Difference between revisions of "Alfa Romeo P3"
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The P3 had earned it's place as a truly great racing car. | The P3 had earned it's place as a truly great racing car. | ||
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Revision as of 19:27, 30 October 2007
The Alfa Romeo P3 was a classic Grand Prix car designed by Vittorio Jano. It was based on the earlier successful Alfa P2. Taking lessons learned from that car, Jano went back to the drawing board to design a car that could last longer race distances. The P3 was first genuine single seater racing car, and was powered by a supercharged eight cylinder engine. The whole car weight just over 1,500 lb, very light for the period. Had it not been for the engine block being cast in iron the car would have been even lighter.
The P3 was introduced for 1932, and won 6 races that year at the hands of the legendary Tazio Nuvolari and Rudolf Caracciola but 1933 brought financial difficulties to the team. As a result the P3 was handed over to Ferrari but the cars were still competitive and won several more races. The P3 was also bought by privateer teams and raced to victory by them.
The 1934 regulations brought larger bodywork requirements. To counteract this, the engine was bored out to 2.9 litres, but except for a single victory the season was dominated by the German Silver Arrows.
The P3 was now uncompetitive against the superior German cars, but that didn't stop one final, legendary works victory. The P3 was bored out to 3.2 litres for Nuvolari for the 1935 German Grand Prix. In the race, Nuvolari punctured a tyre early on while leading, but after the pitstop Nuvolari carved through the field until the last lap when Manfred von Brauchitsch, driving the far superior Mercedes Benz W25 suffered a puncture, leaving Nuvolari to win the race in front of 300,000 stunned Germans.
The P3 had earned it's place as a truly great racing car.
| Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A., a subsidiary of the Fiat S.p.A. since 1986, car timeline, 1910-1949 | Next -> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Type | 1910s | 1920s | 1930s | 1940s | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | |
| 4-cyl. | 12 HP / 15 HP / 24 HP / 15-20 HP / 20-30 HP | 20/30 HP | RM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4-cyl. | 40/60 HP | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4-cyl. | ES Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6-cyl. | G1 / G2 | RL | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6-cyl. | 6C - 1500 / 1750 / 1900 / 2300 / 2500 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8-cyl. | 8C - 2300 / 2600 / 2900 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Racing car |
GP | P1 / P2 | Tipo A | Tipo B (P3) | Tipo C (8C-35) | Tipo 308 | 158 / 159 Alfetta | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bi-motore | 12C | Tipo 512 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||