During the 1960s touring car racing took off in a big way worldwide, all the manufacturers produced road cars specifically aimed at winning the National and International championships. Alfa Romeos competition department, Autodelta, produced the immortal GTA in 1965 that swept all in the European Manufacturers Championship, winning a hat-trick of Championships in 1966, 67 & 68. The GTA was a lightweight homologation special based on the beautiful little Guilia Sprint GT that frequently beat much larger capacity cars, taking overall victories as well as class wins in some of the best races of the decade.For 1970 Alfa Romeo and Autodelta homologated a new model for the new Group 2 Touring car regulations. Whereas the previous regulations required at least 500 cars to be built to the race car specification, the new regs allowed homologated parts to be fitted to any model of which at least 1,000 cars had been produced. Autodelta chose to base the new GTAm on the American market 1750 GT Veloce as the car was supplied with Spica fuel injection and the engine capacity could be raised to 2 litres. The more liberal Group 2 regs allowed the cars to run with much wider wheels and the outrageously flared bodywork to cover them. The GTAm stayed with the standard steel bodyshell with plastic wing extensions, alloy doors and bootlid, plastic bonnet and Perspex windows that, with lightweight seats, made it easier to get down to the prescribed weight limits. The chassis naturally picked up a lot of developments of the GTA and the GTAm engine was a real tour de force with an enlarged capacity of 1985cc achieved through a set of siamesed liners fitted as machined units into carefully matched blocks, enjoying the latest in profile milling techniques. Sitting on this very special block unit was a special head casting with narrower valve angles and inlet ports to carry the Spica or Lucas fuel injection, the GTAm engine delivering up to a staggering 240bhp.The GTAm carried on where the GTA had left off by winning the European Touring car Championship in 1970 and 71. With a total of only 40 GTAm built, less than twenty cars were Autodelta factory team cars of which our car with chassis number AR1530849 is one of the most prominent.#1530849 made its 1st appearance as an Autodelta entry on April 12, 1970 at the Salzburgring where it was driven by Spartaco Dini to a 3rd overall and 2nd in class. The following month Dini was paired with Teodoro Zeccoli for the Brno 4hr race where the car DNF-ed due to a gearbox failure. After these 2 races, the car was road registered by Autodelta on May 26th 1970 with license plate MI K92422 for the Coppa della Silla where Alberto Rosselli finished 2nd overall and 1st in class. The year was ended with the Jarama 4hr race in September where Spanish driver Jorge de Bagration finished 3rd overall in his maiden Alfa race.In 1971, the car did 7 races in the European Touring car championship - still with Autodelta as entrant driven by legendary drivers such as Toine Hezemans, Gijs van Lennep, Nino Vaccarella and Carlo Facetti, in addition to T. Zeccoli, P. Dini and Belgian Jacques Berger, achieving 2 overall podium finishes and 3 class wins (the detailed race results are listed in the Allegerita reference book).After a very successful Championship winning 1971 season, #1530849 was sold by Autodelta in February 1972 to UK-based Leo Bertorelli who registered the car with British plate HGN 19K for tarmac rallying. Unfortunately it suffered bearing failure at the 6 hour Relay at Thruxton with Roger Clark at the wheel.  When repaired, a Silverstone test was done for Motoring News in August 1972 followed by several appearances in the AROC Magazine throughout the following years. After Bertorelli's death in 1982, his wife Mary sold the car to Alan Gordon who embarked on a full restoration of the car which was done by Mulbarton, Norfolk-based Omicron. When the restoration was finished, including a repaint of the bodyshell in red, the car was successfully tested at Snetterton. Gordon then sold the car in 1992 to John Andrew Maikle upon which ownership passed to Julius Thurwood in 1994 after which the car ended up in Japan when it was bought by Kazuaki Umemura. In 2008, #1530849 - now back in its period correct beige - was sold by Umemura "including its Autodelta engine" to its current German owner who has since admired the car as part of his collection but did not use it.Following its extensive racing exploits in the early 70ies, this exceptional Autodelta GTAm now exudes wonderful patina since its 40 year old restoration. While being in good, running condition and still with its 1972 HGN 19K UK-registration, this exceptional GTAm will require a full re-conditioning if its next keeper wants #1530849 to make its re-appearance on the road or race track. Needless to say that this remarkable GTAm will sit proudly in any discerning Alfa Romeo collection.  ... For more information please visit www.rmd.be.