Overview

The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione is a high performance sports car produced by the Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo, division of the Fiat Group. The car was previewed by a concept car presented at the 2003 Frankfurt Motor Show, with the official production model announced during the Mondial de l'Automobile 2006.

The Competizione name makes refferance to the 948 6C 2500 Competizione that competed in 1949 and 1950 Mille Miglia race, finishing third both times. The styling of the car was done by Wolfgang Josef Egger and echoes the styling of Alfas of the 1950s and 1960s. The body shell was made of carbon fiber, produced by ATR Group, and came in only four colors: Alfa Red, Competition Red, black or yellow.

The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione was the successor of the high performance limited-production sports car Alfa Romeo SZ (Sprint Zagato) built between 1989 and 1991.

Alfa Romeo produced between 2009 and 2010 a roadster version of the Comptetizion coupe. The car was previewed by a concept car, presented at the 2005 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, that was created by Carrozzeria Marazzi.

Variants

The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione was offered with one engine, a 4.7 liter V8 derived from a Ferrari/Maserati engine. The engine is capable to generate 450 hp @ 7000 rpm and a maximum torque of 354 lb/ft @ 4750 rpm (with 80% of the torque being available from 2500 rpm). The engine is mated to a six-speed transaxle gearbox with computerized gear selection put in action by the levers behind the steering wheel and it can run in five modes: Manual-Normal; Manual-Sport; Automatic-Normal; Automatic-Sport and Wet modes; in the Sport mode the gearbox can shift in just 175 milliseconds. Also the 8C Competizione features a limited slip differential at the rear wheels were the drive is.

Both at the front and a the rear the car features independent duble whisbone suspensions. The stopping power is provided by servo assisted anti lock braking system (ABS) ventilated disks both at the front and rear; the front brakes measured 14.93 inch (380 mm) and the rear brakes measure 14.17 inch (360 mm). The brakes can bring the car from 60 mph to a dead stop in 105 feats (32 meters).

In terms of performance the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione can sprint from zero to 60 mph in a fast 4.0 seconds, cove a quarter mile from a standing start in just 12.2 seconds and get to a factory declared top speed of 181 miles per hour (290 km/h) (according to the Road & Track magazine the car could do 190 mph (306 km/h). As for the fuel consumption, the 8C Competizione returns 14.9 miles to the gallon in combined city-highway driving.

The Alfa Romeo 8C Spider featured the same engine, the same suspension, and Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes. The car featured a two-layer electrically operated fabric roof. The performances were similar to the Competizione, not to 60 mph takes 4.2 seconds, the quarter mile takes 12.4 seconds and the top speed declared by Alfa is 180 mph making it just a bit slower than the Alfa 8C coupe.

Both the coupe and the spider measured 172.5 inch (4,381 mm) in length, 74.6 inch (1,894 mm) in width, in height the coupe measured 52.8 inch (1,341 mm), were the spider measured 51.5 inch (1,308 mm). For both cars the wheelbase measured 104.2 inches (2,646 mm). The standard wheels measured 245/35 R20 at the front and 285/35 R20 at the rear, mounted on perforated rims in fluid molded aluminum.

Additional Information

Alfa Romeo produced the 8C Comptizione in only 500 units sold only on a few markets. The USA market received 90 units, Italy received 80 units, Germany received 80 units, Japan received 70 units, France received 40 units, United Kingdom received 40 units, Switzerland received 35 units, and the remaining 65 units were sold on other markets. The very fist American marketed Alfa Romeo 8C was purchased by film director and stock exchange magnate James Glickenhaus, who also owns the bespoke Enzo-based Ferrari P4/5.

The Alfa Romeo 8C Spider was also built in only 500 units, each one sold for US $241,000 (€175,000) excluding taxes. Only 35 out of the 500 were allocated to be sold on the U.S. market.

An 8C Competizione was featured on the main sculpture at the 2010 Goodwood Festival of Speed. One of the two remaining Alfa Romeo P2s was also part of the display.