McLaren-Alfa Romeo 1970

1970 McLaren-Alfa Romeo V-8 M7D

1971-1972 March - Alfa Romeo Formula 1 

The Brabham - Alfa Romeo Years

1974-1978

In June of 1974 Bernie Ecclestone had contacted Ing. Carlo Chiti to explore the possibility of using the relatively new Autodelta 12 cylinder boxer engine.  

According to historical accounts, Ing. Chiti had dreamed of Alfa Romeo S.p.A. returning to full participatiion in Formula 1 since the withdrawal of the firm from Formula 1 in 1953 due largely to economic difficulties.  Besides the unrelenting demands upon him to raise the power output of his V-8 for his T-33 series cars, he pushed himself and his small engineering team to design in 1971 his own flat 12 cylinder for the day when the firm would return to Formula 1 racing.  

The agreement with Brabham was merely a stopping off point among his hidden plans to become a true constructor of Formula 1 cars supplying it own chassis and engines...

According to Ing. Chiti:  

"It was Andrea de Adamich once again who helped the operation to take place.  He had retired finally from racing in 1974, but had continued to enjoy excellent relations with Bernie Ecclestone, the patron for whom he had raced in 1973. Ecclestone was a very different man from the one we know today..." 

(Chiti was speaking early in the year 1991, three and one half years before his untimely passing following a heart attack in June of 1994).

Ing. Chiti continued..."He was taking his first steps in Formula 1, but he had immediately showed his ability by gaining a generous and prestigious sponsor in Martini.  He had also realized that the backing of a major firm would assist the return to the top rank of the team of which he had just become the owner.  And not just that - - it had become clear to him that his Brabham fitted with the classic 8 cylinder Ford Cosworth, could not hope to do much against the 12 cylinder boxer of Ferrari".  

The engine that Ecclestone wanted to make that clear distinction with was the new Autodelta 12 cylinder.   It had just recently made it's debut at the Targa Florio in 1973 and had won its first Championship race at Monza the following year.  Ecclestone had taken notice when de Adamich proposed the collaboration sometime thereafter.

"Ecclestone wanted his team to be different from the others, and it didn't take much to convince de Adamich that the agreement with Alfa would enable him to make the necessary leap in quality."  

The brilliant designer Gordon Murray had succeeded in creating a first class BT-44B car using the Cosworth powerplant.   But when the agreement was reached between Chiti and Ecclestone in June of 1975,  the parties found that it was necessary to completely revise the BT-44 chassis to enclose the flat 12 cylinder with all of the unknown variables between the chassis, the engine, the transmission,  the team cultures and the language difficulties that all came into play.

Here are the images from the BT 45 presentation of October 26th, 1975.

This car is the first version of the BT45-001.

1976 Canadian Grand Prix Brabham Alfa Romeo BT45  Notice variation in air intake designs shown between the BT45s in photo above and below.

1976 Brabham Alfa Romeo horizontally opposed 12 cylinder chassis # BT 45 001

This 12 cylinder boxer 180 degree 2993 cc  520 horsepower 12 cylinder car was introduced on October 26, 1975 at the Alfa Romeo private testing facility at Balocco.   Chassis # BT 45 001

1976 Canadian Grand Prix  Brabham Alfa Romeo BT45  Notice variation in air intake designs between those two BT45's in photos above.

1977 Brabham BT45B Alfa Romeo

1977 Brabham BT45 Alfa Romeo

1977 Brabham BT45B-Alfa Romeo with designer Gordon Murray (L) and driver John Watson

The first season was difficult not only for the team but especially for Carlos Pace and Carlos Reutemann...in their first season with the new BT45 car...two drivers of South American extraction with easily depressed attitudes when faced with adversity.

At their introductory race at the Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying held on Friday January 23, 1976  the two cars could only manage to place 10th and 15th on the grid.

And throughout the entire season mediority plagued the team.   Tension developed to the point that Reutemann quit the team by the 12th race of the season and was replaced immediately by Irishman John Watson.  

The public began to question the wisdom of the match-up between the two organizations...reliability problems with the engine and powertrain continued to plague the team with Carlos Pace relegated to 14th place in the final season championship ranking.

The 1977 season ended miserably with a sixth place overall finish in the standings. 

The new 1978 season began in Buenos Aires with newcomer John Watson sharing the front row in qualifying with James Hunt.  

The revised BT45B began the season with new, more angular and efficient bodywork and engine breathing configuration, newly designed suspension components and a lighter engine weight.  

Irrespective of the improvements noted, the team failed to win a single race within its first three years of existence and suffered its greatest loss with the death of Carlos Pace on March 18, 1977 before the 4th race in a light plane crash.   

