Alfa Romeo's Formula One past

[Robert Groom]

From formula1.com ...

At this weekend's San Marino Grand Prix in Imola the heart of almost every Italian will be with Ferrari, for what is effectively the first of the national team's two 'home' races.

Yet despite being the longest-established Formula One constructor, Ferrari is a relative newcomer by the standards of Italian race teams - with the country's racing heritage stretching back to the very dawn of motorsport. Indeed, the great Enzo Ferrari himself started life working for Alfa Romeo.

Of all the famous racing names, none out-plays Alfa Romeo - not least as the company still produces road-going cars to this day.

Full article here ... http://www.formula1.com/news/4238.html

Pop quiz: The driver is Bruno Giacomelli, but at which Grand Prix? Year and circuit? ... 

[Sheldon McIntosh]

1979 Belgian, or possibly French.

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Sorry, circuit.  That'll be Spa-Francorchamps?

[vin sharp]

Zolder, Belgium 1979. This was Alfas first GP on its return to modern F1.
Single car entry, qualified 14 of 24. Run into the back of by De Angelis and DNF. De Angelis qualified 24th.
This unfortunatley set the tone for Alfas fortunes in F1. Accidents and technical gremlins always seemed to get in the way of good results. Cars got to be regular front group qualifiers and race leaders but never turned into a win. A couple of second and third places were best results.
Seemingly  always just one step away from solid results, Alfas 3.0lt V12s became the most powerfull engine of the 3.0lt era....just in time to be eclipsed by the turbocharged engines. A similar situation when they developed the V8 turbo, most powerfull turbo engine.... just in time to have the fuel usage limits imposed. It wasn't that Alfa were niave in their thinking, it was just an unfortunate circumstance of timing that unforseen regulation changes happened at the worst possible time for them.
The other thing that really hurts is that they not only had (potentially) good engines, but the chassis were competative too in the early 80s.