Latest / BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show / Alfa Romeo’s P2: Speed, Symbolism, and the Birth of Fascist Motorsport

Transcript

Alfa Romeo’s P2: Speed, Symbolism, and the Birth of Fascist Motorsport · BREAK/FIX the Motorsports & Vehicle Enthusiast Variety Show

0:00
Break Fix's History of Motorsports Series is brought to you in part
0:04
by the International Motor Racing Research Center, as well as the
0:07
Society of Automotive Historians, the Watkins Glen Area Chamber of
0:11
Commerce, and the Argo Singer family.
0:16
The P two Alpha Fascist Icon by Paul Bax.
0:20
This year, we'll mark the hundredth anniversary of the
0:22
iconic Alpha Romeo's P two's debut, designed by legendary Vitor Yano.
0:27
The P two went on to dominate Grand Prix racing in the final two
0:30
years of the two Leader Formula.
0:32
In 1925, alpha Romeo won the first World Championship, after which the
0:36
team dually withdrew from the sport.
0:38
However, privately owned Alpha P Twos continue to participate in
0:42
racing and win races up until 1930.
0:45
The sporting achievements of the Alpha P twos are well known as is the role the
0:49
car played in establishing Alpha Romeo as Italy's most famous racing mark.
0:53
Up until the advent of the Second World War, less known is the broader
0:56
significance of the P two that went well beyond the racetrack.
1:00
Informed by the history of objects developed by cultural historians.
1:04
This paper argues that the P two significance was industrial,
1:08
cultural, and ultimately political.
1:09
The achievements of the P two and the emergence of the mil based alpha company
1:14
coincided with the establishment of Mussolini's dictatorship in Italy.
1:17
The fascist regime used the successes to celebrate the rise of fascist Italy
1:22
as an industrial and sporting power.
1:24
Moreover, the unique characteristics of the P two came to embody the values
1:28
promoted by fascism such as speed and dominance, both the design and performance
1:32
of the car, as well as the men who raced.
1:34
It came to shape not only Grand Prix racing in the 1920s, but also impacted the
1:39
role played by the sport in the political and cultural context of fascist Italy.
1:43
Paul Baxa is a professor of history at Ave Maria University in Florida.
1:46
Parts of his most recent book, motor Sport and Fascism Living Dangerously have been
1:51
presented at past Argen Singer Symposia.
1:53
He was privileged to have presented at the first symposium in 2015.
1:57
Thanks everybody.
1:58
I'd like to introduce you to our next speaker, Paul Baxa, who's going to talk
2:02
about the P two Alpha fascist icon.
2:05
Thank you, Kip.
2:10
Thank you all.
2:11
Uh, I wanna thank Don Kas and Bob Barr and Duke Kininger and everyone
2:15
who make this great event happen.
2:17
It was my privilege to be at the first one back in 2015 and
2:21
it's amazing how this has grown.
2:23
Thank you for having me.
2:24
Just, uh, before I get to my presentation, Jim had a, uh, slide showing the
2:28
program for the 1980 US Grand Prix.
2:31
I had the privilege of being at that race back in October of 1980.
2:35
I came down with my dad.
2:36
I remember.
2:37
Bruno Giac in the Alfa Romeo Getting Pole position, and I came from a
2:42
family of Tizi, but my dad told me that weekend, he said a, you know, a
2:45
real Italian racing fan knows that Alfa Romeo is really the team to cheer for.
2:50
And that leads me actually to today's presentation.
2:53
Actually.
2:53
My dad grew up in fascist Italy, so he may have been influenced by some of the
2:58
things I might be talking about today.
3:00
So on Sunday, August 3rd, 1924, the fascist party of Italy was
3:05
holding an emergency meeting in the Palazzo Venetia in Rome.
3:09
It was the height of the Mati crisis, and Mussolini's government
3:12
was facing an uncertain future.
3:14
The body of the socialist deputy, Giacomo Mati was still missing
3:18
after he was kidnapped by a group of fascist thugs in June.
3:22
Although his fate was unknown, the expectation was that Mati
3:25
had been assassinated and that Mussolini was to blame.
3:28
At 5:00 PM during a series of tense exchanges and speeches, calling
3:32
for Mussolini to crack down on his enemies, the radical fascist.
3:36
Francesco Junta interrupted the conference to announce that Giuseppe
3:40
Camp driving a P two Alfa Romeo had just won the European Grand Prix at Leon.
