Alfa's racing past key to sports coupe

Alfa Romeo's 8C Competizione to be unveiled at the Paris motor show.

Italian carmaker Alfa Romeo has reached back into its motorsport past to produce the 8C Competizione, a two-seater it will unveil at this month's Paris motor show.

The new sports coupe is based on a prototype first seen at the Frankfurt show three years ago and inspired by the marque's early racing history, which began what Alfa Romeo calls "brand values of technology and emotion".

The 8C code was used in the 1930s and 1940s to identify the company's V8-powered cars. The name Competizione honours the 6C 2500 Competizione, a coupe driven in the famous 1950 Mille Miglia race by motorsport legend Juan Manuel Fangio.

That's the brand values bit. The emotion bit indeed bubbles over: "To see it is to love it," says the Alfa publicist. "Wide tyres, low-slung ride and styling of poised aggression. To die for, in fact.

"Hear the engine and weep: a full, convincing throaty roar. Now all that remains is to sit behind the wheel, engage first gear and you are off to try out your Alfa 8C Competizione."

To do so will bring on more emotion, because the car will only be available in limited numbers and, as a consequence, at an unlimited price. Alfa will reveal more in Paris. The carmaker says the shape of the 8C Competizione - created by its Style Centre in Turin - points to details and proportions of future Alfa Romeos.

The coupe is powered by an all-alloy 4.7-litre V8 engine producing 336kW (450bhp) at 7000rpm and peak torque of 470Nm at 4750 rpm and mated to a six-speed sequential gearbox with steering wheel-mounted controls. Alfa says 80 per cent of torque is available from 2000rpm.

The coupe rides on a wishbone suspension set-up all-round and 20-inch alloy wheels shod with 245/35 tyres up front and 285/35 at the rear. Inside, the two carbon-fibre seats can be adjusted every which way to suit the physical dimensions of the driver and "whoever is lucky enough to share the thrill," says Alfa.