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Alfa 155 V6 TI Collection of informations.

37K views 21 replies 5 participants last post by  Gabor K. 
#1 · (Edited)
I will try to present here some informations on the 1993-1996 Alfa V6 TI racecars. I am not an expert, however very interested in this racecar and have over time collected some photos and infos, magazines and even factory info.

The car participated in the german racing series named DTM( Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft), Class1 up to 2,5L, competing with German brand like Mercedes and Opel(from 94). The previous year 1992 BMW also competed, but as factory BMW pulled out because they wanted to shift the engine rearwards but were not allowed from the organization. As this was a touring car series in 1993 the cars had to be based on production engines with their basic build from the production car. BMW and Mercedes had made 2,5 L evo versions of their road cars to fit in this class. Tuning was unlimited, but there was a 11.500 rpm limit. The BMW and Mercedes raced as 4 cylinders, but Alfa and Opel, raced V6 engines. Regulation here was that they must have the original V angle of the production engine and also block material. So Opel had an disadvantage at the beginning as they had to race with anarrower 54 degr. V-angle and and a heavy iron Block. Although their engine was just as powerful as the Alfa.

The subject has been debated elswhere on the Internet also and fortunately I have some links which could add some info:


DTM - ITC

After a thrilling 1992 racing season when the 155 GTA cars dominated the Italian SuperTurismo championship, Alfa Corse decided to step up its game in 1993 by developing various track versions of the 155. Its most ambitious goal was the DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft), the German touring championship, an extremely competitive event with a huge public following (an average of 62,800 spectators in 1993).

THE CAR
Taking advantage of the adaptation possibilities granted by the generous D1 category regulation, the standard production 155 was drastically revised. The compact 60° V6 dry sump light alloy engine with a capacity of 2498 cc (93 x 61.3) and cylinder head with four valves per cylinder (intake in titanium), was able to develop 420 HP at 11,800 rpm and a maximum torque of 30 kgm at 9,000 rpm with a weight of just 110 kg. On the 155, it was arranged longitudinally overhanging the front axle, supported by a sub-frame.

The six-speed gearbox was connected to the power unit by a magnesium casting, which also incorporated the oil reservoir (8 litre) and the front differential. The transmission was four-wheel-drive with epicyclic transfer box, viscous coupling and self-locking sliding front and rear differentials. Drive torque distribution was 33% to the front and 67% to the rear.

The vehicle body measured 4,576 mm in length, 1,750 mm in width and 1,410 mm in height with a weight of 1,040 Kg and weight balancing of 50% over both axles. The body was made out of carbon fibre and the frame was strengthened by a cage-type roll-bar. As on the 155 GTA, the suspension configuration was a McPherson on all four wheels, with elliptical cross-section tubular lower wishbones and trailing arms on the rear end for adjusting toe-in with stabiliser bars adjustable by the driver.

From the second race, the 19’’ wheels were abandoned in favour of 18’’ wheels that were better suited to the numerous town routes. The injection system was also improved during the racing season, being fitted with two injectors per can, and a new sequential gearbox was adopted.

THE VICTORIOUS DEBUT. 1993
The Alfa Corse team, managed by Giorgio Pianta, therefore fielded two 155 V6 TI cars, driven by Nicola Larini and Alessandro Nannini. Another pair of twin cars were also driven, for the Schubel team, by Giorgio Francia and Christian Danner.

The car's victorious debut at the Zolder track was simply the first step towards Nicola Larini winning the title, beating the current champion Klaus Ludwig, driving for the imposing Mercedes mega-team. Larini notched the highest number of victories in the DTM's history, no fewer than 10 in 20 races, joined by another two wins obtained by Nannini and a non-league race win in Donnington.

1994 SEASON
Enthusiasm for the win in 1993 and excellent sales feedback in Germany for the 155 cars prompted Alfa Corse to continue developing the car for the following season. The car was improved in every part: the power unit was lightened, lowered and equipped with air-controlled valve return, which bought benefits, particularly in terms of power delivery. The car body was lowered by no less than 60 mm and its aerodynamics were significantly altered.

The biggest changes were, however, linked to an increase in the use of electronics: a special ABS, developed by the American Kelsey-Hayes (an optical speed scanner prevented the simultaneous blocking of all four wheels in a four wheel-drive configuration: racing conditions can mislead a normal ABS not built for the stresses of the track, where decelerations of more than 2 g are possible) and an electronically-controlled active suspension system developed in conjunction with TAG Electronics. On the safety front, the normal equipment was joined by a new airbag on the drivers steering wheel.

