Alfa Romeo's V-12 Diva


Story by William Edgar

Peter Stoneberg eats up Northern California's Infineon Raceway 2-mile road circuit. Kyle Burt photo.

White and dayglo orange flashes by—and that operatic exhaust! The Alfa Romeo snatched my attention the instant I saw it. How rare, how sweet! This Italian F1 gem, along with the guy who now owns and drives it, is my subject for Veloce Today.

The 2004 Classic Sports Racing Group's autumn Historic Grand Prix event at California's Infineon Raceway had an entry list of no less than 24 Formula One cars, vintage editions of Williams, Tyrrell, Arrows, McLaren, March, Penske and Shadow among others-including one Alfa Romeo, that stunning contender from—yes!—"Scuderia Veloce." Well, there was no choice but for me to muse on this 1980 sixty-degree V-12 owned by San Francisco Bay area vintage racer and competition yachtsman Peter Stoneberg—even though the pole-sitting '82 Tyrrell in which David Busby won CSRG's October 10th HGP race was garaged next to it, rightful enticement liveried in Benetton green. But, there's just something about Italian race cars-particularly those with a few years tacked on, ripened like perfect fruit. They send my heart to superfluous beats.

Happy owner/driver Stoneberg's aluminum tub Alfa makes extensive use of titanium nuts, bolts. Edgar Photo.

Now, if we're all OK on the way I feel, I'll get to the story. This Alfa's history owns one significant claim. Of the post-World War II V-12-powered 520 bhp Alfa Romeo F1 cars that came on the GP scene at the end of the 1970s, this one—179B/004—was the very first to earn Formula One points. The date was January 13, 1980, a sizzling Southern Hemisphere's summer with 27-year old Bruno Giacomelli in 004's seat at Autodromo Municipal in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In that F1 season opener, Giacomelli, though a lap down from winner Alan Jones's Williams-Ford Cosworth, scored two F1 points—Bruno's and the V-12 Alfa's very first—finishing fifth, over a minute in front of McLaren's Alain Prost. Quite an auspicious start for Alfa's brand new car.

Rear axels were machined at the factory from titanium billet. Edgar Photo

Stepping back to see where it all began, on the eve of World War II, another Alfa Romeo 12-cylinder was born, at least in prototype form. It was a mid-engine flat-12 of 1.5-liters, twin superchargers boosting output to 335 bhp. Inspired by the conquering Auto Unions of Hitler's Germany, this new Tipo 512 from Alfa Romeo was meant to replace the Italian marque's aging 158, a fuel-inefficient inline eight designed by future Ferrari engine maestro, Gioacchino Colombo. This was 1940, and war in Europe halted Alfa's 512 strategy. A decade later, when a single marque finished 1-2-3 at the first Formula One World Championship race, held at England's Silverstone, it was Alfa Romeo and its pre-war 158.

This Alfa's hand formed exhaust system began in Milan as titanium sheet. Edgar Photo.

The following year, 1951, Juan-Manuel Fangio piloted an improved and more powerful Alfa 159 to win his first World Championship. But Milan's Alfa Romeo soon faded from the F1 scene to concentrate on road and sports cars, not showing promise in Formula One again until Ferrari-famed Carlo Chiti created the 60-degree V-12, designated Tipo 179, complete with ground effects side skirts by Frenchman Robert Choulet. The aggressive young Giacomelli, who'd won his 1978 Formula 2 Championship spectacularly with eight victories, was at the wheel of Alfa's all-new 179B/004 for 1980's first F1 race—down Argentine way. By the season's closer, the USGP at Watkins Glen, Bruno put a later chassis-numbered 179B on pole. And in the few years Alfa would remain in F1 with upgraded models of essentially the same V-12 car, though winless, they would be driven by other illustrious names such as Patrick Depailler, Andrea de Cesaris, Riccardo Patrese, Eddie Cheever and Mario Andretti. The Alfa Romeo Formula One, in whatever aptitude, clearly radiates style and distinction.

The V-12's torque is 246 ft lbs @ 9,500 rpm, with 4,000 more revs to red line. Edgar Photo.

Now, 24 years after its first points, with this same Alfa fresh in from practice laps, I sat in Infineon's F1 garage talking with 004's present owner/driver, Peter Stoneberg. Born in Chicago the year Fangio won his third World Championship, Peter fell in love with racing at nearby Elkhart Lake. "I started in Formula Ford when I was a kid," he told me, "then gave it up when my children were younger—then got back into vintage racing about eight years ago with a McLaren M6 Can-Am car." Since then this investor in technology companies has owned and raced Porsche, Formula 3000, Nissan GTP, and Ford-Cosworth powered F1 Shadow DN-11— "mostly quick, powerful cars with style and history."

Infineon's Historic Grand Prix garages are new, spacious, busy. Edgar Photo.

Buying his Alfa four years ago from Pete Racely has turned Stoneberg's head toward Italian stuff. "It's fabulous," he said of 004, comparing it to the Cosworth V-8. "All the parts are lighter in the 12-cylinder engine so it revs much higher, more quickly. They used to run this to 13,500 in their day, and I run it about 11,000 or 11,500 now, to try to save the engine. It's certainly a higher pitch and I think better sound than the Cosworth. It's a bit heavier engine, but accelerates harder."

