Alfa 33 - In the Beginning

Quitting when you’re ahead has always been a difficult decision to take.  Jackie Stewart managed it in 1973, but how many other drivers have hung on too long, meandering down grid order and shedding much of the lustre they’d worked so hard to establish in the early days of their career?  Alfa Romeo did bow out at the top, in 1951, having won the F1 World Championship that, and the preceding, season.  But 10 years later, having stepped up its production capacity, the company was in need of the marketing momentum provided by successful association with top-flight motor sport.  At the same time, a group of people were quitting another famous Italian car manufacturing house - Società Esercizio Fabbriche Automobili e Corse . . . i.e. Ferrari.  Several key engineers were fired by Enzo Ferrari for insubordination in a dispute over management authority.  Two of these men, Carlo Chiti and Giotto Bizzarrini, would be of the utmost importance in the process by which Alfa Romeo would achieve its sporting ambitions.

Fig.1. Ferrari, Chiti and Bizzarrini.

Courtesy Rosso Automobilii

Chiti and Bizzarrini were at work in 1962 at the newly formed, Count Giovanni Volpi-funded, Automobili Turismo e Sport, (ATS), determined to show Ferrari what he’d lost in dismissing them.  Thus, their initial focus was on the creation of a Formula One car to rival the Championship-winning F156 ‘Dino,’ powered by a 1,494 cc V8 engine intended to outdo the 120° V6 Chiti himself had designed for the Dino.  The car, Tipo 100, was raced at just five Championship events in the 1963 season and was notably unsuccessful.  However, the engine provided the basis for a larger capacity version which ATS required in order to build the road car that would be needed for the generation of profit and thus funding for future racing activities.  In a bold move, with the aim of maximising the appeal of the new car, that engine, with a capacity of 2,468 cc, was located in the central position, only the second production road car featuring this configuration; (the first being the Rene Bonnet Djet which first appeared in mid-1962).  In its original iteration, the ATS engine produced 220 bhp, and with the car weighing around 800 kgs, performance was good – 0-60 mph in 5 secs and a top speed of 150 mph.  However, the ATS 2500 GT, despite its sporting attributes – and there was an even quicker GTS version – and attractive Scaglione styling, was not a sales success.  Between its launch in April 1963 and the company’s financial failure some 20 months later, only 12 cars had been manufactured.

Fig.2. Left to right: ATS F1 engine (Phil Hill driving). Courtesy Pete Lyons; ATS 100 (Baghetti at Zandvoort, 1963). Courtesy F1-photo.com; ATS 2500GT engine; ATS 2500GT. Both courtesy Autoneuroticfixation-com

Meanwhile, at Alfa Romeo, Orazio Satta Puliga and Giuseppe Busso had been charged with responsibility to determine the best form of elite motor sport in which the company should now participate.  Their view was that sports prototype racing was the most appropriate, offering a direct emotional and technical link to the type of road cars for which the Marque was most renowned.  While this planning was developing, the entire organisation was under considerable disruption and stress, since the completion of the new factory at Arese and the transfer of production from Portello had been in progress since 1960.  CEO Giuseppe Luraghi took the view that this situation would make it difficult for an internal sporting department to be fully effective – what was needed at that point was something similar to what Scuderia Ferrari had offered so successfully pre-war.  Such a thing was found – in Udine, far to the east in Northern Italy, where Chiti together with Ludovico Chizzola had founded Autodelta in the wake of the collapse of ATS.  Naturally, Chiti was keen to impress Luraghi and thus took a strident line when making an initial review of Satta and Busso’s proposals and tentative prototype work.  He suggested he could take a different approach and achieve rapid progress.  Consequently, Progetto 105.33 really got underway as Chiti’s vision of a Group 6 open sportscar with a  two litre engine.  Where Satta/Busso’s early experiments had utilised the twin cam 1600 cc inline four cylinder as deployed in the TZ1, Chiti favoured a V8, and in his head, and on-paper, he had a design ‘ready to go,’ from his recent work at ATS.