Five new 155 cars were lined up at the beginning of the championship: two official Alfa Corse cars driven by Larini and Nannini. Another three managed by Schubel Engineering for France, Danner and the Danish new-entry Chris Nissen. The six 1993 cars were leased to private individuals. Nannini dominated the first part of the championship, winning seven out of the first 10 races, but the veteran Ludwig, with his improved Mercedes, got his own back and was awarded the driver's title, even though Larini was not short of successes. At the end of the season, he was also joined by Stefano Modena, making Alfa the make that scored most victories.

The 1995 SEASON (DTM and ITC)
The popularity of D1 class cars (Class 1 for the FIA) had risen considerably and the number of non-league events outside the normal DTM circuit was growing. In 1995, there were no fewer than five, grouped by the FIA into the new ITC (International Touring Car series) championship. At the same time, the regulations had also become less strict, meaning that the already-extreme touring cars now retainined only the silhouette of the original model: the chassis' and suspensions were redesigned.

At the championship, Alfa Romeo lined up six official cars and three for private individuals. Larini and Nannini with the Alfa Corse-Martini Racing team, Stefano Modena and Michael Bartels for Euroteam, Michele Alboreto and Christian Danner with Schubel. The first part of the championship was beset by delays in developing the new car (the “Step 2”) but at last it was ready. The season brought slim pickings and concluded in Magny-Cours with the ITC title going to the Mercedes driven by Bernd Schneider, already the DTM champion.

1996 SEASON (ITC)
1996 saw the DTM disappear to be replaced by the ITC, which had now become a world championship with 13 double events under its belt: opening in Hockenheim and closing in Suzuka. Alfa Corse fielded no fewer than eight official 155 cars: Larini e Nannini (Alfa Corse-Martini Racing), Giancarlo Fisichella and Christian Danner (Alfa Corse-TvSpiefilm), Stefano Modena, Michael Bartels, Gabriele Tarquini and Jason Watt (Alfa Corse-Jas).

The 1996 car was a further development of the ill-fated Step 2: the track was widened by 30 mm because the standard production car had also been widened. The tank arrangement and aerodynamic configuration were also altered. The transmission was improved with the adoption of a sophisticated X-Trac transmission, while the power unit was further improved to the threshold of 460 HP. The electronics was upgraded to a new Magneti Marelli system.

During the championship, Nannini was still driving for Alfa Romeo and the Nurburgring debut of the new Lancia-based 90° 6V engine (2498 cc, 98X55,2 mm, 490 HP at 12,000 rpm) put him back in the running for the title. At least until the penultimate event in San Paolo, where wins by Nannini and Larini were not enough to snatch the title from the Opel Calibra driven by Manuel Reuter.

Already in Magny-Cours Alfa Romeo had stated its intention of abandoning the championship. This decision was soon followed by Opel, thus writing the last chapter in the short yet exciting era of the ITC. Escalating costs (following liberalisation of the electronics and suspension, Mercedes soared to a new level of technology in 1996 with the wholesale adoption of composite materials for the chassis) and failure to achieve proportional feedback in the media and market put a premature end to the championship.The 1996 cars therefore represented the maximum flowering of technology applied to racing cars, which were allowed to develop virtually untrammeled in an era when even Formula 1 had adopted extremely strict regulations, particularly on electronics.

SOURCES
Centro Documentazione Alfa Romeo – Arese MI

Autosprint, annate 1970 al 1973 e 1976-2008
Il Quadrifoglio, annate 1966-1973 e 1983-2003
L’Alfa e le sue auto, Chirico, Milan, 2007
Quattroruote, annate 1956-2009

Alfa 155D2 che motore aveva?!? - Pagina 2

A modelcar site that listed up all the races these cars participated in:

Alfa Romeo in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft

Avery nice Italian V6 TI site:

Alfa Romeo 155 ITC 1996 Alessandro Nannini - Track|FEVERTrack|FEVER

Alfa V6 TI on Face book, Seems everybody wants them to race again!

https://www.facebook.com/155V6Ti

Ultimate carpage on Alfa 155 V6 TI, correct as far as I know!

