Guide: GT Evoluzione - a Historical & Technical Appraisal of the Alfa Romeo TZ2
BACKGROUND
Off the back of an extremely successful debut campaign with the TZ which had most notably garnered class wins at the 1964 Le Mans 24 Hours, the Sebring 12 Hours, the Targa Florio and the Nurburgring 1000km, Alfa Romeo commissioned Autodelta to produce an even more extreme Group 3 GT racing car for the ‘65 season (the TZ2) along with a new Group 2 Touring Car derived from the Giulia Sprint GT (the GTA).
1965 would be the last year for Group 3 in its existing form; since 1962 the World Sportscar Championship had focussed on these production-based machines while out-and-out Sports Prototypes were consigned to a limited number of events with points scored going towards a separate title.
Having started life as an independent engineering firm in 1961 (at which point the Udine firm was known as Delta Auto), the company established by Carlo Chiti and Lodovico Chizzola became an official Alfa Romeo subsidiary in March 1963 (at which point it was re-branded Autodelta). The burgeoning outfit subsequently relocated to Milan over the winter of 1964-1965 to better take advantage of Alfa Romeo’s test and development facilities.
The TZ was the first product spawned from this collaboration between Autodelta and Alfa Romeo, the latter having closed its official competition department on cost grounds at the end of 1953 following much success in the years prior.
Rather than base the TZ on an existing platform, it was constructed around a brand new tubular spaceframe chassis draped with Zagato bodywork (hence the TZ or Tubolare Zagato moniker). To secure homologation, a minimum production run of 100 cars was required within a twelve month period which meant, although the TZ was to be raced in a works capacity, it was also offered to customers who were given the choice of both road and competition trim.
By contrast, the TZ2 was conceived exclusively for Autodelta’s use and would take advantage of the FIA ruling that permitted special coachwork for racing variants of an already homologated model. Under the skin, just some comparatively minor tuning of the existing components was carried out in order to further optimise performance.
After an intensive development programme during the second half of 1964, the TZ2 broke cover on the Zagato stand at the Turin Motor Show in late October. Its debut came four weeks on from the Paris Motor Show where Bertone had displayed a design concept for a road-focused TZ2 (dubbed the Canguro).
CHASSIS
Like the original Tubolare Zagato, the TZ2’s spaceframe chassis was fabricated from small diameter steel tube by aviation company SAI Ambrosini in Perugia. The wheelbase was an unchanged 2200mm, but for this latest application the suspension mounting points were moved downwards along with the steering column.
Suspension was once again fully independent all round. Up front were double wishbones per side while out back was a lower wishbone with the driveshaft acting as the upper link and track control taken care of by the radius rod. Coil springs were fitted at both ends along with an anti-roll bar.
For the TZ2, Autodelta made the suspension fully adjustable and also lowered the ride height.
The brake system comprised a twin-circuit four-wheel disc set-up with 283.5mm diameter rotors up front and 291.1mm items at the rear (the latter mounted inboard next to the differential).
Instead of the TZ’s 15-inch diameter wheels, new 13-inch rims were used on the TZ2. 6-inch wide items were used at the front with 7s fitted at the rear. The dished twelve-hole design was a commission from Campagnolo and came fashioned in magnesium alloy.
Mounted behind the rear axle underneath the spare wheel was a long-range 100-litre fuel tank.
ENGINE / TRANSMISSION
In the TZ2’s engine bay was the latest evolution of Alfa Romeo’s legendary all-alloy dual overhead camshaft inline ‘four’ designed by Giuseppe Busso.
As usual, bore and stroke dimensions of 78mm and 82mm respectively gave an overall displacement of 1570cc. Similarly, a brace of sidedraught Weber 45 DCOE twin choke carburettors were installed and the engine was canted to the right to facilitate the lowest possible hood profile.
The TZ2 differed from its predecessor on account of a new dry-sump lubrication system and twin plug head. Bigger valves and uprated camshafts were also fitted and magnesium was now used for the likes of the cam cover, sump, timing cover and bellhousing
Like the raciest TZ motors, the TZ2 routinely adopted an 11.4:1 compression ratio. However, thanks to the aforementioned updates, peak output jumped from 140bhp to 170bhp at 7500rpm with each TZ2 unit meticulously prepared at the legendary Autotecnica Conrero speed shop in Torino
Transmission was through a single dry-plate clutch and five-speed gearbox for which myriad ratios were available.
BODYWORK
Even though the first generation TZ was an outstandingly pretty machine, Zagato cooked up an even more sensational design for the TZ2 and in doing so created arguably one of the 1960’s definitive GT racing cars.
Penned by renowned stylist Ercole Spada, the TZ2 was at the zeitgeist of aerodynamic understanding and, like its predecessor, incorporated features like an air-piercing nose with covered headlights, a rakish fastback cabin and a sharply cut-off Kamm tail.
The engine’s new dry-sump system enabled Spada to adopt an even lower hood profile than before. Meanwhile 270mm was cut from the car’s length and the roofline stood 180mm lower than before. In terms of girth, the TZ2 came in 80mm wider.
As well as its lower, more compact nature, the TZ2 notably featured a new single-piece rear windscreen to replace the three-piece arrangement seen previously. Further back was a discrete fully integrated rear spoiler.
At the other end, myriad cooling slots were carved from the TZ2’s handsome nose. These typically varied from car to car while some examples incorporated an additional set of faired-in driving lights.
Having experimented with glassfibre on some of the last TZs, every TZ2 bar the prototype (which featured an aluminium body from which a set of moulds were taken) came with a GRP outer shell.
INTERIOR
Inside, apart from the instrumentation, nothing was carried over to the TZ2 and the gauge layout itself was completely reconfigured.
The brand new un-trimmed aluminium dash incorporated two hooded binnacles. Directly behind the leather-rimmed three-spoke steering wheel was a large 10,000rpm rev counter flanked by smaller read outs for oil temperature, oil pressure, water temperature and fuel. The 260kph speedometer was housed in a separate binnacle ahead of the passenger seat.
New fixed back bucket seats came trimmed in black vinyl to match the sill covers, but the rest of the cockpit (to include door panels and rear quarters) was left bare.
As a consequence of the TZ2’s greatly reduced height, cockpit space was much reduced, particularly in terms of headroom.
WEIGHT / PERFORMANCE
Owing to the various weight-saving measures employed, a fibreglass-bodied TZ2 tipped the scales at 620kg which represented a 20kg reduction over even the lightest first generation TZ.
Depending on gear ratios, 0-62mph could be achieved in a little under five seconds (down from six) while top speed went from circa 135mph to 155mph.
BERTONE CANGURO
In order to assess the feasibility of a more street-oriented TZ2, Alfa Romeo commissioned Bertone to create a prototype for the 1964 Paris Motor Show which opened four weeks prior to the Turin Salon where the competition version debuted.
The resultant Giorgetto Giugiaro-styled machine was built on chassis 101, dubbed the Canguro and featured a completely new body and interior. Unfortunately though, Alfa Romeo chose not to go ahead with a production version as the Canguro (covered in detail separately) was considered just too competition-focused to make a saleable street car.
PININFARINA SPECIALE
Twelve months later, Pininfarina went on to present their own interpretation of the TZ2 theme when chassis 114 was unveiled at the Turin Motor Show in November 1965.
Slightly more conventionally styled the Bertone’s offering, the Pininfarina TZ2 (covered separately) similarly featured a brand new body and interior. However, the somewhat conservative exterior styling belied the TZ2’s competition-bred nature and no further copies were made.
END OF PRODUCTION
TZ2 production ran from late 1964 to early 1967, during which just twelve examples were completed in addition to the brace of special-bodied examples that emerged from the Bertone and Pininfarina studios.
It was Alfa Romeo’s last purpose-built GT racing car produced in collaboration with Autodelta as the two firms subsequently switched focus to the Sports Prototype Tipo 33 which they campaigned alongside the aforementioned GTA in Touring Cars.
COMPETITION HISTORY
Despite having incurred considerable development costs, Alfa Romeo and Autodelta ran a comparatively modest competition programme with the TZ2 between 1965 and ‘66.
During its debut season, the TZ2 collected class wins at the Monza 1000km (Roberto Bussinello / Andrea de Adamich) and Nurburgring 1000km (Andrea de Adamich / Giacomo “Geki” Russo). In the model’s other two World Sportscar Championship outings, Bussinello and Nino Todaro crashed the only car on hand at the Targa Florio while at the Le Mans 24 Hours all three cars failed to go the distance.
Outside of these World Championship level events, Autodelta also achieved modest success in a handful of domestic hillclimbs and rallies.
For 1966, the production requirement to qualify for the Group 3 GT class was increased to 500 cars as the World Sportscar Championship re-focussed on Sports Prototype machinery for the main title. From this point the TZ2 would have to contest the Group 4 Sports class against an extreme new line of cars created as part of a 50-unit batch.
Nevertheless, despite having this latest generation of opposition to compete against, the TZ2 went on to achieve Group 4 Sports class victories in every World Sportscar Championship event it contested. This roster of wins comprised the Sebring 12 Hours (Giacomo Russo / Gaston Andrey), the Monza 1000km (Andrea de Adamich / Teodoro Zeccolo), the Targa Florio (Enrico Pinto / Nino Todaro), the Nurburgring 1000km (Lucien Bianchi / Herbert Schultze), the Mugello GP (Romano “Shangri-La” Martini / Allesandro Federico) and the Coppa Citta di Enna (Romano Martini).
Text copyright: Supercar Nostalgia
Photo copyright: Alfa Romeo - https://www.alfaromeo.com
