Exotic sports racer built and raced by Autodelta, the Alfa Romeo works team
Retaining its original Alfa Romeo V8 engine, and 2.5 litre Alfa Romeo V8 engine
Light and nimble racer weighing only 580 kgs, with 315 bhp!
Maintained regardless of cost with historic competition specialists, Sporting & Historic Car Engineers
Road registerable and highly eligible for many of the world’s greatest historic motoring events, including Tour Auto, Le Mans Classic, Monterey Historics and the FIA Masters Historic Sports Car Championship
The Alfa Romeo T33/2:
Alfa Romeo first built
the Tipo 33 (T33) as a sports racing prototype in 1967 and continued
development through to 1977. The first iteration, the T33, began development in
the early 1960’s with the first car being built in 1965. The car made its
competition debut at the 1967 Belgian Hillclimb event at Fleron with Teodoro
Zeccoli driving it to victory. As a result of this victory, the car quickly
became known as the T33 ‘Fleron’. The car also featured a novel approach to
chassis design, joining three large-diameter aluminium tubes in a ‘H’ pattern
which also incorporated the fuel tanks. The assembly was rivetted together and
lined with plastic to prevent leakage, with front and rear subframes mounted to
this central core.
After extensive testing
at Balocco, Autodelta developed a new model for the 1968 season, the T33/2.
Testing had resulted in a newly designed rear tail section, which had already
seen much focus during the second half of the 1967 season. The new body design
resulted in less drag and a more central weight balance. To further assist the
weight distribution, the water and oil radiators were relocated to the side of
the driver’s cockpit. Another issue experienced in 1967 was a tendency for the
car to lift at high speed leading to instability meaning the drivers were not
able to extract everything the car had to offer. For 1968 Autodelta focussed on
lowering the side profile and front leading edge, generally lowering the height
and increasing handling. Other changes to the bodywork were focussed on
increasing accessibility for the mechanics during the races, whilst also
improving air-cooling to the brakes, engine and cockpit.
The revised and
improved Alfa Romeo T33, also now called the T33/2 (thanks to its 2.0 litre, aluminium,
dry-sump, V8 engine), made its debut at Daytona with three examples competing
in the famed 24-hour race in February 1968. The race was intense with the
motoring press watching closely, fortunately all three T33/2’s finished,
claiming class victory as well as an impressive 5th, 6th
and 7th overall. The aim for the remainder of the season and
development for the T33/2 was clear, claim victory in the 2.0 litre
championship, so regularly won by Porsche, and develop the engine further for
eventual production line use. That year alone, the T33/2 went on to claim 21
victories, 15 overall triumphs and six class wins, with the greatest undoubtedly
the complete domination at Le Mans, with T33/2’s filling all three steps on the
podium! Alfa Romeo were back, and they were dominating.
This, the most
beautifully elegant sports racing Alfa Romeo, raced in an era where competition
its competition were the Porsche 906, featuring a developed 911 flat-6 cylinder
engine, Lotus 47 and the Ferrari 206 Dino. None of the cars in this class
received the same level of factory development and support as seen from
Autodelta. Also, none of the competition featured a V8 engine, the T33/2 really
was the most exotic, prettiest and developed car competing in its class.
This T33/2 ‘Daytona’:
The stunning
T33/2 presented here, chassis AR 75033 019, was constructed during 1967 to
enter the 1968 Daytona 24 Hours. For this famed event, Alfa Romeo and Autodelta
chose to enter three cars, with star drivers including Mario Andretti, Lucien
Bianchi, Teodoro Zeccoli, Udo Schütz and Nino Vaccarella. The team
conducted re-race tests, constantly fettling these new cars, which showed huge
potential, and after qualifying 9th, 11th and 13th
on the grid, the Italian squad were in for a tough 24 hours. The race started
at 3pm on Saturday afternoon with the Autodelta Alfa Romeo’s crossing the line
in 4th, 5th and 6th in the Sports Prototype
category.
After the
event, Alfa Romeo sold this car to its American dealer, William (Bill) Knauz,
who owned Continental Motors. Bill quickly sold the car to one of his clients,
Mr Joh Martino who almost immediately entered the USRRC Vanderbuilt Cup Race at
Bridgehampton in May. As can be seen in the period images within this car’s
impressive history file, 019 was assigned race number 33 and driven by Horst
Kwech, an Australian racing driver who claimed two championships in the Tran-Am
Series, whilst also competing at the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans, Daytona 24
Hours and Sebring 12 Hours. For the Bridgehampton event, the car was presented
in a beautifully elegant red with only a handful of sponsorship decals, with
the optional roof panel removed. Sadly, luck was not on Martino’s side, Kwech
started the car and was forced to retire, despite being 5th fastest
in practise.