1993 - 1996 Alfa Romeo 155 V6 TI DTM - Images, Specifications and Information

Wikiwand on the 155 car and the V6 TI:

Alfa Romeo 155 - Wikiwand

Quality book on the V6 TI from Auto Italia Magazine editor Peter Collins, who is an authority on many race cars. Here based on friendship with Alfa Corse engineer Sergio Limone , who was chassis reponsible. Here you read parts of the book for free, but recommend to buy it for interested parties because it contains very interesting stories from Development of the racecars!

https://books.google.no/books?id=bp...ge&q=Homologated engines from DTM 1993&f=true

This is what I could write down in a hurry, intending to make some scans from period magazines and printed matter.

I have identified 3 different race engines used in this car, so intentions here is to find out exactly their specifications.

1. st series was only used in 1993 was "based" on the 2,5L Busso V60 engine, in the 155 road car, but only with regards to V60-angle, block material(alu) and 2,5L. According to press material from Alfa Corse. Power was 420 Hp.

2. nd. series was introduced 1994 and was a completely New V60 construction. While the cam drive on the first engine was in front, on this engine the cam drive was on the rear and also the valves had pneumatic closing. Power of this engine was about 450 Hp. and it was used also parallell with the later 90 degrees engine which arrived in 1996, in order to have a comparison of which engine functioned best! For me it remains to collect precise data on this engine because mostly only the first and last engines are written about!

As an aside on this engine is a good friend of mine, an Alfa dealer here with good contacts in Italy was invited to Motori Moderni, with Carlo Chiti as owner and manager. He was showed around in the factory by mr. Chiti and surprise there they built this second generation engine and some were stored on the floor! Why my friend knew what those engine were, well he recognized them from engine posters he got from other contacts. So I got a poster of that engine in my garage as a memory from the times!

3.rd. generation engine was based on the RPV(Renault, Peugeot, Volvo 90 degr. V6 engine from Lancia Thema. It arrived in 1996 much delayed by FIAT management resistence against this engine basis. So they tried to confuse by saying it was based on a chopped Montreal engine. However homologation paper copied in the mentioned V6 TI book says its based on the Lancia engine and also if it had been based on the Montreal engine the bore on the race engine was so big that they could not fit within the cylinder distances of the Montreal engine.
Here the data of this latest engine which made Alfa more competitive again from around the middle of 1996. Impression is that had the management not delayed the use of this engine Alfa could have won the 1996 championship. However these things rely on so many things, so that is only a thought many had.

More versions of these egines could have existed, so its interesting if more info can be dug out and added here!

Here the data for this engine from an article in Auto Italia:

G.
 

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#2 ·
The only tie between the DTM engines and the production ones were that the rules imposed to respect very few features of the production engine. This had to be (have been) produced in at least 2500 units. Bank angle and distance beween bore centers were the only features to be carried over from the production engine.

So, it's completely misleading to talk about any work done on the Busso engine: two measurements were compulsory: 133mm between bores centers and 60°

But the last version had nothing to do with PRV engines. It's just that the rules (as used by Opel for building a 90° V6 based on the features of a Holden V8) allowed to "start" from a V8 cutting 2 cylinders off (ie taking the V8 measurements), and did NOT say that the base engine had to be currrently in production. Fiat therefore took the Montreal V8 data: 90° and most important 108mm between cylinders, which allowed a much shorter crankshaft, and two rods on a single crank, unlike the 60° version.
 
#3 · (Edited)
GTV2000.

I realise that we are meaning the same thing about the V60 engine that it has nothing to do with the Busso engine except it had to use the same V-angle, cylinder distances and block material of the road engine. Still the factory says in their press info that the race engine is based on the Busso engine of the 155, but the connection is very small, just the architecture, so to say! I rephrased to make it perfectly clear what I mean.

About the 1996 engine with V90 V-angle, at the time of racing I also heard that this engine was in similar way as the first one based on the Montreal engine minus 2cylinders chopped away. However later info from the book I refer to, they tried this so called Montreal based engine and it was not so good! The PRV engine which could have shorter stroke/bigger bore was more powerful and functioned better and was a real improvement over the V60 engines. However the story goes the management and public was told the Montreal engine was inside, but the PRV based engine was raced! Maybe management also realised that it was the way to go!

G.
 
