The old Alfa that can beat GT3 Ferraris
Ian Stapleton has a collection of eight Alfa Romeo GTVS and has achieved giant-killing results in an Alfetta GTV6 this year
It takes a brave person to chop the bodywork, change the engine and modify all four corners of a Terry Drury-built Group A British Touring Car. To many it would be sacrilegious to alter a part of racing history, a car that would be welcomed into the Historic Sports Car Club’s Super Touring Trophy. But to Ian Stapleton, that car is his Ferrari F430 Gt3-beating Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV6. In the back of a 2002 Alfa Romeo Owners’ Club magazine was an advert for a GTV complete with “many racing goodies”. What it didn’t say was that the car’s new owner would be buying into the Italian marque’s rich motorsport history.
“A friend of mine had an Alfasud and I just thought it was the most amazing thing,” Stapleton says of his first step to currently owning eight GTVS. “I quite liked the Sprints but I then saw a GTV6 in a car park and I just loved it.”
A reply to that advert resulted in Stapleton purchasing an Alfa Romeo once factory-funded to compete in the BTCC. Its racing department, Autodelta SPA, had supplied the parts and Paul Smith took on driving duties, with the car also making European Touring Car and Tourist Trophy appearances through the 1980s.
After its Group A exploits, Drury ran the car in the Thunder Saloons Championship later in the decade. To be competitive, two turbos were mated to the V6 engine. Putting that power ‘on the road’ required large tyres, and the bodywork was modified to house them. Fitting the old Alfa stereotype, however, the new forced-induction configuration meant the car was unreliable.
The programme failed and the money dried up, leaving the GTV6 in storage after 1987. But before it got to Stapleton, the bonnet and bumper of an Alfa Romeo 147 hatchback had been grafted on and the roof removed. That contributed to the three years it took from money changing hands in 2002 to it going
racing again. After a further 12 years the result is a matte-black monster that wouldn’t look out of place on the set of a Mad Max film. It’s a car that now regularly features in the Classic Sports Car Club’s Modsports and Special Saloons series, one that can lap Mallory Park faster than a John Cleland-driven, factory-supported six-litre V8 Vauxhall Carlton ever did.
But Stapleton says the GTV6 was always a dynamic driver. “It’s classic Alfa to throw everything back to keep the handling as good as possible – gearbox in the back, in-board disc brakes, even a magnesium sump and wheels,” he says.
What wasn’t ‘classic Alfa’ was waiting in the boot. “When I picked this up, the fuel tank had a nitrous oxide bottle in the back, so there must have been a lot going on back then,” recalls Stapleton.
With a cycle of continual development, in its current guise the car runs a reliable 350bhp and weighs in at just under 1000kg. But to Stapleton, the car will never be finished. “You’ll always being doing something,” he says. “It’s pretty good as it is, but I always like to fiddle about with it. I want more power.”
The target is 500bhp and supercharging the current bored and stroked three-litre engine, taken from an Alfa 164, is the next step. “You can always keep on going, it’s just a question of money,” Stapleton explains. “I’ve always tried to keep the expense realistic. I look at things very practically and I’m aware that once you start increasing power you can have failures elsewhere. I’ve bought injectors capable of handling 600 horsepower so I know I won’t have to change them.
“You can have that opportunity to innovate, and if you can innovate then you can beat people with larger budgets because they’ll spend a fortune on the wrong stuff. If you’re not doing the engineering yourself then you’re not getting the feedback. One of the most important things is to understand what the car is doing beneath you. If I’m going into a corner and it’s washing out at the front, I know what needs to be done.”
Being led out onto the grid at Brands Hatch by a Lamborghini Aventador safety car and flanked by a brace of Ferrari F430
GT3S in an all-comers race earlier this year preceded what Stapleton recalls as one of his finest drives.
“A lot of people think it has a lot more power than it does,” he says. “Those Ferraris were 580bhp, so people assume I have that too. In many cases I’m carrying an extra 100kg and less horsepower, but the difference is they’re trying to put the power down. I’m flat everywhere using all I’ve got.”
Stapleton was jumped by one of the F430s off the line but was always challenging: “I was taking stock all the time. I certainly didn’t race as close to it as normal because I didn’t want to be in a situation where I’d run into the back of a Ferrari – not that I ever want that situation anyway.”
He got ahead, and was now the benchmark. The F430 upped its lap times to match and was never out of touch. But Stapleton held on for victory – a popular result with the crowd.
“I was waiting to leave the car park and an Alfa enthusiast came running over, shook my hand and said, ‘Ah, you beat the Ferraris!’ It was such a small thing but it makes it worthwhile.”
Success and reliability have come by manufacturing custom parts to improve on the original design. From that Stapleton is hoping to turn his passion into a full-time business with Real Time Performance, helping others indulge in what he loves most.
“Driving on the roads has changed so much that I don’t bother with a sportscar,” he says. “All my enjoyment comes through building and racing cars.”