Fig.3. Chiti’s V8 for the 33. Courtesy Supercar Nostalgia

With the enhanced resources now available to him, Chiti was able to improve on his ATS-branded design.  In its launch form it was a four cam with induction by four Weber 46 IDF2 carburettors and set up for – though not initially equipped with – twin spark ignition.  Power output from the 1,995 cc capacity in early 1967 was around 250 bhp.  The chassis was a carry-over from the Scarabo concept car.  Fabricated by the specialist firm, Aereaonautica Sicula, it was composed of three main elements rivetted together – a pair of stout, tubular aluminium longitudinal members/centre crossmember, with a magnesium front crossmember and transverse rear suspension carrier.  Drawn in-house at Autodelta, the body was fabricated in fibreglass and was distinctive in featuring a domed windscreen and large air intake tube above the engine deck, giving rise to the nickname for the car – ‘periscopica.’  Its weight was 580 kgs.

Fig.4. 33/2 chassis frame. Courtesy Vladimir Pajevic Archives

Testing was entrusted to Teodoro Zeccoli, initial mileage being accrued at the Alfa Romeo Balocco test track, midway between Milan and Turin.  At a further session, with chassis #002, at the Monza circuit, Zeccoli had the misfortune to crash heavily in the cold, grip-limited conditions of a January morning.  Owing to fire on top of the impact damage, this car was written off.  Nevertheless, the design – designated model 33/2 – had shown itself to be effective and capable of competitive lap times.  So it was presented to the Press on 6^th March at Monza.  Luraghi made a point of attending, signalling the importance of the car in its role of re-establishing Alfa Romeo’s commitment to motor sport at World Championship level.

Fig.5. 33/2 as presented at Balocco, March 1967.

Courtesy Centro Documentazione Alfa Romeo, Arese

Immediately after the Press launch, chassis #001 was transported to Belgium and made the 33’s maiden race appearance at a hillclimb south-east of Liege.  The event was held at the Course de Côte de Fléron.  Zeccoli achieved the fastest time overall, outperforming a 5.0 McLaren M3A and 2.7 Brabham BT23B, 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.

Fig.6. #001/Zeccoli at Fléron, March 1967. Courtesy Centro Documentazione Alfa Romeo, Arese

For the 33’s first circuit race, the 12 Hours of Sebring, (The Alitalia Airlines Trophy), 1^st April 1967, Autodelta entered 3 cars, although one – for Giacomo Russo and Enrico Pinto - did not appear.  At this point, Lucas fuel injection was under evaluation and said to be giving 270 bhp – around 20 bhp more than available with Webers.  In practice, the 33 of Andrea de Adamich and Zeccoli (#004) qualified 9^th, and fastest, in the 2 litre class.  This performance was especially significant – and encouraging – since it bettered that of the two factory Porsche 910s, (a model which had already benefitted from over six months more development than the 33), and three Ferrari Dino 206 S entries.  Less successful was the second chassis, (#005), driven by Nanni Galli and Roberto Bussinello, down in 21^st.  In the race it was an early retirement – after just 36 laps – as a result of ignition system failure.  The de Adamich/Zeccoli car ran to one third distance before dropping out with suspension trouble.

Fig.7. #004 (de Adamich/Zecolli) at Sebring, April 1967.

Courtesy Primotipo Files

Soon after, three 33s were shipped to France for the Le Mans test weekend.  One of the cars featured the first Tipo 33 variant body – a long tail, and on which the ‘periscope’ was deleted, with speed and stability on the Mulsanne Straight being the objective.  The configuration proved effective, with de Adamich able to wring the 10^th fastest lap (and make it the quickest 2.0 car) from it.  The other two cars were as run at Sebring, with Bussinello in 12^th – 2^nd in the 2.0 class – and Zeccoli, in a brand new chassis, 25^th overall.  So, once again, despite their still relative newness, the 33s were proving fully competitive.  Clearly, the focus now required was on improving reliability, especially with the 24 Hours race in mind.

Fig.8. Longtail 33/2 in which de Adamich recorded 10^th fastest time at Le Mans test.

