Sep 7

Sep 7 Guide: Superflow Theory - a Historical & Technical Appraisal of the Alfa Romeo TZ2 Pininfarina Speciale

<<<ALFA ROMEO PORTAL

BACKGROUND

In the midst of a two-year campaign that yielded eight class wins for the TZ2 at World Sportscar Championship level, Alfa Romeo gave the order for a rolling chassis to be dispatched from Autodelta to Pininfarina who would turn it into an avant-garde design concept for the most important Italian motor show of 1965: November’s Turin Salon.

Twelve months prior, Bertone had displayed their own interpretation of a road-going TZ2 Speciale. Dubbed Canguro, it was briefly touted as a potential candidate for a small production run which ultimately came to nothing.

Chassis 114 was the car trucked the short distance across Turin to Pininfarina from the Autodelta works. Autodelta had of course designed, developed, assembled and raced the TZ2 on Alfa Romeo’s behalf along with the Group 2 GTA Touring Car.

As for Pininfarina, the Turin coachbuilder had a long history of bodyshell manufacture for Alfa Romeo and, around this time, were most notably producing various iterations of the Giulietta.

Chassis 114 wore the first Pininfarina design based on a super high end Alfa Romeo racing car since March 1960. On that occasion, the Turin design house premiered the 6C 3000 CM-based Superflow IV which formed part of the iconic aerodynamically profiled Superflow-Superfast line of late 1950s / early 1960s Alfa Romeos and Ferraris.

BODYWORK

As a consequence of a dramatically extended wasp-like tail, an arrowed nose, bulbous front fenders either side of an ultra low-line hood and an expansive cockpit profile, Pininfarina’s TZ2 had very little in common with the more tightly packaged standard TZ2.

Trademark cues like the front grille and split bumpers made the car instantly recognisable as an Alfa Romeo. The covered front headlight treatment was carried over to the famous Type 105 Spider ‘Duetto’ that debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in March 1966.

114’s back end was a fabulous coming together of dramatic lines – although by this stage a cropped Kamm-style tail was more in vogue, Pininfarina’s mix of well thought-out features gave their one-off TZ2 a pretty cool Sci-Fi / UFO vibe.

Unfortunately though, the finished car was painted a rather unflattering white with a three-piece red central stripe. A mono scheme by contrast would have been much better suited.

Aluminium panels were used throughout.

INTERIOR

Inside, Pininfarina kitted out chassis 114 with a new black metal dash assembly. Large read outs for road and engine speed were housed in an oval binnacle directly behind the new three-spoke steering wheel with its black leather rim and drilled aluminium spokes.

A bank of smaller dials was laid out horizontally in the centre of the dash, under which a modern supplementary control panel adjoined the transmission tunnel.

Unlike the TZ2 racing car, Pininfarina fitted a proper upholstery kit; the floors and sidewalls were carpeted and the door panels, sills and bucket seats trimmed in bright red leatherette.

CHASSIS

The TZ2 was based around a custom tubular steel spaceframe fabricated by aviation company SAI Ambrosini in Perugia. The wheelbase was 2200mm (the same as the first generation TZ), but for this latest application the suspension mounting points were moved downwards along with the steering column.

Suspension was fully independent all round with double wishbones per side up front. 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. Everything was fully adjustable.

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).

Dished twelve-hole Campagnolo magnesium alloy wheels were unique to the TZ2 (6 x 13-inches front, 7 x 13 rear).

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.

Bore and stroke dimensions of 78mm and 82mm gave an overall displacement of 1570cc. 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 set-up differed from the original TZ 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

With a compression ratio of 11.4:1, peak output was 170bhp at 7500rpm.

Each TZ2 motor was meticulously prepared at the legendary Autotecnica Conrero speed shop in Torino

Transmission was through a single dry-plate clutch, five-speed gearbox and limited-slip differential

WEIGHT / PERFORMANCE

With its fibreglass body and bare bones interior, a competition spec. TZ2 tipped the scales at 620kg. As Pininfarina used an aluminium body for chassis 114 and fitted proper interior fixtures and fittings, it likely came in around the 700kg mark.

Top speed was probably in the region of 150mph and 0-62mph would have required about six seconds.