#5 · (Edited)
The basic 155 V6 2,5 and its Busso engine

The basis for the race car 155 V6 TI was a quite regular midrange sedan for normal consumption, based on the Fiat Tempra model. Most models were front wheel drive except the 155 Q4 which was a turbocharged 2L 16V with 4 wheel drive, with 190 Hp. The V6 2,5L version came only with front wheel drive, and all models had transversal motor position.
So when Alfa decided to participate in 1993 they wanted to use a regular family street car, just as they had done with the Fiat 131 earlier in rally racing. For this pupose they needed to improve the street car a lot! The DTM rules allowed them to use a V6 now in the longitudinal position coupled with the 4 wheel drive. This was a combination not found in production cars! The Busso engine in the 155 was a descendant of the 2,5L engine of the GTV6 2,5, a 60 degr. V6 2,5 with 166 hp because of higher compression. The Busso engine being a 12V partly pushrod contruction of the seventies had a great racing history in the beginning of the eighties, winnig 4 championships in the ETCC championship. In that championship with moderate tuning possibilities the power of the 2,5L engine was around 230Hp. In the French championship the engine gave 280Hp and the best and short lived version even gave up to 330 Hp. The Mercedes and BMW competition in the DTM raced 2,5L 4 cyl 16V engines with around 380-390 Hp at this time. So it was obvious that the Busso engine would not be competitive in this class unless Alfa could construct a real race engine. Obviously the engine regulations were taylor made to make it possible for Alfa to participate, so the only demand in the Class 1 2,5L was:

The engine should have max 6 cylinders
The V-angle between the banks should be the same as for the road car. For Alfa 60 degrees!
The spacing between cylinder centers should be the same as for the road car. For all Busso V6 engines 133 mm.
The block material should be the same as for the road engine. For Alfa V6 it has always been aluminium.
The orientation of engine from transversal to longitudinal was allowed.
The use of 4 wheel drive was allowed , but there was an addition of 40kgs at minimum weight over the 2 wheel drive cars.
The rev limit for the engines was 11800 rpm, in order to reduce development cost.

Some photos of the Q4, V6 engine, 4WD and rear axle of the Q4 car!
 

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#8 · (Edited)
Some photos of the 1993 car

During the seasons 1993 to 1996 the Alfa V6 TI was most succesful the first year, becoming DTM champion of the year and also winning both important races at the Nürburgring Nordshleiffe, although Larini had never been racing there, just heard that it was a nice track. Most of the factory opposition from Germany had evaporated, so just the Mercedes teams were left. The rest of the opposition were private teams. However Mercedes factory team was the winner of the year before, so there was a chance they could still win based on experience from the tracks. That was not to be and Alfa had a real good year winning the championship in the germans own back yard! I will not go into details from the races as its well documented elswhere.

The 1993 results:

Alfa Romeo DTM 1993

The 1993 race on the Nürburgring Nordschleiffe. Two races, each of 4 laps, and Larini wins both of them. Films from the following Mercedes, he just disappears around the corners, seemingly enjoying the ride!





The some photos of the car of Larini and others, the tech specs already explained in the factory info above!
 

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#9 · (Edited)
The technical status of the 1993 car

The 1993 body and drive train:

As this DTM series was a Group A + car they had possiblity to modify the cars a lot more than earlier in Group A. With regards to suspension the rules said they could use any suspension system which was in production at the factory, so Alfa Corse chose the Mac Pherson strut suspension system as used in the Alfa 164, front and rear in the racecar. As we remember the 155 had Mac Pherson in front and trailing arms rear(drawing above). Well, Mac Pherson suspension is OK for the road, but not ideal for racing, as here the shock absorber also carries the weight of the car. Soon there were reports that at high lateral forces(like around corners) the shock absorbers were binding, which means rough ride and unprecise handling! So during 1993 and 1994 Alfa did what they could to try out different makes of shock absorbers, but finally they found the only way to improve was to get rid of the Mac Pherson suspension. For that the rules had to change, which they managed to get through the next year.

As this is a 4WD race car, this concept was new in asfalt racing they had to test out the electronics to operate an ABS system that could operate properly on a 4WD race car. This system was not ready for use in 1993, so no ABS!

Also the six gears had be shifted manually by gear stick.

About the engine, most is stated in the factory info. The engine is based on the Busso road engine with regards to some parameters, but otherwise a completely new construction. The cam drive is by gears in the front of the engine and the cams are hollow to reduce weight. What comes to mind whe looking at the engine which had to have the same cylinder distances(133mm) as the road Busso engine is that such a distance could have been much smaller for a race engine! The Busso engine was built with a reserve to increase volume much over the initial 2,5L, good for the road but not so good for a compact race engine. So already at this stage they must have understood that a race engine based on an engine with shorter cylinder distances could make up for a lighter and more powerful engine! That came much later. Notice the lateral distances between the inlet horns, some indication there!

