An excellent result for Alfa Romeo at the “24 Hours” race organised at the Misano Adriatico circuit on May 11 and 12 by the monthly motor magazine “Auto”.
The Alfa 147 1.6 Twin Spark was first across the finishing line in the exhausting endurance race that the Italian trade paper organises every year to compare the reliability, resistance and performance of cars in a certain category when they are pushed to the limit.
The cars chosen this year were all standard production Segment C models, with petrol and diesel engines, and power deliveries of about 115 bhp for both types. There were 21 cars in all, from 11 different manufacturers, driven by Italian and foreign journalists and test drivers who took turns on the various models.
After 24 hours without let-up, interrupted only by pit stops to fill up, and change drivers and tyres (supplied by Michelin), the Alfa 147 1.6 Twin Spark crossed the finishing line 27 seconds ahead of the BMW 118d and 4 laps ahead of the Honda Civic 1.6 V-Tec. To achieve this exploit, the Alfa 147 covered 642 laps, the equivalent of 2606.5 kilometres, at an average of 108.5 km/h, replacing the front brake pads just once and changing its front tyres three times. 626.1 litres of petrol were consumed, for an average consumption – in extreme conditions – of 4.163 km/litre.
The 24 Hours were followed from start to finish by the telecameras of RAI TG2 Motori, and by three prestigious European magazines: Autocar (United Kingdom), Autovisie (Holland) and ViBilagare (Sweden).
“Auto 24 Hours” – Standings petrol category
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Alfa Romeo 147 1.6 TS 642 laps (2,606.5 km) at an average of 108.542 km/h
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Honda Civic 1.6 V-TEC Sport 4 laps
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Citroen C4 Coupe 1.6 16V 7 laps
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Toyota Corolla 1.6 VVT-i 11 laps
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Mazda 3 1.6 16V 12 laps
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Ford Focus 1.6 Ti-VCT 13 laps
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VW Golf 1.6 FSI 15 laps
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Audi A3 1.6 FSI 16 laps
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Renault Mégane 1.6 16V 19 laps
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BMW 116i 21 laps
The Alfa 147’s extraordinary reliability was also confirmed last week by a racing version which won the Nürburgring 24 Hour race for the third consecutive time, in the highly competitive Diesel Class. An Alfa 147 JTD 20V Multijet led the 23 competitors in the Diesel category, ahead of the BMW 330d (4 laps) and the VW Bora TDi (8 laps). That was not all, in the overall standings, the car took 13th place out of 216 participants, ahead of petrol-engined cars, some of which boasted twice the 147’s power delivery.
