Description
In Alfa Romeo’s second spell as a constructor, firstly by suppling engines to Brabham, Carlo Chiti an Italian designer persuaded the team to build their own Formula one car. The development led by Alfa Romeo’s competition department Autodelta. They made their debut at the 1979 Belgian Grand Prix with their own A. R. 177 which then superseded to the A. R 179 in 1980. It was a challenging first couple of seasons and in 1981 Autodelta decided to upgrade the then 179B’s cars to the 179C. Having a new monocoque fabricated using honeycomb panels instead of sheet aluminium, but still very similar to the B’s design. Bruno Giacomelli, a Formula 2 European Championship winner in 1978 stayed on with Alfa and was joined by the very talented Mario Andretti with a Formula One World Drivers’ Championship under his belt, driving for Lotus. After a great debut for Andretti at Long Beach in a C car, the cars struggled on the faster circuits with their ground effect and the engineers couldn’t find an immediate solution. So, after the Spanish Grand Prix the team reverted back to using the B cars until the new design D cars were ready. Chassis #3 here, driven by Bruno Giacomelli and raced in the first part of the 1981 season at the United States GP, Brazilian GP, Argentinian GP and San Marino GP. Totally restored, with only dyno testing time on the rebuilt engine. Eligible for all premier historical racing events.
