Cheever's best day in the 185T came in Detroit, where he finished 9th, a placing Patrese matched next time out in England, but the 185T was then abandoned in favor of a revised version of the prior car, and Alfa left F1 at year's end.
The 182T, the 182 chassis fitted with the Turbo V-8, first appeared at Monza, near the end of the 1982 season, although it was not run in the race. Photo: Centro di Documentazione Storica Alfa Romeo
Our rest had been interrupted by teens partying in the motel, in Syracuse on Friday night, but Saturday dawned bright and clear (with the sustained, low-angle brightness characteristic of the higher latitudes). We were in good spirits as we crossed the St. Lawrence River and headed up the Interprovincial Highway toward Montreal for the 1983 Canadian Grand Prix. Just as we merged onto Highway 401, a red Alfa GTV (the Alfetta version) with three passengers blasted by us and rapidly disappeared toward Montreal. Looked like race fans to us! The Alfa had Canadian plates and the driver was clearly more confident in his ability to stretch the Canadian speed limits than those of us from south of the border! My companions proceeded to abuse me about not making the trip in my Sprint Veloce, but then the discussion turned to Alfa’s adoption of turbocharging for their new Grand Prix car, the Type 183T.
Alfa’s 159 dominated the first two seasons of modern-era Formula One in 1950 and 1951, winning six races in the former year and four in the latter as first Guiseppe Farina (shown) and then Juan Manuel Fangio earned the title of World Champion.
In the last several races of the 1981 season, under the leadership of the recently deceased Gerard Ducarouge, the Alfas had become increasingly competitive, with the last race ending with Bruno Giacomelli finishing a very competitive 3rd. During the 1981 season, however, Renault’s turbocharged cars had become front-row qualifiers and it was clear that turbocharging was going to be necessary for any team hoping to win races. Alfa began development of a turbocharged car in late 1980, but continued racing the V12-powered cars through 1982. The high points of that season were a pole at Long Beach, 3rd at Monaco and 5th at Hockenheim. However, Autodelta (Alfa’s in-house racing department) formally withdrew from racing at the end of 1982. The Formula One operation was subsequently taken over by a new company, EuroRacing. EuroRacing’s team manager was Ducarouge, and although now outside the company, the cars were still called Alfa Romeos.
Become a Member & Get Ad-Free Access To This Article (& About 6,000+ More)
Access to the full article is limited to paid subscribers only. Our membership removes most ads, lets you enjoy unlimited access to all our premium content, and offers you awesome discounts on partner products. Enjoy our premium content.
