New Documentary Showcases 540 Horsepower Giulia GTA Sedan:
From Sketch To The Track, See What Led The Return Of One Of Alfa's Biggest Icons...
Back in March, the Alfa Romeo brand pulled the covers off of the brand’s latest performance entries the 2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA and GTAm sedans. The high-performance duo created a lot of buzz for the Italian performance brand, during its 110th anniversary this year. With the car getting closer to launch, the Italian brand has released a new short documentary about the development of the GTA and GTAm.
In 1965, Alfa Romeo launched the Giulia Sprint GTA, a high-performance version of the Sprint GT. The body of the Giulia Sprint GT was replaced with a replica body made from aluminum, which cut the weight of the car from 2,094 lbs. to 1,642 lbs., a total of 452 lbs. Alfa Romeo engineers equipped the car with a second-variation of its 1.6-liter twin-cam engine. Autodelta (the official name for the Alfa Romeo racing team at the time) was able to get a whopping 170 horsepower out of the little engine (55 horsepower more than the road car version).
The team entered the car over the next several years in multiple races and Touring car champions, where it won three consecutive “Challenge Europeo Marche”, tens of national championships, and hundreds of individual races in every part of the world.
Following the same guidelines that were followed for the 1965 Giulia GTA, Alfa Romeo engineers strove to improve aerodynamics and handling but above all to reduce the weight of the new Giulia GTA. These solutions contain a lot of technical know-how thanks to the work of Alfa Romeo and Sauber Engineering, who both operate the Formula 1 Alfa Romeo Racing team together.
A new Sauber Areokit was designed for the Giulia GTA with active aerodynamics for added downforce. The Areokit includes an aggressive new front fascia, side skirts, active front splitter, new rear spoiler, as well as a new carbon-fiber rear diffuser with twin-titanium mounted center exhaust and tells you that this isn’t your typical Giulia sedan.
If that isn’t enough for you, the GTAm (modified) variant is an extreme 100% “street legal” version of the GTA, characterized by two racing seats, a roll bar, and Sabelt 6-point safety belts. With a front splitter and larger visible rear wing in carbon, the GTAm is the ultimate expression of sportiness.
In the GTA version, with the same power, Giulia offers four seats, no rear roll-bar; spoiler and splitter optimized for daily use on the road; the same door panels, seats, and windows as those of the Giulia Quadrifoglio. The result is a veritable supercar for everyday use.
Under the hood, the aluminum 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged V6 returns and gets a 30 horsepower boost to 540 horsepower for GTA duty. Alfa Romeo engineers also worked with Akrapovič (maker of the new titanium exhaust) to give the GTA its own distinctive sound. With a weight reduction of 221 pounds (100 kilograms) compared to the standard Giulia Quadrifoglio and the horsepower boost from its tuned motor, the GTA can hit 62 mph (or 100 kph) in just 3.6-seconds. That’s about the same time as the much heavier and more powerful 2021 Dodge Charger SRT HELLCAT Widebody. It lets the GTA achieve a best-in-class weight/power ratio of 6.2 lb/hp.
The short documentary showcases Arnaud Leclerc (Head of Alfa Romeo EMEA), Klaus Busse (Head of Design EMEA), and Fabio Migliavacca (Head of Product Marketing EMEA) and shares the emotions they experienced while planning the rebirth of a legendary Alfa Romeo icon. From the early sketches to getting the final product on the track, they talk about what it was like to develop, design, and produce the GTA and GTAm.
