Alfa Romeo Guilia TI Super: The Endurance King
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Alfa Romeo Guilia TI Super: The Endurance King

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By MarkOastler - 28 February 2018
Alec Mildren’s Guilia TI Super caught the competition napping in the Sandown International Six Hour races. Here Alfa Romeo factory driver and 1964 winner Roberto Bussinello shows his winning style behind the wheel of the exotic LHD import at Sydney’s Warwick Farm that year.

Alfa Romeo’s 105 Series coupe has a glittering global motor sport history which includes several class wins at Bathurst. However, it could not match the unique achievement of its Guilia sedan stablemate which won both Sandown International Six-Hour classics, thanks to a special factory-built lightweight competition version that excelled in endurance racing.

The TI Super was based on Alfa’s range of sporty compact sedans produced from 1962 to 1978. The Guilia combined a powerful engine with a relatively light (1000kg) kerb weight and aero-efficient (0.34Cd) body shape, offering passenger car practicality with a distinct sporting edge.

The first model, the TI, featured a 1570cc twin cam engine with single twin-choke carburettor and about 90bhp, five-speed manual gearbox with column shift, split front bench seat for seating up to six people and drum brakes.

By 1963 the drums had been replaced by four-wheel discs and the spirited Italian sedan’s 100mph (160km/h) top speed and superb handling, thanks to independent front suspension and a well-located coil-spring live rear axle, was winning plenty of praise.

Remove the hubcaps, apply some numbers and go racing. The Guilia TI Super’s disarming appearance gave few clues to the remarkably durable and efficient factory-built competition car that lurked within. Note the small mesh grilles that replaced the second set of driving lights, to improve engine breathing and cooling.

So it was only natural that Alfa Romeo would develop a competition version. Even its name TI, which was an acronym of a popular Italian touring car category called “Turismo Internazionale”, suggested that motor sport was on the agenda from the start.

To allow it to compete on the global stage, the Guilia TI had to be approved or ‘homologated’ as a Group 1 touring car by motor sport’s world governing body, the FIA, followed by series production of at least 500 road-legal examples of the version Alfa wanted to race. This led to development of the Guilia TI Super homologation special in 1963.

To earn its ‘Super’ tag, the standard column shift and split front bench seat were replaced with a floor shift and bucket seats plus there was a lightweight three-spoke aluminium steering wheel and sports instrument cluster.

Power output of the 1.6 litre DOHC engine increased to 110bhp (82kW) at 6500rpm with a pair of Weber 45mm DCOE twin-choke carburettors and more aggressive camshaft profiles, giving the TI Super a top speed of 115mph (185km/h). Engine breathing was improved by removing the inner pair of driving lights and fitting wire mesh covers in their place. Suspension settings were also revised.

The rear styling may not have appealed to everyone, but it played an important role in the Guilia’s highly efficient aerodynamics. A drag co-efficient of only 0.34 was amongst the best figures for a mass-produced sedan in the 1960s and a key factor in its enviable fuel economy in endurance racing.

The increased power was matched with a significant weight reduction of around 200 pounds (90kg) thanks to the use of lighter body materials, deletion of the heater and removal of unnecessary equipment like bumper over-riders, ashtrays, glove box lid, armrests etc. The front quarter windows were fixed in some, rear windows were replaced with Perspex and lightweight magnesium alloy wheels replaced the standard steels, even though they looked similar to the stock items complete with chrome hubcaps.

The Guilia TI Super was revealed in April 1963, easily identified by unique body badges and Alfa’s traditional Quadrifoglio four-leaf clovers (for good luck in racing) on the front guards and boot lid. However, production of the minimum 500 units (501 were built) required for homologation was not completed until the following year. All except two were painted white.

In May 1964 the Guilia TI Super was finally rubber-stamped for racing. Numerous examples were prepared for competition duties by Autodelta; a company established in 1961 specialising in race preparation of customer cars before a buy-out by Alfa Romeo in 1964 saw it become the marque’s official competition department.

Guilia TI Supers proved to be solid class contenders in the European Touring Car Challenge (aka European Touring Car Championship). They also competed in the US, where in long distance events like the Sebring Three Hour the TI Super’s rugged endurance and remarkable consistency began to shine through.

The Italian sedan’s global reach also included Australia, where NSW Alfa Romeo distributor and race team owner Alec Mildren used one to snare a pair of remarkable endurance race victories that showcased the TI Super’s greatest strengths.

The Bussinello/Sachs TI Super in full flight as it sweeps through Shell Corner on its way to a runaway victory in the 1964 Sandown International Six Hour.

1964 Sandown International Six Hour Race

On Sunday November 29, 1964, a diverse field of 38 cars representing 23 different makes formed up on the starting grid at Melbourne’s Sandown Park Raceway, for the inaugural running of a new Six Hour touring car marathon.

