ALFA ROMEO 159 – year 1951

Alfa Romeo S.p.A, Milano, Italy.

W 1951 The Alfetta was modernized once again. The rear oscillating shafts were replaced with a de Dion rigid rear axle with articulated drive shafts. Car, already marked as type 159, also got a more powerful compressor with pressure 300 kPa. Thanks to this, z 1,5 liter eight-cylinder engine with unchanged displacement 1482 cm3 obtained enormous power 297,3 kW (404 KM) by 10 500 RPM. None of the competitors could demonstrate such parameters (ERA, Maserati, Talbot or Ferrari). The internal cooling of the engine by the fuel which is an alcohol blend resulted in a very significant increase in fuel consumption to over 170 liters per 100 km. This required increasing the capacity of the tanks to three hundred liters. As a result of increasing to 1100 kg of vehicle weight, it was also necessary to enlarge the dimensions of the brakes, to the maximum speed of 310 km / h, correspondingly effective braking could be achieved.

Despite, that the Alfa Romeo company in 1949 in the year she gave up further participation in races, its riders, with some financial support, won eleven races the following year, tj. all, in which they took part.

Type 159, competing in the Grand Prix races in 1951 the year won, led by Juan Fangio, in the Swiss Grand Prix race in Bem at an average speed 142,5 km/h, at the Spanish Grand Prix in Park Montju (158,9 km/h), Fagioli won it success at the European Grand Prix in Reims (177,6 km/h), and Giuseppe Farina won the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa (182,8 km/h). Overall you can say, that the type of Alfa Romeo 158/159 was the company's best model, and in the post-war period up to 1951 r. the best racing car of the Grand Prix formula.