Alfa Romeo GTA

Alfa Romeo GTA
Manufacturer	Alfa Romeo
Also called	Giulia Sprint 1600 GTA
Production	1965-1969
Predecessor	Giulietta Coupé
Class	Sports car
Body style(s)	2-door coupe
Layout	FR layout
Engine(s)	1.6 L Straight-4

The Alfa Romeo GTA is a coupé automobile manufactured by the Italian manufacturer Alfa Romeo from 1965 to 1971. It was made for racing and road use. In 1962, the successor for the very popular Giulietta series was introduced. This car was the Alfa Romeo Giulia, internally called the "Series 105". The coupé of the 105 series, used the shortened floorpan from the Giulia Berlina and was designed by Bertone. The name of the car evolved from Giulia Sprint GT to Giulia Sprint and to GTJ (Junior) and GTV (Veloce) in the late 1960s. At the time, Alfa was very active in motorsport. Autodelta, the racing division of Alfa, developed a car for competition that closely resembled to the roadgoing model. These cars were named GTA instead of GT, the 'A' standing for "Allegerita", Italian for lightweight. The GTA was produced first in 1965 as a 1600 (1570 cc) and later as a 1300 Junior version. The GTA automobiles were also manufactured in either street (Stradale) or pure race (Corsa) trim. The GTA had aluminium panels instead of steel, alloy wheels, clear plastic windows, an aluminium rear upper control arm, different door handles and quarter window mechanisms, and lightweight interior trim. The engine had a new 8-spark plug (twin spark, twin plug) cylinderhead, 45 mm carburetors instead of 40 mm and magnesium camshaft cover, sump and timing cover. In stradale form this car boasted approximately 115 PS (Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{" hp/Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{" kW) (up from 106 PS (Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{" hp/Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{" kW)). In full race form this engine could produce up to 170 PS (Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{" hp/Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{" kW). The 1600 GTA did not have a brake booster and had a thicker radiator than the standard vehicle. Car was made 500 pieces both racing and road use.

Alfa Romeo 1300 GTA Junior

The GTA 1300 Junior (1968–1972) had an 1300 cc engine that was based on the 1600 engine but with a short stroke crankshaft. The GTA Junior in stradale form did not have many of the light weight features of the 1600 GTA, such as the plastic windows, magnesium engine components and alloy wheels. At start the engine produced 96 PS (Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{" hp/Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{" kW) but was soon raised to 110 PS (Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{" hp/Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{" kW). Autodelta prepared fuel injected racing cars had 165 PS (Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{" hp/Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{" kW). GTA Junior was produced 450 copies.

The GTAm (1970–1971) could produce up to 240 PS (Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{" hp/Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{" kW) in the 2000 cc car—a car usually related to the GTA, but unlike the GTA derived from the GTV 1750, the 2000GTAm was created in 1968: There are two schools of thought about the "Am", neither one of them ever being confirmed by the factory: one says Allegerita Maggiorata, the other America. Most likely the latter is closest, since the car did not contain any aluminum parts and therefore not "Allegerita", and the base was a GTV 1750 with American injection system for homologation purposes for the American market. SPICA was the injection system brand. The 1750 cc was later bored to 1985 cc to meet the 2000 cc limitation of its class to the maximum.

The Giulia 1600 GTA-SA (sovralimentato) (1967–1968) was very rare racing car, which was built only 10 copies. Car featured 1570 cc twinspark engine with two oildriven superchargers and it could produce up to 250 PS (Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{" hp/Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{" kW) at 7500 rpm. Both types the GTA/ GTA 1300 Junior and the GTAm were very successful, these cars were led to numerous victories. In the opening season at Monza, they won the first seven places. Andrea de Adamich claimed the title in 1966. Later on, the 1750 GTAm and the 2000 GTAm cars were led to victory by Toine Hezemans, who won the 24 hours of Francorchamps with this car. These cars won hundreds of races before competition grew stronger in 1971. But the Giulia sometimes kept up with much bigger engined cars such as the 3 litre BMW CSL.

References

• Alfa Romeo Alleggerita Giulia Sprint GTA, Tony Adriaensens, ISBN 90-801197-1-7
• Alfa Romeo Giulia Coupe GT and GTA, John Tipler, ISBN 1-903706-47-5

External links

• Alfa-Romeo-uk.com
• History of the European Touring Car racing championship - Cars and Results