Although it only ran for two years, the Sandown International Six Hour effectively laid the foundation for a shorter Three Hour race for local showroom stock Series Production cars which commenced in 1968. This race evolved into the annual 400-500km classic which for decades served as the traditional warm-up for ‘the big one’ at Bathurst.

Entry for the 1964 Sandown Six Hour was for cars complying with FIA Group 1 and Group 2 rules and every global manufacturer was encouraged to compete. This international invite prompted some impressive RSVPs.

BMC’s pre-eminent UK competitions department fronted with a three-car team of S-type Mini Coopers and a star-studded overseas driver line-up including Timo Makinen, Rauno Aaltonen, Paddy Hopkirk and John Fitzpatrick. A third works car was shared by local Mini aces Peter Manton and Brian Foley. There were also three Lotus Cortinas featuring future F1 world champion Jackie Stewart, Bathurst winners Bob Jane/George Reynolds and emerging Canadian touring car talent Allan Moffat amongst the drivers.

A picture speaks a thousand words. This great Autopics image encapsulates the ‘hare and tortoise’ story of the 1964 Sandown Six Hour, with the fastest and most powerful car in the race - Sir Gawaine Bailey’s 7.0 litre Ford Galaxie - planted in the fence after brake failure, while the cheeky little 1.6 litre Alfa cruises home to victory.

Indy 500 winner Rodger Ward was also there in a supercharged V8 Studebaker Lark and local star Lex Davison was destined to blow the rafters off the grandstand in Sir Gawaine Bailey’s thunderous 7.0 litre Ford Galaxie which along with Moffat’s ex-works Lotus Cortina was one of only two Group 2 entries.

Behind this dazzling entry of big-name stars and cars, few would have noticed the only Alfa Romeo; a plain white Guilia sedan entered by Alec Mildren to be steered by Italian factory ace Roberto Bussinello and Mildren regular Ralph Sachs. Few would also have expected the Italian sedan to have beaten the hot Cortinas in Class E (1301cc-1600cc) let alone audaciously challenge for an outright win. However, there was something special about this Alfa – it was a rare TI Super.

Although Sandown is a renowned power circuit, there are slow corners at the end of its two long straights which are notoriously hard on brakes. And the higher the speeds, the more merciless they become. So, during six hours of racing, Sandown would become more of a braking circuit than a power circuit which played right into the hands of the patient Mildren squad and their ‘hare and tortoise’ strategy with the disc-braked TI Super.

As expected the lone 1.6 litre Alfa was outgunned in qualifying and started the race well down the grid, but the experienced Bussinello soon settled into a comfortable pace and started moving up the leader board as one by one the faster cars ahead of him suffered numerous mechanical troubles, which were mostly to do with brakes – or a lack of them.

Bussinello and Sachs enjoy the spoils of an unexpected outright win. Proving that the salesman's ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ motto was valid, Mildren was reportedly swamped by eager buyers wanting to drive home their own Sandown Six Hour winner.

None more so than Lex Davison in Bailey’s monstrous 427cid Ford Galaxie, which after only one hour had lapped the entire field - twice! However, its huge lead would soon disappear as the American monster ran out of brakes, speared off the track through a wooden fence and almost toppled into a large dam - with Davison inside!

No such problems for the Alfa. It didn’t miss a beat all day, only stopping for scheduled refuelling and driver changes with the crew barely taking a glimpse at the brakes. At no stage did Bussinello or Sachs look like they were extending the car or themselves.

They just let the race come to them, which it did in demoralising fashion, completing 230 trouble-free laps on their way to emphatic class and outright victories, with a crushing seven-lap margin over the second-placed Manton/Foley works Cooper S. Given the quality of competition, this was a giant (and Mini) - killing performance.

The Mildren team was very active in NSW events, particularly at Sydney’s Warwick Farm in the 1960s. Here Kevin ‘KB’ Bartlett, pushing very hard in the TI Super in 1965, demonstrates its wonderfully balanced handling on the limit.

1965 Sandown International Six Hour

Alec Mildren, although retired from race car driving, was still a racer at heart. After his team’s dominant victory in 1964, he wanted to prove it was no fluke by returning for the second and final Six Hour in 1965, only this time armed with two cars as he was expecting tougher competition.

1964 winners Bussinello and Sachs were given the keys to an exotic new 105 Series GTA; a lighter and more powerful version of the Sprint GT coupe which, like the TI Super, was designed with racing in mind.

Mildren’s other entry was the 1964 winner this time shared by team regulars Frank Gardner and Kevin Bartlett, which was to serve as a back-up should the race favourite GTA strike trouble – a prophetic strategy if ever there was one!

Mildren also raced two factory lightweight GTAs in LHD and RHD configurations. This is Bartlett at Lakeside Raceway in the LHD car, which was running away with the 1965 Sandown Six Hour until the engine failed. Fortunately, the trusty TI Super saved the day.

