Discussion
CarreraLightweightRacing said:
Hi Pericoloso, I only collected the car from Sweden I actually live in the Moselle valley in Germany, about 40mins south of the Nürburgring. Where is this Auto Italia?
Looking at your garage .I realised all your other cars are German reg.....Auto Italia is at Brooklands ,Surrey ,always on the Saturday before the Mayday bank holiday.
check the website early next year for confirmation......
Thanks for your comments guys
Now found a solution to the parking issue so that means I can crack on with the Alfa. I basically have to turn a race car into a road car; not as simple as one would assume but for me one of the most enjoyable aspects of the ownership experience is finding solutions to engineering problems and in this case, hitting the right balance between full on crazy (as now), blended with a touch of manners and class befitting for the gentlemen racer type: NVH, rattles, fuel smells (via openings), completely different chassis set-up and geo, bodywork changes, paint, welding, complete interior redesign, windows, fitting handbrake, sliding rather than fixed seats etc.
Well that’s the plan anyway so we’ll see how it all develops over the course of the next few winter months…
A few pictures from recent progress. I also took it out for my first drive the other day, brutal in every sense
Now found a solution to the parking issue so that means I can crack on with the Alfa. I basically have to turn a race car into a road car; not as simple as one would assume but for me one of the most enjoyable aspects of the ownership experience is finding solutions to engineering problems and in this case, hitting the right balance between full on crazy (as now), blended with a touch of manners and class befitting for the gentlemen racer type: NVH, rattles, fuel smells (via openings), completely different chassis set-up and geo, bodywork changes, paint, welding, complete interior redesign, windows, fitting handbrake, sliding rather than fixed seats etc.
Well that’s the plan anyway so we’ll see how it all develops over the course of the next few winter months…
A few pictures from recent progress. I also took it out for my first drive the other day, brutal in every sense
I thought it about time for an update on this project. Again purists do not look down below
Interior is now pretty much sorted in terms of NVH, test drive will confirm but a lot of attention has gone into sound proofing, carpeting, sliding seats, sealing, and basically making it a far more friendly place to be
Next up major changes to the bodywork and external appearance. Panel beating, welding, painting, wheels, new arches, new ground effect panels made, most crazy race-car aero and diffuser removed revealing the beautiful classic ‘Bertone’ lines:
After the mid section and diffuser were gone the car was left looking like this; front end still very agressive:
So decided to ditch the front end and make some new panels
I was also very lucky that the original owner contacted me sending pictures from back in the 70’s
Due to the F1 injector set-up not really being a solution for a road car (Difficult to start or idle when fuel is being squirted onto the face of a butterfly 20cm from the combustion chamber), I have had to completely redesign the injection and throttle system also the car is mapped for E85 fuel so the injectors also need to be changed for normal fuel. Lots of head scratching to find a workable solution but I’m lucky to have a dream workshop at work with every machine you could every think of, so a lathe and milling machine came in very handy for this phase:
Following the carbon airbox removal (4 hours alone due to inaccessible fasteners…) Started to take to measurements
Found some lovely short 440cc injectors only 38mm o-ring to o-ring. Due to all the redesign issues clearance was the biggest headache. I’m literally talking only 1mm or less is some instances between fuel rail and throttle linkages etc. Anyway what’s the first thing you do when you received some lovely new car parts; chop them up of course, so straight onto the lathe they go
Next up I needed to fabricate some parts to relocate the throttle assembly so an inch thick slab of aircraft aluminium was put to good use
A few of the newly fabricated parts
Throttle assembly part now made
In CLR fashion I decided they could do with trimming down somewhat
Throttle assembled
Other new parts modified/fabricated
Even made a loom mounting bracket out of titanium
Finally very close to resolving all the design issues now
Interior is now pretty much sorted in terms of NVH, test drive will confirm but a lot of attention has gone into sound proofing, carpeting, sliding seats, sealing, and basically making it a far more friendly place to be
Next up major changes to the bodywork and external appearance. Panel beating, welding, painting, wheels, new arches, new ground effect panels made, most crazy race-car aero and diffuser removed revealing the beautiful classic ‘Bertone’ lines:
After the mid section and diffuser were gone the car was left looking like this; front end still very agressive:
So decided to ditch the front end and make some new panels
I was also very lucky that the original owner contacted me sending pictures from back in the 70’s
Due to the F1 injector set-up not really being a solution for a road car (Difficult to start or idle when fuel is being squirted onto the face of a butterfly 20cm from the combustion chamber), I have had to completely redesign the injection and throttle system also the car is mapped for E85 fuel so the injectors also need to be changed for normal fuel. Lots of head scratching to find a workable solution but I’m lucky to have a dream workshop at work with every machine you could every think of, so a lathe and milling machine came in very handy for this phase:
Following the carbon airbox removal (4 hours alone due to inaccessible fasteners…) Started to take to measurements
Found some lovely short 440cc injectors only 38mm o-ring to o-ring. Due to all the redesign issues clearance was the biggest headache. I’m literally talking only 1mm or less is some instances between fuel rail and throttle linkages etc. Anyway what’s the first thing you do when you received some lovely new car parts; chop them up of course, so straight onto the lathe they go
Next up I needed to fabricate some parts to relocate the throttle assembly so an inch thick slab of aircraft aluminium was put to good use
A few of the newly fabricated parts
Throttle assembly part now made
In CLR fashion I decided they could do with trimming down somewhat
Throttle assembled
Other new parts modified/fabricated
Even made a loom mounting bracket out of titanium
Finally very close to resolving all the design issues now
Edited by CarreraLightweightRacing on Saturday 25th January 19:07
arguti said:
I am very impressed by your ability to design, fabricate and improve things.
IMHO the bodywork looks much improved - did you consider the widebody arches as per GTaM?
Thanks Arguti, I considered all options regarding the arches. I'm really not a fan of the GTaM variants for two reasons: one, a bit like the 993GT2, the whole rivetted on look ruins the natural lines of the car, the second is they just look a bit bulbous to me, kind of Beluga whale proportions. The arches I've used are a very high quality made from ABS with perfect dimensions for this car. Obviously looks are in the eye of the beholder so it won't be the same for everyone, but for me they are the best looking option which just seem to add a bit of "I mean business" without going overboard or ruining overall Bertone lines.IMHO the bodywork looks much improved - did you consider the widebody arches as per GTaM?
Edited by CarreraLightweightRacing on Friday 24th January 20:46
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