Courtesy Patrick Dasse/Martin Übelher

Four cars were entered for the Targa Florio run on 14^th May.  There were some minor body detail variances – mainly involving openings/ducts for cooling air intake – but no distinct alternative forms as had been seen at the Le Mans test with the longtail.  In practice, in car #170, de Adamich, (partnering with Jean Rolland), recorded the 6^th fastest time.  This seemed quite promising since, over the 45 miles lap, Nino Vaccarella’s (Ferrari 330) pole lap was only 1 minute, 34 seconds quicker, despite having twice the engine capacity.  However, the Autodelta team was soon feeling considerable concern for the cars’ race-length reliability because gear selection was problematic and, most ominously, three front suspension breakages were experienced. 

In the race, de Adamich carried through his practice pace, running 2^nd overall until yet another suspension failure occurred, putting the car out with 7 laps (of 10) completed.  Car #190 of Jo Bonnier and Giancarlo Baghetti succumbed to the same fate, but much earlier, needing to be retired on lap 2.  In #200, Nino Todaro (partnering with Russo) left the circuit on lap 7, damaging the sump with terminal consequences.  The fourth car, #192, driven by Galli and Ignazio Giunti, did keep going to the finish, but was unclassified.  To some extent that car’s lack of pace was due to excessive heat affecting the ignition system – another problem that had been encountered earlier in the year – at Sebring, for instance – and indicating that further modifications to the air intakes needed to be developed.

Fig.9. 33/2 of de Adamich/Rolland refuelling on the Targa Florio.

Chiti is seen on the far left. Courtesy Schlegelmilch.com

Next up was the 1000 Kms of Nurburgring – another track which would present a severe challenge to the robustness of the 33’s suspension.  The lead chassis, of de Adamich/Galli, failed the challenge, its suspension breaking on lap 18, though it had run as high as 9^th, (against heavy Porsche competition, especially in the form of the 910 model).  This was a compounding of disappointment for this pairing, its intended race chassis having been damaged beyond immediate repair in a practice session accident.  However, some compensation was provided by Chiti’s decision to let de Adamich and Galli take over the car struggling down the order in the hands of Bussinello/Zeccoli, a move vindicated when it was seen to have reached 5^th place at the finish.  But no exuberant celebrations were appropriate in the Autodelta pit, a DNF being recorded for the 33 of Russo/Baghetti, (gearbox).

Fig.10. Autodelta team in the pits at the Nurburgring 1000 Kms.

Courtesy Accursio Cassarino/Primotipo.com

Although there was clearly a need to find solutions for the suspension fragility and distributor overheating issues, Chiti diverted some focus to the 33’s aerodynamics.  It was determined that the high ‘periscopica’ intake was causing problems, disturbing the flow of air to and over the rear deck, whilst at the same time helping to create lift at the front axle.  As a result, at the cars’ next major event appearance – at Mugello - they sported a new longtail which promised not only improved stability but also a higher top speed potential.  This race itself however did not see these objectives proven – all three cars entered retired after just 3 laps (of 8).

Fig.11. New tail for the 33/2 at Mugello

No 33s were seen again in 1967 at the remaining World Championship meetings, though a one-two was scored at the non-championship race at Vallelunga in mid-October.  Autodelta’s priority was to make improvements, with the emphasis on ensuring better reliability.  In their maiden season the cars had shown many good attributes and were certainly able to be fast enough at all the various circuit types.  The suspension failures in particular however had been far too severe and frequent, and had caused several retirements.  Pressing though the need was to resolve such shortcomings, Autodelta was at the same time required to provide time and resources to the development and production of the Stradale version.

