1935 Alfa Romeo 8C-35 (Tipo C)
Generously Lent by Peter Greenfield, Freeport NY
Alfa’s top Grand Prix race car for 1935
Piloted by legendary driver Tazio Nuvolari
Powerful twin-supercharged engine
With the arrival of the 750 Kilogram Formula for Grand Prix racing in 1935 Alfa Romeo was forced to introduce a new Grand Prix Car to compete against the all-conquering new cars from the German state sponsored teams
of Mercedes Benz and Auto Union. Alfa Romeo hired perhaps the best driver of the day, Tazio Nuvolari, to join their team.
The 1935 Grand Prix Championship was won by Rudolf Caracciola who won five of the seven races in the championship for Mercedes Benz. Nuvolari in the big Alfa Romeo, in one of the great races in motor racing history managed to beat the Grand Prix cars from the combined teams of Mercedes and Auto Union in the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.
In 1936 Nuvolari managed to get on the front row of the Monaco Grand Prix but was surrounded by the new German Cars and eventually finished 4th. He then won the Vanderbilt Cup race at Long Island, USA for Alfa Romeo. At the 1937 Monaco Grand Prix, Giuseppe Farina qualified 8th and finished 6th in the 12 Cylinder Alfa 12 C. Alfa managed to sign Nuvolari again, but the team was total outclassed by the German teams and the cars were entered by Alfa Romeo not Scuderia Ferrari, under the name Alfa Corse. At the same time Alfa hired a new race director, Vittorio Jano, but at the end of the season he left the team, Driver Nuvolari also left at the end of the season and signed to drive for Auto Union for whom he drove in his inimitable style and panache in 1938 and 1939 winning several major races.
The Alfa 8C 35 was a magnificent Grand Prix car but it was faced with the insurmountable problem of the determination of the German State in the 1930s to spend whatever was necessary to dominate Grand Prix racing. It was a worthy successor to the Monza and P3. Sports cars from the same factory had won some of the most prestigious races of the time, like the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Tourist Trophy. With only some 325 horsepower, Alfa just could not compete except in unusual circumstances. Even when the capacity and number of cylinders were radically increased, optimism alone was insufficient to defeat the best from Mercedes Benz and Auto Union.
This Alfa Romeo chassis 50014, engine 50015, was purchased by a syndicate led by Carlos Arzani of Argentina in early 1937 and shipped to Buenos Aires. Prior to shipment Arzani took part in a race in Naples where he finished a creditable 4th behind the works cars of Farina and Biiondetti.
The car then had success in a number of races in Argentina and Brazil, where Arzani became National Champion in 1939. The car remained in South America during the second world war and was in the collection of the Museo Fangio in Balcarce, Buenos Aires, Argentina for some years until returning to Europe. After passing through several enthusiastic owners, Peter Greenfield purchased the car and subjected it to a complete restoration a few years ago in New Zealand. It is now raced successfully on a regular basis and develops some 371 horsepower and 370 ft lbs of torque, guaranteeing more than adequate performance!
Specifications:
Engine: Twin-Supercharged 3.8 Liter Inline 8-cylinder
Horsepower: 330 @ 5400 rpm
Top Speed: 171 mph
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Weight: 1654 lbs