ALFA ROMEO HISTORY

ALFA ROMEO mrsToRv

Sir,

I was interested to see T. A. S. 0. Mathieson’s letter in February MOTOR SPORT which pointed out the few errors in Sir Anthony Stamer’s excellent pre-war Alfa Romeo history.

Surely both these gentlemen have made an error concerning the first post-war appearance of the Tipo 158! Sir Anthony states that this was at Nice at Easter, 1946, while Mr. Mathieson points out that it was not at Nice but at Geneva that the cars made their post-war debut.

In fact the Tipo ’58 did not race -at Nice and it was at St. Cloud on June 9th, 1946, that the cars put in their first appearance, Farina and Wimille driving. I am surprised that ” TASO ” is not aware of this as he is reported to have entered this event with a 2.9 Maserati. Both of the Alfas retired, the last time they Were defeated until Gonzalez trounced them at Silverstone in 1951.

The cars did indeed appear at Geneva for the Q.P. des Nations, but this was six weeks later, on July 2ISI, 1946. This race was a typical Alfa Romeo demonstration, Farina, Trossi and Wimille finishing first, second and third.

Market Lavington. V. J. PtGorr. *