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07.06.2005 Autodelta's official Moscow-based, Russian agents, Alfa-Racing, have just completed the first supercharger conversion to be undertaken on an Alfa Romeo 156 GTA in Russia

Autodelta's official Moscow-based, Russian agents, Alfa-Racing, have just completed the first supercharger conversion to be undertaken on an Alfa Romeo 156 GTA in Russia. The project, which involved fitting Autodelta's compact and innovative Rotrex supercharger system, to a very individual and highly modified Alfa Romeo 156 GTA, was overseen by Autodelta's boss Jano Djelalian, who flew to Moscow for the occasion, and to further train AlfaRacing's engineers, as well as gather data to assist the firm's rapidly-gaining-pace expansion in Russia.

ALFARACING

AlfaRacing was originally founded as Alfa156.RU in Moscow during mid-2001 by a small group of Russian-based, passionate Alfa Romeo enthusiasts, led by Anatoly Kolochkov. Two years later, as they closely focused on the areas of performance enhancement, the company became Autodelta's official agents in Russia. Last year the firm was re-named AlfaRacing and it moved into the premises of ARM-Auto, the largest and longest-standing Fiat and Alfa Romeo importer in Russia. Today AlfaRacing operates, not only in the Moscow area, but has appointed representatives in five of Russia's largest cities, as well as shipping parts and expertise to several neighbouring countries. AlfaRacing can now offer a broad package of modifications, from engine to suspension, from transmission to brakes, as well as stocking the 'Autodelta Sportline' and 'Autodelta GTA Racing' product lines.

Growing quickly under the tutelage of Autodelta's engineers, who always operate under the philosophy of maximising every area of performance gain that it's possible to squeeze out of Alfa Romeo engines and chassis', AlfaRacing have, in just the last two years, carried out upwards of ten Autodelta turbocharging conversions to 2.0-litre TwinSpark-powered Alfa 156 models, while last month the first of Autodelta's 'new generation' supercharging conversions has been undertaken, on the car which featured here.

"it's been an exciting first four years for us," says AlfaRacing's General Manager Anatoly Kolochkov, "the Alfa Romeo brand is highly regarded and its history surprisingly well known in Russia. With consumers here now demanding prestige, high-performance products, we are gaining from this interest. Working closely with Autodelta, the foremost Alfa Romeo tuning company, is allowing our engineers to receive the best training and tap into an unrivalled bank of knowledge."

A UNIQUE ALFA ROMEO 156 GTA

AlfaRacing were charged by a customer, who had previously fallen for the Alfa Romeo 'spell' after purchasing an Alfa 164 3.0-litre V6, to create the ultimate Alfa Romeo 156 GTA 3.2, modified and enhanced in all possible areas. Initially attention to the car - which already featured styling revisions -  over a six month period, was focused around an interior upgrade, a new and powerful in-car entertainment system, and a highly unusual new paintwork, while at the same time attention was paid to the area of weight-saving to offset gains made by the addition of this new equipment. The handling package was tailored to the car's new characteristics by the fitting of 'coil over' dampers with sport springs and polyurethane bushes to the suspension arms and anti-roll bars. Braking was also enhanced, although the car is currently receiving an additional braking 'step' as the meaty 330mm 'Autodelta GTA Racing' drilled and vented discs are now being fitted. Autodelta's highly-regarded Alfa 156 GTA-specific LSD has been fitted, as has their uprated clutch kit, first seen on the Autodelta 147 GTA AM. Other modifications to the car include Autodelta's double 156 GTA 90mm exhaust system.

AUTODELTA - REVIVING THE ALFA ROMEO TRADITION OF SUPERCHARGING

Last November, on the occasion of the MPH04 Motor Show at Earls Court in London, Autodelta revealed the Alfa GT 'Super', which boasted an amazing 320bhp, and reintroduced the concept supercharging to the Alfa Romeo brand, building on a tradition that harks back to the days when Enzo Ferrari was a factory Alfa driver, and the engineering genius of Vittorio Jano was propelling the Milanese carmarker towards immortality.

And if anyone is aware of Alfa Romeo's decade upon decade of tradition, it is London-based design and tuning firm Autodelta. To revive this famous application they developed a very compact and innovative supercharging system, which is also fully-reversible. Autodelta's engineers, after development testing, chose the leading-technology Rotrex C30 compressor, which recently shot to prominence as it was used on the Koenisegg CCR that in February 2005 swept its way straight to the top of the supercar speed stakes after setting a speed of 387.87km/h at the Nardo test track in Italy.

Since the arrival of the 320bhp Autodelta GT 3.2 Super eight months ago, Autodelta supercharging enhancement packages have been swiftly developed across the Alfa range, starting with the Alfa 166, Alfa 147 and Alfa 156, while the Alfa GTV and Spider are now being added, and even an Alfa 146 has recently received the treatment to great effect. The GTA AM range of bespoke Autodelta cars also now have the option of a compressor, and an Autodelta 147 GTA AM most recently received this treatment - giving a breathtaking 400bhp - just prior to the departure of the well publicised 'Autodelta European Tour 2005'.

“We now have quite a number of our tubocharged cars running on Russian roads,” reported Autodelta's boss Jano Djelalian on arriving back from Moscow from overseeing the maiden installation, “some of which have now passed the 40,000km mark since the conversions were carried out. With the demanding nature of many of the country's roads, the extremes of climatic conditions which can see temperatures drop as low as minus thirty degrees centigrade in the winter, coupled with the challenging nature of the ‘local' petrol, we are able to gather invaluable feedback and data from our local agent.”

"For us Russia is an exciting, and growing area of opportunity. Not only is it a country which fuses great beauty with rich traditions, but Italian values and styles are highly regarded by consumers," Jano adds, before concluding, "The Alfa Romeo brand, which epitomises everything that Italy stands for, is very much in demand from Russian consumers, who are looking for individual, performance-orientated products."

Autodelta Russia

AlfaRacing. 30/1 Selskohozyaistvennaya ul. Moscow 129226
Tel: (7-095) 543-8185 . Tel/Fax: (7-095) 181-1935, (7-095) 181-3836
Web: www.alfa156.ru Email: shop@alfa156.ru
Contact: Mr Anatoly Kolochkov