8th March, 2005

To mark the 80th anniversary of Alfa Romeo winning the very first Grand Prix Championship in 1925, Alfa Romeo has launched a limited edition of its high performance Alfa Romeo 147 GTA named after the race track where it secured its first world title: Monza.

That first World Championship title was secured for Alfa Romeo with the legendary Alfa Romeo P2 and it began its winning record at Monza in 1924 with the legendary Antonio Ascari at the wheel. Another victory followed at the Cremona track and Giuseppe Campari took the P2 to the chequred flag at Lyon. But it was in 1925 that the Alfa Romeo P2 secured its place in history, with wins at Monza and Spa clinching the debut World Championship title for Alfa Romeo.

Despite its straight eight superchanged engine, the Alfa Romeo P2's engine output of 130 kW does not compare the 184 kW available to the driver of today's Alfa Romeo 147 GTA Monza. The Alfa Romeo P2 set a record speed at Monza of 220 kmh, an astounding speed for the period, while today's 147 GTA Monza is capable, where the law permits, of a top speed of 246 kmh.

Ascari, Campari and Peri, would, though recognize the standard handcrafted leather interior of the 147 GTA Monza as being a distant relative of the leather racing seats of their P2, it is doubtful that the headlights fitted to one Alfa Romeo P2 to make it road legal could compare in any way to the standard Xenon headlights added to the 147 GTA Monza.

Both the Alfa Romeo P2 and the Alfa Romeo 147 GTA are race track bred, with the Alfa Romeo 147 GTA Monza's suspension tuned to match the requirements of race track performance and it's steering, at 1.7 turns lock to lock, is lightening quick.

The original Alfa Romeo P2, in the official Alfa Romeo Specification, lists its electrical system as  "None". The 147 GTA Monza could not be more different. In addition to all the usual modern electrical features, the 147 GTA Monza has a plethora of modern electrical and computer technology including ABS with EBD, VDC and MSR, all designed to provide safety and securing without any dampening of the driving excitement expected of an Alfa Romeo.

Back in 1924, the Alfa Romeo P2 had manual four gears, today's Alfa Romeo 147 GTA Monza has six gears and - another link to Alfa Romeo's motorsport heritage - the option of the Selespeed sequential manual gearbox, the same system used by today's Formula One drivers.

The Alfa Romeo 147 GTA Monza has one additional extra because not everyone is born with the innate skill of an Ascari: A full race-track based high performance driving course to enable those lucky enough to own the a 147 GTA Monza to fully understand its capabilities and how exploit them in safety.

"Alfa Romeo's history in motorsport is unique," says Kevin Wall, General Manager of Alfa Romeo in Australia.  "Not only did the Alfa P2 secure the first ever world title, the Alfa Romeo 158 took the first title after the war and the GTA name has been secured to many winning touring cars, right up to the 156 GTA in the European Touring Car Championship. So it is entirely appropriate that GTA should come together with a name synonymous with Alfa Romeo success, Monza, to mark this historic anniversary."

The Alfa Romeo 147 GTA Monza includes above the standard car the full handcrafted Momo leather interior, Xenon headlights and a high performance driving course. It has a recommended retail price of $59,990 for the six speed manual version and $63,990 for the Selespeed variant. The total number of Alfa Romeo 147 GTA Monzas is limited to 100.

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