Stoneberg's Alfa and its Robin Automotive crew are based at Infineon. Edgar Photo

This Alfa's Tipo 1260 normally-aspirated V-12 engine can be a full symphony orchestra, or jazz band on a rip. Its dozen fire holes are 77mm x 53.6mm, totaling a displacement of 2,995 cc. Four valves per cylinder, DOHC. Compression is 11.5:1, with fuel injection by Lucas. The original Magneti Marelli Dinoplex has been replaced. "It's an electronic spark box," Stoneberg told me, "that Phil Reilly actually makes, or has made for him, to go into the old Formula One boxes, so it's a more modern electronic ignition system." Transmission is the Alfa case with 5-speed Hewland internals. Power gets to the ground through 13-inch rear wheels, same diameter as up front, on a base of 108 inches. The fiberglass body covers Alfa's aluminum monocoque chassis. Forward suspension uses top rocker arms, with parallel top links aft, and bottom wishbones and inboard springs at both ends, plus Koni dampers. Fuel cell load tops out at 44 gallons. The car weighs 1,312 pounds, and this machine is not often seen today. Only seven of the Tipo 179 were produced.

"It's got a fresh engine in it now," said Peter. "Bob Slade in Salinas had rebuilt a number of Alfa V-12 engines and did a great job on this one. But it was a long process. It's hard to find parts for these older cars. But the good news is that there aren't a lot of Alfa Romeo Formula Ones out there running, so there are still a fair number of parts around. They don't get consumed like the Cosworths. We get modern tires from Avon. It's reasonably user friendly."

Stoneberg leads the Larry Less 1974 Hesketh during CSRG's meet at Infineon that drew 270 entries and raised over $80,000 for Speedway Children's Charities. Kyle Burt Photo.

While we talked, Stoneberg's mechanics from Robin Automotive dug into his Alfa. "We're chasing a little power-on oversteer problem," Peter was saying, "trying to get it to put the power down a little better, because it's pretty squirrelly around 7 and 11, the tight corners here. We put softer springs in it last week at a test day. That made it better, but I think we need to soften the rear end up even more to put the power down." In Sunday's race, Stoneberg finished in the bottom half of the line up. "I don't push the car very hard," he said, wisely considering that eight-tenths in this F1 Alfa is plenty to handle but still tons of fun. "I've run a couple of Monterey Historics, Wine Country, an event up at Thunderhill—so I've run about five or six events in the four years that I've had it."

Peter Stoneberg balances his worlds of investment and sport with evident finesse. Edgar Photo.

When Peter Stoneberg isn't on track, doing business, or networking through his BlackBerry, he's likely found on San Francisco Bay where he races his sailboat—"Shadow"—in the Rolex Farr 40 World class. (You got it, Stoneberg named it after his Cosworth-powered DN-11.) Comparing engine to sail, Peter said to me, "These are two very different sports, but having a common adrenaline rush. The sailing is actually more competitive than vintage F1 racing. It's a team sport with 9 people on the boat—and we also sail America's Cup boats that are 17 people—but it is amazing the similarities of going 180 miles an hour in an F1 car or 10 miles an hour in a sailboat in the midst of 35 other boats . They're both a terrific thrill. In vintage America's Cup, similar to vintage F1 racing, we restore these mobile museum pieces and use them the way they were meant to be—and that's pretty cool."

Vintage racing for this F1 Alfa Romeo owner includes his sailing the restored America's Cup Italian contender Il Moro di Venenzia (far right) on San Francisco Bay. Photo Courtesy Peter Stoneberg.

Just as cool, even conceivably cooler, is what Peter Stoneberg has his eye on right now—Ferrari's Corse Clienti program where, via its F1 division, you can buy a late model former Scuderia Ferrari GP car and drive it on the world's best, most famous circuits. In fact, Stoneberg is right now headed to Monza, Italy, for the annual Finali Mondiali Ferrari-Maserati week of racing. And just how does Peter arrive at the track? "I've got a Stradale Challenge," he said, “and my son and I are going to pick it up in Frankfurt and drive it down to Monza. I haven't used the launch control yet on the Stradale, but I'm sure I'll be tempted."

Whether launching an Alfa Romeo F1 car, competition sailboat, or go-button on a Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale, Peter Stoneberg is on a mission to enjoy life in its fullest. But, for the moment at least, I personally would settle for seat time in 004—hard on the throttle, into the gears, trying like hell to avoid opposite lock. And, oh, how this diva in my opera sings!

Here, in postscript, a reminder of relevance. America's first Formula One World Champion, Phil Hill, who won his title while driving GP Ferraris in 1961, will be honored at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles on November 11, 2004. Tickets for the dinner gala may be purchased by calling the Petersen Museum at 323-964-6325. Also, see our Veloce Today "People" section for William Edgar's recent article, (Phil Hill at the Petersen.)

William Edgar's website is (www.edgar-motorsport.com)