Mean looking 620 hp Alfa 164 Procar. And much faster than it looks..
Story and photography by Roberto Motta, archive photography by Automobilismo Storico Alfa Romeo Centro Documentazione
The history of the 164 Pro-Car has its origin in 1985, when Alfa Romeo decided to return to the Formula 1 World Championship, and the management decided that they would build a new 3.5 liter engine, which would be installed in the French F1 Ligier.
At this time, Pino D’Agostino, one of the world’s most famous engineers, was convinced that it was possible to balance a 72 degree V10 engine. He reasoned that if 8 cylinders had been the best engine in the Formula 3000, a V10 would be the best engine for the new Formula 1. After receiving the necessary authorization, in November 1985 the V10 project officially began.
Engineer D’Agostino was the head of this project and had a great team: Bodini, Bordoni, Flor, Giani, Mazzoleni, Rossetti, Teruzzi and Turina. In an amazingly short time, the Alfa Romeo V1035 (10 cylinders, 3.5 liters) engine became the first modern F1 V10 engine (Honda presented a model of the engine only one month after the introduction of the Italian V10 while Renault produced its V10 the following year).