Fig.12 Early 33 Stradale. Courtesy Centro Documentazione Alfa Romeo, Arese

The Versatile Giorgio Pianta

Today the general perception that Formula One is the be-all and end-all of motorsport is more marked than ever, with recent other-category innovations having failed to really grab headlines.  Formula E does not command very much interest and Sportscars/Prototypes in the hybrid era have failed to impress, having none of the aesthetic/technical/competitive charisma that we saw in the eras of Jaguar and Aston Martin at Le Mans, Ford vs. Ferrari in the 60s, 917 vs.512, 956 vs. Lancia and Sauber in Group C.  At the same time, ‘junior’ formulae such as F3 now lack pizazz, being spec formulas, with little of interest in technical developments/differing car capabilities.  So, from a contemporary perspective, we would expect that a F1 seat would necessarily represent the pinnacle of any driver’s career.  On that basis, I’m showing below the Williams FW06 that Giorgio Pianta piloted in 1979:

And although Pianta scored an excellent 5^th place at Nogaro in that car, his career highlights can be chosen, mixed and matched, from this more than impressive list: 1965 Italian Rally Trophy; 1966/67 European Touring Car Championship campaigns with Squadra Corse Lancia and Porsche; team ETCC driver with Autodelta, 1968/69; class winner of the Italian Touring Car Championship, 1971/72 and developed the 1971 Targa Florio class winner for Conrero; 3^rd in an Osella in the Targa Florio in 1977; developed the Fiat Abarth 124 Rally and X1/9 competition models; 1986-96, manager of Alfa Romeo Corse, in which period the Marque achieved many wins in Touring Car racing, including a spell of domination in the DTM; subsequently returned to Fiat to take charge of Fiat Auto Corse.  During his main driving career, Pianta took part in around 700 race events, winning three Italian National Championships.  This article is focused on Pianta’s circuit racing activities/career – he also saw much achievement in the realms of rallying, not covered here, but well documented elsewhere. 

The earliest regulated motorsport participation recorded for Giorgio was a drive in the Mille Miglia in 1953.  Pianta was at that time 18 years old.  He shared the wheel of an Alfa Romeo 1900 Ti with Piero Palmieri, but they failed to finish. 

An outing at Monza five years later saw him competing in a GT Cup race organised by the renowned Sant Ambroeus scuderia.  Giorgio is seen below in his Fiat 500.

Nowadays, the importance of networking is emphasised to people beginning their commercial career, as if a recently invented ‘science.’  Yet, over sixty years ago, Giorgio was proving himself a natural, effective practitioner.  He managed to arrange for himself a co-drive with the son of Ferrari’s Eugenio Dragoni in an Abarth 1000 TC.  Exploits in this car attracted the attention of Sandro Fiorio, PRO for Lancia.  This turned out to be an especially rewarding contact, as Sando’s son, Cesare, was responsible for the Lancia HF Squadra Corse.  Thus, in 1963, Giorgio found himself with a ‘works’ Lancia drive.  As a result, he was soon at the wheel of such cars as the Flaminia Sport, as seen below at Monza:

Giorgio also remained associated with the Scuderia Sant Ambroeus for several years, driving various of its cars, for instance: Ferrari 250 GT SWB in 1962, Alfa Romeo TZ in 1964 and the arcane ASA RB 613 in 1965’s Targa Florio.  Partnering Giorgio Bassi, a 3^rd in class resulted.  The car is seen below:

Courtesy of Vittorio Giordano

1966 saw Pianta co-driving with Lancia rallying star, Sandro Munari, at the Nurburgring 500, where they took their Flavia Sport Zagato to 4^th in Division 3 of the Touring Car class:

Courtesy of H-J Roegler

The following season was a notably successful one for Pianta in touring cars, this time in a Division 3 Scuderia Sant Ambroeus 2.0 Porsche 911.  Best results of the year were the outright victory in Belgrade, and a class win in Budapest. 

By early 1968, his recent performances in touring cars had impressed Carlo Chiti enough for him to recruit Giorgio to the Autodelta driving contingent.  Pianta soon repaid Chiti’s confidence with a Division 2 class win at Monza in a Giulia Sprint GTA 1600, co-driven by Teodoro Zeccoli.  For Le Mans that year, Pianta was back with Scuderia Sant Ambroeous, entrusted in company with Enrico Pinto with the team’s Iso Rivolta.  But the car was accident damaged in practice and thus failed to make the start.

