(from Alfa Romeo Press Release) The new Alfa Romeo Brera is to make its debut at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show, the venue chosen for the first public appearance in 2002 of the original Giorgetto-Giugiaro designed concept car, which has gone on to gain international acclaim.
Due to go on sale by year's end, the new Alfa Romeo Brera incapsulates those characteristics most synonymous with the brand - sportiness and elegance - in a unique and exclusive style. The harmony of Brera's shape and size, allied to the outstanding engineering and driveability of an Alfa Romeo, makes for a car which is beautiful, strong and sturdy, a car which sets the standards for all coupés.
Brera is a 2+2 of generous dimensions: 1830mm wide, 4414mm in length and 1372mm high, although the deeply tapered front and rear styling creates the impression of a very compact car. The interior has an ambience that is both cosy and sophisticated. This comes from the use of high quality materials and the introduction of some novel ideas such as the wide glass fixed roof that creates more natural interior light for passengers adding to the sensation of spaciousness inside while also giving the car a streamlined appearance from the outside.
Available in three levels of trim, Brera also offers customers a choice of a 2.4 JTD 200 bhp turbo-diesel power-unit and two petrol engines (the 185 bhp 2.2 JTS or the 260 bhp 3.2) coupled to either an automatic transmission or a 6-speed manual gearbox depending on the version. Together with all the delights one expects in an Alfa Romeo, this new car delivers outstanding dynamic performance thanks to the use of quadrilateral front suspension and Multilink rear suspension. Along with the excellent driving experience, comfort is further enhanced by the integral 'Alfa Q4' traction control system fitted to some versions. Brera offers the most sophisticated electronic systems to monitor and control key dynamic parameters of braking and roadholding to deliver greater driving safety.
This then is the essence of the new Brera, a car that will create enormous interest, a coupé that promises both a great driving experience and outstanding levels of comfort.
joi, 16 august 2007
2006 Alfa Romeo Brera
2006 Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
(from Alfa Romeo Press Release) The definitive version of the gorgeous exclusive Alfa 8C Competizione, Gran Turismo car that is to be produced in a limited edition makes its debut in Paris. The car, designed by Alfa Romeo, is directly derived from the concept car that aroused such admiration at the 2003 Frankfurt Motor Show and has benefited from the best technical and industrial know-how that the Alfa-Maserati Sports Centre can offer. The cooperative venture between both manufacturers was conducted with a view to ensuring integration between the Alfa Romeo design departments and the Maserati production departments.
The 8C Competizione is inspired by Alfa Romeo’s glorious past, projecting its brand values of technology and emotion into the future. The historical allusions begin with the evocative name, recalling the great sporting tradition of Alfa Romeo. The 8C code was used to identify cars (racing and on-road) of the Thirties and Forties equipped with the revolutionary eight cylinder engine produced by the famous designer Vittorio Jano. The term ‘Competizione’ is intended as a homage to the ‘6C 2500 Competizione’, a sports coupé driven in 1950 by the duo Fangio and Zanardi in the famous Mille Miglia race.
The name, ‘8C Competizione’ is not an arbitrary invention but a distinctive mark of Alfa Romeo’s own sporting history. A veritable legend that has arisen out of the innumerable victories won on circuits throughout the world through the skill of men and their passion for racing, engine research and advanced technology and a reawakened taste for new challenges.
This link with the values of Alfa Romeo’s history adds extra poignancy to the term ‘Competizione’; when projected into the future it represents the sense of constant dynamism that distinguishes a brand engaged in a quest for excellence, increased competitiveness and technological innovation. This is the explanation behind the role of the new car, which is not a point of arrival but a point of departure designed to reaffirm Alfa Romeo’s unique place in the world: its ability to match a thrilling shape to driving satisfaction.
Styling and aerodynamics: tradition and innovation
The attractive shape created by the Alfa Romeo Style Centre makes this car with its two bucket seats unique in the Gran Turismo scenario. The designers have worked hard to ensure that the aerodynamic and performance demands have not altered the car’s original concept. The style maintains an incredibly clean shape, uncluttered by any element interfering with the overall harmony.
