815001 - 925041
Carrozzeria Touring
E- Historic event cars; F- Cars owned by the famous; G- Team cars; K- Famous chassis' cars; L- Limited edition cars
Private Collection
It won the 1938 championship, with 7 wins of the 8 races it participated in, 1st in class at the Mille Miglia and 1st overall at the Targa Abruzzo, driven by Franco Cortese. 6th in class at the 1940 Mille Miglia with Tassara-Facetti. Rebodied by Pinin Farina after the war. Ultimately the car came back to its original Carrozzeria Touring shape.
In spite of the 8C 2300’s chain of successes, the car remained designated for races and did not even appear in the sales catalogue. In order to satisfy market request for a car with high performances, but at a lower price, Alfa Romeo introduced a new car at the Salone dell’Auto di Milano in 1934. This was the 6C 2300, designed to replace the 6C 1750 and its 6C 1900 derivative. The car was available in the Turismo and Gran Turismo versions. Its sports debut was at the 1934 Giro automobilistico d’Italia. But at the 24 Ore di Pescara, three Gran Turismo cars with bodywork by Carrozzeria Touring won the first three places and so, after the race, Alfa Romeo began to sell the model under the new name “Pescara”. The B version introduced independent suspension on both front and rear wheels, hydraulic brakes, and at the rear, torsion bars instead of leaf springs, making it a very modern car for the times. Because of its touring origins, the 6C 2300 could not hope for overall victories in the Sport category, but in 1935 Mille Miglia a 2300 B from the Scuderia Ferrari ranked seventh with Cortese at the wheel. In 1937, Boratto, Mussolini’s chauffeur, took fourth place overall and first place in the Turismo Nazionale category. The 6C 2300 B Mille Miglia was presented in 1938 and only produced that year. It was the last of the series of 2300 B, based on the chassis of the 6C 2300 Pescara, with a 10 hp power increase, reaching the maximum speed of 170 kph. Carrozzeria Touring of Milan patented the Superleggera design using ultralight alloys and components with aluminum panels over a cage-like steel frame.
Chassis no. 815001 had a challenging task and an important pedigree: created to win the 1938 Campionato Italiano in the Sport Nazionale category, specially built by Carrozzeria Touring on the Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 B MM, it’s the first chassis of the series Spyder Corsa and it was built under the supervision of Vittorio Jano for Earl Giovanni Lurani of Scuderia Ambrosiana. The car was driven by Franco Cortese and it fulfilled its task: the car won the 1938 championship, with 7 wins of the 8 races it participated in, including the Mille Miglia, first in class, and the Targa Abruzzo, first overall.
With a new 2500 cc engine, the MM spyder participated to 4 races in 1939, and while no longer fully competitive against the works cars with their shorter chassis, it managed to score twice among the top three. Later it even participated in the Gran Premio di Brescia of 1940, driven by Filippo Tassara and Piero Facetti, Lurani's mechanic and Squadra Ambrosiana driver.
Chassis no. 815001 was rebodied by Pinin Farina after the war, like many of the other late thirties racing Alfa Romeo as there were a shortage of new chassis. Re-registered, the car was sold by Cortese in 1946, and it was ultimately exported to Egypt in 1947. There, it started a new chapter in its history with Squadron leader Peter Piper who raced it again, also at Silverstone after bringing the car back to England already with its now famous registration VNO 323, before passing into the hands of John Little. It’s only after several researches that the car’s history started to resurface and became clear. Ultimately the car came back to its original shape.