About the 4 WD system can be said it has an advantage over 2WD engines specially out of corners and on the wet obviously. However the 4WD cars had a minimum weight of 40 Kg over 2WD cars, so a little disadvantage already there, but in the first race season this was outweighed of the 40 extra horses in the Alfa over the Mercedes. Also another disadvange was that the engine had to be in front of the line between the front wheels, which is considerably more forward than on a rear wheel drive engine where the engine can sit between the front wheels. This engine position Alfa had to live with, actually not beeing able do do more than pushing the engine as much as possible up to the front drive shafts.

A cutaway of the 1993 car and some early engine photos, the lowest were the newest in the first generation.
 

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#10 · (Edited)
Race activities for 1994

This was a year of trying to keep the advantage over the competition and try repeat the championship of last year. However Mercedes had also moved forward technically very fast with a new C180 car with a 2,5L V6 too, but keeping the rear wheel drive with anti spin control. Obviously they did not want repeat of last years results! For this year Alfa did a lot of modifications for their car, firstly by lowering the car by 6 cm to get lower center of gravity and also to make the car more aerodynamic, so faster. They had still to go on and try to improve the Mac Pherson strut suspension, but eventually realized they could not improve it no more. They introduced an new ABS sytem this year made by Kelsey Hayes company which was owned by the same owners as Brembo. This system used, in addition to the normal ABS function, an optical sensor pointing at the ground, to see the difference of four locked Wheels, and car standing still! They also used a logging system by TAG as this was not available from Kelsey Hayes. Also on the program was active suspension but after the fatal accident of Senna, the organizers ruled this out so only ABS and anti spin was allowed from then on. Also any more races on the Nordshleiffe were ruled out so the 1993 race was the only one! The 1994 car now with a new engine, lowered and with ABS was a much improved car, several seconds faster per lap as the the older one, but unfortunately the Mercedes project moved forward a bit faster than the Alfa so at the end of the season, Mercedes bagged the championship even though Alfa had more wins totally. A case of not the righ Alfa-driver winning the races all the time!

Here a link to results this year:

Alfa Romeo DTM 1994

As mentioned the 1994 Alfa is lowered and this can clearly be seen compared to the 1993 car, but also that the front fender now is the same height as the bonnet. There are side air intakes at the sills and at the rear there are trays to function like a venturi. The exhaust system is clearly different by one outlet at each side at the rear.

Some photos of the 1994 car showing the lower appearance, sill air intakes, rear tray and the separate exhaust.
The cutaway shows the 1994 Nannini car with still the Mac Pherson struts, the new engine with flywheel side gear camshaft drive. Also the two special gear shift sticks making him able to shift up and down by pushing one of them forward only.
 

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#11 · (Edited)
The 1994 V6 engine:

The 1994 V6 engine was a completely new construction as all casts had to be new. In principle what was the same was the V-angle of 60 degrees, cylinder distances and material. Bore and stroke was the same as well the power output of 420 Hp. So why the reconstruction? It was mentioned that the the old engine had some weaknesses. Well, apart the ones already mentioned, related to the Busso dimensions. These engines for racing use gear drive of the camshafts and the first engine had front gear drive while this one had rear gear drive at the flywheel. This system is sensitive to vibration which can cause gear wear. I have seen the same rear gear drive on the Ilmor 2,65 Indy engine of 1984. Indeed on the Ilmor V8 flat crank engine the amplitude of the vibrations of the crank was 1/3 on the flywheel side compared to the front end! So this arrangement is for smoothing out vibration in the cam drive!

This Alfa engine was developed further for 95 and 96 so it grew on power by the time. The first improvement of the engine was around mid season of 94 when pneumatic closing of the valves were introduced. This was because of problems of resonances in the valve spring systems. Engine got 7 kgs lighter and a bit shorter.

Some photos and cut away of the 1994 engine. As can be seen on the first photos, factory at season start the engine has four fuel rails using twin injectors for each cylinder. Later engines have only one, so possibly twin injectors were tried to see if they gave more power by better spray pattern. However as this disappeared it may not be the case. Anyway people I know working with twice this power turbo engines, they say single injector is preferrable, at least today!

A comparison photo of the new and old engine, the new at the left side.