1978 Brabham BT46C - Alfa Romeo 

1978 winner of the Swedish Grand Prix Brabham Alfa BT-45B 12 cylinder.  This revolutionary design by Gordon Murry was challenged on a number of different grounds and was quickly and permanently excluded from further Formula 1 competition. 

The fact remained for the past three years the Brabham - Alfa Romeo collaboration had failed to achieve much more than a couple of pole positions and a few high non-podium finishes.   The car never won a Grand Prix race up to the middle of the third season and had to be content with a couple of 4th place finishes and a second place fuel-starved finish in 1977 by the Irishman John Watson.  

The rising volume of disputes and inter-company bickering continued to rage between Ecclestone and Chiti over their failure to achieve anything remotely successful between their two powerful organizations.  To Ecclestone's way of thinking  the Alfa Romeo 12 cylinder engine and drivetrain was totally to blame for a vast majority of the substandard outsomes. 

In near total secrecy, and in true Machiavellian fashon long dreamed about by the Ingeniere a decade prior ...behind the walls of Autodelta in Settimo Milanese an experimental Formula 1 car named the Alfa "T" (for Total Alfa Romeo components) was being designed and constructed. ..with the full support and backing of Alfa Romeo S.p.A. ..unbeknownst to its Brabham team partner.   The true design of the new Formula 1 car was initated in 1976.

In 1978 Eccelstone was able to secure the massive financial support of the Italian daily products conglomerate Parmalat and with it the ability to hire away World Champion Niki Lauda from his massive annual salary with Ferrari.   

According to Giancarlo Cervini writing in the May / June 1978 issue # 27 of Auto Italiana, Cervini revealed "The Alfa T...made its first rounds at Balocco, driven by Brambilla.  The car, entirely designed and devised by Carlo Chiti in Autodelta, without anyone in the Alfa Experimental Workshop laying hands on it, is a single-seater which seem even too traditional." 

1979 Alfa Romeo 177 12 cylinder boxster 3000 cc

                         ALFA ROMEO 177: BACK TO THE FUTURE
                                    

                                  Text and photos courtesy of Roberto Motta

Little known to non-Alfistis, the Alfa Romeo 177 was one of the most popular cars and 
important cars in the history of Alfa Romeo in competitions. After a long
development period the 177 participated in only four races without reporting significant results,
but it allowed the 'Biscione' to return to the world of Formula 1 with a real project.

An all-Italian car....  The chassis...   The engine...  and of course...   The driver.

In 1951, after winning the World Championship with Nino Farina in the 1950's and
with Juan Manuel Fangio in '51 driving the famous 'Alfetta', the Alfa Romeo company retired from the world of Grand Prix.

Then, over the next few years and with the growing number of victories in the categories
reserved for GT cars and in the Sport Prototype category,  the management
of the Milanese manufacturer was the tempted to return to Formula 1 with one
all-Italian single-seater and those thoughts became more than an insistent proccupation.

So much so that in the 1970's, Alfa Romeo S.p.A returned to the world of Grand Prix by supplying its V-8 engines to McLaren and March.

A few years later in '76, after winning the World Championship for Makes title
with the 33TT12, the Milanese manufacturer began a collaboration with the English team
Brabham to supply its famous flat-twelve 'boxer' engine.

Unfortunately the results were slow to arrive and the relationship between the Italian technicians and the English colleagues deteriorated, so much so that in 1977, Ettore Massacesi, then
General Manager of Alfa Romeo asked Autodelta to design and develop a
new Formula 1 car with which to return to the world of Grand Prix racing.

Autodelta was the racing department of Alfa Romeo and its workshops were located
in Settimo Milanese, a town northwest of Milano.

The technical manager for the development of the new F1 Alfa project was Ing.Carlo Chiti, one of the most brilliant designers in the history of world motor racing.

The new car called the 'Type 177', was powered by the twelve-cylinder 'boxster' engine designed by Chiti and already used by Brabham in '76.

This engine, labled the  'Typo 115-12' was characterized by measures of
bore and stroke of 77.0 and 53.6 mm respectively which gave it a
actual displacement of 2995 cc and in its latest version was capable of
delivering 520 horsepower at 12,000 rpm.

The chassis of the new single-seater used an aluminum monocoque 
which was mounted to the engine with a semi-load-bearing function.

The front suspension used overlapping wishbones and arms
connected to the spring-shock absorber groups placed in a vertical position
inside the car body.

The rear suspension was composed of overlapping wishbones with
longitudinal reaction struts and spring-shock absorber groups placed in
external inclined position.