The solutions introduced on the Alfa 8C to achieve the highest levels of aerodynamic efficiency are not limited to the shape. Air wraps around the car and follows its natural course, unhindered by corners and unevenness. All the pillar and glass surfaces and profiles together with the door mirror shape and position have been optimised by mathematical modelling and also by wind tunnel tests and tests on actual models. Much attention has been devoted to the creation of a ground effect that has allowed a negative Cz (lift coefficient) to help increase stability at high speed, as on racing cars.
The compact dimensions concentrate the aggression of a car designed to ensure maximum driving efficiency.
The car surfaces are highly sculpted and skilfully moulded. In detail, the body is given extra dynamism by the horizontal furrow cut into the side above the front wheelarch. The big wheels and powerful musculature of the rear wings emphasise the model’s personality and strength without detracting from the lines that flow smoothly, almost as though to underscore the formal good looks of the individual exterior details: the drop-shaped headlight embedded, gem-like, in the front wing, the led tail-lights that are a blend of technology and rationalism, the spare door handle. The front end still displays the distinctive Alfa Romeo traits, with a new interpretation of the ‘whiskers’ and shield.
The innovative shape heralds the details and proportions of future Alfa Romeo cars but is also redolent with past thrills and historical allusions: the 33 Coupé Stradale, the Giulia TZ and many other great names of motoring history. The Alfa Romeo style centre also developed new colours to emphasise the shape of the 8C Competizione that match the car’s sinuous shape while also suggesting modernity and a hint of technology.
8 cylinder 4.7 engine: Italian ‘belcanto’
The engine is the beating heart of any Alfa Romeo. In this case it takes the form of a brand new 90° V 8 cylinder unit with a cylinder capacity of 4691 cc that was designed with one aim in mind: to ensure extraordinary performance while still offering a smooth drive and being usable in all circumstances, from the track to city traffic.
The top engine performance figures may be summarised as a maximum power output of 450 bhp at 7000 rpm, a peak torque of 470 Nm at 4750 rpm and a top speed of 7500 rpm.
The layout of internal fluid movements and the cylinder head cooling system is designed to achieve high duct permeability and effective intake load cooling to maximise volumetric efficiency and engine performance.
Harmonisation of the intake and exhaust geometry together with the introduction of continuous variable valve timing on the intake camshafts and optimisation of the combustion chamber and engine calibration means that 80% of torque is available from 2000 rpm.
In sporty driving conditions over mixed routes, the power unit offers impressively short response times due to the high permeability of the intake duct and the low inertia of the flywheel-twin plate clutch system.
A crankshaft with counterweights at 90°, fully balanced through careful selection of connecting rods and pistons, ensures the engine runs with low vibration levels.
The engine block and base assembly is in aluminium with 5 main bearings to ensure the structure is very rigid with little loss due to friction. The cylinder heads are also in aluminium alloy.
All the ducts (water, oil, secondary air) are cast directly into the engine to produce a system with great rigidity, low dimensions and guarantees of safe installation, i.e. great reliability.
Casting accessory systems into the main engine casting and the use of very rigid, thick-walled components ensures that little noise radiates from the engine and the components are very reliable.
Longitudinal engine packaging has also received particular attention, as evidenced by the introduction of a single chain timing system that guarantees exceptional lifetime dependability.
Special attention has also been devoted to the acoustic definition and tuning of the intake and exhaust in the quest for a sound timbre that enhances the car’s character and makes it unmistakable. The result is a full, distinctive sound, emphasised by the permeable intake system and an exhaust system with electronically controlled valves that enhance the car’s sound without infringing any type-approval or environmental constraints.
Transmission, robotised gearbox and self-locking differential
The engineers used a layout familiar from other Alfa Romeo cars on the 8C Competizione: the transaxle architecture with gearbox at the rear that is an acknowledged asset of Alfa Romeo cars. This layout allows outstanding dynamic performance while also offering the active safety for which Alfa Romeo cars are fabled.
The engine-gearbox unit is designed in accordance with a transaxle configuration that ensures the weight distribution is very effective for vehicle handling. Due to the small axial engine size and the integration with frame components from the drawing board, the entire power unit can be housed well back to ensure the required sporty configuration.
