a mechanicalfault...), I’ve scraped the underside of the nose on a low

kerb I couldn’t see, we’re lost and there’s no interiorlight available on the move by which to read a map.Two hours awaiting the RAC, 30-odd miles back in thelittle town of Callander (where the Bora had ground toan ignominious halt with an undiagnosed, butfortunately transient, problem), have left us with thedevil’s own drive back to our hotel, and I’m close tobecoming seriously un hooked.

So, why do I still love the thing so much? Well,particular cars can get under your skin, invade andoccupy your psyche, for any number of reasons –sometimes specific, often unfocused. To me, theBora’s allure is multi-faceted, but firmly rooted in themystique of the Maserati marque. It is restrained, it isdignified, it is nowhere near yer face – ironically, thepolar opposite of the Lancia Stratos, for 16 years myequally venerated mistress. Why both should haveseduced me in turn is too subjective to analyse; but

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There is a saying that you are not a true carenthusiast until you have owned an AlfaRomeo, and Auto Italia magazine feels thatyou are not a true Italian car enthusiast untilyou have visited what has become known as

the Modena Terra di Motori – Land of Motors. At its heart lie the cities of Modena, Bologna and

Imola, and all are synonymous with sporting Italianmotor cars. However, a trip to this wonderful area of

Italy need not only be about motorised objects, asthere are many other interesting industries and sitesto visit. Wineries, parmesan cheese farms andbalsamic vinegar producers can all be found situatedamongst beautiful countryside and romantic, historicwalled towns.

The automotive seeds of Modena’s Motor Valleywere planted in the early twentieth century, as thefarmland in the valley of the River Po has always been

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PREVIEWS AND REPORTS ON INTERNATIONAL EVENTS AND ITALIAN CAR CLUBS

CLUB ITALIA

The Modena ExperienceStory by James Wheeler Photography by Michael Ward

A report on last year’s reader visit to Modena Terra di Motori and a preview of our return trip


a third more fertile than the land above it in the hills.This increased fertility brought with it greater profitsand allowed the farmers to purchase tractors which, ofcourse, required maintenance – a new skill that theywere soon forced to learn.

Some of the farmers went beyond fixing just theirown tractors, and flourishing new businesses wereformed, repairing not just tractors, but cars and lorries,too. This new-found interest in motorised vehicles soonsaw some repairers turn their skills to car manufacture.These entrepreneurial and adventurous men and theirfamilies eventually ended up producing some of thefinest sports and racing cars in the world.

As so often happens with any specialist field ofindustry, businesses establish themselves where thecore knowledge is situated, and the area betweenModena and Bologna became the epicentre of Italianexotic and specialist car production in the 1950s and’60s – and it still is today.

A tour of the area and its car and motorcycle

companies can be navigated solo but, for the best andmost enjoyable results, we suggest using the servicesof local travel agent Modenatur. Some owners ofprivate car collections have exclusive ties withModenatur, and these incredible places can only beseen through this company. Its very helpful and multi-lingual staff will happily set up a route for you but, toget the most out of your trip, we highly recommendone of its guided tours in an air-conditioned coach.

The staff of Auto Italia magazine are regular visitorsto the area, as you can imagine, and when we recentlyattended one of Modenatur’s exceptional guided tourswe were treated to many wonderful experiences andthey were not all automotive-related.

The itinerary of any of Modenatur’s Land of Motorstours can be subject to change at the last moment,due to circumstances beyond their control. Many ofthe collections are privately owned and housed ingenerous people’s homes, so Modenatur is unable toguarantee that visiting a specific collection or a factory

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CLUB ITALIA

ABOVE LEFT TO RIGHT: LocalLambrusco wine. MatteoPanini’s parmigiano reggianofarm. Pedroni’s Balsamico.Pagani V12 engine. Ferrari250 SWB in good company

LEFT: Drummond Bone’s599 GTB shared with AutoItalia’s Roberto GiordanelliBELOW: Lancia Stratos wasfollowing the official MilleMiglia cars through Modena


The Lancia Appia Convertible is a memberof the family of open-top cars which,during the 1950s, were visible symbols ofa new joie de vivre after the suffering ofthe WW2 years. Open cars were

particularly popular with the generation in their30s. They had experienced the hardships of war as children and during the 1950s saw an excitingnew world unfolding before their eyes, whereaffluence grew day by day and progress seemed unstoppable.

Occupants of open cars during that period had(and still have) a great deal more pleasure whendriving than in tin-tops. The more comfortable andluxurious a saloon or coupe may be, the more itpleases our senses: quality materials and fine linesappease our sight, touch, smell and hearing. It’s anice feeling but, once you’re on the move, thatfeeling of well-being soon turns into drowsiness,and only the person at the wheel pays attention to the outside world and the traffic. Hence, in aluxurious, closed car we feel satisfied but slightly alienated, since the scenery slips by andthere’s no physical contact, as if it were an external phenomenon.

You can’t smell the perfume of the air or be

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The Lancia AppiaConvertible was astatus symbol duringthe 1950s whichappealed to refined,outdoor-loving driversStory by Elio Deganello

SPORTINGELEGANCE


caressed by the wind, and there’s no sense ofphysical movement. Sound is deadened. Drivethrough woods and you can’t hear the birds sing orsense the change in temperature and humidity. Onthe tight roads in the Dolomites you wouldn’t getthe taste or sensation of conquest.