The suspension was complemented by both adjustable anti-roll bars
on the front and on the rear. 

Finally, after a year of testing, first secretly on the Brands  Hatch circuit followed by development tests on the private Balocco circuit and other European circuits... on 13 May '79...the occasion of the 6th championship match, which took place on the Belgian circuit of Zolder, the Alfa Romeo 177 was entered and entrusted to Bruno Giacomelli

During the two practice sessions characterized by rainy weather and by a slippery track, Giacomelli's 177 obtained the 14th fastest time, behind the Brabham-Alfa Romeo, powered by the Alfa Romeo 'Tipo 1260' engine with 1260 ° V cylinders driven by the famous Austrian driver Niki Lauda.

On race day, Alfa Romeo 177 wrestled with De Angelis' Shadow, up to when, during the 21st lap, it was hit by the De Angelis car and was forced to retire.

For the Alfa Romeo management and for the entire press, it was in any case a positive debut... because the 177 was now technically an outdated car and definitely heavy. 

Born as an experimental car two years earlier, it was characterized by a dry weight of over 600 kg, and yes,...it  was racing against ground effect cars weighing just over 500 kg. 

Moreover, in this period, the Milanese House had already prepared one new ground effect car, the 179, of which was being secretly developed in anticipation of it's debut at the Italian GP.

About six weeks after 1 July '79, the 177 and Giacomelli returned to race at the French GP, which was held on the Dijon circuit and conquered the 17th fastest time. 

The day of the race, despite the great commitment of Giacomelli, the 177 passed the finish line in 17th position five laps behind the Renault RS 11 winning car.

Over the next few days, the 177 was put through a tough test on the very fast track of Hockenheim where driven by Vittorio Brambilla... got some very interesting lap times. 

However, the Alfa Romeo team leadership decided not to participate in the race scheduled on the German track, and instead concentrated its efforts on the preparation of the car destined for the next Italian Grand Prix, a race in which the debut of the new ground effect car...the new 179.

On 9 September 1979, on the occasion of the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the 177 came entrusted to Brambilla. It was a memorable day, the Italian fans provided for Alfa Romeo and the its pilots, Vittorio and Bruno an unforgettable welcome.

Brambilla, then 42 was returning to the Formula 1 race on the same track
where a year earlier he had had his dramatic accident.

During the tests, the 177 obtained the 22nd fastest time, preceding four other cars.

At the end of the race, which saw the victory of the world championship by Ferrari of Jody Scheckter, Vittorio Brambilla's Alfa Romeo 177 behaved more than dignified and passed under the checkered flag in 12th position, while the 179 entrusted to Giacomelli, was forced to retire during the 29th lap for one accident.

It should be noted that before the retreat, the 179 had reached the Lauda-driven Brabham and was about to overtake it, then a trivial off the road event at the Ascari curve, stopped the sensational force action of the new Milanese car.

A week later the 177 appeared in the race at the Dino Ferrari GP, race not valid for the championship that took place in Imola. For the first time after nine years, Enzo Ferrari attended the tests.

During the tests, the single 177 was tested by both Bruno and Vittorio but for the race Vittorio was entrusted. Starting from 6th place on the starting grid, the 177 finished the race in 9th place one lap behind the winner.

On lap 40 the 177, as in its debut race, was hit by the Shadow of Elio De Angelis, and was forced to slow down its run.

The Alfa Romeo 177-001 thus ended his career at Imola by behaving
better than her younger sister, the 179, who was forced to retire after only 4 laps.

The 177 completed in only a few races but accomplished its task; it had successfully returned an Alfa Romeo car in F1 after a very long absence....of 28 years.

1979 Affa Romeo 177 12 cylinder boxster 3000 cc

1979 Alfa Romeo 177

1979 Brabham BT48 - Alfa Romeo 

ALFA ROMEO 179

Text by Roberto Motta

Photos: Alfa Romeo Documentation Center, Arese, Roberto Motta and

Tom Wood © 2011 Courtesy of RM Auctions

The "179" was an important car in F1 history.  While it was born as a ground effect ‘wing-car’, it was severely modified by the cruel winds of regulatory change during its scheduled lifetime on the Formula 1 circuits of the late 1970s and early 1980’s.

Because of those changes enacted during its planned competitive lifetime, it did not achieve its desired results… but it nevertheless made fans of Alfa Romeo brand enthusiasts worldwide.

In 1979 Alfa Romeo returned to compete in the F1 World Championship with its own car, the 177 … its debut occurring at the Grand Prix of Belgium at Zolder on May 13, 1979.   

Born and developed two years before its Zolder debut… and even after having a positive debut, the 177 proved to be somewhat technically outdated.