Two months later,
Martino entered his prized T33 in another event, the Annual Watkins Glen 6 Hour
Race for Manufacturers Championship, where he was again assigned race number
33. Martino had now decided to add some pin striping to the edges of his
beautiful T33/2, as can be seen in the colour images accompanying 019. For this event the car was entered by Ausca
Racing Inc, with Martino choosing to drive alongside Kwech. Although pace in
practise showed some promise, qualifying 11th on the grid, the T33/2
retired.
After
Watkins Glen Martino used the car in the promotion of his company’s products,
antennas, before selling the car back to Knauz. At the end of February 1971,
019 was displayed at the 62nd Annual Chicago Auto Show. Again, the
cars impressive history file contains an image of a female model standing next
to 019 on the Alfa Romeo stand at the Chicago Auto Show. In October 1970, Knauz
was advertising this T33/2 in Road & Track Magazine, asking $12,000, and in
January 1971 sold it to Alan Marsh, a lawyer in Ottawa, Illinois.
Marsh’s
first task was to have the car delivered to his mechanic, Al Allin of Grand
Haven, Michigan, for a complete restoration, prior to competition. Pictures of
the car immediately after restoration are included in the expansive history files.
019 returned to the track in September 1972 at the SCCA Regional Race held at
Elkhart Lake, Road America. Marsh guided this car to first in the B
Sports/Racing class and second overall. The following year, Marsh put 019 into
storage, where it remained for five years, during which time it was advertised
for sale in Road & Track Magazine, asking $25,000. Joe Moch of Michigan was
the next owner, although he quickly sold it to Mr Tom Hart in California, who
in August 1978 entered the Monterey Races.
In 1982,
Hart advertised the car for sale, asking $25,000, at which point it joined the
famed Yoshiyuki Hayashi Collection in Japan.
Hayashi was one of the world’s leading classic car collectors, owning greats
such as a Ferrari 166MM, 250 LM, California Spider, Alfa Romeo T33 Stradale all
the way through to a Ferrari Enzo. During this cars time in the Hayashi
Collection, a Le Mans-specification Alfa Romeo T33/2 long tail rear bodywork
section was sourced and fitted, this bodywork still accompanies the car and can
easily be fitted.
In the
mid-1990’s, Mr Hayashi sold the car to fellow Japanese Mr Kosaka, owner of the
world-famous Abarth Museum near Mt Fuji, where he chose to prominently display
019. Throughout this period the car was regularly started and ran to temperature.
Returning
to Europe in the early 2000’s under the ownership of the prominent Belgian
historic racer, Marc Devis, 019 was displayed at the Brussels Retro Mobile
Salon. In 2002 019 returned to the track, competing in the European Prototype
Trophy, whilst also competing in the 2004 and 2006 Le Mans Classic events.
Later, in 2004
Marc Devis, sourced an extremely rare, original Alfa Romeo Autodelta 2,500cc V8
T33/2 engine, from Australia. This 2.5 litre engine was originally built by
Alfa Romeo for the Tasman series in Australia producing more torque, and is currently
fitted to 019. The original 1,995 cc twin-plug Alfa Romeo engine beautifully
presented on a bespoke stand. Throughout his ownership period, Marc Devis
reached out to several of the past owners, helping confirm the cars history,
with copies of these documents retained within the cars extensive history
files.
In more
recent years, 019 entered the 2010 Goodwood Festival of Speed before being bought
by its current owner over five years ago. Since taking ownership, the car has
been maintained regardless of cost with historic competition specialist Tim
Samways, Sporting & Historic Car Engineers Ltd. The current owner is a true
connoisseur, not only indulging in his passion of Italian competition cars, but
specifically Alfa Romeo. Sitting alongside 019 in his stable is a T33/3 and a
33TT12.
During this
ownership, 019 has been regularly exercised on private track days and some of
Europe’s leading circuits, whilst also entering a handful of historic races,
including Monza in July 2015. The car received FIA papers again in March 2016
and in preparation for sale has been fully detailed with the original
short-tail being fitted. The car was also photographed along with this owner’s
T33/3 and 33TT12 at the Autodelta test circuit, Balocco, where great period
drivers, Nanni Galli and Derek Bell shared memories of these cars, culminating
in a hugely entertaining and video.
Today, this road-registerable sports racer is presented as a truly beautiful work of art from one of Alfa Romeo’s most successful eras in motor racing. The late 1960’s into the early 1970’s was a phenomenal time when manufacturers were experimenting and drivers pushing the limits of what was truly possible, an era of which we are unlikely to witness again. The opportunity to drive this piece of Alfa Romeo and Autodelta history on the public road, whilst competing in the Tour Auto, indulging in the sound of that fabulous 2.5 litre V8 is not to be missed!
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