3:46
The next day, the front page of Italy's most important national newspaper carried
3:51
two items, the PNF meeting and the Grand Prix in its report of the party meeting,
3:57
the article noted Junta's announcement.
3:59
It was a bright light and an otherwise darkening situation
4:02
from Mussolini and his government.
4:04
10 days after camp stirring victory, Mattel's body was discovered in
4:09
a shallow grave north of Rome.
4:10
As it turned out, Mussolini's regime not only survived the crisis, but it
4:15
became the jumping off point for his dismantling of Italian democracy and the
4:19
establishment of the fascist dictatorship.
4:21
In the meantime, the P two alphas would go on to dominate Grand Prix racing
4:26
during the two liter formula and beyond.
4:28
To be sure the victories of the Alphas led by the charismatic Antonio
4:32
Ascotti served as a distraction from the tumultuous events in Italy.
4:36
They were also used by Mussolini to exalt the New Italy that he and his
4:41
fascists were in the process of building.
4:44
In the pages of Italy's most Read Illustrated magazine, the lead editorial
4:48
in the next edition noted how the common man was more interested and excited by
4:53
the exploits of the Alphas than they were by the sorted events of Roman politics.
4:58
Victory at Leon was far more important it seemed than the disappearance
5:03
of a socialist politician.
5:05
The car at the center of this was the P two Alfa Male's First
5:09
Grand Prix winning machine.
5:11
Designed by Vittorio Yano and Record Time.
5:13
The car was introduced at the Remona Grand Prix in June of 24.
5:17
Results was an easy victory in the hands of Antonio Ascotti.
5:21
With it came a new speed record on the circuit's 10 kilometers straight,
5:25
clocked at 121 miles per hour.
5:29
The car and the company that built it quickly became a symbol of Italy's
5:33
rebirth under the sign of fascism.
5:35
This paper will demonstrate the correlation between the P two,
5:39
its design and its successes with the rise of Italian fascism in the
5:44
decisive years between 1924 and 1930.
5:47
In those years, Mussolini consolidated his dictatorship and promoted sport as
5:52
one of the regimes greatest achievements.
5:54
At the Party Congress in August, Mussolini gave a speech where he declared that it
5:59
was time for Italians to live dangerously.
6:02
Present at that meeting was Roberto Farci, the violent fascist chief
6:07
of Cremona and leader of the intransigent wing of the party.
6:11
Faade Naci was also a some time race car driver and promoter
6:15
of the Remona Grand Prix.
6:17
Apart from Mussolini, no one embodied fascist violence and the
6:20
cult of speed more than Faade.
6:22
Naci, a man who approved the TIS assassination and called
6:26
for even more bloodshed.
6:27
The fact that the P two began its legendary run of successes
6:31
on his patch of lumber de.
6:33
Seemed fitting, especially as the Remona Road Course was known for being one of
6:37
the fastest racetracks in the world.
6:40
In his book, objects of Desire, a study of Italian industrial culture in
6:44
the late 19th and early 20th century, Luca Tini has argued that objects
6:49
are culture makers mediating devices.
6:52
And vehicles of meaning.
6:53
In the 1920s, Kini argues Italian industrial design reached a peak of
6:58
expressive energy that was found mostly in the aviation and automobile industries.
7:03
Two modern activities exalted by fascism.
7:06
In addition, thanks to design theorists like Joe Ponti, Italian
7:10
industrial products became works of art as well as commercial objects.
7:14
I would add that they also became political objects, vehicles to draw
7:18
Italians to Mussolini's dictatorship in the late 1920s, precisely the period
7:22
that Kini points out as the culmination of Italy's developing industrial
7:26
culture and entrance into modernity.
7:29
No object expressed this network of relations.
7:32
I argue more than the P two.
7:34
The link between the successes of the Alpha Maleo P two and national
7:38
industrial political revival was even noted by foreign journalists.
7:43
After a crushing demonstration of dominance in the 1925 European Grand
7:48
Prix at spa, the Dean of French Motorsport, writers Shao Faru, exclaimed
7:53
how the Alfa Romeo Squad embodied the Italian National Renaissance.
7:58
Those are the words that he used.
8:00
Before I came to represent Italy's political shift, the P two caused a
8:04
qualitative shift for its company and a major shift in Italian motorsport.
8:08
Based in Milan, Italy's emerging industrial and financial capital.
8:12
Alpha's victory in the 24 French Grand Prix effectively knocked fiat
8:16
out of Grand Prix racing for good.