A photo of the engine with the front differential bellhousing. Its impressive how close the drive shaft output could be moved to the engine!
 

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#12 · (Edited)
The 1995 race activities

For 1995 Alfa had great plans for comeback to the top of the podiums! So they had a big program to achieve this. They pulled in big resources, organizationally, financially and technically!

The 1993 season they had 2 teams, Alfa and Shübel, 4 cars and 4 drivers. In 1995 there were 4 teams, Martini-Alfa Corse, Alfa Corse 2, Shübel and Euroteam. There were 15 V6 TI cars and 15 drivers. So obviously a big increase of people and cars!

Martini came in as new sponsor of of the Alfa Corse cars with their distinctive white base colour and Martini stripes, not used in this series before by Alfa.

The racing series went international this year as organizers abroad from Germany also wanted to have this exciting racing series on their tracks. The FIA car organization approved an internatinal version of this series called ITC(International Touring Car Championship). So for this year only there were two racing championships, DTM for just Germany and ITC for all the races abroad. Drivers and cars were the same but the scoring was separate. This international racing had extra cost of course!

The technical rules were finally loosenened up and adjusted to the wishes of the manufacturers. So Alfa got approval to replace the McPherson struts to with pushrod operated wishbone suspension. Also there was acceptance for a lot of Electronics governing of gear shifting, ABS and differentials. The gearbox was moved to the middle of the car together with the center differentail and the driver was moved at the level of the B-pillar. This made it necessary to stretch the instrument dash and moving the steering wheel rearwards also.
The new rules opened up for flat bottoms of the cars with venturi outlets at the rear to create some down force from the bodies. Ambitions were high to make a lot of undercover plates suiting different tracks. So Alfa used at a period 3 different wind tunnels, those wind tunnels are expensive to rent!

Of the 95 cars there were made 4 pcs so how to recognize them from the 94 cars. Four drivers raced both 94 and 95 cars in the same Martini colours. Reason for this was that the advanced 95 models were not competitive most of this season because they were not fully developed, that took too much time for Alfa. Too much electronics, hydraulics and mechanics that would not play together! They needed more time to get things right than was available for them! To compensate for this the 94 cars were in full race all the time in improved form, but still the last years model. In spite the 95 cars looked so good, the 94 cars were faster and were a reference to compare with to see if the 95 cars were improving, which they inddeed did late in the season.

How to see the difference between 94 and 95 cars: Of course from the older cars the Martini livery is a tell! Then in case both have the Martini livery: The 94 has 3 horizontal openings in the bumper area while the 95 model has 2 openings. At the rear the 94 has exhaust pipes outside at each corner while the 95 has the pipes collected together at the right side. Lifting the bonnet shows the McPherson top support on the 94 car while on the 95 car there is a tube frame with wishbone suspension arms. Inside the cars, the 94 has short instrument dash and normal position front seat, while the 95 has long instrument dash, the seat moved rearward, and the gearbox sits in the middle of the car. The 94 had mechanical stick shift while the 95 has shift paddles on the steering coloumn, or sequential stick shift.

So what did this considerable effort from Alfa result in? As already mentioned, the 95 cars called step 2 never lived up to the hopes of achieving a big comeback and repeating a total championship win like in 93 in spite of all efforts. The 95 cars were to slow to get competitive and while they improved, the 94 evo step 1 cars had to do the job! All the races which were won were won by 94 evo step 1 cars!

The grand result was 3 wins in the DTM and 2 wins in the ITC, totalling 5 wins that year! Out of 24 races! A bit far from any championship!

Outside resources showing drivers, car types, numbers, drivers,race dates:

DTM / ITC 1995 | www.alfa155club.nl

Winners of 95 DTM/ITC

TouringCars.Net » Results » DTM / ITC » 1995

More detailed results:

Alfa Romeo DTM 1995


Then a couple of photos of the 95 Martini cars, both step 1 og step 2(the latest version). See which is which!
 

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#13 ·
The technical features of the 95 step 2 car


As can be seen on the cutaways, its evident that the suspension has now been upgraded to double wishbone front and rear with horizontal push rod activated shock absorber/ coil units. The steel tubes in the car have now mission as engine and axle support, while it on earlier models were mainly safety cage.

