Re: Mid-engined Alfetta Sprint from Oz?

[Nathan Wong <alfacors@xxxxxxxxx>]

>Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 15:16:25 -0500 (EST)
>From: "IDLEMAN, CHRIS x330" <BREEZE/BPOST/CIDLEMAN%Breeze-Eastern@domain.elided>
>Subject: Mid-engined Alfetta Sprint from Oz?
>
>A few years ago I saw a short TV piece on someone in Australia who had
>taken an Alfetta Sprint (?), stripped it out and installed a 6-cylinder
>Alfa engine amidships driving the rear wheels.  I don't recall whether it
>used a shortened drivetrain or an entire front-wheel-drive running gear
>grafted into the back.  I do remember that it required lots of internal
>bracing and a big hole to be cut where the rear seat used to be, and that
>the guy who built it was looking into producing more vehicles for sale.
>I haven't heard or seen anything about this since the original broadcast
>- -- anyone know anything about this car?

The car was actually based on the AlfaSUD Sprint. Which was a coupe shaped
rather like the Alfetta GTV, but on AlfaSud mechanicals.

The cars were built by a gentleman named Paul Halstead in Caloundra, in
Queensland. Originally bought as COMPLETE Sprints, they were stripped of all
running gear, and interior etc etc to almost bare shells. These excess parts
were presumably sold off (or someone has a lot of Sprint parts somewhere!).
Barry Lock, an ex-Formula One engineer designed new wishbone suspension for
the car as well as relocating the engine to the middle of the car, approx
where the rear setas were. Originally the engines were to tbe the 2.5L Alfa
Romeo V6. But sourcing these engines was going to be a problem, so the
decision was made to go to the newer 3L version. Getting these from Alfa
Romeo in Italy was aproblem, so the makers went with local horsepower and
knowhow. The engine was a 5L Holden V8, producing 184kW in initial form (for
those familiar with oz, the engines were the same HSV engine as the HSV VL
Commodore SS Group A). In its final form the engine had somewhere near 250kW.
The body carried over few panels the same. The front and rear wheelarch
panels were widened and incorporated Ferrari Testarossa style air intakes.
The front of the car retained its 4 headlights, but had the grille and
suyrrounds integrated into a complete unit to blend with the styling of the
new side panels. The rear originally had a small "kick" for a spoiler, much
like an Alfetta GTV, this was later changed to have a huge "hoop" style wing
ala Ferrari F40. Brakes were huge 13" discs on the front supplied by Brembo,
with matching calipers. The wheels were about 17x9" on the front and 17x12"
on the rear.
Performance was extremely good. Top speed was about 240kmh, with the 1/4
mile time being in the high 12sec bracket.
The interior had Recaro seats, Momo steering wheel and VDO gauges, and the
upholstery was done in expensive leather. It was certainly not a bare bones
racecar. 
Now and then one of them comes on sale for around the AUS$80,000 mark. A
bargain for a unique car and bullet performance. I believe less than 30 cars
were made in total, in fact the mark may even be less than 20.

- --
Nathan Wong             http://www.nectar.com.au/~alfacors
                      Super Touring - Club Cars - Alfa Romeo
AlfaCors@domain.elided       V8Supercars - Formula One - CART

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