Alfa Romeo GTA
Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA
The Alfa Romeo GTA was a sports car, the Alfa Romeo from 1965 to 1975 in the Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA versions and Alfa Romeo GTA 1300 Junior built. Just over 1000 pieces were produced especially for sports use.
The abbreviation GTA, the related multiple manufacturers throughout history, stands for Gran Turismo Alleggerita. Alleggerita means " Easier ". That is consistent lightweight technology with the aim retract success in touring car racing. The use of aluminum alloys and a Spartan interior design empty weight could be saved compared to the series 200 to 745 kg. The visible body panels were made of this Peraluman and fastened with rivets on the steel substructure; these rivets are clearly visible in faithfully preserved vehicles, for example along the roof edges behind the gutters.
GTA was made by the responsible for motorsport company Autodelta. Was also in the vehicle documents as manufacturer name Autodelta and not Alfa Romeo. Special customer needs were met surcharge.
GTA
The four-cylinder engine with a displacement of 1570 cc made 115 hp at 6000 rpm. In race trim 160-170 hp were possible, more let the engine as a sucker not to. Two dual carburetors, double overhead camshaft and a double ignition with two spark plugs per cylinder were among the technical characteristics of each GTA.
The chassis of GTA reported on significant deviations from the standard vehicles. In addition to made of magnesium rims also constructive changes were made. Since a significant lowering of the vehicles was essential for racing, the camber of the front axle changed very strongly negative in direction. To compensate for this, compared to the standard vehicle modified Achstraggelenke were used, which led the front wheels again with less negative camber. At the rear, the reaction triangle to guide the rear axle of aluminum instead of cast iron was made to save weight and strong perforated the trailing arm. The GTA tended in racing because of their high center because of the reaction triangle roll center on the rear axle to raise the inboard front, which can be seen on numerous images well. To reduce this effect, a sliding rear axle was developed by Autodelta for vessels operating there. In this, the transverse guide the rear axle is no longer guaranteed by the reaction triangle, but. Fixed on by a differential case rear-facing bolt that slides in a vertical guide rail, which is supported with extensive bracing against the body floor Thus, the roll center of the rear axle was lowered and reduces the tendency to lift the front wheel. However, this design limits the ground clearance is an extremely strong, so it is not suitable for road use. In addition, the design creates a very loud noise, because any movement of the rear axle communicates acoustically. In Race mode, the typical Klacker and percussion sounds were well heard and drowned on undulating stretches even the very loud engine noise.
GTA Junior
In 1968 the program to the GTA Junior with a 1300 cc engine ( 96 hp ) has been expanded to something more favorable price. In its class, the Junior over the years has been very successful in spite of strong competition. In the racing version Autodelta allowed 180 hp from the small motor. More than half of the 493 produced GTA Junior accounted for the racing version.
GTA SA
There were also a few from 1967 supercharged vehicles under the name of GTA SA with up to 220 hp, the engine charging was implemented via two driven by oil pressure turbocharger. The charger received the necessary flow rate of a crankshaft driven by the oversized oil pump. Due to this technical solution, the power output was much lower than in the later widespread turbochargers.
Since these vehicles were also occupied with the usual racing for vehicles with turbocharged engines Capacity Malus ( factor of 1.4 ), they had to start in the two-liter class. There, they proved to be no chance and were therefore invariably downgraded to "normal" GTA. The consumption was a problem; GTA SA should have required in racing up to 90 l/100 km.
GTAm
With the release of the 1750/2000 GT Veloce was sold under the name GTAm the enlarged 2.0 -liter engine. For the GTAm the name is to be found in 1750 GTAm, but he was always a two-liter engine, for which the "m = maggiorata (enlarged) " is used in the type designation. Steel plate was used again instead of lightweight construction. The mixture prepared a spica or a Lucas fuel injection system on .. With around 900 kg of the GTAm was a little heavier, so he was not quite so successful in racing, although the power to weight ratio was considerably improved and was on par with the competition. Overall, about 40 GTAm were produced. The engine of the GTAm differs significantly from the later two-liter production engine. When GTAm distance between the holes was adopted by the 1600 engine block, which is why the four liners had to be manufactured in one piece, because there was not enough room for separate liners between the paired -scale cylinders 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. In addition, the GTAm had a cylinder head with a much smaller valve angle (46 instead of 80 degrees) than the smaller engines. This head was used as a template for later Twin Spark - series engine, but different from, the cylinder spacing.
Sporting successes
Right at the beginning, the GTA proven in motorsports to be superior. GTA won In 1966 alone, more than 300 victories. They won the European Touring Car Championship in 1967, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1978 and 1979. The Alfa Romeo GTA was very successful in motorsport over about a decade. Furthermore, among more than two dozen national championships and many more titles to the success story of this extraordinary vehicle. His pilots included, inter alia, Andrea de Adamich, Jochen Rindt, Ignazio Giunti and Nanni Galli, in Germany, inter alia, Jochen Mass, Harald Ertl and Gerhard students ( nightclub Dorian Gray, Frankfurt / M. ). For the brand of Alfa GTA was a figurehead whose effect continues today.
2002 was Alfa Romeo revived the tradition with the Alfa 156 GTA again, the 2003 Alfa 147 GTA followed. These models, however, are not easier than others.