Alfa Romeo 179

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Alfa Romeo 179
Alfa Romeo 179B
Alfa Romeo 179C
Alfa Romeo 179D
Alfa Romeo 179D (8372467256).jpg
The 179D in Marlboro livery
Category Formula One
Constructor Alfa Romeo
Designer(s) Carlo Chiti (Technical Director)
Robert Choulet (Chief Designer)
Predecessor 177
Successor 182
Technical specifications
Chassis Aluminium monocoque
Carbon-fibre monocoque
Suspension (front)Lower wishbones, top rockers, inboard shocks
Suspension (rear)Lower wishbones, parallel top links, inboard shocks
Engine Alfa Romeo 1260 2,995 cc (182.8 cu in) 60° V12 naturally aspirated, mid-engined, longitudinally mounted
Transmission Alfa/Hewland 5 or 6 speed manual
Fuel Agip
Tyres 1979-80: Goodyear
1981-82: Michelin
Competition history
Notable entrants Autodelta (1979, 4 races)
Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo (1980–1982)
Notable drivers Flag of Italy.svg Bruno Giacomelli
Flag of Italy.svg Vittorio Brambilla
Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris
Flag of France.svg Patrick Depailler
Flag of the United States.svg Mario Andretti
Debut 1979 Italian Grand Prix
RacesWins Poles F/Laps
63010
Constructors' Championships0
Drivers' Championships0
n.b. Unless otherwise stated, all data refer to
Formula One World Championship Grands Prix only.

The Alfa Romeo 179 is a Formula One car which was used (in different variants) by the Alfa Romeo team from 1979 to 1982. The 179 made its debut at the 1979 Italian Grand Prix, replacing the flat-12 engined Alfa Romeo 177. During its lifespan there were many versions and 179D version was used for the last time at the 1982 South African Grand Prix.

Contents

History

Rear view of 179B (1981) in Turin Automobile Museum. Alfa Romeo 179B, Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile di Torino (2).jpg
Rear view of 179B (1981) in Turin Automobile Museum.

Alfa Romeo hired Frenchman Patrick Depailler for the 1980 season; Depailler had a good reputation as a testing and development driver, and this proved invaluable for the 179's competitiveness. The car was far from competitive at the first races of the season in Argentina and Brazil; Depailler and his teammate Bruno Giacomelli qualified at the back of the grid for both races even though the former finished 5th in Argentina. But a month later in South Africa the car had become far better and Depailler qualified 6th on the grid, and another 4 weeks later at Long Beach the Alfa had improved even further and Depailler qualified the car an amazing 3rd on the grid, whilst Giacomelli qualified 6th. Although Alfa Romeo did not win a race that season largely due to horrendous unreliability, they were often up there with the front runners, although the team's season was marred by the death of Depailler at a testing session at Hockenheim in Germany when he crashed due to a suspension failure which pitched his car into the Armco barrier at the high-speed Ostkurve, inflicting fatal head injuries as the vehicle overturned and skidded along the top of the guard rail for several hundred feet prior to flipping onto its top and into the trees. Giacomelli bravely raced at Hockenheim a week later, finishing 5th. But the team ended the season on a positive note, with Depallier's testing not having gone in vain when Giacomelli stuck his Alfa on pole at the last race of the season at Watkins Glen; he led most of the race until electrical failure put him out of the race. [2]

The 179's best achievements were Bruno Giacomelli's pole position at the 1980 United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen and 3rd place at the 1981 Caesars Palace Grand Prix. The car scored 14 points from 61 races.

Variants

179F Test Car at the Alfa Romeo Museum 1981 Alfa Romeo 179F Test Car front side.jpg
179F Test Car at the Alfa Romeo Museum
Front of the 179F Test Car 1981 Alfa Romeo 179F Test Car front.jpg
Front of the 179F Test Car

At the beginning of the 1981 season, the 179s were fitted with adjustable dampers and denoted as 179C. [3] [4] A lower 179D was the next evolution and the final version which raced. A fully carbon-fibre 179F was present at the 1982 South African Grand Prix but was never raced. [5]

There was also a V8-engined test mule of this car, the 179T in 1982, which was used to test the new 1.5 L turbocharged engine. [6]