8:18
Although, to be fair, I think Fiat was, had already essentially made
8:21
the decision to leave before that.
8:24
Fiat had represented racing success for Italy since the early 19
8:28
hundreds, and was the country's leading automobile manufacturer
8:31
aspiring to become Italy's Ford.
8:34
Ali's company was based in Tarin Milan's rival for industrial prowess.
8:39
Alpha's victories, therefore not only represented success on the
8:42
track, but also symbolized Milan's challenge to the Piedmontese capital.
8:47
In doing this, alpha was accomplishing an industry what Mussolini's
8:51
movement was doing in politics.
8:53
Like Alpha Fascism was born in Milan, a city that presented itself
8:57
as a more dynamic and youthful one compared to the state city of Turin.
9:01
A city described by some fascists as filled with sticks in the mud quote.
9:07
After winning the 1924 Italian Grand Prix, the Fascist magazine, LA Vista del
9:12
Popolo contrasted the young audacious alpha with the old Fiat end quote.
9:19
Like the cities, the two companies were often presented in
9:22
contrasting ways by the fascists.
9:24
Turin and Fiat were throwbacks to the old liberal Italy.
9:28
Well, alpha and Milan were part of the new avant-garde Italy.
9:32
Fascism's relationship with Turrin and Fiat was a difficult one.
9:36
Giovanni Ali, Fiat's founder was not a fascist, and the company's
9:40
labor force was mostly anti-fascist.
9:42
Alpha, on the other hand, was a smaller, younger company, and its labor force
9:46
would become home to former black shirts.
9:49
Fiat was the past, alpha was the future.
9:52
Nothing embodied this more than the P two project.
9:55
Everything about the P two, the men who built and raced it, and the
9:59
successes on the track corresponded to Mussolini's new image for Italy.
10:03
Up until 1924, Alfa Romeo had limited success on international racetracks.
10:09
Its success seemed to coincide with the rise of the regime.
10:12
Alpha's first major victory came at the Targa Florio in
10:16
1923, international victory.
10:18
Only a few months after Mussolini became Prime Minister
10:21
of Italy, which of course is.
10:23
Pure coincidence, but it was something that was commented upon that same year.
10:26
The design and engineering department of the Mil outfit was completed with
10:30
the arrival of Vittorio Yano from Fiat.
10:33
It was Yano and his team of engineers who put together the
10:36
P two project in record time.
10:38
Both the speed of the project and the youthfulness of the team fit in with
10:42
Fascism's cultivation of speed and youth.
10:44
Both Yano and Luigi Basi, who had also come over from
10:48
Fiat were in their thirties.
10:50
Meanwhile, the man most responsible for bringing these men into the alpha fold.
10:54
Enzo Ferrari was only 25 years old, according to Peter Hall and
10:58
Luigi Fuzzi Ferrari was the driving force by an alpha's assembling
11:03
of a crack designing team.
11:05
Ferrari represented everything that Mussolini's regime, ext stalled in Italy.
11:09
He held from the same region as Mussolini and came from a similar modest background.
11:13
After serving in the First World War, Ferrari had applied for a job at Fiat,
11:17
but was turned down in later years.
11:19
He would describe this moment as a turning point in his life as fate would
11:23
drive him to Milan, where he eventually joined the fledgling Alpha Company.
11:28
Ferrari's story thus resembled the profile of the ideal fascist in some ways, as one
11:34
who was rejected by the establishment and then turned that frustration into revenge.
11:39
In Ferrari's case, the revenge came with knocking Fiat out of racing.
11:44
The development of the P two was born out of a similar set of frustrations.
11:48
Yano was part of the design team that had put together the Fiat 8 0 5 a car
11:53
that was the class of the field in 1923, but it failed to win the French
11:57
Grand Prix, which is the most important international race at the time.
12:01
Aware of the car's weaknesses, Yano was not able to rectify them due to his
12:06
subordinate position within the team.
12:08
At Alpha, he would use the P two project to improve on the Fiat.
12:12
In his time at Fiat, Yano was shackled by the corporate structure of the company
12:16
and the fact that Fiat emphasized.
12:18
Its production cars over racing.
12:20
Alpha, on the other hand, was smaller with an increasing emphasis
12:23
on high performance sports cars.
12:26
At Alpha Yano was able to instill a military-like discipline that suited
12:30
the type of rhetoric that was being pumped out by Mussolini's, Italy.
12:34
He joined the team in September of 23, and the first drawings for the
12:38
car were completed by mid-October.
