Looking through the pages of history that was not written yet, and was taking place in real-time, it is rather amusing to see Enzo Ferrari, who also played his role in Alfa’s legend. First of all, it was remarkable, that Ferrari, back at that time, a young driver racing for Alfa Romeo was able to lure Vittorio Jano from FIAT, namely in 1923. This served as a major catalyst, as he replaced Merosi and became the chief designer of Alfa, which had led to creation of some of the highly praised Alfas.
It was him, who designed the Alfa Romeo P2 Grand Prix car, which allowed the independent Italian manufacturer to win Grand Prix world championship in 1925. And it was him again, who developed a series of inline 4 to 8 cylinder engines that established the classic architecture for which Alfas had become renowned for. Jano was firmly convinced that the main way to reduce engine weight consisted in utilization of light alloys; he also pioneered in the use of centrally-located spark plugs, as well as, in the use of 2 rows of overhead valves per cylinder bank. Alfa’s engines built under Jano were getting the reputation for being fast and reliable.
The second thing that Ferrari did, once the factory team had fallen prey to privatization, he established himself to be the team manager, of the team, which received the name of Scuderia Ferrari. After the imminent split from Alfa, Ferrari would take a different road and would get his fame for building fast sport cars under his own name. The year 1928 was a depressing period for Alfa Romeo. This year Nicola Romeo left, leaving Alfa on the verge of bankruptcy, as by this time the defense contracts came to an end, and it would be another couple of years, when towards the end of year 1932 Italian car manufacturer would be rescued by the government, which would later exercise fairly strict control.
For the most part, the governmental intervention would not only help Alfa to
survive the crisis, but also would make Alfa Romeo a national symbol, the continuation of the Mussolini’s army, which in this era would start building truly amazing vehicles for the rich and the powerful. In this period Alfa typically specialized on supplying a fully equipped chassis, while the body would in turn be created by the designer shops, either of Pinin Farina or Touring of Milan. This era was marked with such gems as Alfa Romeo 2300 and 2900.
Vittorio Jano should be solely credited for the design of the amazing engineering marvel, the 8C 2300. As it was standard for Alfa – 8C stood for the eight cylinder engine, while the second number gave idea of its cubic-capacity. The engine was essentially comprised of two four-cylinder engines aligned in a row. Central gearing was utilized to drive the overhead twin camshafts, while a Roots-design compressor brought the output to 140 hp. Further modifications to the same power-train would increase the produced horsepower to almost 180 hp.
The first 8C 2300 car made its appearance as a prototype at the 1931 Mille Miglia. Two models were to later enter the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where they finished the race in first and second places. In 1932 the 8C 2300 became a prevailing force, winning first at Targa Florio, later to be followed by three consecutive victories at Le Mans. It was 8C2300 solely responsible for the defeat of the powerful Mercedes SSK and SSKL opponents, thus bringing an end to their dominance. The 8C 2300 was in production from 1931 through 1933, and proved to be a real champion. Only 188 examples were produced, many of which today sell for for over a million dollars.
Another true gem of the era was the 8C 2900, where an 8C once again stood for the 8 cylinder inline, while the engine cubic
displacement was increased to 2905 cc. Just as the previous model it had a Roots-type compressor, which would bring the output to 180 hp for the 8C 2900B and to 220 hp for the 8C 2900A. The suspension was all-independent, a very modern choice for the era, coming with wishbones in the front and swing-axles for the rear.
The 8C 2900A was essentially a two-seater with Grand Prix style body. They were purpose-built to race and to win. They gloriously proved everyone’s expectations. This success led to the decision to create a road version that Alfa could sell to its clientele. The 8C 2900B series would be built on the short (corto) and long (lungo) wheelbases and would have highly aerodynamic bodies that were a gorgeous beauty to behold. These super cars were mechanically capable to compete with the waste majority of the cars on the racing circuit, and were not only fast, but very and very expensive too.
To be continued…


























