level Alfa playing field

["Watry, Andrew (LNG-SFR)" <Andrew.Watry@domain.elided>]

Handicapping by weight and power are not new to Alfa, or any other car
company, really. In the original Trans Am 2.5 Challenge, I believe Alfa
carried a weight penalty compared to Datsun and BMW because of its DOHC
engine, compared to their SOHC engines.  And still out-dragged them on the
straights.  Road & Track covered this in detail at the time, but I don't
have the issue handy.  Datsun may have gotten a further weight break because
I think that engine isn't cross-flow like the BMW and Alfa. Maybe I'm
misremembering.
Also, when the Dodge 426 Hemi came out, after a season or two of dominance
in Grand National events (now Winston Cup) that NASCAR imposed such a
relatively great intake restriction on it that it was no longer competitive
compared to wedge and other valve-design engines.  

Andrew Watry
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided