Beschreibung:

It would be easier to train a tiger to be vegetarian than to persuade Alfa Romeo to give up motor sport. Having won the first two World Championships, Alfa Romeo retired from Formula One, then promptly built the iconic Disco Volante sports racers. Having given up racing, Alfa Romeo had Fangio leading its assault on the first World Sports Car Championship in 1953. In those periods when Alfa Romeo was not running a works team, there was generous support for private Alfa Romeo projects and, eventually, Alfa Romeo established Autodelta as an autonomous outfit under Carlo Chiti to service such projects and build its own cars. Before long, Autodelta became Alfa Romeo's official official competition arm. Alfa Romeo had dipped a toe in the water of Formula One in 1971 when it supplied a V8 engine for Andrea de Adamich's works March then, in 1976, Alfa supplied engines to Brabham. From there it was a short step to Alfa Romeo creating its own F1 team. After a year-long development programme, Alfa Romeo returned to Formula One at the 1979 Belgian GP with the Tipo 177 driven by Bruno Giacomelli who had just won the European Formula Two series with a record eight victories. The 179 first raced late in 1979. This car began as a 179B then was converted to 'C' specification for 1981 with the hydro-pneumatic suspension that sophisticated teams used to circumvent the ban on sliding skirts. It first appeared at the 1980 British Grand Prix in the hands of Bruno Giacomelli who used it for the rest of the season. The highlight of the year was the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen where Giacomelli put it on pole nearly a second ahead of the field. It was not a fluke caused by the weather, Giacomelli had run with the leaders in the previous race in Canada. At Watkins Glen he led from pole until, just after half distance, he was eliminated by an electrical fault. Mario Andretti was so impressed that he left Lotus to join Alfa Romeo. The 179C continued to be competitive throughout 1981 and Giacomelli took fourth in Canada and third in the final Grand Prix, at Las Vegas. Chassis ‘006’ has now been restored to race-ready condition without regard to cost. The vendor reports that 520 bhp has been delivered on a dynometer and the car has not been raced since restoration. It is sold with many receipts and bills, FIA documentation and with a vast quantity of spares, including a kit of custom-made Alfa Romeo tools, which are valued in excess of US$60,000. It is a thoroughbred Grand Prix Alfa Romeo which set pole, dominated a Grand Prix and rewarded its driver with a podium finish. In den Siebzigerjahren kehrte Alfa Romeo zuerst als Motorenlieferant von Brabham in die Formel 1 zurück, und baute bald darauf wieder komplette Autos. Deren Zwölfzylinder-Boxer war zwar kräftig, hatte aber für das Chassis den Nachteil, dass kaum Raum für "Ground-Effect"-Kanäle blieb. Der aerodynamische Anpressdruck war also geringer als bei der Konkurrenz mit V-Motoren. Mit dem gleichen Problem wurde damals übrigens auch Ferrari konfrontiert. Wie andere Teams spendierte Alfa Romeo dem 179C-Chassis für 1981 hydropneumatische Aufhängungen, um das Verbot der beweglichen Schürzen zu kompensieren. Der Verkäufer behauptet, dass Mario Andretti mit diesem Auto 1981 in Long Beach Vierter wurde. Dies ist durchaus möglich, lässt sich aber nicht mit Sicherheit rekon-struieren, da Alfa Romeo aus unerklärlichen Gründen die Chassis-Nummern stän-dig wechselte. Selbst Experten kapitulierten während der F1-Saison 1981, wenn es darum ging, die Identität der Alfa-Chassis festzustellen. Bekannt ist, dass das vorliegende Exemplar erstmals am GP von England 1980 auftauchte (in 179B-Spezifikation) und in jener Saison vor allem von Bruno Giacomelli gefahren wurde. Für das folgende Jahr wurde es dann zum 179C umgebaut. Der historisch bedeutende Wagen wurde mit großem Aufwand restauriert, was man ihm auch auf den ersten Blick ansieht. Alle notwendigen Papiere sind vorhanden, um den ehemaligen Werks-Alfa