 | For the 2012 edition of the historical "Mille Miglia" tribute, the Alfa Romeo Historic Motoring team will be lining up four official Museum vehicles, two pre-war - the "1500 SS" and the "1750 GS" - and two models from the 1950s -the "1900 SS" and the "2000 Sportiva" - which in accordance with the regulations, took part in the Mille Miglia race, held from 1927 to 1957, and which saw Alfa vehicles triumph some eleven times: a record which remains unbeaten.
The Mille Miglia 2012 will start off in a year packed with Alfa Romeo anniversaries. In addition to the Giulia's 50th birthday and celebration of the Alfetta's 40th, it is the 80th anniversary of the first win of an "8C" at the Mille Miglia. In 1932 Baconin Borzacchini and Amedeo Bignami crossed the finish line in Brescia aboard an "8C 2300" followed by a twin car and another five Alfa Romeos that filled the order of arrival up to seventh place.
The "6C 1500 Super Sport" of 1928 (Stabilimenti Farina bodywork) is the first "turismo" model of the "Jano" era. The "1500" made its début by winning the 1927 Modena Circuit with the team of Enzo Ferrari-Giulio Ramponi. It won the first of 11 Alfa victories at the Mille Miglia the following year, with Giuseppe Campari and Giulio Ramponi, who clinched the win with a car similar to that of the Alfa Romeo Museum.
The "6C 1750 Gran Sport" of 1930 (Zagato body) is a car that became a legend at the Mille Miglia. Tazio Nuvolari and Giovanni Battista Guidotti won the 1930 edition with a 1750, and it was at this edition that the driver from Mantua beat the record of 100 km/h average speed over the entire course. The contrast with Achille Varzi - also behind the wheel of an Alfa Romeo 1750 - was the leitmotif of the race, which reached its climax in the legend of his "overtaking with headlights off", to the detriment of the driver from Galliate.
The 1956 "1900 Super Sprint" is an elegant coupé with a body of a Touring car typical of the 1900s, a prestigious gran turismo in the 1950s and the top of the Alfa Romeo range at the time (the "family saloon that wins races"). The 1900 SS took part in a large number of Mille Miglia race editions. It was the favourite car of many private drivers because it guaranteed an effective blend of performance and reliability.
The "2000 Sportiva" closes the group of Alfa Romeo Museum cars, an exclusive gran turismo sporting glamorous and dynamic lines. The "Sportiva" was designed by Franco Scaglione, the same designer who created the "Giulietta Sprint" and the "33 Stradale". From the mechanical viewpoint, the "2000 Sportiva" was derived from the "1900", with the sophistication of the rear "De-Dion" axle, a solution that was adopted on the "Alfetta" saloon 20 years later.
The official historic cars of the Alfa Romeo Museum will be accompanied by a fleet of Alfa Romeo Giulietta 1.4 MultiAir TCTs, the car that boasts the best efficiency to performance ratio of its category. It records extraordinarily low fuel consumption and emissions (5.2 l/100 km in the combined cycle and 121 g/km of CO2 emissions) and at the same time outstanding performance worthy of an Alfa Romeo: a top speed of 218 km/h and 7.7 seconds to go from 0 to 100 km/h. In detail, the innovative Alfa TCT double clutch gearbox works either completely automatically or sequentially, through manual control of the up and down positions of the gear lever using the shift paddles on the steering wheel. In addition, the driver can customise his car's character using the Alfa DNA driving selector to enhance its features of comfort, performance, safety and efficiency.
Fiat Autopress, Turin, 10 May 2012
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