🏎️ Alfa Romeo 158
📍 Italy
🛠️ 1.5 V8 195HP
💶 Not for sale
What is it?
Also known as “Alfetta” due to its small size, the Alfa Romeo 158 is a racing car produced by Scuderia Ferrari, which was at the time Alfa Romeo’s experimental department. In the name “158”, “15” represents the car’s displacement (1.5 liters) and “8” the number of cylinders. The displacement is so low that the car enters the racing category “Vetturette” characterized by cars with turbo engines of 1500cc or less. Its production lasted from 1938 to 1950.
Design
The “torpedo” shape of the 158 follows the style of the time, in which the racing cars took on this typical very aerodynamic shape. The long bonnet houses large gills for cooling the engine. The small size of 4,28 x 1,47 meters and the presence of only essential elements have allowed the 158 to have a featherweight of 630 kilos.
Mechanics
The beating heart of this vehicle is a supercharged 1.5 V8 with a single-stage Roots supercharger. In the design phase it delivered 180HP, but, once it arrived in the racing world, it reached 195HP thanks to specific modifications. We recall that this car received several performance increases: in 1946 it went from 195 to 254HP, in 1947 from 254 to 275 thanks to the adoption of a new 2-stage Roots volumetric compressor, in 1948 from 275 to 315 and in 1950, on the occasion of F1, from 315 to 350HP. This engine was paired with a 4-speed manual gearbox. The tanks are two and have a total capacity of 170 liters.
Competitions
The 158 debuted on 7 August 1938 with a landslide victory at the Coppa Ciano in Livorno, which was won again by the 158 the following year. With the arrival of the Second World War, the competitions for the 158 were interrupted at the end of 1939 and then resumed at the beginning of 1946. In that year the 158 won the Geneva Grand Prix des Nations, the III Valentino Grand Prix in Turin and the III Circuit of Milan. The following years were also full of victories. In 1950 the 158 made its debut in the newly born Formula 1, winning six out of seven Grand Prix races and thus dominating the standings. The following year the 159 was introduced, an evolution of the 158 in several respects; the development of the 158 ended the same year.
Our vote: ⭐⭐⭐⭐️⚡ (4,5/5)