12:40
The following March saw the first engine put on the test bed, and in
12:44
June, the first example was taken to Monza and tested by Antonio
12:48
Scottie and Giuseppe Compati just a few days before it won at Cremona.
12:53
The speed of the car's production was helped by the fact that Yano was
12:57
merely perfecting the Fiat 8 0 5.
12:59
He had worked at in Turin, modifications on engine and suspension design helped
13:04
produce a car that was more powerful and ultimately faster than the 8 0 5 without
13:08
the reliability issues aesthetically.
13:10
The P two was almost a carbon copy of the Fiat, but the modifications
13:14
to the engine were significant to the point where Yano later claimed that
13:18
the car was a completely new design.
13:20
That was his claim.
13:22
In this case, unintentionally, the P two did resemble Mussolini's movement.
13:27
Fascism two was largely derivative, appropriating preexisting
13:30
ideas and concepts while claiming to create a new Italy.
13:34
P two's successes on the track however, appeared to usher in a revolution while
13:39
the REM Grand Prix demonstrated the new car's potential, it was the Grand
13:43
Prix Leon that consecrated the P two in the eyes of Mussolini's New Italy.
13:48
The stage could not have been more appropriate.
13:50
Beginning in 1923, the governing body of Motorsport anointed
13:55
one National Grand Prix.
13:56
To have the title of European Grand Prix in 1924 was the turn of the Grand Prix
14:01
de France, or the Grand Prix de la cf.
14:04
Strictly speaking, ALS known as the French Grand Prix.
14:07
Furthermore, the 1924 edition of the Race was a special one since it marked
14:12
the 10th anniversary of the Epic 1914 race that saw the French and German teams
14:17
battle on the track only weeks before the outbreak of the First World War.
14:22
As a commemoration of that event, the race returned to the Leon Vo circuit,
14:27
the scene of that historic race in 1914.
14:30
The event thus served to remember a great race, but also served
14:34
as a memorial to the war.
14:36
A fact that fed the fascist regime's own exaltation of the war experience.
14:41
The resulting race was nearly as epic as its 1914 predecessor
14:45
on the Spectacular Road Course.
14:47
It wasn't exactly the same by the way.
14:49
They cut it in half, so they used half of the original course, but
14:52
they used the most exciting part on The Spectacular Road Course.
14:56
Alfa Romeo Fiat, Sunbeam de Lodge, and Bugatti battled for over seven
15:01
hours in a race that went back and forth with numerous lead changes with
15:05
Compati Alpha emerging triumphant.
15:07
Giuseppe Camp's Victory at Leon Made Alfra Romeo a national name and was
15:12
able albia briefly to serve as a distraction from the mati crisis.
15:16
As I already mentioned, the car appeared in ads for the company and
15:21
for Pelli the tire manufacturer.
15:23
This poster calls the race the Olympiad of engines.
15:27
The P twos triumphant, Leon encouraged a more bullish attitude on the part of
15:32
Italy's representatives at the sporting Commission of the A-I-A-C-R, which
15:37
is the forerunner of the FIA, taking advantage of a procedural loophole.
15:41
The Italian representatives tried to convince the commission to award
15:45
the title of European Grand Prix in 1925 to Italy and not to Belgium as
15:51
had been approved by the A-I-A-C-R in its previous general meeting.
15:55
Claiming that Italy had the stronger racing tradition proven by office victory.
15:59
At Leon Arturo Meti, one of the two representatives argued that Italy
16:04
deserved the race, not Belgium.
16:06
The challenge which caused some friction at the sporting commission's meeting
16:10
in the fall of 24, was unsuccessful.
16:12
However, the Italian delegation did succeed in persuading the sporting
16:17
commission to create a world championship for manufacturers in 1925.
16:22
The desire to use Alpha's triumphs to elevate Italy's international motorsport.
16:27
Prestige mirrored the fascist regime's, attempts to make Italy into a world power.
16:32
In 1925, Mussolini turned to the dismantling of the Italian liberal state
16:37
in the wake of the Mati assassination, an event that should have been his end, but
16:42
instead marked the beginning of fascist.
16:44
Italy's rise to power.
16:45
The new secretary of the fascist party was none other than Roberto Farci,
16:50
the patron of the Cremona Grand Prix.
16:52
An intransigent fascist who now aim to activate Mussolini's
16:56
call for living dangerously.
16:59
The events on the racetracks of Europe reflected the radical and
17:02
violent shift in Italian politics.
