The Alfa Romeo Tipo 162 was designed in 1939 by the Spanish engineer

Wifredo Ricart Wifredo Pelayo Ricart Medina (15 May 1897 – 19 August 1974) was a Spanish engineer, designer and executive manager in the automotive industry, who spent his professional career in Spain and Italy. The Barcelona "Happy Twenties" Born in Bar ...

as a replacement for the 60°

V16 engine A V16 engine is a sixteen-cylinder Internal combustion engine#Reciprocating engines, piston engine where two banks of eight cylinders are arranged in a V engine, V configuration around a common crankshaft. V16 engines are less common than engines ...

d tipo 316. The Tipo 162 had an unusual 135° V16 engine and highly streamlined bodywork. The engine was designed in Britain by

Harry Ricardo Sir Harry Ralph Ricardo (26 January 1885 – 18 May 1974) was an English engineer who was one of the foremost engine designers and researchers in the early years of the development of the internal combustion engine. Among his many other works, ...

, who had a good reputation for designing high-performance engines. The choice of Harry Ricardo was due not only to his reputation but to the fact that the Portello factory was busy producing engines for trucks and airplanes. The result was a ''square'' engine with bore and stroke, displacement with 2x 2-stage compressors and 2x triple inverted

carburetor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor or carburetter) is a device used by a gasoline internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the Ventu ...

s.AlfaSport Club
AlfaSport Club
accessdate: 4. July 2017 The engine was tested on a test bench in the spring of 1940 and delivered at 7,800 rpm. The car had three fuel tanks, one behind the driver and one on each side of the driver, with a total capacity of . Components were manufactured for a total of six cars, but when, on 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on France and Britain, only one car had been completed, that never participated in racing. In 1941 Wifredo Ricart designed the Alfa Romeo 163, a dual-seat sports saloon prototype that employed technology such as further streamlining, a mid-mounted engine and lightened bodywork. The car in total weighed only , and it had a very low center of gravity. The engine was derived from the Alfa Romeo 162, but fuel was fed without superchargers. The revised engine delivered at 7,400 rpm. Production of this car was also curtailed by the war.

Technical data

References

{{Alfa Romeo Pre War Timeline Tipo 162 Grand Prix cars