44 auto italia
was making 280hp. In the spec in which we tested
the car today, with its new hybrid turbo in place, it
makes fully 348hp on the dyno. More power and less
weight a very quick machine doth make. Jamie says
it’ll do the quarter-mile in around 12 seconds, with a
terminal velocity of 117mph. I’ll get to how fast it is
on track in just a minute.Because there are many more mods to report on.
The new ECU means the gearchange is now sharper, as
is the throttle response. There’s also a new gearbox oil
cooler to keep temps down (price: £800 plus VAT).
Chassis-wise, first up are new dampers. Having tried
Öhlins and Intrax systems, Jamie has plumped for
Nitron race-spec single-way adjustable dampers (price:
£2295 plus VAT). “I have great respect for Nitron,” says
Jamie. “They always have time for you and their stuff is
not only good value but perfect for the 4C.”
The front geometry is new, increasing the camber
and altering the caster slightly. Since semi-slick tyres
are fitted, the front suspension is rose-jointed, with
cross-axis joints on the front upper and lower
wishbones and the rear wishbones (price: £480 plus
VAT). That means that pretty much all rubber has
been eliminated from the Alfa’s suspension set-up (in
fact, there is one piece of rubber left, on the top
mount of the rear dampers).
The removal of rear-wheel steer also helps when
fitting stickier tyres to the rear. Jamie found that the
car was understeering and becoming more
unpredictable. The stickier tyres in question are Toyo
Proxes R888Rs, the legendary rubber that’s beloved of
track day enthusiasts because their semi-slick treadsomething of a communication breakdown. The new
ECU is capable of ignoring the signal from the gearbox
ECU, so that any amount of turbo boost can now be
dialled in. Jointly developed with Norfolk-based power
electronics specialists, SCS Delta (www.scs-
delta.co.uk), the ECU took quite some finessing. You
see, it’s not only the gearbox ECU that the engine talks
to, but also the electronics in the brakes, traction
control and dashboard. In fact, the new ECU represents
six months’ worth of work.
On Jamie’s 4C is a Helmholtz exhaust, fitted because
he was tired of the droning noise from the original
exhaust at 80mph-ish. This straight-through system
uses a special resonator to remove this drone, with two
different diameter pipes to produce a sound with much
more depth than Alfa's own race exhaust. At idle, it
sounds burbly and purposeful, in contrast to the
standard system’s rather flat note. It comes with
carbon tips, too, which can be angled as desired. The
Helmholtz resonator can be removed easily if, for
instance, you want to fit a fruitier-sounding pipe.
Weighing 6kg, it adds only 1.5kg to Alfa's race system.
Speaking of weight, there’s plenty of carbonfibre
bodywork on the car now. The side skirts are carbon;
the nearside one with an air intake for gearbox cooling,
the offside one a cold air intake for the engine. The
bumpers are carbon as well. It’s no surprise that the
extensive carbon goodies have reduced the weight by
some margin – around 20kg in total – and even more if
you include the lighter OZ Racing wheels (17-inch
front, 18-inch rear).
The last time we visited AlfaWorks, the 4C engine
“
I engage ‘Dynamic’ mode on the Alfa’s DNA knob,
telling myself that will probably be OK. Mistake!
”On the straights, 348hp of
4C is monstrously quick, but
tricky surface prevented
full-beans cornering