17:05
1925 was to be the last year of the successful two leader formula and
17:09
alpha set its sight on dominating the opposition in three races.
17:13
The European Grand Prix at spa, the French Grand Prix at the new Mulla Auto
17:18
Drum and the Italian Grand Prix at Monza Alpha's approach to these races involved
17:22
a degree of swagger and even arrogance.
17:25
They lapped the field at spa prompting jeers from the partisan crowd.
17:30
After crossing the line, Scotty's car had a giant Italian flag placed on the hood.
17:36
Uh, there is a story about this race that I didn't find any of the contemporary
17:41
accounts, but it kind of was told later by Motorsport historians that in order
17:45
to taunt the crowd, the alphas, because they had lapped everybody and I think
17:49
all the French cars had dropped out.
17:51
Actually, and so there was just two alphas kind of circulating
17:53
in the last part of the race.
17:55
At one point they made such a lengthy pit stop that they took out
17:58
a table and laid out a food spread.
18:01
Um, it's a great story.
18:03
It might be apocryphal though, because I didn't find it in contemporary
18:07
counts, and Giovanni kind of Sini was kind of one of the Dean of Motorsport.
18:10
Historians later said it wasn't really like that, it was just
18:14
simply, you know, they had some panini, you know, sandwiches ready.
18:17
Pit stops took a bit longer than usual.
18:19
So it, you know, Scotty and Campti had timed it down a, you know, a
18:23
sandwich and that's really all it was.
18:24
But it's one of those wonderful stories, but it might be apocryphal.
18:28
Whatever, though it still shows a certain degree of swagger, whatever it
18:31
was, uh, on the part of the Alpha team.
18:33
The Alphas were also dominating the French Grand Prix until Antonio Ascotti crashed
18:38
and was killed while leading the race.
18:40
Prompting the team to withdraw from the race as a final gesture of defiance,
18:45
the two remaining alphas revved their engines loudly before leaving the race,
18:50
and that is in a contemporary account.
18:52
Uh, so they stopped in the pits and they started revving their engine.
18:54
Now that was probably a salute to a Scotty, but again, you can't interpret
18:58
that as kind of a defiant gesture.
19:00
It was, uh, Bri Petty Gu, BLI Petty who gave Alpha the World Championship when he
19:05
won the Italian Grand Prix in September.
19:09
No one represented the new order in Grand Prix racing better than Antonio Hasti.
19:14
His name became synonymous with the P two and with the Living Dangerously
19:18
motto promoted by Mussolini and Fad naci.
19:21
It had given the P two, its verse of Victory at Cremona and one at
19:24
Manza in 1924 and its SPA in 1925.
19:27
More than his victories.
19:28
He came to embody a certain aggressiveness in his driving.
19:32
He would be the first example of what would later be called the
19:35
Gati Baldino approach to racing.
19:37
That's a reference to Giuseppe Gati bdi, the guy who helped unify Italy.
19:41
This Gati Baldino tag is most famously embodied by the likes of Tatio NTI in
19:46
the 1930s, but as Scotty really was the first to kind of get that reputation.
19:50
In short, he took risks.
19:53
Amanza in 1924, his driving prompted a rebuke from the race director
19:59
who instructed Alur to slow him down or they would call him in.
20:03
This is the telegram that was sent from the race director who was
20:06
Arturo Meti to the Alur MEO PIP saying, tell us Gotti to slow down.
20:10
Otherwise we're gonna call him in.
20:12
It's 'cause he was on the banking.
20:14
He was going too close to the guardrail at the top.
20:17
His style of driving ultimately proved his undoing while
20:20
dominating the French Grand Prix.
20:22
In 1925, he continuously brushed the apex of a fast left hand turn, coming
20:27
with an inches of a wooden fence.
20:29
On lap 22, he came too close, clipping the fence and rolling
20:33
the car, which led to his death.
20:35
A Scotty's death and Moni resulted in an outpouring of grief and a state funeral.
20:40
In Milan, he became fascist.
20:42
Italy's first racing martyr, and that word was in fact used when his
20:47
body returned to Italy on a train.
20:49
A large wreath from Mussolini was placed on the casket across the
20:53
wreath that was donated by Mussolini were the words repi the intrepid.
20:59
The funeral card repeated Mussolini's epithet with a message that read Antonio
21:04
Ascotti, the Intrepid one, who sacrificed himself defending with undefeated faith,
21:09
the colors of the Fatherland and Italian industry, although he had been racing
21:13
since the 1910s, as Scotty's memory is indelibly marked with the P two.