Technical information

Alfa Romeo 179
EngineTipo-1260-60°-V12 (block and heads light alloy) 175 kg
Displacement 2995 cm3 / 182.5 cu in
bore × stroke 77 mm × 53.6 mm
Compression ratio 11.0 : 1
max. Torque:333 Nm at 9500 rpm
max. power392 kW (525 hp) at 12,300 rpm
HP per litre of displacement:176 HP
Valve controltwo overhead camshafts, 4 valves per cylinder
Mixture preparation Lucas Intake manifold injection
CoolingWater
Gearbox6-speed gearbox (rear-wheel drive)
Brakesventilated disc brakes on all wheels
Front suspensiondouble wishbones, the inwardly extended upper links actuate the inner spring-damper units, stabilizer
Rear suspension double wishbones, the inwardly extended upper links actuate the inner spring-damper units, stabilizer
Body and frameChassis: Monocoque in sandwich construction with cover layers made of carbon fibre reinforced plastic and honeycomb core; engine as a load-bearing part
Wheelbase 2780 mm
Track width front / rear1720 mm / 1610 mm
Tire size frontunknown
Tire size rearunknown
Dimensions L × W × H4300 mm × 2140 mm × 900 mm
Empty weight (without driver)595 kg
Tank capacityunknown
Fuel consumptionunknown
Top speeddepending on the gear ratio
Power to weight ratio (hp/kg)0.88 HP/kg

Non-Championship races

Following the 1980 season, Alfa entered one of their 179s, with Giacomelli doing the driving, in the non-championship 1980 Australian Grand Prix at the Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne. The race that year was open to Formula One, Formula 5000 and Formula Pacific cars with the Alfa, along with the Williams-Ford of 1980 World Champion, Australian Alan Jones, being the only F1 cars in the race. Calder circuit owner and race promoter Bob Jane invited the factory Alfa team in the hopes of attracting spectators from Melbourne's large Italian community (a ploy that, along with the presence of Jones, saw a good, but far from capacity crowd on race day). Giacomelli qualified second behind Jones (and easily faster than the F5000 cars) and after showing surprising speed and taking the lead from Jones part-way through the race, eventually finished a lap behind the Williams in second place. [7]

Variants:

ModelNumber of Grands PrixSeasonsDebutLast race
Alfa Romeo 179301979–1980 1979 Italian GP 1980 United States GP
Alfa Romeo 179B21981 1981 Austrian GP 1981 Dutch GP
Alfa Romeo 179C241981 1981 US West GP 1981 Caesars Palace GP
Alfa Romeo 179D61981–1982 1981 Austrian GP 1982 South African GP

Complete Formula One results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position)

YearEntrantChassisEngineTyresDrivers12345678910111213141516PointsWCC
1979 Autodelta 179 Alfa Romeo 1260 V12 G ARG BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA 013th
Bruno Giacomelli RetDNARet
Vittorio Brambilla RetDNQ
1980 Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo 179 Alfa Romeo 1260 V12 G ARG BRA RSA USW BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA 411th
Bruno Giacomelli 513RetRetRetRetRetRet5RetRetRetRetRet
Patrick Depailler RetRetNCRetRetRetRetRet
Vittorio Brambilla DNARetRet
Andrea de Cesaris RetRet
1981 Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo 179B
179C
179D
Alfa Romeo 1260 V12 M USW BRA ARG SMR BEL MON ESP FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN CPL 109th
Mario Andretti 4Ret8Ret10Ret88Ret9RetRetRet7Ret
Bruno Giacomelli RetNC10Ret9Ret1015Ret15RetRet843
1982 Marlboro Team Alfa Romeo 179D Alfa Romeo 1260 V12 M RSA BRA USW SMR BEL MON DET CAN NED GBR FRA GER AUT SUI ITA CPL 710th
Andrea de Cesaris 13
Bruno Giacomelli 11

Notes

  1. "museoauto". museoauto.it. Archived from the original on 2008-04-24. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
  2. "Committed to life". forix.com. Retrieved 2007-04-26.
  3. "Alfa Romeo 179". ultimatecarpage.com. Retrieved 2007-04-26.
  4. Brown, Allen (9 July 2017). "Alfa Romeo 179C car-by-car histories". oldracingcars.com. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  5. "Alfa Romeo 179F". oldracingcars.com. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  6. "Alfa Romeo 179T". statsf1.com (in French). Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  7. Wilson, Stewart (1986). "1980". In Howard, Graham (ed.). The Official 50-race history of the Australian Grand Prix. Gordon, NSW: R & T Publishing. pp. 436–444. ISBN   0-9588464-0-5.