Conceived for the use of Pirelli radial tires, it was forced to use the Goodyear brand.

Moreover, the size and weight problems of the boxer engine did not allow it to be a real aero ground effect wing-car.  The problems with the dimensions of the engine also affected the results of the first Brabham-Alfa-Romeo BT-45  #001which obviously, like the Milanese car, could not make the best use of the ground effect.

For this reason, in the late spring of 1978 the engineer Carlo Chiti began designing a new powertrain called the 'type 1260', that is, 12 cylinders in a “V” of 60 °, which would have allowed the car to take better advantage of the side tunnels inside where an inverted wing structure was placed… allowing the exploitation of the ground effect.

At the same time the 177 continued to be updated and to participate in some championship races.

The 'Type 1260' engine.

It was built in just over four months.  Since the first tests carried out by Niki Lauda the engine proved to be one of the best engines of its period.

It had bore and stroke measurements of 77.0 mm and 53.60 mm (2995 cc), and it exploited all

the Autodelta experiences gained from the previous Autodelta boxer…retaining proprietary details such as the crankshaft journals, connecting rods, pistons and cylinder heads.

With its solid granite appearance, its structure was characterized by the banks of its twelve cylinders,narrow and tall, which gave it a sense of solidity and great power. Separate exhaust manifolds joined with a 3-in-one type system to flow into a single outlet.

At the time of its test debut on the track which took place in Lauda's BT48 in December 1978, the new engine it had an output of 525 hp at 12,200 rpm.

Over the years it maintained a high standard of reliability and power, arriving delivering, in its latest versions, 540 horsepower at 12,300 rpm and a higher torque of 35 kgm at 9000-9500 rpm.

Thus, as time passed, Alfa Romeo continued to simultaneously supply engines to the Brabham Parmalat team passing from the 'type 115-12' to the V12 'type 1260' that fitted the BT48.

Alfa Romeo 179: a real aero 'wing-car'

The 179 was conceived following the technical dictates that prevailed in the period. It was a

true 'wing car': inside the body it hid upside down wing profiles and variable section side air vents which, with the help of the side skirts,  allowed a watertight seal under the bottom of the car.  The side air vents allowed the air to transit under the car creating a strong depression which turned into a significant increase in downforce.

Thus, on a road course …it held the curves enormously stronger and more authoritatively than that of traditional single-seaters.

Designed by French engineer Robert Choulet, the 179's line looked like a set of rounded shapes broken by the sharp lines of the sides.

Narrow V-cylinders had been designed to achieve the best aerodynamic performance possible. It was definitely the first time in the history of racing cars that an engine was built specifically for these aerodynamic parameters.   Its V-shaped structure of 60 ° allowed to feature unseen internal side pod downforce wings with a width of 40 centimeters …more than those that had been allowed by the flat wide boxer engine and creating more downforce to the ground effect of about 700 kg (at 260 km / h).

The car showed off a very narrow attractive body made of aluminum panels and titanium with a clean trim, slim shape… which started from the nose up to the engine.  Behind the driver's shoulders was the 200-liter fuel tank.

The suspension system exploited the same solutions adopted for the 177.  As before,  Autodelta used overlapping “A” frames up front with a wide wheelbase and anti-roll bar while in the rear Ing. Chiti’s engineers fitted lower triangular “A” frames and an upper arm, and noteworthy…the 179 was equipped with an anti-roll bar adjustable by the driver.

The single-seater, characterized by a rounded line that contrasted with the taut shapes of the sides, was born from the long tests in the wind tunnel.  Thanks to the considerable downforce of its body, it was devoid of the spoiler in front and looked like one of the most beautiful F1 cars.

Small spoilers and a front air downforce spoiler was later tested and adopted as a full-width aileron.

The 179 weighed 595 kg dry, had a wheelbase 2.74 m, track widths of 1.72 m and 1.57 m, length 4.34 m, width 2.14 m and height 0.9 m.

A not inconsiderable fact, that for the first time since the 158 'Alfetta', the car used an engine designed exclusively for F1 competitions since the Autodelta V-8 power unit and its subsequent 12 cylinder boxer engines were powertrains derived from an engine used on Sports cars.

The 179 therefore had what it took to bring Alfa Romeo back to victory.

The 179 debuts in Monza.

On August 16 and 17, 1979 the Alfa Romeo Autodelta team moved to the Monza circuit where, in the presence of the then Alfa Romeo President of Massacesi was tested by Bruno Giacomelli and Vittorio Brambilla.

During the tests the 179 became the victim of a few  technical problems, including the breaking of an exhaust manifold, which detached from the engine as the car drove along the Lesmo curve and… five laps later, the engine failed in the same corner.