The 6–speed gearbox with computerised speed selection by means of levers behind the steering wheel is designed to ensure ultra-slick gear shifts and may be used in Manual-Normal; Manual-Sport; Automatic-Normal; Automatic-Sport and Ice modes. The self-locking differential allows acceleration and stability to be managed with extraordinary efficiency in all situations.
Suspension, wheels and braking system
In the very best Alfa Romeo tradition, the engineering is directly derived from the race track. The suspension on the new model is no exception, with a double wishbone layout, forged aluminium axle carrier and arms and extra strut for toe-in control.
The braking system offers perforated, ventilated discs with aluminium brake callipers to ensure prompt, effective braking even with heavy use. To ensure the car stays glued to the road, it is fitted with 20” tyres specially developed to ensure outstanding performance: 245/35 at the front and 285/35 at the rear, fitted on perforated rims in fluid moulded aluminium to ensure lightness and maximum brake ventilation efficiency.
To ensure the car is entertaining and safe in any driving condition, the 8C Competizione comes with the latest Alfa Romeo VDC, an advanced stability and traction control system to ensure the driver feels at one with his car.
Rigid, light structure
A rigid, light structure is the rule when configuring a good high performance car. This is also the guiding principle behind the 8C Competizione. In detail, the compact frame is in steel to achieve the greatest torsional rigidity to ensure an accurate, safe drive at all times while the body is in carbon fibre. This choice was motivated by the need to minimise weights while also optimising the car’s centre of gravity for better agility and handling on demanding routes.
Interiors: personality and technology
The car’s distinctive look comes from extensive use of composite materials on the facia and interior panels. This is a technical choice but also reinforces the car’s spirit and emphasises its personality. The same thinking lies behind the adoption of anatomical seats made out of carbon fibre that can be adjusted and customised on the basis of the driver’s physical characteristics (a facility previously reserved for racing cars).
Everything is designed and produced to ensure the greatest user-friendliness for the driver and whoever is lucky enough to share the thrill: relaxed driving position, intuitive instruments that are always visible, robotised gear levers secured to the steering column and easy to reach without removing your hands from the sporty steering wheel.
The carefully-crafted and detailed finish naturally allows the car to be customised to the driver’s taste and a choice of different interior environments is available.
The absolute satisfaction of a sporty drive
To see it is to love it: wide tyres, low-slung ride and styling of poised aggression. To die for, in fact. Hear the engine and weep: a full, convincing throaty roar. Now all that remains is to sit behind the wheel, engage first gear and you are off to try out your Alfa 8C Competizione. You are left with one doubt: how will you drive a sports model whose bonnet conceals a 4700 cc eight cylinder engine hat unleashes 450 bhp of power and 470 Nm of torque when you touch the accelerator. The unexpected answer is: with great ease - even more easily, simply and instinctively than your normal car in fact. Provided you allow yourself the time and satisfaction (because this is about pleasure, after all) of getting used to the more direct controls and prompter responses: the sort you could only expect from a true sports car on mixed routes or – even more so – on the track where speed and transverse acceleration are much more controllable.
The new Alfa 8C Competizione is self-avowedly an Alfa in its uncompromising sense of control and driving satisfaction. Driving comfort and dynamic behaviour have always been specific features of Alfa Romeo cars: on this car, they amount to a real strength.
Alfa 8C Competizione: a legendary name for a unique car
Since the very beginning, the Alfa Romeo spirit has been driven by a constant quest for technical perfection, achieving performances that are better and better. This is all about the engine: the beating heart of every Alfa Romeo car. Racetracks throughout the world have provided the perfect backdrops for truly unique technical and technological progress, with Alfa Romeo always occupying the highest position on the winners’ podium.
The key to Alfa Romeo’s engineering prominence was the 8 cylinder engine developed during the first half of the Twenties by a young engineer named Vittorio Jano. His original brief was to revise the 6 cylinder engine to meet the needs of standard production model buyers and also to stand up to the competition offered by rival manufacturers in races.
The first 8C was tested in 1923, with the P1, already fitted with a compressor and twin spark ignition, and then the P2. Its debut could not have gone better: in 1925 the Alfa Romeo P2 won first place in the first World Championship. The positive effects of these innovations were not restricted to the engines of production cars but the glory of this result was included in the ‘Alfa Romeo – Milan’ badge in the form of the laurel crown that was to adorn all Alfa Romeo cars from that day on.
