Alfa 8c Competizione Spider Concept
Alfa 8C Spider
Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione Spider
Alfa 8C Spider
Production Alfa 8C Spider
The 8C Competizione Spider is most likely to stay a concept car, unlike its coupe cousin. However, what a concept. First shown at the Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance, where it was part of Alfa Romeo's special display as the featured marque for the 2005 show, it stunned the crowds. Alfa Romeo's in-house styling team promised us a Spider at the end of the 2003 unveiling of the 8C Competizione coupe, and here with this design, they have managed to deliver a stunning spider while keeping the powerful lines of the original 8C Competizione.
The spider was to have carbon fibre bodywork and to be powered by the Maserati derived, Alfa tweaked, 400 bhp V8 engine, mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox powering the rear wheels. Performance should be more than adequate with 0-60 in around 4.5 seconds and a top speed of around 190 mph. The suspension will be Formula 1 style double wishbones all round with 245/40 R20 front tyres and very meaty 275/35 R20's on the rear.
It's always nice to dream.
Update 25/09/07:
It was officially announced that Alfa Romeo will build the 8C Competizione spider. Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne gave us the news at a financial investor meeting in New York, the price will be around £120,000 and it will be available to the lucky 500 sometime in 2009. The spider will share a lot of parts with the Coupe but will be around 100 kilos heavier, this will give it a 0-60 time that will be sub 4 seconds and the top speed should be just shy of 190mph. The spider will be made on the same production line that Maserati and the 8C Coupe in Moderna.
Update 19/02/08:
Well Alfisti, you are amongst the first to know the 8C Competizione spider is now available to purchase, remember you heard it here first, however you can expect the price tag to be on the high side of £120,000 and as yet we don't know the exact spec, but we expect it to be the same 4.7 litre V8 engine with 450 bhp. This will probably be mated to the same paddle-shift gearbox and it is likely to be made with lashings of carbon fibre, superb. It is highly probable that there will only be 500 of these cars made and unless you are extremely quick they will all be sold within days, all the 8C Competizione's were accounted for years before the cars were even produced.
Update 20/02/08:
Having just read the press release, which is in slightly interesting English, I can now give you a bit more information on the 8C Spider. The factory is producing 500 cars and it will debut at the 2008 Geneva motor show. It is a steel subframe with carbon bodywork as expected and the bodywork has been designed so there is no lift at high speed, this has been done by very careful design of the undertray, which was computer modelled.
The hood of the spider is electro-hydraulic and is operated by a button on the dashboard, the hood is lined and comes in a variety of colours and has been designed to be both aesthetically pleasing, easy to use and very quiet at the high speeds the 8C will reach. The interior has the same style seats as the coupe and these are made in carbon fibre with leather upholstery and the seats are tailor-made for the driver of the car and can be chosen in a variety of colours and you can even choose what colour stitching you want.
The engine is the same 4.7 litre V8 that the coupe uses and it produces 450 bhp at 7000 rpm with 80% of the torque available from 2000 rpm, this is mated to the paddle-shift gearbox in the rear of the car by means of a torque tube and the six-speed gearbox then feeds the power to a self-locking differential. The torque tube helps to reduce the amount of twist that the engine transfers to the body of the car and this, in turn, helps with the handling of the car, fitting the transaxle gearbox at the rear of the car also helps with the weight distribution of the car. should all this power prove to be too much for the rear tyres there is an anti-skid system that helps bring things back under control and if you really get it wrong there is also Alfa's own Vehicle dynamic control system to help sort things out for you.
Braking is by carbon-ceramic Brembo brakes with massive 380mm disks on the front and 360mm disks on the rear these are complimented by monoblock brake callipers which are machined out of a single billet of aluminium for extra rigidity in order to give you more feel. The suspension is made of forged aluminium to reduce unsprung weight and the car has massive 20-inch wheels with 245/35 tyres on the front and 285/35's on the rear.
JP
Related Links: Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione | Alfa Romeo Duetto | Alfa Romeo Brera Spider Review | Alfa Romeo MiTo