The 1965 race attracted another healthy entry, with 39 cars facing the starter and Bussinello on pole position in the GTA. Clearly, the big Galaxie’s brake dramas the previous year ensured the only US muscle cars this time around were an automatic Ford Mustang and Studebaker Lark, but there were numerous Mark 2 Jaguars, S-type Mini Coopers and Cortinas (Lotus and GT500) in a colourful field.

From the 11am race start Bussinello diced with the hard-charging Moffat in his Lotus Cortina for the first half hour of the race before surging past and stretching his lead. Moffat soon called into the pits allowing the Gardner/Bartlett Guilia TI Super to inherit second place.

However, as the competition again wilted under more relentless Alfa Romeo consistency, Mildren’s back-up strategy proved the right call when after 2.5 hours the leading GTA, which had not been sounding too healthy, rolled silently down pit lane with smoke pouring from beneath the bonnet. A broken con-rod had punched a big hole in the side of the block.

KB at ‘The Farm’ again, this time with a very determined Max Volkers filling the Alfa driver’s mirrors with his Lotus Cortina as they exit The Causeway during an entertaining scrap in 1966. It must have been a cracker judging by the damage on the Alfa's nose.

So, once again the Mildren team’s hopes rested with the faithful TI Super and it didn’t let them down, producing another trouble-free performance with only scheduled stops for fuel and driver changes. Australian Motor Sports, which marvelled at the apparent ease with which the humble Italian sedan again despatched its competition, observed that “it went round and round like a stone on a string”. And it covered 231 laps this time – one more than the previous year.

The only unscheduled activity occurred late in the race when it pitted for a precautionary replacement of the right front tyre. The Mildren team had time on its side for such a stop, though, as Gardner/Bartlett still finished four laps ahead of the next car, the Albert Poon/Steve Holland Lotus Cortina.

The Burns/Brauer Guilia Super flies across Skyline during the 1967 Gallaher 500 at Bathurst. The Italian sedan faced an uphill battle for class victory in more ways than one, thanks to the arrival of Ford’s new XR Falcon GT.

The Bathurst Connection: Guilia Super

Unfortunately the TI Super was not eligible to compete in the Bathurst 500, because the ‘showroom stock’ rules in those days catered only for models widely available in local dealerships. The rare and exotic LHD factory homologation special clearly did not meet the criteria.

However, the more mainstream Guilia Super - released in 1965 and sold in RHD form in Australia - certainly did. The Super inherited some of the racing TI Super’s technology, including a slightly less powerful but torquier version of the superb twin-Weber 1570cc twin cam engine better suited to road use.

It took until 1967 before one appeared at Bathurst in the Gallaher 500, shared by 1961 ATCC champion and Jaguar stalwart Bill Burns and future Mustang racer Chris Bauer. The Alfa sedan was entered in Class D ($3001-$4500) where it would have to overcome no less than seven of Ford’s new XR Falcon GTs for class victory.

The Class D Burns/Brauer Guilia Super and Class C Meehan/Cooke Fiat 124 in close company across the top of the Mountain in the 1967 race. Had the new Falcon GTs suffered the severe brake problems many expected, the Guilia could well have produced another giant-killing performance.

With the benefit of hindsight, this was mission impossible. However, at the time the new GTs were an unknown quantity at Bathurst and many expected them to destroy their brakes like the infamous Galaxie at Sandown in 1964. Other Class D contenders included a Studebaker Lark, Audi Super 90, Triumph 2000 and Volvo 122S.

The Burns/Bauer Guilia Super qualified a respectable 23rd fastest out of 60 cars, but was outgunned by raw V8 power in Class D being ninth fastest behind all seven of the new XR GTs and the Studebaker Lark.

The V8 superiority carried over into the race, too, with the top GTs setting a blistering pace without any of the brake and tyre problems many expected. The Guilia Super, typically, had a reliable run but was clearly short on outright speed in finishing fifth in class behind three Falcon GTs and the Studebaker Lark.

Bryan Thomson and John Mann gave the Guilia Super its last Bathurst appearance in 1971. Here it’s sweeping through Shell Corner during the Sandown 250 that year, where its performance was a far cry from the TI Super’s winning ways in the 1960s.

The second and final Bathurst 500 appearance by a Guilia Super came four years later when Bryan Thomson and John Mann teamed up for the 1971 race. The Alfa sedan was again entered in Class D ($3151-$4350) but this time it faced superior competition in the form of Holden’s new LC Torana GTR XU-1 and Chrysler’s new Charger R/T E38.

Sadly, the Guilia Super left centre stage with a whimper rather than a roar, completing only 80 laps of the total 130-lap distance to be classified as a non-finisher. Even so, the Guilia in its rare TI Super specification will always be remembered as one of Alfa Romeo’s finest long distance competition touring cars, thanks to its remarkable pair of wins in the Sandown International Six Hour.