Bonneville Alfas

[JHertzman@xxxxxxx]

In AD7-411 Fred Di Matteo asked "Who knows the facts about the  Alfa Romeo 164
world speed record in Utah for stock cars in that class?  Was it 171 miles per
hour?  And when?"

I had a vague recollection of reading about a Bonneville run in a 155 (with
impressive results) and being uncertain at the time just how stock it was (DTM
and all that flourishing at the time) but was assured that it was a genuine
road car, carefully tuned but not altered- but I didn't remember the 164. So I
asked Don Black, and he replied that they had gone out three years, each time
with a different model,  one year they had two Lancia cars, one year a 164 and
another year a 155. (From the Lancias and the 155 I assume that this was
primarily for European consumption, although he didn't say that.) He says that
the article in "Gente Motori" speaks of the 155 speed of 293.362 kph, and that
per his notes the best run was 182.292 mph, 2.58 mph over the old record for
class G/PS ( G/Production Supercharged.) in a 155 2000 Turbo 16v.

But what about the 164? Don says offhand he cannot find anything on the 164
run, but  believes he   wrote the speed  with a marker on the underside of the
bill of his cap, and that Il Quadrifoglio covered the 164 runs. So I went
looking in Il Quad (US edition, my run of EuroQuads is spotty) and did find a
note in the spring 1991 issue. The note, in a section edited by Michael
Hemsley (known to the digest as "Mike from Misissippi") does not say anything
about setting a record but does say that the car, driven by Gianni Marin,
editor of "Gente Motori", did a first run of 144.408 mph against a headwind
and a return run, windboosted against the rev limiter at better than 6500 rpm,
of 149.412 for a two-way average of 148.509 mph.

So- if there was a 171 mph run it was some other day, and probably with some
other gearing. I will keep an eye peeled.

Another note (same place, Winter 1995) mentioned Calvin Smith taking an F/MOD
record of 154.1 mph in the Southern California Timing Association at El Mirage
in a modified Ford roadster with Milano Verde engine and running gear.

Which reminds me that in 1992 the renowned Alfa mechanic (and digestisti)
Peter Krause of Raleigh, N.C. teamed up with Ralph Thomas of Highlands N. C.
to take Thomas' 1963 Fiat-Abarth 1000 GT Bialbero to the Bonneville Nationals
where they set a new World Record of 121.764 MPH in class I-GT, for 750-1000cc
unblown production cars with full road equipment. The car was dead stock
except for numbers, a set of Moon discs, and ve-e-ry careful assembly and
tuning- - insofar as a factory car built as a spare team car for the 1963
Targa Florio can be considered dead stock. Pretty little bugger.

Cheers, 

John H. 
Raleigh N.C.

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