Autodelta SpA was the name of

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a subsidiary of Stellantis. The company was founded on 24 June 1910, in Milan, Italy. "Alfa" is an acronym of its founding name, "Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili." "A ...

's competition department. Established in 1961 as Auto-Delta, the company was started by

Carlo Chiti Carlo Chiti (19 December 1924 – 7 July 1994) was an Italian racing car and engine designer best known for his long association with Alfa Romeo's racing department. He also worked for Ferrari and was involved in the design of the Ferrari 156 Sha ...

and Lodovico Chizzola, former

and Ferrari engineers. The team was officially made a department of Alfa Romeo on March 5, 1963. The team was originally based in Feletto Umberto,

Udine Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...

, before moving closer to Alfa Romeo's facilities in Settimo Milanese in 1964 and officially becoming Autodelta SpA. This allowed Autodelta to use the

Balocco Balocco is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Vercelli in the Italian region Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin and about northwest of Vercelli. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 273 and an area of .All demogra ...

test track for new racing cars and prototypes. The purpose of the company was bringing Alfa Romeo back to the top level of motor racing after Alfa Romeo's success in the 1950s. The first car developed together with Alfa Romeo and Autodelta was the Giulia TZ introduced in June 1962. The TZ was updated to TZ2 in 1965, with both cars taking many wins in various championships. Alfa Romeo and Autodelta would later introduce the GTA to even more success. After success in

grand tourer A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving, due to a combination of performance and luxury attributes. The most common format is a Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, front-engine, rear-wh ...

racing, Chiti persuaded Alfa Romeo to develop sportscars for the

World Sportscar Championship The 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 ...

. Alfa Romeo built 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 litre V8 engines, and later a flat-12 for what would become the Tipo 33 racing car. This racing program led to Alfa Romeo winning the constructors championships in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

and

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

. Autodelta manufactured a road going version of the Tipo 33, the

Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale The Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale is a mid-engined sports car built by Italian car manufacturer Alfa Romeo. It is one of the world's first supercars; it was the fastest commercially available car for the standing kilometer when introduced.Alfa Romeo 33 ...

between 1967 and 1969. After winning the sportscar championships, Alfa Romeo turned to supplying engines to the Brabham

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

team and eventually returned to the sport with a factory team in 1979, run by Autodelta. The team also prepared Alfa Romeo rally cars such as the Alfetta GTVs. Although the division was eventually phased out, Alfa Romeo used the Autodelta name again for their AutoDelta Squadra Corse team in the

European Touring Car Championship The European Touring Car Championship was an international touring car racing series organised by the FIA. It had two incarnations, the first one between 1963 and 1988, and the second between 2000 and 2004. In 2005 it was superseded by the World ...

run by N.Technology. File:Alfa Romeo GTA 1300 Junior - Geneva 2009.jpg, Alfa Romeo GTA 1300 Junior, original Autodelta 1966. File:2006FOS 1965AlfaRomeoTZ2.jpg, The "Giulia TZ2" from 1965, one of the most famous achievements of Autodelta. File:GiuliettaTurbo.jpg, Alfa Romeo Giulietta Turbo, the last Autodelta car.

Race results

Victories in the sports car world championship

References

External links

Autodelta factory photographs
{{Alfa Romeo F1 Alfa Romeo in motorsport Italian auto racing teams Sports car racing teams 24 Hours of Le Mans teams Can-Am entrants Automotive motorsports and performance companies

Race results

Victories in the sports car world championship

See also

References

External links