Alfa Romeo GTA

Infobox Automobile


"Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint 1600 GTA Stradale"
name = Alfa Romeo GTA
aka = Giulia Sprint 1600 GTA
manufacturer = Alfa Romeo
production = 1965-1969
body_style = 2-door coupe
class = Sports car
layout = FR layout
engine = 1.6 L Straight-4
predecessor = Giulietta Coupé
successor =
similar = The Alfa Romeo GTA is a coupé automobile manufactured by the Italian manufacturer Alfa Romeo from 1965 to 1971. It was made for racing and road use.

In 1962, the successor for the very popular Giulietta series was introduced. This car was the Alfa Romeo Giulia, internally called the "Series 105". The coupé of the 105 series, used the shortened floorpan from the Giulia Berlina and was designed by Bertone. The name of the car evolved from Giulia Sprint GT to Giulia Sprint and to GTJ (Junior) and GTV (Veloce) in the late 1960s.

At the time, Alfa was very active in motorsport. Autodelta, the racing division of Alfa, developed a car for competition that closely resembled to the roadgoing model. These cars were named GTA instead of GT, the 'A' standing for "Alleggerita", Italian for lightweight. The GTA was produced first in 1965 as a 1600 (1570 cc) and later as a 1300 Junior version. The GTA automobiles were also manufactured in either street (Stradale) or pure race (Corsa) trim.

The GTA had aluminium panels instead of steel, alloy wheels, clear plastic windows, an aluminium rear upper control arm, different door handles and quarter window mechanisms, and lightweight interior trim. The engine had a new 8-spark plug (twin spark, twin plug) cylinderhead, 45 mm carburetors instead of 40 mm and magnesium camshaft cover, sump and timing cover. In stradale form this car boasted approximately Auto PS|115 (up from Auto PS|106). In full race form this engine could produce up to Auto PS|170. The 1600 GTA did not have a brake booster and had a thicker radiator than the standard vehicle. For Homologation 500 cars were made for racing and road use.

GTA 1300 Junior

Infobox Automobile generation
name=Alfa Romeo GTA Junior
production=1968–1972
body_style=2-door coupe
engine=1.3 L straight-4

The GTA 1300 Junior (1968–1972) had an 1300 cc engine that was based on the 1600 engine but with a short stroke crankshaft. The GTA Junior in stradale form did not have many of the light weight features of the 1600 GTA, such as the plastic windows, magnesium engine components and alloy wheels. At start the engine produced Auto PS|96 but was soon raised to Auto PS|110. Autodelta prepared fuel injected racing cars had Auto PS|165. 450 GTA Juniors were produced.

GTAm

Infobox Automobile generation
name=Alfa Romeo GTAm
production=1970–1971
body_style=2-door coupe
engine=2.0 L straight-4

The GTAm (1970–1971) could produce up to Auto PS|240 in the 2000 cc car—a car usually related to the GTA, but unlike the GTA derived from the GTV 1750, the 2000GTAm was created in 1968: There are two schools of thought about the "Am", neither one of them ever being confirmed by the factory: one says Alleggerita Maggiorata ("lightned enlarged", in Italian), the other America Maggiorata. Most likely the latter is closest, since the car body did not contain any aluminum part and therefore was not "Allegerita", and the base was a GTV 1750 with American injection system for homologation purposes for the American market. SPICA was the injection system brand. The 1750 (actually 1779 cc) was bored to 1985 cc to meet the 2000 cc limitation of its class to the maximum, so explaining what "maggiorata" stands for.

GTA-SA

Infobox Automobile generation
name=Alfa Romeo GTA-SA
production=1967–1968
body_style=2-door coupe
engine=1.6 L straight-4 superchargedThe Giulia 1600 GTA-SA (sovralimentato _en. supercharged) (1967–1968) was very rare racing car, which was built only 10 copies. Car featured 1570 cc twinspark engine with two oildriven superchargers and it could produce up to Auto PS|250 at 7500 rpm.

Racing success

Both types the GTA/ GTA 1300 Junior and the GTAm were very successful, these cars were led to numerous victories. In the opening season at Monza, they won the first seven places. Andrea de Adamich claimed the title in 1966. The GTA won also the inaugural Sports Car Club of America's Trans-Am championship in 1966. Later on, the 1750 GTAm and the 2000 GTAm cars were led to victory by Toine Hezemans, who won the 24 hours of Francorchamps with this car. These cars won hundreds of races before competition grew stronger in 1971. But the Giulia sometimes kept up with much bigger engined cars such as the 3 litre BMW CSL.

Technical data [Alfa Romeo Jahrbuch Nr. 5, ISBN 3-89880-348-1]

Modern Alfa Romeos

The designation GTA is now used on the highest performance versions of Alfa Romeo road cars, such as the 147 and now discontinued 156. These cars are powered by V6 engines giving them the most power of the cars in the model range, however despite the GTA name, they are generally the heaviest cars in the range, due to having large engines and little if any weight saving empolyed in their construction.

See also

*Alfa Romeo in motorsport
*Alfa Romeo in Formula One
*Alfa Corse

Notes

References

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External links

* [http://www.touringcarracing.net/ History of the European Touring Car racing championship - Cars and Results]