Open cars are different: they give the fullperception of motion in the world which surrounds usand offer that extra pleasure of life. The occupantsare elated and like to show off to other drivers howthey are heroes braving the elements. It was becauseof this – their natural elegance and that particularmoment in history – that open cars were amongstthe most sought-after status symbols of the 1950sand ’60s, and few manufacturers failed to offer openversions of their saloons.

Italian manufacturers found formidable allies inthe ‘carrozzieri’ which, in those days, were plentiful,expert and cheap. Thus Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lanciacollaborated with the coachbuilders to make openversions of their models without having to investlarge sums of money.

Before choosing an outside partner to build thespecial versions of the Appia, Lancia decided totest their ability by putting them in competitionwith each other. It distributed specially built type

812.00 chassis to Allemano, Boano, Ghia Aigle,Motto, Pinin Farina, Vignale and Zagato. It alsomodified five of these floorpans into the type812.01, with floor gear change and increased powerfrom 47bhp to 52bhp, for the more sporty bodybuilders. They only had a short space of timebetween the Turin Salon in autumn 1956 and theGeneva Salon in spring 1957 in which to presenttheir prototypes.

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LANCIA APPIA CONVERTIBLE

RIGHT: Lancia’s elegant model demonstrates theAppia’s boot, dominated by the spare wheel


Fiat Power Train’sengineeringprowess, so ablydemonstratedwith its current

generation MultiAir andMultiJet engines, hasbeen extended togearbox development.

While moderntransmissions for itspetrol engines have beenbeyond criticism, Fiat hashad issues with its dieselvariants, notably the dual-mass flywheels. Thisdevice, mounted betweenthe crankshaft andclutch, performs theimportant function ofprotecting the gearbox byabsorbing vibrations fromthe diesel engine. Overtime, the energy-

absorbing material breaksup, requiring theexpensive unit to bereplaced – somethingthat is not always evidentuntil discovered during aclutch replacement.

This problem is notexclusive to Fiat and AlfaRomeo, as other dieselcar manufacturers havealso had similar issues.Fiat Power Train has comeup with a solution in theform of its new TCT (TwinClutch Transmission) six-speed gearbox. Thissystem, allied to apaddle-shift change, putsFiat well in front of itscompetitors.

Alfa Romeo invitedAuto Italia to try out thenew gearbox as fitted to

the Giulietta 1.4 TBMultiAir 170 HP and 2.0JTDm 170 HP at theBalocco test track. I havebeen to this remarkabletest facility before, butnot when there has beensnow on the ground. Also,I had not driven an Alfafitted with the DNAsystem in the ‘all weather’mode in wintry weather,so it would be a usefultest drive.

With its multi-circuitlayout and the numerousdisguised prototype carscoming and going,Balocco is a fascinatingplace. The unmistakablebeat of the TwinAirengine in a passing Doblowas an indication ofanother new model to be

announced soon. Ofcourse, the garage doorswere firmly closed toinquisitive eyes when wewere on site, but the carparks were full of testvehicles for all to see.Among the line-up of sixAlfa 8C Spiders was aCoupe in ‘Dukes ofHazzard’ orange livery,complete withConfederate flag paintedon the roof and ‘01’ on thedoors. Quite why we maynever know.

My first test drive wasin the 1.4 TB. Myexploratory laps werewith the gearbox in thefull auto mode and theDNA switch set to‘normal’. When driving acar fitted with a paddle

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Alfa Romeo introduces its all-new Twin Clutch Transmission Story by Phil WardPhotography by Alfa Romeo

Quick Change Artist


shift, I always use autofor low speed in-towndriving, reserving thepaddles for the openroad. The MultiAir feltvery refined with itspetrol engine hummingaway up front. The TCTchanges were mostlyimperceptible – and whenit came to reverseparking, transmissionshunt between forwardand reverse wascompletely absent.

I’m not sure exactly howlong the nominated circuitwas, but it did take somelearning as every cornerand the approaches wereall different. There waseven a ‘Nordschleife’section with blind booby-trap crests and dips. Thesurface condition varied,too, just like roads in thereal world. Most of thebends were lined to theedge with unforgivingArmco, demanding greatdriver precision.

With the layoutbecoming more familiar, Iselected Sport mode andthe paddle function. Thepaddle change allowedme to carry lots of speedinto the corners andchange down mid-bend, ifrequired, something thatis hard – and inadvisable –to do with a manual shift.The up changes werequick and smooth, thoughnot, of course, in Ferrari458 territory. Sometimesthe change from third tofourth felt very slightlylaboured, but was by nomeans an irritation. Powerdelivery from the enginewas linear, as is the casewith modern turbos, but itdid not feel like 170bhp,although this ‘feeling’ wasdeceptive and dispelledby increasingly rapid laptimes. When youremember this is only a

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ALFA ROMEO GIULIETTA

“Power delivery from the MultiAir engine waslinear, as is the case with modern turbos”

ABOVE LEFT: Paddle shift istucked away behind thesteering wheel crossbar ABOVE RIGHT: Lever forauto selections andsequential shift option


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