Decades after the 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA hit the world stage, the monstrous 2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA and 2020 Giulia GTAm have debuted online to celebrate the marque’s 110th birthday.
For the uninitiated, the letters GTA represent Gran Turismo Alleggerita (lightened grand tourer), while the ‘m’ of the extra-special two-seat GTAm stands for Modificata.
“With the new GTA, we bring back to life an icon. We go back to our roots of elegance and sportiness, and uniqueness too,” the company says in its unveiling video this morning – which took place online, now that the Geneva motor show has been cancelled for 2020.
Based on the Giulia Quadrifoglio, the GTA and GTAm models bring a host of performance upgrades to the top end of the sedan range.
As shown in the unveiling video and the images here, the GTA and GTAm are separated by intent and diet, but both are road legal.
Both cars get the same power upgrades, aerodynamic enhancements and 50mm wider track with unique 20-inch centre-locking wheels, along with a significant weight saving.
Light-weighting for the GTA comes through the extensive use of carbon fibre – including the drive shaft, bonnet, roof, front bumper, front wheel arches and rear wheel flares, and carbon monocoque seats – resulting in an “about” 100kg weight saving.
In the GTAm, these upgrades are joined by polycarbonate window frames and aluminium components replacing steel in the doors and suspension package. These efforts have carved a huge 600kg from the base Giulia Q, bringing the hero sedan down to 1520kg.
Both models wear Sauber F1-designed aerodynamics such as an active front air splitter and side skirts, huge rear diffuser and, for the GTAm, an oversized front splitter and a large carbon-fibre rear wing. A new Akrapovic titanium centre exhaust system also features.
The GTAm removes the rear seats and adds racing seats up front, with six-point harnesses and a roll bar.
Power is provided through an enhanced version of the Giulia Q’s aluminium 2.9-litre bi-turbo V6, tuned by the legendary Autodelta to 402kW – up from 375kW in its standard form. Torque figures have not yet been revealed, but the regular Quadrifoglio delivers 600Nm.
Thanks to all of this and a dedicated launch system, the Giulia GTAm claims a 0-100km/h time of 3.6 seconds – down from 3.9 seconds.
Only 500 certified and numbered units will be built in total, sold through a “one-to-one sales process with a dedicated experience package”.
source: www.caradvice.com
