The Story Of the Alfa Romeo GTAm – Beautiful, Brutal and Totally Bonkers

The GTAm Made Alfa Romeo a Racing Legend. I cant think of a more aggressive looking car and in the 1970s it was feared by all its competitors.

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[Music] [Music] oh wow so in GTA GTA form the 105 series alphas won the European Car Championship in ‘ 66 67 68 1970 and 1971 they were practically unbeatable in this video I’m going to tell you how the GTAM came to be we’re going to drive this one and also see what’s on the market right now first though I want to try and convey just what makes these cars so special there’s almost a mystical aura about them when I was in my early 20s I bought my first classic car a 105 series 1750 GTV but before buying it in preparation I did as much reading up on them as I could and this volume in particular which is on the racing cars the GTA’s I thumb through almost on a daily basis now the GTA is a nice looking car but then you see the GTM in the middle and it is almost unbelievable what that car looks like it’s so squat it’s so wide with those wheel arches i mean it’s just such a beast coupled with just the fact that you know the archers were actually riveted in it’s so functional it’s so non nonsense that car looks almost scary an impression which is further agumented when you have a look at the period pictures of them racing look at that the size of those tires and then of course the typical 105 series stance there with the inside front wheel cocked they are just legendary cars the GTA was the first racing version of the GTV it was based on the earlier step front models but with an all alloy body the steel inner panels were thinner a twin plug engine and even magnesium wheels some of those cars tipped the scales at under 800 kilos the GTA are more difficult to pin down because they didn’t have their own specific chassis numbering scheme they weren’t official production models in the same way as the GTA’s the base car was the US market version of the 1750 GTV now the 1750 was the second raft facelift I suppose of the 105 series cars you had the 1300 and600 step fronts and then this phase came out which was the second generation that American car had speaker fuel injection it might seem odd that they would base a racer on a car made for the US that was therefore hampered with fuel emissions injection this though was done purely to make homologation simpler with the factory race cars then using the much better Lucas system some of them though even had carbs that’s because some of the tuners and race teams just ordered parts from Autod Delta and built the racers themselves based on the European spec 1750s auto Delta was Alpha’s racing department they built cars both for the works teams and customer teams the customer cars though tended to use speaker fuel injection albeit a modified version not the same as the ones that went to the US estimates are that up to 40 GTA were built by Autod Delta and private workshops this isn’t one of the original 40 it’s a car that was converted and subsequently raced here in the UK there were three schools of thought as to why they were called GTA and none has ever been officially confirmed by Alfa Romeo so the first is it stood for GT also major which means increased ball in Italian then GT allegita modificata which is lightened and modified and last GT America um I’m not sure which one is real but in my mind I always considered that because it was based on the American car it was GTAM i don’t know if you know the truth of it then please put that in the comments these differed from the GTA in various ways but none more obvious than the huge increase in track also the wider archers to accommodate the big fat tires now these are actually made out of glass fiber but the rest of the body is no longer aluminium they were made out of steel the reason for that is that in 1971 they changed the regulations for group 2 and raised the minimum weight limit to 940 kilos so there was no longer any need to try and chase lightness at any cost the original 1750 block was modified with a mono sleeve to raise capacity up to 2 L they made up to 240 horsepower this one has a twin spark nod engine which puts out 215 at the back wheel using twin 45 Webbers so in terms of power it’s pretty much spot on 215 at the wheel pretty close to 240 as the original GTA would have had and now let’s see how this one feels on the road the starting procedure begins outside the car first the cut off switch on to on then we use the fourpoint harness although for the test uh I’m only going to be using two points i think four cuz for normal driving is a little bit overkill then fuel pump on and god that is so noisy and finally we’re ready to get it going there’s nothing quite like a 105 series driving position now it’s been altered a little bit in this car because it has bucket seats and uh but what hasn’t changed is that it’s still very long arm and very short-legged uh I’ll never quite get over that and of course you can’t put yourself too far from the wheel because you got to have it close to you so you have maximum force to to turn it especially in a race car like this now this is quite loud but it’s not I mean it’s not deafening or anything like that uh the carves from what I remember they don’t even have like boxes or anything they’re just open trumpets so I think that’s what we’re going to hear the most of even at these really low speeds the steering still has that 105 