Alpine A220 Shortail

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When Zagato showed the world it's gorgeous AGTZ Twin Tail you couldn't help but notice the photographs of the Alpine A220 included in almost every online article, after all, it was described as one of the classic Alpine's that Zagato turned too for inspiration.

The stunning photos of the 660kg, V8 engined Alpine A220 shown here, were taken on the Julierpass in the Alps by Andresito6000 for an article published on Classic Driver.

Born out of rule changes, for the V8 engine, Gordini used two of it's existing 1.5ltr 4 cylinder engines on a single crank to produce the (designated) T62 V8, initially utilising 4 Webber carburettors to produce 310bhp, before switching to fuel injection giving 350bhp. It was soon apparent that Gordini's engine was simply not powerful enough and the A220 wasn't competitive or reliable. 

Alpine constructed a tubular spaceframe chassis for the V8 to be mounted in. Suspension was by wishbones all-round, with coil springs over dampers. Dubbed A220, the new car shared its body design with the smaller A210 model.

The first A220 made its debut early in the 1968 season, but proved underpowered and unreliable. Four cars were entered at Le Mans, but only one managed to finish the race in eighth position in front of three A210s. None of the three cars entered in the 1969 race made it to the finish. The few A220 victories did score, were in a number of minor races in France.*









*Ultimate car pages.

#alpine #renaultalpine #alpinea220 #renaultalpinea220 #a220v8 

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