At the beginning of the Thirties, the powerfully reliable 8 cylinder engines – now in light alloy – purred like cats under the bonnets of stylish cabriolets and coupes (whose bodies were built by the Milanese Zagato and Castagna) and roared like lions in the dust of races such as the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio, that added to the impressive list of victories. The thrilling wins achieved by the Alfa Romeo 8C in 1931, 1932, 1933 and 1934 at Le Mans deserve special attention (the car was later called the ‘Le Mans’ in the wake of these great successes).
The 8 cylinder engine achieved its technical peak in the Alfa Romeo Tipo B engine, known as the ‘P3’ to highlight its technological relationship with the P2. Campari, Nuvolari, Caracciola, Borzacchini, Marinoni, Guidotti and Fagioli were just some of the champions who owed their successes to the 1932 and 1934 versions of the 8C engine in the face of the challenges posed by the most prestigious circuits in the world.
The continual progress and consistent technical research culminated in the 8C 2900, the unbeaten star of racing from the Mille Miglia to the Le Mans 24 hour. The car, an extremely stylish 8C with its body built by Touring especially for Le Mans, was driven peerlessly by its driver Biondetti. This engine was exceptionally long-lived: an 8C 2900 B driven by Biondetti and Romano won the Mille Miglia again in 1947, proving yet again and over an exceptionally arduous route, that Alfa Romeo engines were possessed of truly extraordinary power and reliability.
World War II only halted the victorious progress of the 158 for a short period. The legendary ‘Alfetta’, a distillate of superlative automotive engineering qualities, first saw the light in 1946. In the words of Juan Manuel Fangio, driving this 8 cylinder car was like ‘holding the bow of a Stradivarius in your hands’. First the 158 and later the 159 brought Alfa Romeo laurels in the first two modern Formula 1 world championships, with Nino Farina in 1950 and with Fangio in 1951.
After the Formula 1 victories, Alfa Romeo decided to withdraw from racing to devote itself to the demands put on it by its latest arrival, the 1900 and later the Giulietta range. 1967 saw the return of the powerful 8 cylinder engine fitted to racing 33 models and responsible for the attractive, resolute shape of the road version of the 33. This car also enjoyed a very encouraging racing debut, with Teodoro Zeccoli taking top position on the winners’ podium after the uphill race in Fleron, Belgium, in a 33/2 Sport Prototype.
Other 33 cars met with considerable success on tracks and circuits throughout the world during the Seventies. This technical perfection was transferred to standard production cars such as the Montreal, a car of great prestige and performance, whose 8 Cylinder engine was derived from the unit fitted to the 33 models used for racing. In 1977, the 8 cylinder engine was fitted to a limited series of the Alfetta GTV, produced by Autodelta which thus continued the sporting tradition applied to engine production.
Now the legendary heart of that engine comes back to beat under the bonnet of the new Alfa 8C Competizione.
2004 Alfa-Romeo Visconti Concept by Italdesign
(from Italdesign Press Release) "An Alfa Romeo flagship that moves beyond the conventional”. That’s how Giorgetto Giugiaro photographs the Visconti, the concept car he created in sheer freedom, just like he did two years ago with the Brera coupe.
“The Alfa Romeo is a Marque that made a strong impression on my Designer career. The first series-produced car I designed was the Alfa 2000 Sprint. Italdesign itself was created to give life to the Alfasud project. Over now what must be almost a career span of fifty years, I found myself designing cars on more than one occasion for the “Biscione” Carmaker, sometimes by way of contract, and sometimes in sheer freedom”.
“For the 2004 Geneva Motor Show, I thus decided to give the shape that I felt more fitting for an Alfa flagship. Not a traditional 4-door three-volume sedan, but an almost two-volume great sports car, with a downward sloping shaped tail-end”.
The ultimate outcome is known as Visconti, a name chosen in honor of a Milan family ancestry, the coat of arms of which represents the Alfa Romeo marque.
An almost coupe almost 5 meters long
At a first glance, the Visconti appears almost a 4-door coupe, albeit the dimensions, which touch upon five meters in terms of length, are those typical of a flagship.
