Four things you may not know about the Alfa Romeo Tipo 33/3
Alfa Romeo may not have much in the way of recent competition activity, but there’s no doubting that motorsport is a major part of the Italian company’s identity. Indeed, that illustrious past has sprinkled desirability on even some of the marque’s less accomplished road cars. From the marque’s very first motorsport victory in 1920 to the gung-ho works 155s of the 1990s BTCC championship, racing has been part of the breed. Just as it is with the 1972 Tipo 33/3 that was part of the 3-litre sportscar demonstration at 75MM. Here are four things you need to know about it…
It was part of a long dynasty
Tipo 33 was a tag given to all of Alfa Romeo’s sports racing cars for the decade from 1967 onwards. There were even road-going Stradale models of some of the earlier generations. During its life, the Tipo 33 progressed from a V8 to flat 12, from tubular chassis to monocoque. Styling also changed radically in those ten years, from the swoopy organic curves of the 1960s to the sharp-edged purposeful forms of the ’70s.
Its V8 predates the move to F1 powerplants
In what world do you move to Formula 1 V12 engines from an existing V8 powerplant as a money-saving move? The world of 3.0-litre Sports Prototypes, apparently. You can see why, though. While the V8 had a “measly” 400bhp to bother the back tyres, the Carlo Chiti-designed 2,995cc flat-12 that replaced it produced over 500bhp out of the box.
It paved the way for the 3.0-litre formula
The T33/3 during the 1971 season was one of the break-out 3.0-litre machines to move the game on from the monstrous 5.0-litre big-bangers. With Andrea Adamich and Henri Pescarolo at the helm, it won outright at the ’71 Brands Hatch 1,000 kilometers, beating out the seemingly invincible Porsche 917s. The 917 and its 5.0-litre contemporaries would be outlawed for the ’72 season.
It was the middle sibling
While the first of the T33s used a tubular chassis design, and the later TT12 (TT means Tellaio Tubulare) ran a development of that formula, the 33/3 ran an aluminium sheet monocoque. Clothing this was a fibreglass body, the form of which was stark and imposing.
Photography by Jochen Van Cauwenberge
3.0-litre sports prototypes
75MM
Alfa Romeo
2017