series magic it’s just incredible it’s so hard i’ve never quite been able to describe how this steering feels you’ve got a little wheel here and um best description is to say it’s almost as if it’s oiled it’s just so smooth for a 2 L in one of these cars lower down this feels quite gutless but I’m expecting it to really come to life a bit higher up the rev range the gear stick looks weird just sprouting out the center console far ahead there with the gear stick at an angle like this but it is so well placed for your hand and in this car it is just so slick absolutely lovely very responsive and noisy and I think it must also have solid mounts this engine or the gearbox because I can feel so much vibration coming through but this is the bit that we have all been waiting for so let’s take it through the gears oh well this engine absolutely lives for revs it has to be said that on the road I mean not only is it incredibly noisy but those wide tires and that racing geometry mean that it’s a little bit imprecise off center and it sort of tends to wander around a little bit obviously designed for a a smooth racing track so it doesn’t particularly like going straight but um wow what a thing the emotions that you get when driving one of these you just need to get into one of these cars to understand it’s the combination of the noise the way it responds it’s quite odd though because this is a worm and roller steering system and they weren’t very precise you know off center at the best of times uh but this one in particular feels a little bit loose to me could be that it needs adjusting or it could just be that the geometry of the car means that and those wide tires make it even more apparent uh that going straight can be a little bit tricky oh oh almost hit that red kite i don’t know if you guys could see it on the cameras but there’s some sort of carrying on the road uh and he only just got out the way in time okay in terms of ride it’s quite civilized like you’d think this would be like a skateboard but actually it’s not bad at all once it settles into the corner you get so much information threading flooding through from the car it’s just lovely [Music] the sound from those trumpets from the Webbers oh it’s magical but it has to be said it really doesn’t have any go below 4,000 okay let’s take it through the gears again what a beasty it’s a little bit too much for the road to be completely honest though let’s see if it Oh turning circle still awesome okay [Music] oh went into pit once it bites into the corner it’s amazing it just wants to keep going the initial turning is a little bit slow that’s it now you’re good lean into it well look it is a racing car and it very much feels like one slightly terrifying on these roads because with the camber changes and the bumps it does want to go absolutely everywhere except where you’re pointing half the time once you got it settled into the corner though it’s magical it’s so good [Music] [Music] now if this has made you ache for the real race experience and you want one of these cars well if you want a real genuine one of the early the first 40 GTA well you won’t be able to get one um and if you do it will be incredibly expensive hundred of thousands of pounds but the good thing about these as I said is that GTA well they weren’t full production vehicles anyway so getting a car recreation like this one you can still pretty much get the full experience if you want to get one I had a look at what’s on the market right now there is another recreation similar to this in spec and in looks that’s £58,000 the only negative spot for me is that they haven’t left the riveted on arches and to me it just doesn’t look right these arches are so comical that the riveting in my mind is essential to make it look as it’s supposed to be functional you know a true race car so that one doesn’t have that but looks like a nice car there’s also and I think this is a lot of value there’s a normal 105 series which has some GTA bits on it GTA wheels looks really nice i think that’s up for 37,000 and if you think you know these cars were around at the same time as the early 911 S’s for example that one is a step front they look great they drive amazingly well 37,000 just seems like a steal to me for one of those if you want it at the moment there is also a GTA for sale so I’ll mention this just so you get an idea of the price differentiation it looks like um this is a genuine albeit a junior 1300 GTA and that is up for 250,000 and it’s a junior uh the 1300s are worth less than the full fat 1600s uh I mean they are incredible cars and they’re sort of full you know Alpha really went to town before motorsport you know BMW M was doing this stuff Alpha was doing it and wow you know the GTA are incredible but £250,000 is a huge amount of money would you ever be even want to drive that car so have a look around 105s I think they have gone up hugely in value in the last few years but they’re still really good compared to some of the other stuff specifically 911s [Music] so what do I make of this car well it’s absolutely batshit crazy it’s just it’s it’s a little bit too much for these kinds of back roads i think you need more open smoother roads but it’s just beautiful you have that incredible steering it’s a pugnacious little thing it’s always It’s always egging you on it wants to go it’s like a little terrier massive thanks to Ned and Roland for bringing this down it’s hugely appreciated and thanks to all of you for watching