Pete05
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- Melbourne, Australia
Alfa Romeo and it's racing department Alfa Corse raced the 75 Turbo Group A in the 1987 World Touring Car Championship. Team drivers included Formula One drivers such as Nicola Larini, Gabriele Tarquini, Alessandro Nannini and Jacques Laffite. A Class 2 car with enough power (approximately 320bhp/239kW) which should have seen the cars on par with the new and more track focused BMW M3s, the Alfa's had very little success in the W.T.C.C, and with the whole season descending into a political farce, Alfa Romeo team boss Cesare Fiorio shut down the team before the overseas rounds.
Australian driver Colin Bond, winner of the 1975 Australian Touring Car Championship and 1969 Hardie-Ferodo 500, stayed loyal to Alfa Romeo and ran a Caltex sponsored Alfa 75 for the 1987 season to replace the GTV6 he ran from 1984-1986. Bond's new 75 was built by the Italian Luigi team, but Bond found the engine it came with only produced around 200bhp instead of the 320bhp it should've had. This saw him finish a distant 9th place in the championship while the team's engine builder, Melbourne based Alfa expert tuner, Joe Beninca, tried to claw back the extra power. This was partially achieved after the car was converted to right hand drive which allowed an exhaust system to be fitted which didn't wind it's way around the steering rack.
Bond drove the end of season endurance races which included the Bathurst round of the W.T.C.C.
After qualifying 21st, co-driver Lucio Cesario destroyed the front of the 75 in a crash approaching 'The Dipper' on lap 34 of the race which forced the cars withdrawal from the next two rounds at Calder Park and Wellington, N.Z.
The car was repaired in time for the Australian F1 Grand Prix support races in Adelaide where Bond qualified a fine 2nd and finished 5th in the cars 'down under' swansong as Bond, the only driver to embrace the 75 in Australia, switched to race the all-conquering Ford Sierra RS500.
#57 with white headlight covers for Bathurst. This is obviously lap 33 or earlier.
Above: following the lap 34 modifications.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_75
Australian driver Colin Bond, winner of the 1975 Australian Touring Car Championship and 1969 Hardie-Ferodo 500, stayed loyal to Alfa Romeo and ran a Caltex sponsored Alfa 75 for the 1987 season to replace the GTV6 he ran from 1984-1986. Bond's new 75 was built by the Italian Luigi team, but Bond found the engine it came with only produced around 200bhp instead of the 320bhp it should've had. This saw him finish a distant 9th place in the championship while the team's engine builder, Melbourne based Alfa expert tuner, Joe Beninca, tried to claw back the extra power. This was partially achieved after the car was converted to right hand drive which allowed an exhaust system to be fitted which didn't wind it's way around the steering rack.
Bond drove the end of season endurance races which included the Bathurst round of the W.T.C.C.
After qualifying 21st, co-driver Lucio Cesario destroyed the front of the 75 in a crash approaching 'The Dipper' on lap 34 of the race which forced the cars withdrawal from the next two rounds at Calder Park and Wellington, N.Z.
The car was repaired in time for the Australian F1 Grand Prix support races in Adelaide where Bond qualified a fine 2nd and finished 5th in the cars 'down under' swansong as Bond, the only driver to embrace the 75 in Australia, switched to race the all-conquering Ford Sierra RS500.
#57 with white headlight covers for Bathurst. This is obviously lap 33 or earlier.
Above: following the lap 34 modifications.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_75
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