NEW RELEASE Alfa Romeo Giulia Super Competition
The 1966 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super was prepared for competition, and sits in a particularly interesting part of Alfa Romeo history, between the road-going Giulia Super and the much more exotic Giulia TI Super/GTA racers. The Giulia Super itself was introduced in 1965, with a 1,570 cc twin-cam and twin Weber carburettors, producing around 98 hp.
Few cars demonstrate Alfa Romeo’s philosophy of the 1960s better than the Giulia Super. To look at, it is an elegant four-door family saloon; underneath, however, is the DNA of a car company that regarded racing as an essential part of its identity.
The Giulia Super arrived in 1965 as the more sophisticated development of the Giulia saloon. Its 1,570 cc, all-alloy twin-cam four-cylinder engine breathed through two twin-choke Weber 40 DCOE carburettors, producing about 98 hp and giving the relatively compact saloon a claimed top speed of around 175 km/h (109 mph). Four-wheel disc brakes with servo assistance were standard, giving the Giulia remarkably advanced stopping power for an ordinary family car of the period.
But the really interesting story is what was happening on the racetrack.
Alfa had already demonstrated just how far the Giulia platform could be pushed with the extraordinary Giulia TI Super. Produced in only 505 examples, it was effectively a competition car disguised as a road-going saloon. Its racing character was obvious: lightweight construction, minimal trim, distinctive green Quadrifoglio markings and even unusual grille sections replacing the inner headlights to improve airflow and cooling.
By 1965, Alfa had gone even further with the Giulia Sprint GTA. The GTA’s name came from Alleggerita — Italian for “lightened” — and Alfa took the idea of weight reduction to remarkable lengths. Aluminium body panels, Plexiglass side windows, magnesium components and a stripped-out interior helped bring the GTA down to roughly 745 kg. Its 1.6-litre twin-cam was fitted with a twin-plug cylinder head and produced around 115 hp in road specification, while competition engines could be developed to considerably more.
And 1966 was an important year. The GTA was absolutely devastating in competition, recording more than 200 victories during the 1966 season alone, including successes in touring-car and hill-climb events.
Some fascinating facts
The engine is an Alfa Romeo classic: the 1,570 cc four-cylinder twin-cam became one of Alfa’s defining engines and was closely related to the engines used in the company’s much more serious competition machinery.
It was a family saloon with sports-car engineering. The Giulia Super had four-wheel disc brakes, a servo and twin Weber carburettors at a time when many ordinary family cars still relied on drum brakes.
The Giulia name was already synonymous with competition. The FIA records the Giulia Super as a homologated competition model, with 1,570 cc, four cylinders and rear-wheel drive. Its 1966 homologation illustrates just how seriously these saloons were taken in motorsport.
The GTA was a completely different animal. Although it shared the basic Giulia family architecture, its aluminium skin and extensive weight-saving measures meant that it was roughly 200 kg lighter than a conventional GT, transforming its performance and handling.
Alfa didn’t believe a racing car had to look like one. The beauty of the Giulia was that its four-door body concealed sophisticated mechanicals. It could take the family shopping during the week and, with the right preparation, go racing at the weekend.
The rear-wheel-drive layout and excellent chassis were central to the car’s character. Even today, historic racing versions of the Giulia remain popular because the basic platform responds exceptionally well to competition preparation.
A car with two personalities
Perhaps the most charming thing about a 1966 Giulia Super is the contrast. It looks like a sensible Italian family saloon, but it was born from an era when Alfa Romeo believed that a road car should have genuine sporting character.
The same basic engineering philosophy produced the elegant Giulia Super, the stripped-out TI Super, and ultimately the spectacular GTA. The latter became one of the most successful small-capacity touring cars of its generation, while the ordinary Giulia Super brought some of that competition-bred engineering to everyday motorists.
In other words, the Giulia Super wasn’t a racing car pretending to be a family car — it was a family car that happened to have racing in its blood. That is perhaps the most Alfa Romeo thing about it.