The drivetrain is now with front and rear differential, while the gearbox is in the center of the car in unit with the center diff. Reason for the center gearbox, almost a transaxle, was mainly to be able to change the whole unit very quickly if needed on the track. Also shifting weight to the rear with the engine overhanging in the front, should have improved the balance in the car. As it happened there were problems with this gearbox, both with regards of aligning, falling out of gears, and not responding properly to the electro/hydraulic governing.

With regards to the exhaust system, because of the the flat bottom of the car both tubes were collected and built into the cars floor in a tunnel, on the right side so not to disturb the flow under the car!
 

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#14 · (Edited)
Technical features of the 1995 engines

Contrary to the cars, the develompment of the engines happened in small steps this year. Point was to squeze out a little bit more from an already good engine. Whatever they tried the difference could not be so big as long as the traditional concept of the engine was kept!

At the start of the season 95 the factory announced they had saved 4 kg engine weight and 1 cm height by changing casting technique, so a little weight was saved. All the engines now had pneumatically activated valves, which is good for precision of valve closing at high revs. But that dictates that there must be a compressor and air tank for a sligth weight disadvantage. Have not seen any reports with regards to trouble with this system, so it must have worked well!
Other things the factory announced were other cam profiles, other inlet and outlet headers. More advanced electronics.

Over time the bore was increased, while the stroke was shortened, making the engine more oversquare. This makes the engine more rev happy at rev tolerating as the shorter stoke lowers the average piston speed. Makes the engine live longer!

So these data on the development of the V60 degr. engine. (Not pretending these were the only bore-stroke combinations)

1993: Bore-stroke.......93mmX61,3mm........30kgm/9000 rpm............420Hp/11800rpm
1994: The same, this year they changed the cam drive to the rear of the engine. End of season the engines got pneumatic valves.
1995: Bore-stroke.......94mmX60mm...........30,5kgm/9000rpm.........440HP/11500rpm
.........Bore-stroke.......96mmX57,5mm.........31,2kgm/9000rpm.........450HP/11800rpm This version came July/Aug 95 and had Twin Spark head.

Interesting with the latest version is that it had a Twin Spark in a race V6 engine. That demanded Coil On Plug(COP) solution for 2 plugs. Obviosly they could make it for a race engine too! Also interesting is that the TS engine only gave +10HP over the regular engine, but in racing every HP counts!
Still another engine was known from Diepholz in July. It was told this engine had a different crankshaft with different crank pins, therefore a different ignition sequence. This engine had a particularly raw sound at high revs. As we know the Alfa V6 has separate crank pins for the rods to have good balance and has even fire. For a race engine smooth balance is not so important, so this engine must have had a crank with common pins for the rods, which will give it uneven fire and the mentioned different sound. Anyway, this engine was also quoted with +10 hp over the regular engine!

Some engine related photos showing showing the engine in car, and out of car. Then the latest version head where its possible to see the holes for the twin plugs. Also special with this gerneration V6 engine is that it has twin studs between the cylinders(clamping the head) while on the old engine there was only one!

G.
 

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#16 ·
I am sorry Pete, but I think nothing in the 2,5 L 24V engine in the 156 was similar with the race engines! We must not forget that the race engines were in rapid development in short time, and also the life expectancy of these were 10-30 hours! In contrary with the production engine, which were the same over the years and operating revs were max 6500rpm, and life expectancy was 20 years!

Certainly I would like to have the opportunity to learn more about the insides of the different V6TI engines, but alas so few of them and so expensive! 40.000 Euros?

So here some additional better photos of the 94 edition engine which had valve springs and comparison with the 96 edition

Lot of differences to see there of course. What came to eye is that the 94 engine has 4 exhaust studs while the 96 version has 3 studs.

G.
 

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#20 ·
I see a lot of big black dots here which makes it almost impossible to read the text! Somebody remove that disturbence!

The answer to the still living belief that the 155V6 TI engine was based on the Montreal engine is that the management of Alfa Romeo wanted to have an Alfa engine as basis for the 155 race engine. However it was clear from the start that it had not enough bore to have a short stroke because the cylinder distances were too small. So they made also a race engine based on the Lancia RPV engine, this one had possiblity for bigger bore/shorter stroke. So the homologated both engines and they even displayed the Montreal based engine telling the press that it was a Montreal based engine inside. However the Montreal engine was never used in a race because it was inferior to the RPV based engine. The RPV based race engine was quoted to have 490Hp but drivers were sure that it had over 500Hp and loved it. The Montreal based engine never made it to any fame as it was not used other than a distraction from the management.
 
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