The Sant Ambroeus Iso Rivolta for Pianta/Pinto, Le Mans, 1968

Giorgio rounded off the Sixties with drives of increased diversity, both in terms of entrants and types of car – BMW 2002 Ti – Porsche 910 – Lancia Fulvia HF;  Escuderia Nacional CS – Ecurie Nat. Espagnole.  Another ‘new’ employer coming to note in 1970 was Monzeglio Corse, which entered an AMS-Alfa for the Targa Florio to be driven by Giorgio and Mario Zanetti.  And they made a good job of it: winners of the P 1.3 class.

Left: In the Targa Florio pits, (Schlegemilch). Right: Courtesy of John Phillips

Virgilio Conrero was a significant personality on the Turin automotive scene, especially so in the Fifties/Sixties when he was closely associated with Alfa Romeo.  For engine tuning and modifications requested by customers and motor sport Alfisti, Conrero fulfilled the role eventually performed by Autodelta when set-up as a factory ‘extension.’  In fact, the establishment of Autodelta and thus a loss of business volume, led Conrero to branch out into enhancement developments for other makes and to step up his focus on Renault engines, which had been a secondary interest during the period of concentration on Alfa Romeo.  But perhaps the most important new involvement was with the Opel brand.  A major strand of this was an agreement with General Motors to utilise his Conrero Squadra Corse to run Opel products on-track.  The project was facilitated by the efforts of Romano Artioli, leading dealer for Opel in Italy.  He maintained a steadfast optimism that the GT model could be made an effective Group 4 racer and persuaded Conrero to commit to its development, whilst he also managed to raise necessary funds from his fellow Opel dealers.  Eventually, this enabled chassis improvements to be made and an engine output of near 200 bhp achieved – impressive, considering that the standard production version boasted just 88 bhp.  Conrero took Pianta on to play a lead role in this work, drawing on Giorgio’s extensive experience in developing cars for competition.  It proved to be a very successful arrangement, with Pianta becoming the large engine class winner in a 3.0 Opel Commodore of the Italian Touring Car Championship in both 1971/72.  At the same time, he oversaw modifications to, and the preparation of, four Opel GT 1900s for the 1971 Targa Florio.  Against tough opposition – especially numerous Porsche 911s - the example driven by Paolo Monti and Salvatore Calascibetta achieved an excellent 9^th overall, first in class finish.  Pianta also co-drove, with Pino Pica, but his Opel was forced to retire on the fourth lap.  Also failing to finish was the similar car of Giuseppe Marotta and Gianpaolo Benedini.

1971 Targa Florio. Left: Marotta/Benedini, courtesy Sergio Tino; 

Centre: Pianta/Pica, courtesy Maurice Van Sevecotte; Right: Monti/Calascibetta, ©Schlegemilch

Conrero mounted a similar effort for the 1972 Targa.  Further development had resulted in a new cylinder head, enabling an increased power output of over 200 bhp.  Of the three GTs entered, two were carburettor-equipped, whilst that to be driven by Pianta and Giorgio Schön featured Kügelfischer mechanical fuel injection, and this enabled a further power increase, to 214 bhp.  This was enough for Pianta to be able to post a 2000 cc class fastest time in practice, significantly below what the Porsche competition was managing.  However after an enforced power unit change, the engine could not be fired-up for the start of the race.

1972 Targa Florio. Pianta/Schön in practice. Courtesy Revs Institute

Giorgio reverted to his 1971 partner, Pino Pica, for the 1973 event.  On this occasion they were flying the Conrero colours on a sports racing car which had been created in 1972 for Momo proprietor, Giampiero Moretti.  The car’s designer was Giorgio Valentini, (also known for designing the BWA single seaters, Bertone Panther, Mystère prototype and Osella FA1C).  Valenti began work on the design in September 1971.  Moretti had requested several innovations, in particular in the suspension and steering layout/operation and inboard brakes.  It was a super-light-weight chassis – the frame being just 55 kgs – with a quick-change, transverse fuel tank.  As initially raced by Moretti/Corrado Manfredini at the 500 kms of Interlagos in 1972, the car was powered by a 265 bhp Abarth-Osella 2.0, but, as taken over by Conrero, it was fitted with an Opel unit as was used in the racing GT 1900s.  But, once again, Pianta suffered the disappointment of a race non-finish, the car being retired after 4 laps.

