Alfa Romeo and Prodrive celebrate birthdays at the Goodwood Festival of Speed

A year shy of the Italian sporting marque’s 100th birthday, Alfa Romeo will be preparing for next year’s Centenary with an historic hill climb by the first 8C Spider production car to be seen on the move in Britain, at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.

A firm favourite at last year’s British Motor Show, the Alfa 8C Spider – based on the 4.7litre V8 Alfa 8C Competizione coupe – will be joined on the hill by iconic motor racing cars from Alfa Romeo’s historic museum collection in Arese, Italy.

These include the 1924 P2 Gran Premio which won the first World Championship in 1925 driven by Gastone Brilli-Peri; the 8C 2300 tipo Le Mans which was purchased by Sir Henry Birkin in 1931; the 6C 3000 CM driven to second place by Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1953 Mille Miglia and the 33 TT 12 which brought the 1975 World Manufacturer’s title to Alfa Romeo.

Two Alfa Romeo concept cars have also been entered in the Cartier Style et Luxe in the “Serious Wedge – Studies in Angular Sports Car Design 1965-1980” category, both of which were designed by Bertone. The 1968 Alfa Carabo concept marks a revolutionary stage in supercar design, with its hydropneumatic-powered gull-wing doors and multi-coloured one way glass windows. Yet another demonstration of Bertone’s experimental forward thinking design is the 1978 Najavo, which represents a concerted effort for a new aerodynamics focussed direction in sporty coupe design.

The Alfa Romeo stand will feature both Alfa 8C Spider and Competizione supercars, as well as the new sporty compact MiTo, Spider, Brera S and 159.

Prodrive logo Alfa Romeo and Prodrive celebrate birthdays at the Goodwood Festival of Speed

Prodrive will be displaying and running some of the most iconic cars from its 25 years in motorsport.
The very first car Prodrive built in 1984, a Rothmans Porsche 911 SCRS, will run up the hill, as will its very latest, the Aston Martin LMP1. As a tribute to Britain’s two World Rally Champions, Prodrive will run a Colin McRae Impreza and a Richard Burns Impreza WRC alongside the Porsche.

The Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello, which competed at Le Mans in 2004 and was also driven by McRae, will run alongside the Gulf Oil liveried DBR9 in the GT class.

In addition, on static display will be the MG 6R4 driven by Jimmy McRae; the BMW M3 rally car, which Prodrive ran in the late 1980s; Ari Vatanen’s Subaru Legacy and Alain Menu’s 2000 BTCC-winning Ford Mondeo.
When not running, all the cars can be found on the Prodrive display area just behind the F1 Paddock.

The Goodwood Festival of Speed takes place between Friday 3rd and Sunday the 5th of July.