Alfa Romeo Disco Volante

Alfa Romeo Disco Volante

The Alfa Romeo Disco Volante was a racing sports car of Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo.

Background

Because of the unusual shape it attracted a lot of attention in her time. It was given its name because of the original two-seater body that were designed by Orazio Satta Puliga, development manager came in Alfa Romeo, along with the designer Carlo Chiti and was then built at the company Touring. The Italian word "Disco Volante " means in German "Flying Saucer." The aerodynamic shape was at that time with a drag coefficient of 0.30 exceptionally well. In 1952, six DiscoVolante were first produced. Two of them had a frame with a short wheelbase and a 4- cylinder engine with 1900 cc capacity. The top speed of the car was 225 km / h

Motorsport

The car was developed in 1953 and Alfa Romeo now wanted to achieve with great dedication victories. A whole team with four coupes was registered for the Mille Miglia. A car was equipped with a 4 - cylinder engine with two liters of displacement, the other three had six cylinders with displacement of 3.6 liters. The 2- liter cars were at the start of the race, the other three took turns in the lead of the race. However, an engine failure stopped the first car and a loss of oil in the gearbox the second. The third, driven by Juan Manuel Fangio car suffered some damage to the steering and therefore could not take the curves at full speed. Therefore, Fangio was overtaken by a Ferrari and reached the target in only second. Also in the 24 - hour race at Spa and Le Mans some Disco Volante were at the start, but this also had no success. The only victory that a Disco Volante Alfa Romeo import, was a modest victory at the Grand Prix Super Corte Maggiore.

Disco Volante Spider

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