The 179 was forced to return to the pits towed by a track service car, an Alfetta GTV among whistles from spectators.

The following morning, around 11:00am, the 179 was taken to the track by Brambilla and, withsome interruptions for the necessary checks, the high speed tests continued until 6:00 pm, when the track was closed.

Almost one month later, on  September 9th ,on the occasion of the Italian Grand Prix weekend, the Autodelta 177 #001 was entrusted to Vittorio Brambilla and 179 #001 to Bruno Giacomelli.

At the qualifying tests, the 179 obtained the 18th fastest time in the starting grid while its sister, the 177 obtained the 22nd fastest position.

During the race the 179 fought with Lauda's Brabham-Alfa Romeo BT48 but, while on the 29th lap he spun his 179 at the Ascari curve and ended its run.

It was a shame, because the car was competitive, even if it was still fresh from of its initial development.

 At the end of the race,  Jody Scheckter's Ferrari won the world championship and the 177 finished in 12th position.

The '179' had a long career and was made in different versions (179B, 179C, 179D, 179F). Probably, his most beautiful version was its first year, in which it was distinguished by a red livery, the color chosen for Italian racing cars and was devoid of front spoilers.

With this configuration Autodelta and the 179 faced the last championship races in Montreal and at Watkins Glen.

The 179-001 remained at Giacomelli's disposal, while the 179-002 was entrusted to Patrick Depailler.

It shines.

After its demanding debut in the short 1979 season, in 1980 the car improved with the renewed Marlboro-Alfa Romeo team. During the season, Giacomelli got two fifth places, a thirteenth place and a pole position in Canada.

On August 1, the season was marred by the tragic loss of Patrick Depailler who died in a crash testing his 179 at Hockenheim during a private test session ten days before.

His seat was temporarily taken up by Vittorio Brambilla who took part with the 179B  #004 at the Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort and at the Italian Grand Prix  at Imola. It was his last race in F1 because he was permanently replaced by Andrea de Cesaris who debuted in F1 at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, the 'Typo 179' proved faster and faster so much so that the 179B  #006 allowed Giacomelli to capture pole position at Watkins Glen where he led the race with a large margin and only at the last few minutes of the race was betrayed by a Marelli coil meltdown which took away a victory that had been almost a certainty.

The '81 season was characterized by the abolition of 'miniskirts'.   At this point the 179, originally designed and built as an aero wing-car, it was no longer able to perform at its best despite suffering some changes.

Conclusions

The Autodelta team, supporting its 179 as a ground effects car to make the most of the regulations, was materially damaged  by regulatory changes made and… despite not having managed to have the desired results, it did accomplish the dream of  Alfisti  for having brought young Italian drivers into Formula 1 racing…Bruno Giacomelli and Andrea de Cesaris.    

It is natural to us to think how his story could have evolved had there been fewer contradictions within the team itself , and, if the car had been driven by more experienced pilots such as the best of time, drivers of the caliber of Villeneuve, Scheckter, Jones, Lauda, Prost, Piquet, Mansel ...

However, we know that history is not written with the 'ifs'.

1980 Alfa Romeo 179 

1980 Alfa Romeo T179  V-12 cylinder  3000 cc

These largely unsuccessful F1 cars of the 1981 were essentially the final cars built by Autodelta in Settimo Milanese "in house" before the takeover of the construction activities by outside vendors such as Advanced Composite Components ... building the new 182 in 1982.  

The planning and general supervision of this 1981 car was maintainted by Ing. Carlo Chiti....this car only achieved a 4th place in Canada and a third place in Las Vegas.

1980 Alfa Romeo 179 

1982 Alfa Romeo 182B

1983 Alfa Romeo 183T  V-8 1500 Turbo

This completely new fabrication of an Alfla Romeo Formula 1 car was named the "182", built largely of lightweight honeycomb carbon fiber materials and weighing under 1,200 pounds...said to have been built in only 90 days in the UK by Roger Slomans.  It was introduced to the public on February 25, 1982 in downtown Milano.

1984 Alfa Romeo 184T V- 8 cylinder 1500 Turbo

This was the very last Formula 1 Alfa Romeo car supervised by Ing. Carlo Chiti before his withdrawal from employment with Alfa Romeo S.p.A.  This car, known more appropriately as the 184 T/C was tested for the first time on January 11, 1984 at the Balocco testing facility...a few days after its public introduction.   Ing. Chiti then immediately joined Piero Mancini in forming a new company Motoro Moderni a shiort drive away from Settimo Milanese  in Novara.

1985 Alfa Romeo 185T V-8 1500 cc Turbo