The front is extremely plastic and very balanced in its modeling. In the plan view the front-end, weaving from an important wheel-arch, rounds towards the Alfa Romeo grille thereby becoming a characterizing element embedded in a single curve. The front optic units are designed with flowing movement and elegance. The rear fenders are a key element, placing in evidence the modeled upper section which narrows significantly thereby highlighting these majestic fenders.
However, this architecture never before seen in the panorama of contemporary production is not entirely new to Giugiaro who, back in 1993 with the Bugatti EB 112, had theorized a great two-volume sports sedan.
As explained by Giugiaro: “The EB 112 was a true source of inspiration for the tail-end shape. However, as time passed, the design became so intermeshed with Alfa Romeo suggestiveness that any train of thought to the Bugatti disappeared, thus becoming a coherent evolution of the lines and spirit of the Brera”.
“The proportions of the Visconti are indeed substantially diverse, as is the mechanical arrangement, a V6 rather than a V12 engine. Placed clearly in evidence is a more advanced interior compartment than on the Bugatti, with the windshield base becoming almost level with the center of the wheel. The downward sloping tail-end becomes one to itself, all-embracing and underscored by the powerful strength of the mighty rear fenders”.
The launching pad: the Alfa Romeo Premium Platform.
The launching pad for the Visconti was the Premium Platform, developed by Alfa Romeo as the basis for the next-generation 156 Sedan, Sportwagon, Coupe and Spider, a quartet of cars all drawing life from the pencil of Giugiaro as evolution of the Brera concept car.
Given the flagship characteristics with which the Visconti takes the scene, Giugiaro lengthened the wheelbase of the Premium Platform by 20 millimeters, stretching it out to 2,825 mm, with two almost identical overhangs, 1,064 mm to the front and 1,066 mm to the rear, thereby attaining a total length of 4,955 mm.
The width has been harnessed to just under one meter and 90, whilst the height stretches to 1,474 mm, the right compromise between flowing line and flagship ease of accommodation.
Innovative, yet feasible.
As always, albeit waging a provocation from a styling point of view, Giugiaro has not wandered from his personal tradition underpinned by creating concept cars that can be also manufactured in series.
Also at the level of concept cars, research into proper functionality even imposed compromises which the Designer regrets.
“I would have preferred to accentuate more the V at the rear window base, but this aesthetic preciosity would have reduced slightly in size the boot flap, thus making it more difficult to load bulky luggage or packages.”
A new approach to the Alfa grille
The front of a modern Alfa cannot but commence from the ninth power evolution of the Marque’s grille.
In the Visconti, it grows bolder in size and dominates, even more than in the past, the front end, whether due to the size of the vehicle or its flagship role.
In this interpretation, the powerful outline of the Alfa brand identity is crossed, as on the more recent Alfa series, by small chromed strips, which here, however, are more thick and farther away from one to the other.
The circular brand log is surmounted by a chromed eyelid that stretches across the engine bonnet pushing through a slender trimming – chromed as well – that runs up to the windshield base.
There are six air intakes on the front-end, two at the fender base, two in proximity to the lower part of the grille (which also house the fog lights), plus two on headlight inside rims.
However, more than just a question of aesthetics, these seemingly in excess air intakes are the result of the expertise gained during the industrial development of the Brera, which, in its preliminary definition, did not ensure enough airflow for a turbo-engine car.
Unlike the traditional 4-door three-volume sedans featuring a tapering engine bonnet, the Visconti has a short and compact front grille, which, rather than transuding grandeur, attempts to transmit a sense of power lying in wait to leap.
Also pushing through this front volume layout was compliance with pedestrianimpact new standards, scheduled for enactment part way 2005, which call for more vertical fronts and more raised engine bonnets.
Fresh and simple body side, with an elaborated tail-end full of surprise
The body side is incredibly fresh. The traditional outline that connects ideally the two wheelhouses is merely a sheet metal pleat, barely noticeable.
The roof seeks to maintain the most harmonious route possible, making almost imperceptible the “elbow” needed to allow the back window to be rolled down.
Without doubt, the low-lying and spinning tail-end is the more unusual aspect of the Visconti.
Indeed, from a three-quarter front view, the car looks just like a two-volume. Moving to view from the side, starting however to emerge – between the powerful relief of the high wide shoulder of the rear wheel-arches – is a real and proper boot, albeit presenting a downward curved line.
