Saturday, October 13, 2012

Alfa Romeo Giulia Tubolare Zagato (GTZ)

The Alfa Romeo GTZ was the most significant car of my own youth.  The one I knew was raced by my then-employer to SCCA championships in 1964 and 1965.  Along with his regular, adult, sidekick, I crewed two races in which the car came 2nd (C-Production, Mid-Ohio) and first in class (USRRC race at Watkins Glen).  A couple of times, I helped with some light preparation work back at the dealership.  I cleaned and polished and observed while the owner went through his pre-trailer loading checklist.  (All you need to prepare like Roger Penske is a sheet of yellow legal pad with a list on it, taped to the windshield.  Oh... and a shop with lifts and machine tools in it.)

Alfa built the GTZ for the 1.6 liter class in FIA GT racing in Europe.  The stock Giulia engine was race-tuned to 175 horsepower and put into a tubular steel space frame wrapped in an aluminum body by Zagato (thus GTZ).  The car weighed about 1800 lbs. on the grid, so it was plenty quick.  As quick or quicker than the Lotus-Ford Cortinas it ran against, but not as quick as the 2-liter Porsche 904.

I loved this car.  The racing cams meant huge valve-timing overlap, with a brap-brap-brap idle.  At high revs, it screamed.  It actually was, marginally, street-driveable with suitable final drive gears (it was geared to top out just south of 150 m.p.h. at LeMans).  Alfa even catalogued, and sold, a few street-spec. cars with a detuned engine and a heater/defroster.  But most of them were built for racing.

The brief video at the bottom shows the same European car in 2011, 47 years after it ran at LeMans.  It has milder camshafts than I remember.

The GTZ I knew on its victory lap after winning its class in the Road America 500 USRRC race in 1965.  Factory racing cars had center-lock wheels with knock-off hubs; most racing GTZ's had a 4-stud attachment.

The office.  The 5-speed box was connected to a transaxle and fully independent rear suspension.  Richard Owen photo.

The factory-entered #41 Sala/Biscaldi GTZ came 2nd in class at LeMans in 1964.  Seen here exiting Mulsanne Corner late Saturday afternoon, ahead of its #40 sister car, which did not finish.

Here's a link to a short video of #41 at an RM car auction in France in 2011:

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2 comments:

Watchtower said...

PA

As you know I'm not well versed in this pure sports car arena so I have a couple of questions (probably dumb, but hey...).

First off, when on the track how reliable was a car like this back in the day?
How many races could you get out of that engine before it needed some TLC?

Second, why isn't the steering wheel on the other side if they are racing in Europe?

October 13, 2012 at 8:41 AM
Pilote Ancien said...

The GTZ I knew did two full seasons of 1-hour USRRC races, the Road America 500-miler, and several SCCA 20-lappers without anything more than plug changes, after which it was sold. So I will guess three or four seasons without teardown/inspection.

The GTZ was homologated for GT racing, so theoretically streetable. Italy and the rest of the continent use LHD. Come to think of it, I have never seen a picture of a RHD Ferrari GTO either. Maybe the racing Ford GT 40's had RHD because they were built in England. But there are LHD examples too. Could be ordered either way, I think.

October 13, 2012 at 9:27 AM

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