ALFA ROMEO

8C 35 Tipo C

Eight 3.8-litre versions, sharing no castings with the earlier blocks, were individually built for racing in five months, most being used in the Alfa Romeo Monoposto 8C 35 Type C, as raced by Scuderia Ferrari. (The P3 designation was dropped.) The 3.8 produced 330 bhp (246 kW) at 5500 rpm, and had 320 lb⋅ft (434 N⋅m) from 900 rpm to 5500 rpm. It had 15.5-inch drum brakes all round, using Pirelli 5.25 or 5.50 x 19 tyres at the front and 7.00 or 7.50 x 19 tyres at the rear. Though not a match for the big Mercedes and Auto Union on the faster circuits, they came into their own on the tighter circuits and races. In 1936 Tipo Cs fitted with the troublesome V12 did not live up to expectations, and the 3.8 continued to be used. From 1933 Scuderia Ferrari had managed the racing, and the Ferrari prancing horse appeared on the flanks of the Bimotore, but Alfa Corse began to become more active, and Vittorio Jano went at the end of the 1937 season. In 1938 four Alfa Romeo Tipo 308 racers were built for the three-litre class using 8C engines. On September 14, 2013, a former Scuderia Ferrari 8C 35, in which Tazio Nuvolari had won the 1936 Coppa Ciano, was sold for £5.9 million; a new world record price for any Alfa Romeo. It was sold by the Bonhams auction house in its Goodwood Revival Meeting Sale in England. The car in question was the ex-Hans Ruesch, ex-Dennis Poore car, which had been one of the early stars of racing at the Goodwood Motor Circuit 1948–55.