For several years, Alfa Romeo has returned to its rich sporting past and intends to make it known.
As a preamble to a return to F1, which will count for six consecutive seasons in the premier class from 2018 to 2023, Alfa Romeo launched exclusive models with a strong character from 2007 using names evocative of its history. The magnificent 8C thus precedes the 4C, which will be followed by the Giulia Quadrifoglio supported by a wacky version, the GTAm.
More recently, the Italian firm created a surprise by entering an area where perhaps we did not expect it.
Like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale returns to us in 2023 in the form of a supercar.
In order to assert the exclusivity that is the essence of a real supercar, as well as in homage to its illustrious ancestor, the manufacturer made a strong choice by deciding to produce only 33 units of the new Stradale. Each copy, built by hand and tailor-made according to the purchaser's specifications, will be an almost unique model.
In order to satisfy all tastes and all perspectives of use, the new generation 33 Stradale offers the choice between a 3.0l twin-turbo V6 developing 620 hp, and an electric engine. Both options are based on the same aluminum frame.
Let's bet that the performances of the noble ancestor will be pulverized, while offering the astonishing ease of driving typical of modern supercars.
Logically, the lines of the new 33 Stradale are unequivocally inspired by the original design of Franco Scaglione shaped by the coachbuilder Marazzi for the 1967 33.
We find the voluptuous curves of the rear wings, the curved side windows, the huge air intakes, the huge headlights (present on the only 33 Stradale No. 1) and the doors that open in an elytra according to the same kinematics.
The cabin plays a similar score, but even more skilful. The simplicity of a competition car of the time is reproduced and obtained by simplifying the shapes and trims and hiding the controls. Flat and simple surfaces. Discreet switches on the ceiling or on the center console. Classic style steering wheel without control. A single multi-function screen within the instrument cluster. The racing atmosphere is restored with comfort as a bonus!
But young people no longer have respect for seniors! And the new 33 Stradale doesn't mind ridiculing its predecessor in terms of performance, while allowing itself to joke with numbers.
Instead, judge:
The Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale 2023 is rated for 333 km/h.
The 0 to 100 km/h is sent in 3 seconds battery.
As for the reverse exercise of 100 km/h at a complete standstill, it is announced in... 33 m.
Alfa Romeo leaves no room for chance and pays tribute to its rich past with this new supercar. So, to better understand, nothing like a little return to the origins, when everything started.
Founded in 1910, Alfa Romeo is a key player in motorsport. From its origins to the present day, the firm has been present in competitions as a manufacturer or engine manufacturer, with innumerable successes in all categories.
Alfa Romeo was thus the first manufacturer to win the newly created Formula 1 World Championship in 1950. Building on its supremacy, the brand repeated the feat the following year.
However, the 1950s and a forced return to profitability forced Alfa Romeo to refocus on the study and production of a serial model, which would concentrate all the driving forces of the firm. It will be the small and sporty Giulietta, followed by the Giulia, from which numerous versions intended for competition will be derived.
It was not until the mid-1960s that a project led by Carlo Chiti and Autodelta (instead of Alfa Romeo's racing department) gave birth in 1967 to the first Alfa Romeo designed entirely for competition in 20 years, the Tipo 33.
It is therefore a prototype, a real racing car, not using any elements of the Alfa Romeo series.
The engine, a 2-liter V8 with 4 overhead camshafts delivering 270 hp at 9,600 rpm, rests in a central position on a tubular frame and is associated with a 6-speed manual gearbox.
The set weighs barely 600 kg!
Shortly after, the complex and necessary development of a competition car led to the birth of the T33/2, which was more reliable and more efficient. The victory in the 2-liter class at the 1968 Daytona 24 Hours of Daytona for this version earned it the eponymous nickname.
In the meantime, and in a way that is as unusual as it is astonishing, it was decided to derive a civilian version approved for road use of this genuine racing car. A version intended for the public certainly, but a necessarily limited audience.
Designed by Franco Scaglione, the 33 Stradale (road version of a competition car in Italian) is considered to be one of the most beautiful achievements of its time. Its soft curves, combined with the elytra doors and the engine displayed in the window, are spectacular. It is also implausibly low, peaking at less than 1 meter! The 33 Stradale uses the V8 of the 33 de course, in a slightly relaxed and simplified definition giving 230 hp at 8,800 rpm, more than enough to obtain the best accelerations of the 1968 car production, helped in this by its light weight (approx. 700 kg!).
In return, its selling price is one of the highest on the market. Combined with the impractical aspects of using a race car on the road that has retained most of its characteristics, sales will remain confidential.
The figure of 18 Alfa 33 Stradales manufactured is sometimes put forward, taking into account the known sequence of chassis numbers. But it seems that not all of the chassis in question were built. In addition, 5 of them received special bodies such as the Carabo by Bertone, and the prototype had a different numbering. We can thus put forward the figure of ten 33 Stradales assembled without being affirmative. In any event, it is one of the rarest road cars in the world.
Since 1969, and leaving aside the TZ3, which was based on a Chrysler Viper, Alfa Romeo had no longer ventured into the field of completely unusual cars. This is what has been done with this new 33 Stradale, and in a very beautiful way.
The Porsche 911 is the archetype of the sports car and its 60-year history is a novel. The first serial 911 left the assembly line in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen on September 14, 1964. It is an entirely new car, propelled by a new 6-cylinder flat 6-cylinder air-cooled by air, with dry sump lubrication, of 2 liters and 130 hp allowing 210 km/h at a peak. It does not use any elements from its big sister, the 356. The 911 Turbo series, type 930, was presented at the 1974 Paris Motor Show...
The body of the 144, extended by ten centimeters with a redesigned front and a new in-line 6-cylinder engine: this is how, in 1968, Volvo created its first post-war grand tourer.
So beautiful, to the point of being considered a milestone in automotive design, and to have integrated the collections of one of the largest museums of contemporary art in the world. So daring, that Enzo Ferrari himself, although usually so quiet, would have made a rave comment about it when it was released. So desirable, that those who did not have the chance to drive it invent faults. So rare, and yet 77,000 copies were produced in its various versions.
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