From Tuesday 25 August “La macchina del tempo – Museo Storico Alfa Romeo” features at Expo 2015. One of the cars of the historical collection, the Alfa Romeo SE048SP, is on display at Expo Centre, at the heart of the Expo site, near Triulza entrance. Located just a few kilometres from the Expo 2015 site, the museum is offering Expo visitors a special promotion until 31 October: a reduced admission price of €8 rather than €12 on presentation of an Expo 2015 ticket.
“La macchina del tempo” illustrates the centenary history of the Alfa Romeo brand through the cars, the people and the victories that have had the greatest effect not only on the evolution of the company but also on the automotive history in general. Open every day except Tuesdays (www.museoalfaromeo.com for opening times and information), the museum is the heart of a true Alfa Romeo "brand centre” equipped with a bookshop, restaurant, test track, historical archive and, in a link between past and present, a showroom where visitors may admire and purchase the models currently in production.
The Expo 2015 display will feature the Alfa Romeo SE048SP, a racing car built in the late Eighties to take part in the World Championship for Sports Prototypes in the Group C category. It was powered by the Alfa Romeo V1035 engine developed in the period for F1. The engine designed by Pino D’Agostino was a brand-new 72° V10 displacing 3500 cc, boasting five valves per cylinder and capable of delivering 620 hp at 13300 rpm and 39 kgm of torque at 9500 rpm. The design of the chassis was entrusted to Giuseppe Petrotta and Ignazio Lunetta, with Giorgio Camaschella responsible for the aerodynamics. It was at the time a very advanced monocoque in carbonfibre, built by Monfrini, with rear-wheel drive. Great attention was paid to the aerodynamics, firstly using scale models in the wind tunnel and then a resin model in the tunnel at the Fiat Research Centre. The underbody was created in a single piece to avoid joins and featured four ground effect channels. The mathematical data and the wind tunnel testing demonstrated ample possibilities for development of the project, with performance that in terms of aerodynamic efficiency was clearly superior to that of the Formula 1 single-seaters. Subsequently it was decided to develop a single 3.5-litre engine and the choice fell on the Ferrari F1 V12 which was adapted to the nascent Group C regulations, while the monocoque was modified to accept the new engine: the car is currently exhibited in this configuration. The programme was finally suspended in the September of 1990 following the FIA’s decision not to invest in the Sports Prototypes category. The single prototype constructed, with diverse mechanical components still at the mock-up stage, is now part of the Alfa Romeo historical collection, along with the V10 engine that was to have powered it.