Conrero-Opel on 1973 Targa Florio (Pica driving)

Also in 1973, Giorgio raced a Lola T280-Ford DFV for Jolly Club at three major events.  Again partnering Pino Pica, a 7^th place finish was achieved at the Dijon 1000 kms.  The pair were together once more for the Monza 1000 kms but were out before quarter distance due to a failed coolant hose.  Further disappointment followed at the Nurburgring 1000 kms for Giorgio and co-drivers, Mario Casoni and Manfred Mohr, when gear linkage problems caused an end to their race after just 6 laps.

1973 World Championship for Makes, Lola-Ford 280. Left: Nurburgring (Courtesy Girardo);

Centre: Monza (MotorsportImages); Right: Dijon (MotorsportImages)

Jolly Club replaced the car with a T282 model for the 1974 season, again enlisting Giorgio to drive it.  At the Monza 1000 kms, a race dominated by the Alfa 33s, Pianta/Pica finished 6^th after winning a close battle with the Porsche 908 of Joest/Casoni.  At Spa, the Lola was sidelined with ignition failure.  He used the same car for the Targa Florio, qualifying it fastest of the entire field.  This was the first year after the Targa’s de-rating as a championship event, so the competition was less intense than formerly, but Pianta’s achievement in taking pole is validated by the fact that he outpaced the two Stratos entered by Lancia Corse.  However, the car failed to finish the race, suffering a rear tyre failure after 4 laps.  In the photograph below, Pianta is seen in the centre, behind the rear wing.

Towards the end of the year, in October, Pianta shared the Abarth works’ Fiat Abarth SE030 with Christine Beckers on the Giro d’Italia.  This was a new product development car which was a forerunner of the Lancia Montecarlo.  In addition to looking good, it ran well too, and was bettered in the event only by the Group 5 Lancia HF Squadra Corse Stratos Turbo of Jean-Claude Andruet and Michèle Espinosi-Petit.  On this event the following year, Pianta went one better and took the overall first place in a Group 5 Fiat Abarth SE031, this time co-driving with Bruno Scabini.

Left: Partnering Christine Beckers on the Giro d’Italia, 1974, ©Pininfarina,

and, right, co-driving to victory on the same event, 1975, with Bruno Scabini

Otherwise in 1975, Giorgio was putting mileage on Jolly Club-liveried Lolas, partnering with Vittoria Brambilla, but it proved to be a run of races that was characterised by DNFs and accidents.  No doubt he was pleased to get his hands on a Scuderia Aneneo/Jolly Club Stratos for the Targa Florio, and, sharing the driving with Giorgio Schön, he made the most of the opportunity, finishing 7^th, 4^th in class.

1975 Targa Florio – Pianta/ Schön (Targapedia)

Giorgio’s best showing in 1976 was at Salzburg, where, in the 200 mile Salzburger Festspielpreis race, he came in 6^th, 3^rd in the 2.0 class.  This was in a Jolly Club Osella PA3.  Around this time, Giorgio was more often at the wheel of Osellas, where previously he had had a run of Lola drives.  In the Targa Florio of 1977 he was again paired with Giorgio Schön and they had an Osella PA5 BMW at their disposal.  In this, the last (though lesser status) Targa, and on his tenth entry for the event, Pianta achieved his best result - 3^rd overall and 2^nd in the 2.0 class.  The Jolly Club car, with Giorgio at the wheel, in the pits, is shown below:

Courtesy of Vittorio Giordano (Targapedia)

Pianta followed up the Targa success with an even better one 17 months later, sharing the Giro d’Italia-winning Group 5 Stratos HF with Markku Alén and Ilkka Kivimäki:

1979 was a season which reflected Pianta’s involvement at Corse Lancia where he was significantly instrumental in developing the Montecarlo model for the track, creating the turbocharged version which was highly successful in seasons, 1979-81 – see Any Tine, Any Place – Montecarlo for Instance.  In addition to much effort contributed in the workshop and on the test track, Giorgio drove early versions of the Montecarlo at the 1979 Six Hours races at Mugello, Silverstone and Vallelunga.  Whilst these outings resulted in non-finishes, the performances helped to establish the car’s competitiveness and support developments for improved reliability. 

