To mark its 110th birthday, Alfa Romeo will amaze its fans and all motorists with a vehicle that fully represents a return to the brand’s origins, while paying tribute to one of the most emblematic vehicles of Alfa Romeo: Giulia GTA.
The acronym GTA stands for “Gran Turismo Alleggerita” (alleggerita being the Italian term for “lightened”), and it originated in 1965 with the Giulia Sprint GTA, a specific version derived from the Sprint GT, designed as a sports car and presented at the Amsterdam Motor Show staged that same year. The body of the Giulia Sprint GT was replaced with an identical version in aluminum, for a total weight of 745 kg compared to the 950 kg of the road version. A second variation concerned the 1570 cm3 twin cam engine which, in the road configuration, with dual ignition, reached an impressive output of 115 hp. The technicians of Autodelta, the official Alfa Romeo racing team, chose it as the reference vehicle for the Touring category, and developed it to achieve a maximum output of 170 hp. The model’s success in competitions was then immediate: three consecutive “Challenge Europeo Marche”, tens of national championships and hundreds of individual races in every part of the world. And the way it ramped up the image of the entire range was also impressive: Giulia Sprint GTA expressed the claim “A victory a day in your everyday car” to perfection. From then on, the GTA made a name for itself as the undisputed icon of Alfa Romeo sportiness and the acronym GTA became so successful that the public soon associated it with all the sporty Alfa Romeo vehicles in general.
The work done to reduce vehicle weight has been meticulous, and it has reaped particularly impressive results in the GTA. Here the total weight reduction amounts to 100 kg, thanks to the adoption of lightweight materials such as carbon fiber for the drive shaft, hood, roof, front bumper, front wheel arches, rear wheel arch inserts and the shell of the specific sporting seats with 6-point Sabelt safety belts. Further, lightweight aluminum is used in the engine, doors and suspension systems, and various other composite materials are used throughout. For instance, Lexan – a unique polycarbonate resin that comes straight from the world of motorsports – has been used in the side and rear window frames, further contributing to the weight reduction. The result is a weight set around 1,520 kg which, combined with the increase in power to 540 hp, brings the weight/power ratio to an excellent level, 2.82 kg/hp, making Giulia GTA capable of delivering extraordinary performance. Its acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h is lightning fast – thanks to the Launch Control system, the chronometer stops at just 3.6 seconds. The Giulia GTAm is the two-seater configuration approved for on-road use, with front splitter and larger visible rear wing in carbon, the ultimate expression of sportiness. In the GTA version, with the same power, Giulia offers four seats, no rear roll-bar; spoiler and splitter optimized for daily use on the road; the same door panels, seats and windows as those of the Giulia Quadrifoglio. The result is a veritable supercar for everyday use.
Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA and its extreme version, Giulia GTAm, will be built in a limited edition of only 500 units in total, all numbered and certified and ready to take up their place alongside their 1965 forerunner as one of the most sought-after collector’s items. They are not only magnificent to look at, but they are also ready to unleash impressive power on the road, usable thanks to a series of sophisticated technical solutions.
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04 March 2020
