1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2600 Monza

The Alfa Romeo 8C name was used on road, race and sports cars of the 1930s. The 8C means 8 cylinders, and originally referred to a straight 8-cylinder engine.
The Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 was designed by Vittorio Jano, who was already the creator of the Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 sports car. The 8C 2300 was built between 1931 and 1933.
The engineer joined Alfa Romeo in in 1923, and immediately initiated the design of a new twin overhead cam grand prix car, the P2, which won the French and Italian GPs in 1924 and the Belgian and Italian GPs in 1925.
He was also responsible for the use of twin-cam engines in two series of the 6C cars.
Alfa wanted to return to GP racing and Jano designed the 8C2300 in three forms which competed in long chassis (Le Mans form with the obligatory rear seat), short chassis (Mille Miglia form) and the ultra short chassis two seater racing car, the Monza.
The dimensions of the 8C are identical to those of the 6C from which it is derived.
The Alfa 8C-2300 was raced initially by the factory but later by many private entrants and teams, the most notable of the latter being including Scuderia Ferrari.
The first model was the 1931 '8C 2300', a reference to the car's 2.3 L (2336 cc) engine, initially designed as a racing car, but actually produced in 188 units also for road use. While the racing version of the 8C 2300 Spider, driven by Tazio Nuvolari won the 1931 and 1932 Targa Florio race in Sicily, the 1931 Italian Grand Prix victory at Monza gave the "Monza" name to the twin seater GP car, a shortened version of the Spider. The Alfa Romeo factory often added the name of events won to the name of a car.
The engine fitted in the Alfa 8C-2300 was initially 2.3 litres but increased in 1934 to 2.6.
Power from the straight eight, twin overhead cam unit with alloy block and cylinder head rose to over 170 hp. The 8C 2300 had the same bore and stroke dimensions of the six, but the timing and blower drive gears were mounted between two light allow blocks - basically two four-cylinder engines set back to back. A Roots-type supercharger was installed on the right side of the engine block. A four speed manual gearbox and drum brakes were also used.
The competition career of the Alfa Romeo 8C is littered with wins and illustrious drivers.
Although the exact number of Monzas made is unclear, probably ten. It is known, however, from factory records, that very few Monza chassis were made by the factory. The vast majority of these 8C 2300 Grand Prix cars were the product of the Scuderia Ferrari racing organization, often converted from two passenger spiders. Some Monzas were equipped with fenders, lights and a spare tire, other with their more common Grand Prix form. The Monzas can be recognized by the extra short front springs and the pointed tail bodywork, as well as the distinctive pierced radiator cowl.

The chassis 2211137 is one of the rare original Monza versions that have two seats and a still short-wheelbase chassis. The famous driver of the 1930's, Tazio Nuvolari, drove the Monza during many of his races and this chassis was his personal car from May 31, 1933 to February 7, 1934. After that, the gentlemen driver Luigi Soffietti bought the 8C and ran several races and GP including the 1934 Mille Miglia, the Parma Poggio di Berceto and the German Grand Prix. In 1935 and 1936 this 8C entered in other two Mille Miglias with the gentlemen driver Giovanni Battista Santinelli.