The ex-Autodelta, Enrico Pinto, Teodoro Zeccoli, Carlo Facetti, Winner of the 1969 Budapest Grand Prix
1968 Alfa Romeo GTA 1300 Junior
Coachwork by Carrozzeria Bertone
Chassis no. 775358
Engine no. 00559.5343

Introduced in 1966, the GTA (the 'A' stood for Alleggerita - lightened) was the official competition version of the Giulia Sprint GT and was produced in both road and race variants. The latter, as usual, was the responsibility of the factory's Autodelta competitions department, which had been founded in 1961 as an independent company by Carlo Chiti and Ludovico Chizzola, and subsequently absorbed by Alfa Romeo. Visually almost indistinguishable from the road-going Sprint GT, the GTA differed by virtue of its aluminium body panels, Plexiglas side and rear windows, and lightened interior fittings and trim. As a result the GTA tipped the scales at around 200 kilograms lighter than the stock steel-bodied car. Alfa's classic twin-cam 1,570cc four underwent extensive modification for the GTA, the angle between the valves being reduced from 90 to 80 degrees and the valve sizes substantially increased; there no longer being room between them for a central spark plug, a change was made to twin-plug ignition. In road trim the revised engine produced 115bhp, with up to 170 horsepower available in race tune. The GTA made its racing debut on 20th March 1966 at Monza where Andrea de Adamich and Teodoro Zeccoli triumphed in the Jolly Club Four-Hour Race. From then on the Autodelta-prepared GTAs enjoyed outstanding success, winning the European Touring Car Championship three years running from 1966-68. The Championship's 1,300cc class had long been the preserve of the Mini Cooper but that would all change in 1968 with the arrival of the GTA 1300 Junior, which for the next few years would enjoy dominance equal to that of the Mini in the early '60s. Unique to the model, the GTA 1300 Junior's engine combined the Giulia's 78mm bore with a 67.5mm-stroke crankshaft. Equipped with the GTA's twin-plug 'head and revving to more than 9,000rpm, this little gem of an engine produced 150bhp plus. A little over 400 GTA 1300 Juniors had been constructed when production ceased in 1975. Chassis number '775358' was first registered to Autodelta in Milan on 6th March 1969 and originally carried the registration 'MI-G70445'. Enrico Pinto first raced '775358' on 13th April 1969 at the Preis von Wien and drove the GTA to its first victory exactly seven days later at the Belgrade Grand Prix, winning the 1300cc class. On 11th May 1969 Pinto drove '775358' to an overall win at the Budapest Grand Prix, a 1st Division event in the European Touring Car Challenge. Pinto and the GTA also competed in that season's Brno Grand Prix, the Spa Francorchamps 24 Hours (with Teodoro Zeccoli) and at Brands Hatch on 21/22 June (with Rhoddy Harvey Bailey and Carlo Facetti). At the Nürburgring on 6th July 1969 Pinto/Facetti set the fastest lap and Pinto rounded off the GTA's debut season with a class win at Zandvoort on 31st August. Autodelta continued to pay road tax on the car until August 1971. On 23rd February 1972, '775358' was sold to Granata Santino (Team Balduzzi) of Lodi, Italy who entered the Alfa in the Austria Trophae event at the Salzburgring where it was driven by the Yugoslav racer Drago Regvart, finishing in 10th place. Team Balduzzi continued to race the car throughout the 1972, '73 and '74 seasons. Restored in 1985, '775358' was sold to Ing. Redaelli of Milan, who registered it to the 'Alfa Blue Team' in 2005. A very well know car in its day, '775358' has been featured and illustrated extensively in books on the GTA, namely 'Alfa Romeo GTA' by Maurizio Tabucchi, Giorgio Nada Editore; and 'Alleggerita' by Tony Adriaensens and Patrick Dasse. Finished in red with black interior, the car is described as in generally good condition and offered with Italian registration papers, including the original Libretto, recording Autodelta as first owner. A rare opportunity to acquire a genuine, Autodelta entered Alfa Romeo GTA that not only possesses in-period competition history, but race-winning history to boot.