Grand Prix Rejects

Good morning everyone.

This week saw an F1 car with the Alfa Romeo name take to the track for the first time since 1985. This got us thinking - what on earth happened during Alfa's last stint in the sport?

Our esteemed forumite Miguel98 has taken up the challenge and produced this excellent piece documenting Milan's woeful 1985 - a season so poor that even Minardi and Osella were able to beat their well-funded countrymen. Read it here today!

1985: From Alfa to Omega

I very much enjoyed reading this - thank you!

Just to let you know that there either there is a section of missing text, or possibly something has accidentally been duplicated. The paragraph introducing the 185T ends with the words "Once again", but with nothing coming after them - was there meant to be another sentence that was cut short, or a bit of stray text mistakenly being pasted in the wrong place?

mario wrote:Just to let you know that there either there is a section of missing text, or possibly something has accidentally been duplicated. The paragraph introducing the 185T ends with the words "Once again", but with nothing coming after them - was there meant to be another sentence that was cut short, or a bit of stray text mistakenly being pasted in the wrong place?

Ah yes, that was an erroneous piece of text that I managed to miss when proofreading the piece. It's been fixed.

That was an informative article, with some nice humour. . But I believe the German GP was held at the modernised Nurburgring, not Hockenheim, in 1985.

good_Ralf wrote:That was an informative article, with some nice humour. . But I believe the German GP was held at the modernised Nurburgring, not Hockenheim, in 1985.

Yes, that's correct! My bad on this one, totally missed it.. It was the first GP on the new Nurburgring track.

I wonder if Bruno Giacomelli was dreaming of his days at Alfa Romeo when he hauled himself out of bed at stupid o'clock on twelve Friday mornings in 1990?

The 185T was proof, if any were ever needed, that a good-looking car isn't necessarily fast.

dinizintheoven wrote:I wonder if Bruno Giacomelli was dreaming of his days at Alfa Romeo when he hauled himself out of bed at stupid o'clock on twelve Friday mornings in 1990?

The 185T was proof, if any were ever needed, that a good-looking car isn't necessarily fast.

Based on some 1990 interviews I've seen from Giacomelli, he knew perfectly well that Life had no chance of ever making the cut and just drove for fun (and presumably a bit of extra cash as well).

Miguel98 wrote:

good_Ralf wrote:That was an informative article, with some nice humour. . But I believe the German GP was held at the modernised Nurburgring, not Hockenheim, in 1985.

Yes, that's correct! My bad on this one, totally missed it.. It was the first GP on the new Nurburgring track.

I'm really, really sorry, but that was the 1984 European Grand Prix.

Unless of course you specifically meant the German Grand Prix.

But seriously, that was some very nice work, Miguel. This may be one of our best non-profile pieces, thanks for taking it on.

Nuppiz wrote:

dinizintheoven wrote:I wonder if Bruno Giacomelli was dreaming of his days at Alfa Romeo when he hauled himself out of bed at stupid o'clock on twelve Friday mornings in 1990?

The 185T was proof, if any were ever needed, that a good-looking car isn't necessarily fast.

Based on some 1990 interviews I've seen from Giacomelli, he knew perfectly well that Life had no chance of ever making the cut and just drove for fun (and presumably a bit of extra cash as well).

I just came across this 1999 interview: https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/arch ... giacomelli

No mention of horticultural curiosities circa 1990 as the focus is on just one race, but at the end he calls his decision to persevere with Alfa Romeo the biggest mistake of his life.

Simtek wrote:I just came across this 1999 interview: https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/arch ... giacomelli

Read this as well:
https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/arch ... sotted-his

Great Article. Thanks.


I have a thing for F1 cars with obnoxiously coloured wheels.

Safe to say Alfa Romeo F1 Team #3 fared even worse than the 2nd one in hindsight, even it was just Sauber with a different name.