Accordingly, it is from the rear three-quarter view that the boot shows itself not just to be a hint of shadow, but a generous volume of space, allowing 458 liters of carrying capacity.
From a historic matrix standpoint, the shaping of the low, muscular and cut-off tail-end reflecting a dash of the “Fifties” is not so much an absolute novelty as the recapture and modernization of the solutions that made certain Alfa models, like the Pescara 6C, so famous.
Dominating the full view from rear are the mighty all-embracing optic units, which, with a circular motive designed inside, weave their way from the body side.
Along with the styling, beyond dream mechanics
From a mechanics stand point, the Visconti theorizes the use of a V6 3.2 liter JTS direct injection biturbo petrol engine, with 405 horsepower capability and 680 Nm pairing.
The 6-gear automatic gearbox provides for permanent all-wheel drive with rear wheel steering as well, whilst vehicle stability is ensured – other than by the VDC, an Alfa Romeo interpretation of the ESP – by use of stabilizer rod active control.
Comfort is assured by the suspension pneumatic springs, which also enable the electronic control of the height from the ground, whilst Brembo CCM ceramic composite plates pave the way towards exceptional braking performance.
Why the Visconti name.
For an upper lineage Alfa Romeo, Giugiaro wanted to reflect in the name a symbol of the Milan marque: the “biscione” that characterizes the marque. In fact, the Visconti ducal coat of arms is represented by a shield bearing a serpent with a babe in its mouth, surmounted by a crown. The Visconti family recollects that – back in year 800 – one of their ancestors had killed in the vicinity of Milan a serpent that poisoned infants just by breathing on them. The other half of the Alfa Romeo logo, the red cross set against a white background, stems on the other hand from the banner of the city of Milan.
2003 Alfa Romeo Kamal Concept
(from Alfa Romeo Press Release) Making its world debut in Geneva is the Kamal, an original model that marks an authentic conceptual and stylistic leap in the international motoring scene. New scenarios and brand new segments are opening up and Alfa wants to play a leading role.
It is easy to see just how much energy from the Alfa Romeo Business Unit went into one ambitious goal: to redefine the concept of "elegant sportiness", which has always been a distinctive trait of the brand, but giving it an entirely new and unique shape. Kamal calls on a complex, sophisticated interplay of allusions that on the one hand hark back to Alfa's glorious tradition in the sports car sector while on the other hand also including attractive ideas that look to the future, and new developments in the SUV - MPV segments in particular.
A mix of style and design with the concept of 'crossover' as the distinctive element. Kamal is a fusion of different vehicle types.
The model combines the off-road performance of an SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle) with the driving pleasure and handling characteristics of a compact Alfa Romeo, while at the same time offering a versatile, functional passenger cabin typical of a Multi Purpose Vehicle, due above all to the intelligent use of space and a wide range of seat configurations. And it all comes with unmistakable Alfa style, designed by the Arese "Centro Stile". The car would be just as much at home on the intricate streets of a European city as it would on a desert track or frontier landscape.
All this is packed into a car that measures 435 centimeters in length, 186 cm in width and 162 cm in height. For its size and features, the Kamal represents the idea of a vehicle that is unique in the world.
Underlining the exuberant nature of the car, the Kamal has been designed with the pick of current Alfa Romeo technology: a 250 bhp 3.2 V6 24V engine, electronically-controlled four-wheel drive with three differentials and a Torsen system, plus double wishbone front and rear suspension.
The body has four doors with an opening action like a 'book', while the rear window can be opened independently of the tailgate.
Not to mention the fact that the luggage compartment capacity is estimated to be in excess of 400 liters while a big central tunnel houses numerous compartments and drinks holders.
Other innovative features include a large, transparent roof and rear seats that can be stowed away out of sight. This gives a flat and easily accessible payload compartment. The car's all-terrain appearance, the chassis and engine protection, and the 20" wheels with special tread leave little room for doubt: the Kamal was created to handle any road situation or weather condition. Without ever having to compromise.
The Alfa Romeo Kamal excites the emotions, guarantees driving pleasure and makes you want to live life to the full, while it also satisfies a desire for unfettered travel that knows no boundaries of age or sex.
