1940 Auto Avio Costruzioni 815
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The Auto Avio Costruzioni 815 was the first car to be fully designed and built by Enzo Ferrari. Legal issues with former associates Alfa Romeo prevented Ferrari from creating the Ferrari marque. The 815 raced at the 1940 Brescia Grand Prix, where both entries failed to finish due to engine problems.
In December 1939, AAC was commissioned by Lotario, Marquis di Modena, to build and prepare two racing cars for him and Alberto Ascari to drive in the 1940 Brescia Grand Prix. The race, a successor to the Mille Miglia, was to be run in April 1940. The resulting car was named the AAC Tipo 815.
The 815 was designed and developed by ex-Alfa Romeo engineers Alberto Massimino and Vittorio Bellentani and by Enrico Nardi.
The designation "815" was based on the car's eight-cylinder, 1.5 L engine.This engine was largely based on the four-cylinder, 1.1 L engine of the 508 C Balilla 1100.In concept, it was two 508C engines placed end to end, but it used a specially designed aluminium block built by Fonderia Calzoni in Bologna for integrity and light weight and a five-bearing crankshaft and a camshaft designed and built by AAC to get the traditional straight-8 timing and balance. The engine used Fiat valve gear, cylinder heads (two 508C heads per engine), and connecting rods.The engine was high-tech for the time, with a single overhead camshaft, two valves per cylinder, and a semi-dry sump lubrication system.Four Weber 30DR2 carburettors were specified for a total output of 75 hp (56 kW) at 5500 rpm.
The 815 used a Fiat four-speed transmission with the Fiat gears replaced by gears made in-house bt AAC.The transmission was integral to the engine block.The car had independent Dubonnet suspension with integral shock absorberat front, with a live axle on semi-elliptic leaf springs and hydraulic shock absorbers at the rear.
The bodywork was done by Carrozzeria Touring using Itallumag 35, an aluminium/magnesium alloy,and was done in long, flowing forms with integrated wings.The bodywork weighed 119 lb (54 kg).The complete car weighed 625 kg (1,380 lb) and attained a maximum speed close to 170 km/h (110 mph).
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The similar design used by carrozzeria Touring Superleggera previously for Alfa Romeo
1940 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS ‘Torpedino Brescia’
In 1940 Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera built three roadsters for the upcoming Mille Miglia known as the "Torpedino tipo Brescia". These were built on the most developed version of the 6C 2500 known as the Tipo 256. Alfa Romeo switched focus from the 8C to the unsupercharged 6C in accordance with the 1939 'Sport Nazionale' class.
Shape for the Torpedino came from a sole car built for Righetti for the Targa Abruzzo in August 1939. The three Mille Miglia cars were slightly different in detail, but had the same overall shape as the car which debuted at the Targa Abruzzo.
The three cars built for the 1940 Mille Miglia were raced alongside two Auto Avio Costruzioni 815s which had almost identical bodies from Touring Superleggera. That year BMW stunned the world by winning the 'African Mille Miglia' along a 1500km stretch of the Via Balbia between Tobruk and Tripoli. The Alfa Romeo of Giuseppe Farina and Paride Mambelli was 16 minutes off pace but placed second behind the much smaller engined BMW 328.
By 1939 Bruno Trevisan had to drop the supercharged 8C 2900 engines in favor of the smaller 6C 2300 enlarged to 2443 cc or 149.1 in³. To remain competitive they were upgraded to the Tipo 256 specification with help from Enzo Ferrari. Somewhere around 120 bhp was possible at 4750 rpm and this larger 2.5, 6-cylinder engine was offered on production cars beginning in late 1939 called the 6C 2500 Sport.
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