The
Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 was a
sports racingSports car racing is a form of circuit auto racing with automobiles that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built or related to road-going sports cars....
prototypeA prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
raced by the
Alfa RomeoDuring its history, Alfa Romeo has competed successfully in many different categories of motorsport, including Grand Prix motor racing, Formula One, sportscar racing, touring car racing and rallies. They have competed both as a constructor and an engine supplier, via works entries and private...
factory-backedFactory-backed is a term commonly used in motorsports to describe a sponsored racing team, car, motorcycle or driver that competes with official sanction and financial support, or "backing" from a manufacturer. As motorsports competition is an expensive endeavor, some degree of factory support is...
team between 1967 and 1977. These cars took part for
Sport Cars World ChampionshipThe World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance and road racing events in Europe and North America with dozens of gentleman drivers at the grid,...
,
Nordic Challenge CupNordic Challenge Cup was the predecessor of the popular and long-running sports car racing series Interserie, which is known as the "European Can-Am" and still exists today. NCC consisted of only three races in 1969 and was replaced by Interserie in 1970. It is now mostly remembered for the large...
,
InterserieInterserie is the name of a European-based motorsport series started in 1970 that allows for a wide variety of racing cars from various eras and series to compete with less limited rules than in other series....
and
CanAmThe Canadian-American Challenge Cup or Can-Am, was an SCCA/CASC sports car racing series from 1966 to 1986.-History:Can-Am started out as a race series for Group 7 sports racers with two races in Canada and four races in the United States of America . The series was initially sponsored by Johnson...
series. A small number of road going cars were derived from it in 1967, called
Alfa Romeo 33 StradaleThe Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale is an extremely rare road car built by Alfa Romeo of Italy. Only 18 are reported to have been made, plus three design studies based on the 33 Stradale the 33.2, Iguana and Carabo...
.
Alfa Romeo Tipo 33
The successor of the 33TT12 1976 was the 33SC12, SC referring to
SCatolato, a boxed chassis. The 3.0 L
flat-12A flat-12 is an internal combustion engine in a flat configuration, having 12 cylinders.The flat-12 is wider than a V12...
engine now produced 520 bhp. With this car Alfa Romeo won the 1977 World Championship for Sports Cars, the 33SC12s driven by
Arturo MerzarioArturo Francesco "Little Art" Merzario is a former racing driver from Italy. He participated in 85 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on July 15, 1972...
,
Jean-Pierre JarierJean-Pierre Jacques Jarier is a French Grand Prix racing driver, now retired. He was born at Charenton-le-Pont, near Paris, and is regarded as one of the finest drivers never to win a Grand Prix....
and
Vittorio BrambillaVittorio Brambilla was a Formula One driver from Italy who raced for the March, Surtees and Alfa Romeo teams. Particularly adept at driving in wet conditions, his nickname was "The Monza Gorilla", due to his often overly aggressive driving style and sense of machismo.-Career:Born in the town of...
having won every race in the series. At the
SalzburgringThe Salzburgring is a permanent race track in Austria, east of Salzburg.-History:This race track had been opened in 1968. Lying in a narrow, alpine valley, it has a rather simple layout, with two long straights plus the sweeping and fast "Fahrerlagerkurve" at the bottom, and the narrow...
the car reached an average speed of 203.82 km/h (126.6 mph); in that same race Arturo Merzario also tested a 2134 cc turbocharged SC12 producing 640 bhp finishing second with that car. The SC12 Turbo was Alfa's first twin turbocharged V12-engine and it was introduced around same time as Renault's Formula One turbo engine. In the Alfa Romeo engine each bank was fed with its own turbocharger; that feature was adopted by many racecar makers in the following years.
The
flat-12A flat-12 is an internal combustion engine in a flat configuration, having 12 cylinders.The flat-12 is wider than a V12...
engine was later used on Brabham-Alfa BT45,
BT46The Brabham BT46 was a Formula One racing car, designed by Gordon Murray for the Brabham team, owned by Bernie Ecclestone, for the 1978 Formula One season. The car featured several radical design elements, the most obvious of which was the use of flat panel heat exchangers on the bodywork of the...
and
Alfa Romeo 177The Alfa Romeo 177 was a Formula One car used by the Alfa Romeo team during the 1979 Formula One season, debuting at the 1979 Belgian Grand Prix.The car's name is derived from the fact that the design was commenced in 1977....
F1 cars.
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