The Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale may well end up being a send-off for the era of the combustion-powered Alfa Romeo. Fittingly for a company that’s produced two of the greatest V6 engines ever – the Busso and the modern Quadrifoglio twin-turbo unit – it’s an engine of this configuration powering the gorgeous 33, too.
Alfa has just given us our first taste of what this engine sounds like, and we’d say it’s a fitting end to an era. It’s distinctly turbocharged in its sound, but still has plenty of burble to remind us of decades of glorious bent-sixes, from SZs to 147 GTAs to Giulia Quadrifoglios.
The 33 is the mid-engined Alfa supercar we were promised years ago only to never receive, but it’s certainly been worth the wait. We’re talking about a carbon fibre tub, a twin-turbo V6 mounted in the middle, and looks to die for.
Taking inspiration from the 33 Stradale of the 1960s, the modern version wraps a carbon fibre monocoque (we’d imagine one related to that of the Maserati MC20) in swoopy bodywork with a bubble-like cockpit stuffed with huge glass panels. The doors, by the way, open in the look-at-me butterfly-hinged manner.
Behind the two-seater cockpit is a 620bhp 2.9-litre V6 derived from the unit Alfa Romeo fits to its Giulia Quadrifoglio and Stelvio Quadrifoglio performance models, driving the rear wheels via an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox.
Although it seems beside the point when this is effectively a celebration of combustion, you can, if preferred, go for an all-electric setup outputting 740bhp and capable of hitting 62mph in roughly three seconds. The range will be around 280 miles.
The cabin is a minimalistic affair – no big screens in here – with some gorgeous aircraft-inspired touches. Exactly how it looks depends on how it’s specced – ‘Alfa Corse’ involves lots of Alcantara and carbon fibre, while ‘Tributo’ replaces all that with aluminium and leather. Those butterfly doors are pulled down with leather straps – a sort of classy take on what Porsche does with its GT cars, we suppose.
The suspension setup involves the in theory ideal double wishbone setup at both ends, working with adaptive dampers featuring a 50mm nose lift at the front to avoid expensive speedbump altercations. Also on the chassis front are 20-inch wheels all round, under which you’ll find carbon ceramic brakes.
Want one? Tough – all 33 examples are already sold. We’re not sure how much for, but it’s safe to say each would have been enormously expensive, and quite a bit more than Maserati’s MC20.
