alfa 8c35

Flying With Pegasus: The continuing story of Alfa Romeo #50013

August 25, 2020 By pete

By Peter Darnall

Any of the racing Alfa Romeos from the decade of the 1930s will fetch a king’s ransom in today’s collector market. Put a Tipo C on the block and the opening bids would normally be associated with high-end real estate properties. When the rarest of them all, a 1935 8C-35 with matching engine and chassis number 50013, was offered by Bonhams in 2013, the winning bid was the highest price ever paid for a single seat racer! [Read more…] about Flying With Pegasus: The continuing story of Alfa Romeo #50013

Alfa Romeo 8C35 Grand Prix Cars: For the Record

July 2, 2019 By pete

By Pete Vack
Montage above by Peter Darnall

From the VeloceToday Archives, January 2017

Hans Ruesch and the Alfa Tipo 8C35

January 24, 2017 By pete

Montage image from photographer Piergiorgio Bardi aka Häaden 2 Como, Italy

Story and Montage by Peter Darnall
Additional photos from the collection of Dale LaFollette

Alfa Romeo Tipo C #50013 . . . The Hans Ruesch Era

The 1936 racing season brought victories for the Tipo C Alfa Romeos against the German Silver Arrows at Penya Rhin, Milan, and Budapest. The new monoposto showed it could compete with the Teutonic rivals—at least on tight winding courses when pushed to the absolute limit by Tazio Nuvolari. Italian hopes were high as the cars lined up for the start of the Coppa Ciano on August 2, 1936. No one could have known at that time, but Nuvolari was about to put on a virtuoso performance which would rank as one of the greatest drives of all time. [Read more…] about Hans Ruesch and the Alfa Tipo 8C35

Alfa Romeo 8C35 Grand Prix Cars

January 17, 2017 By pete

The Editor Tracks the three 8C35 Alfas
Montage above by Peter Darnall

One might wonder why we are so interested in the Alfa 8C35 cars. An old saying goes that history is written by the survivors; and indeed, this is the case for the 8C35. But in addition to being survivors, the various and sundry 8C35s running today are examples of the only Grand Prix car to give the combined Silver Arrows a real run for the money. Given the might of the Mercedes and Auto-Union teams, the Alfa Romeo 8C35 had a brief but reasonably successful two seasons in Europe. Designed to be fitted with either a V12 engine, or an 8 cylinder, the 8C35 used a longer version of the famous Alfa 8C 2.3 engine, running almost concurrently with the initially unreliable V12 (12C36) while it was being developed. In 1936 Tazio Nuvolari drove the 8C35 to great victories at Coppa Ciano and the Hungarian GP. In our humble opinion, although Vittorio Jano’s V12 (actually designed by Bruno Trevisan) may have led to his downfall in October of 1937, the 8C and 12 C are underrated and much more successful contenders than results might render. And speaking of results, at the bottom of this article we’ve reproduced the Alfa racing results from the years 1935 to 1937 for your perusal.

As VeloceToday is currently publishing a series of short articles that often include these cars, (read A Most Unusual Meeting) we thought this an opportune time to provide a brief history of the 8C35 chassis known today.

Of the six 8C35s listed by Fusi, three can be determined to still exist in some form: [Read more…] about Alfa Romeo 8C35 Grand Prix Cars

Racing the Alfa Romeo 8c35

April 11, 2013 By pete

Color photos by www.rprincephoto.com

By Pete Vack

This article originally appeared in VeloceToday on September 10th, 2008. The cars featured here may have changed hands since.

Peter Greenfield is in the enviable position of owning and racing not one, but two pre-war Alfa Romeo Grand Prix cars. Furthermore, chassis 50013 which he acquired from Peter Giddings in 2005, is the only complete, original Tipo 8c35 in the world.

He keeps the crown jewel–50013– for very special events such as the upcoming Laguna Seca event at Monterey where he will have it out for the Shell Ferrari Historics. For the race at Mt. Tremblant and most other vintage races, Peter drives a ‘clone’, which is referred to as 8c35 50015C, the “C” standing for clone. This car was built up from the parts of a vehicle obtained from South America, and uses an engine found by Peter Giddings years ago. Giddings explains: “The clone’s “C” section chassis came out of Argentina, and Paul Grist built a car up around it, using the transaxle out of the dismantled Rex Mays Tipo C (#50012), and fitted with engine #50015, which engine I used to own when it was shoe-horned into a 1932 Alfa Romeo Monza!” Giddings says “shoe-horned” because whilst the 2.3 8c and 3.8 8c engines look similar, the dual supercharged 3.8 is somewhat longer than the single supercharged 2.3.

Apparently the actual 8C35 chassis numbered 50015 has long disappeared, so something useful was done with the engine, based on the fact that Grist had access to 50013 and used it for comparisons. Thus, 50015 “C” was born.

Peter Giddings in the ex Rex Mays car, 50012, leads Greenfield's clone at Tremblant in 2008.

[Read more…]

Alfa’s Pre War Titans, Part I

August 20, 2008 By pete

Rex Mays, Peter Giddings and the Alfa Tipo C 8C35

By Pete Vack

Color photos by www.rprincephoto.com

alfa 8c35.jpg
Giddings at Mt Tremblant with the Tipo C, 8C35 Grand Prix car.

Given the might of the Mercedes and Auto-Union teams, the Alfa Romeo 8C35 had a brief but reasonably successful two seasons in Europe. Designed to be fitted with either a V12 engine, or an 8 cylinder, the 8C35 used a longer version of the famous Alfa 8C 2.3 engine, running almost concurrently with the initially unreliable V12 (12C36) while it was being developed. In 1936 Tazio Nuvolari drove the 8C35 to great victories at Coppa Ciano and the Hungarian GP.
[Read more…] about Alfa’s Pre War Titans, Part I