The Seventies/early Eighties had seen Pianta with a roving brief, testament to his versatility: leading test driver at Corso Marche for Abarth;  influential ‘behind the scenes’ at Lancia with the development of the S4 Delta;  at Alfa Romeo he strove without success to help establish an Indycar campaign with a March CA90 chassis powered by a 2648 cc turbocharged V8 engine.

Alfa Indycar Turbo V8 engine, 1990.

Courtesy of Roberto Motta

After a long period of uncertainty and its inability to return to profitability, Alfa Romeo was absorbed into the Fiat Group in 1986.  Autodelta’s ‘abolition’ had been commenced in 1982 when responsibility for running the F1 cars was transferred to Giampaolo Pavanello’s Euroracing team.  The operating base of Autodelta was moved to Senago, and, not long after, the business effectively closed with the Fiat buy-out.  As a replacement function, Fiat revived the Alfa Corse name and appointed Giorgio to run it as a factory department.  Initially, Pianta sought to revitalise the perception of Alfa Romeo as a leading light in motorsport by developing the Alfa 164 V10 Procar.  Though this project stalled, the engine was utilised in the development of a proposed new Group C prototype for endurance racing.  The car emerged after collaboration with Abarth as the SE048SP, but with a change of power plant to the Ferrari 3.5 V12.  However, by autumn 1990 it was apparent that the revised Group 6 rules for which the car was designed would not be attracting substantial entries from other manufacturers, and this project too was cancelled.
 

Left: 164 Procar. Courtesy of Michael Ward     Right: SE048SP Group C. ©Kevin Van Campenhout

After the disappointments of the aborted Procar and Group C programmes, Alfa Corse turned its attention to the touring car category with the Alfa 75 model.  Whilst this was relatively low-key, it laid the foundation for a more concerted campaign beginning in 1992 with the new 155 GTA model.  Promising though this appeared to be, the Ti AWD model was preferred for an assault on the DTM the following season.  With leading drivers Nicola Larini and Alessandro Nannini, the car was very successful in 1993 and the following three seasons, racking up 38 victories and winning the DTM in 1993 and the BTCC in 1994.  It has been reported that Pianta took every opportunity while running the programme to test cars on-track and was well known for being able to set fully competitive times. Going a stage further, it is said that he clandestinely drove in some races - in his appreciation of Pianta Peter Collins writes: 

At one time he was itching to drive a GTA in a race, but Fiat shuddered at the implications. He still did it, under the pseudonym of ‘Sonnenkinde’ – child of the sun. 

Collins also recounts this anecdote, attesting to Pianta’s driving abilities and attitude: 

Sometimes testing did not always work to plan.  One day at La Mandria, testing a Delta S4 on a circuit, the technicians called him in and told him that their telemetry showed that he was not driving quickly enough through a particular corner.  “But I cannot drive any quicker through there or I will have a large accident,” said Giorgio.  “Nonsense, the figures show that you can. Go out and try harder,” said the engineers.  Off went Giorgio, trying harder than ever (at that moment making loud puffing and wheezing sounds as of an S4 flat out).  Suddenly, there was silence.  After a while, a visibly shocked Giorgio arrived back on foot carrying the mangled remains of the driver’s door – there was little else left of the car.  “Was that fast enough for your machines?” asked Giorgio. 

After the period of Alfa Romeo touring car successes, Pianta was put in overall charge of Fiat Auto Corse, thus affording him opportunities to direct the sporting enterprises of Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Abarth.  In addition, he was president of the Associazione Nazionale Corridori Automobilisti Italiani, (similar to the BRDC) and contributed to the work of the Italian motorsport governing body. 

Giorgio died in 2014 at the age of 79.