Alfa Romeo: Cars in Motorsport since 1945 book review

This will be popular – because who doesn’t love an Alfa Romeo? As you’ll have gathered from the title, there’s no place here for the pre-World War II glory years. The book begins post-war with the first green-shoot motor races of the new peacetime, works through the glorious 158/159 early Formula 1 seasons and on through the decades via saloon, touring, rally, GT and sports car racing, plus more F1, up to 2023.

What this isn’t is a definitive history of Alfa in motor sport since 1945. It’s a simple picture book, featuring more than 400 images over 300-plus pages. The photographs are drawn largely from Alfa’s own Storico archive, with additions from the author himself – not to be confused with the Benetton and Lotus F1 team manager of the same name – and others such as Ted Walker’s collection for some UK shots.

The book’s strength is the diversity in subject matter and a pleasing penchant for the obscure. Sourcing such photos inevitably means not every image is pin sharp or without a degree of grain, as a publisher’s note confesses upfront. Rightly, we feel, quality at times is compromised for originality and interest of subject. Also, one suspects, cost. Buying in photos from the big agencies, which have mopped up so many independent archives in recent years, just isn’t an option for many publishers given how inordinately expensive they have become. No matter – in this case, the result is a collection of images most of which have rarely (if ever) been published before.

Gems abound. In the early black and white chapters, look out for Alfa Corse mechanics Augusto Zanardi – in a fetching beret and googles combo – and Alessandro Gaboardi taking a pair of 158 Alfettas for test runs at a snowy San Siro Park in 1947. Further on, a tatty Giulietta Sprint Veloce reminds us how far suspension damping has come on since this unidentified event in Mexico held in 1960.

Colour images begin to infiltrate through the ’60s chapters, including some lovely shots from various Targa Florios – that most scenic of races. But who’s that with the familiar helmet profile? It’s Jochen Rindt in a battered GTA in the 1966 Sebring 4 Hours. And how about that yellow Autodelta transporter arriving at Mugello carrying four T33s as a distant figure precariously fixes a flag to a pole? Delightful.

The latter chapters through the 1980s and ’90s are no less charming. We liked the continental Formula 3 shots, and Nicola Larina sliding the unfortunately named Osella FA1L through Monaco’s Rascasse in 1988. Also the 1990s 155 Superturismo action, plus scenes from DTM and ITC. Has a touring car ever looked more striking than the DTM 155 V6 TI in Martini colours? Who cares if it didn’t win much on track in 1995. That’s Alfa Romeo in motor sport. Success usually came in short bursts and patches.

The book is overpriced. Then again, those archive shots don’t fall from the magic tree. Still, if you adore Alfas – and you surely do – you’ll find plenty here to revel in.

Alfa Romeo: Cars in Motorsport Since 1945
Peter Collins
Veloce, £80
ISBN 9781845849160