This Alfa Rome 164 as far as I know is the only car that was built for the ProCar series in 1988.
The ProCar Series was a child of the FOCA boss Bernie Ecclestone, who
in the past used Alfa Romeo race engines in his Brabham-F1 cars and
therefore had best of contacts to Alfa Romeo. These ProCars were to be built in the new group "S" (S = silhouette) and come as touring cars
with F1- technology With this new series Bernie Ecclestone wanted to
attract many of the major car manufacturers, mostly to get new
engine manufacturers for the Formula 1. According to the at this time
valid FIA-requirements the engines had to have the same technical specs
as the Formula 1 engines. This also applied to the rest of the Formula 1
technology, monocoque frames, carbon fibre brake discs, and a centrally
located engine with a maximum displacement of 3,5 liters.
The body had to look like the original stock car, this meant that no
aerodynamic devices were allowed, except a rear wing placed on the
trunk lid. Alfa now tried to get a team together for this new Formula
"S". This is how - with the help of Brabham (at this time owned by
Bernie Eccleston) - the unique 164 ProCar was born. No
other manufacturers showed any interest in the new series so not a
single race was driven.
The chassis is F1 technology from the time using an
aluminum-Nomex-honeycomb monocoque
reinforced with Kevlar and carbon fibre. The bodywork is also made from
Nomex, Kevlar and carbon fibre. The body was made in 3 parts. The front
end is one piece just as the rear end. The rest of the bodywork,
including doors,
windshield, and "A"-pillar make up the middle part. The
doors are the same size and also function like the stock ones, except
built in carbon fiber. Even the rear view mirrors, headlamps
and bumpers are the same size and look like the stock ones.
The whole brake system is also straight out of F1 with
monoblock calipers and carbon fibre discs. The engine was
built to latest F1 specs, it's a 73° V-10 with 4 overhead camshafts and
4-valve technology. The engine was placed in the center of the car and
bolted together with a 6 speed transmission (plus reverse gear). In its last version, V10 Alfa Romeo engine produced 620hbp at 13300rpm,
with a max torque of 39kgm at 9500rpm. all this powering a car that weighs 750 kg (1655 lbs)!
The Alfa Romeo V10 engine alone deserves another post of its own. It was actually the first F1 engine to introduce the modern V10 layout...a month before Honda debuted its version. Unfortunately it wasn't nearly as successful...
On September 9th 1988, during the weekend
dedicated to the Italian Grand Prix, the 164 Pro-Car made its
debut on the Monza track. It was just a few laps, but which showed all the
potential of a fantastic car. Driven by Brabham driver
Riccardo Patrese, it reached a speed of 329 km/h, faster than that reached by the F1 cars entered in the Grand
Prix! This was due to the 164 having much slipperier aerodynamics than the F1 cars of the time.
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