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1992 was the beginning of the long and thoroughly successful history of Alfa Romeo in the touring car szene. At that time, Allessandro Nannini and Nicola Larini started with four-cylinder turbo engines in the Italian touring car championship and won it in the first year. In 1993, the legendary 6-cylinder engines were used in the DTM in Germany. The label Werk83 has already revived this era with vehicles from other manufacturers and is doing the same at this point with the make Alfa Romeo. Giancarlo Fisichella's Alfa Romeo from the 1995 DTM/ITC season was modeled by Werk83 on a scale of 1:18. In addition to the interior, which is faithfully reproduced, the doors can be opened and the wheels on the front axle can be steered. The Alfa Corse design shown here in this blog post is one of the Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI designs available from Werk83. Also available in our shop is the Alfa in Jägermeister design from the Euroteam team with the driver Michael Bartels and Michele Alboreto's car in the TV feature film design from the Schübel Engineering team. From the Martini Racing Alfa Corse team, Werk83 from the 1995 DTM/ITC season copied both the car with starting number 7 from Allessandro Nannini and the car with starting number 8 from Nicola Larini. Thanks to Werk83, nothing stands in the way of a DTM collection corner on a scale of 1:18.
The DTM of the 1990s represents the opportunity for a manufacturer to take part in the series with a very spectacular but close-to-production racing car. The requirements of the regulations were limited to a 6-cylinder engine with a displacement of 2.5 liters. The head of the racing department at Alfa Giorgio Pianta at the time gladly accepted this task. The Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI was equipped with all-wheel drive for use in the DTM. In order to take this step, the engine had to be installed lengthwise compared to the production vehicle. Despite its low weight of only 110kg, the engine developed an output of 420 hp and that at a more than spectacular speed of 11,800 rpm. The entire vehicle, which consisted of some carbon fiber parts, had a total weight of only 1040kg. In this way, top speeds of up to 300 kph could be achieved.
In the first season of the DTM (1993), Alfa Romeo was able to win a total of 12 of the 20 races with the 155 V6 TI. After Alfa Romeo had outstripped the otherwise favored Mercedes in the first year by winning the DTM, Mercedes was able to live up to its original role as favorite with the new racing version of the C-Class with victories in 1994 and 1995. Nevertheless, it was drivers like Giancarlo Fisichella and Nicola Larini who were able to show again and again what Alfas are capable of. In 1996, after a performance setback in the first half of the DTM season, which had since been merged into the International Touring Car Championship (ITC), Alfa swapped out the original engine. A 490 hp V6 was used, which accelerated the 155 to 100 kph in just 2.5 seconds. In the second half of the season, Alfa was able to regain its former strength and win 8 of the remaining 14 races. By using several vehicles, Alfa even achieved second place in the constructors' championship. Behind Opel, but ahead of competitor Mercedes.
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