Alfa’s Comeback Kid - The 33TT12 Story

The New 33 Racing Car

In order to compete in the 21st season of the FIA World Sportscar Championship, Autodelta decided that some improvements to the existing Tipo 33 race car were required. Autodelta: the factory racing team for Alfa Romeo, began by redesigning the engine. The same 3 litre capacity was kept but four more cylinders were added and the V was flattened for better weight distribution, undoubtedly taking inspiration from Ferrari at the time.

The new engine, designed by Carlo Chiti head of Autodelta, featured 12 cylinders in a 180-degree V with four valves per cylinder and dual overhead cams. This setup was a technological class leader, developing 500 horsepower at a dizzying 11,500 rpm and enough torque to reportedly twist the chassis.

Photography Courtesy of Alfa Romeo

The advanced power-plant was not the only change. This iteration of the race car was built using a new tubular space frame chassis (Telaio Tubolare in Italian). The result was clad in aerodynamic fibreglass bodywork and hence the 33TT12 was born. Astute readers may guess how Autodelta came up with the utilitarian name.

Racing Debut: 1973 World Sportscar Championship

The engineers at Autodelta had developed a potent recipe; however, they needed a respectable set of drivers to bring life into this metal masterpiece.

The drivers that were brave enough to debut this car in the 1973 1000 km of Spa-Francorchamps were: Rolf Stommelen, German Formula One and sports car driver and Andrea de Adamich, an experienced Alfa Romeo test driver. The car suffered a high speed tyre failure during practice, resulting in a crash that prevented it from competing in the race. Miraculously, according to known records, Andrea de Adamich emerged uninjured.

Photography Courtesy of Alfa Romeo

A 500 horsepower 12 cylinder engine, in a basic 670kg chassis. These were the days of racing for drivers who didn’t ponder mortality.

Although everything looked strong on paper, this was an advanced car and there were teething problems. The rest of the 1973 series was largely plagued with reliability problems, until the final race of the series, 500 km Imola. Rolf Stommelen piloted the red Alfa to 2nd place awarding the 33TT12 its first spot on the podium.

The 1974 Season

The first race of the 1974 series was at the historic Monza circuit. Autodelta stepped up, big time, delivering an impeccable 1-2-3 finish for the 33TT12. With that start to the season, it looked like Autodelta had a shot at the championship; however the experienced and consistent Matra team delivered results that the plucky Autodelta team could not. The laurels would elude Autodelta this time.

Photography Courtesy of Alfa Romeo

For a variety of reasons including the mounting pressures of the 1974 oil crisis and Alfa Romeo’s shifting focus toward Formula One: Autodelta quietly stepped away from sports car racing at the close of 1974.

The 1975 Season

With the Autodelta team pulling out of sportscar racing the future of the 33TT12 appeared bleak. That was until a wealthy German private entrant Willy Kauhsen approached Carlo Chiti with a deal. Autodelta were to enter two or three 33TT12s into the World Manufacturers Championship as a non-factory supported team under the name WKRT.

During the winter of 1974/1975 Autodelta set about adjusting the suspension to suit the superior Goodyears, upgrading the brakes and further lightening the car bringing it down to that headline 670 kg. The Autodelta team employed a few familiar faces: Arturo Merzario partnered with Jacques Laffite, Jochen Mass, Vittorio Brambilla, Mario Andretti, and Nino Vaccarella.

But what exactly had inspired Willy Kauhsen to bring the 33TT12 back into contention? When Alfa withdrew works support of the Autodelta team Matra and Ferrari had also withdrawn from the World Sportscar Championship.

Photography Courtesy of Alfa Romeo

Everything had come together, paving the way to victory for the red Italian team. The 33TT12 dominated. Securing seven victories out of eight races and subsequently the World Manufacturers Championship.

The blinding success captured Alfa Romeo’s attention, who subsequently made a deal for Autodelta to enter the 1975 Targa Florio as a factory works team once again. Chassis number 008 driven by Nino Vaccarella and Arturo Merzario delivered the metaphorical cherry on top: a blinding performance and yet another first-place finish.

The 33TT12 was one of Alfa Romeo’s most successful post-war racing cars and certainly the most successful variation of the Tipo 33. This story would not have happened without the support of the privateer. Motorsport has always been a cash-hungry endeavour — and like it or not, deals like this are a requirement. We have Willy Kauhsen to thank for ditching the politics and allowing the 33TT12 to realise its potential.