21:18
Not only did the car symbolize Trium.
21:20
But it now also created martyrs speed and death in the service of glory.
21:26
Found echoes in fascist rhetoric.
21:28
The response to a Scotty's death and his depiction as a martyr to speed
21:32
became the response template for the numerous Italian drivers killed in
21:36
Grand Prix racing over the next decade.
21:38
But none of them would be as celebrated as a Scottie, which showed a great
21:42
deal to the Alpha Romeo P two.
21:44
And in fact, um, I don't.
21:46
Have a hard number in my head, but Italy probably produced more dead
21:50
race drivers in the late twenties and thirties than any other country, but
21:54
I, I can't say that for certainty, but there were a number of Italian
21:57
drivers who were killed in that period.
21:59
Unwilling to build a new car for the new one and a half liter formula Introduced in
22:04
1926 and troubled by financial problems.
22:07
Alpha withdrew from Grand Prix racing after the 25 season.
22:11
The legend of the P two continued on though as the car would enjoy an afterlife
22:15
that kept it winning races until 1930.
22:18
Mostly run by the SC Ferrari.
22:21
In 1928, the A-I-A-C-R introduced the formula Libra Rules, which
22:26
allowed this car to enter the official Grand Prix races.
22:29
It was in this era that the legend of the car actually deepened in
22:32
the late twenties Grand Prix racing entered a period of doldrums.
22:36
Indicative of this was the fact that there was only one Grand
22:39
Prix race held in 1928 at Manza.
22:42
It would not be an exaggeration to say that Italy saved the sport or Grand Prix
22:48
racing in particular in these years with the P two right at its center at Manza.
22:53
All the attention of the Italian press, especially the newspapers closely
22:57
associated with the fascist party, focused on the P two, driven by Akili Zi.
23:03
In 1929, the cars were run by the new Kuia Ferri, where former Alpha
23:09
personnel like Ferrari and Luigi Bati were reunited with the P twos in 1930.
23:15
The P twos are driven by Akili, Zi and Tazi nti.
23:18
Thus launching what was to become the most legendary driver rivalry in Italian motor
23:23
sports in the 1930s, probably of all time.
23:26
One last epic victory came at the Targa Florio in 1930 in the hands of Akili Tazi.
23:33
By 1930, the P two had been substantially modified.
23:36
This included the adoption of the flat slanted radiator taken from the
23:40
Alpha 1,517 50 sports car models.
23:44
These cars, which brought alpha more glory in the Mil Melia races
23:47
were directly inspired by the P two.
23:49
According to the Alpha Romeo historian Peter Hall, this made Alpha the only mark,
23:53
which directly transferred Grand Prix technology to sports cars and vice versa.
23:58
That's.
23:59
Peter Hall's claim the introduction of the high performance six cylinder sports cars.
24:04
Also designed by Vito Ano made alpha the most prestigious Italian maker
24:08
of sports cars into the 1930s in Italy and worldwide, possibly thus
24:12
establishing itself as the mark most suitable to the fascist era
24:15
and Mussolini's regime building a process that was completed by 1929.
24:20
As the modified P twos raced into their swansong year of 1930, fascism
24:25
had completed the dismantling of the liberal state, and sport had
24:29
become completely fasc size fiat.
24:31
In the meantime, after an aborted attempt to return to Grand Prix
24:35
racing in 1927 turns its attention to mass produced utility vehicles.
24:39
A turned to the masses that would shape fascist policy in the thirties.
24:44
As fascist Italy entered the decade of the thirties, alpha Romeo become
24:47
closely identified with Mussolini.
24:49
He called Alpha Romeo our best national product, and it was increasingly
24:54
seen at the wheel of an alpha.
24:56
Here he is driving, I believe, let's say 1750 around the new,
25:00
um, litorial Autodrome in Rome, which is a purpose built track
25:05
in Rome, which no longer exists.
25:06
It's now an airport.
25:07
In 1951 with Italy embroiled in a war that was going from bad to worse.
25:12
Alfa Romeo's magazine published a retrospective on the P two written
25:16
by Rado Filip, one of Italy's leading Motorsport journalists.
25:19
This article summed up the importance of the P two for Italy's national prestige.
25:25
The two years of Alpha Domination in 24 and 25 were characterized by Filip as the
25:31
most spectacular era of Italian genius.
25:34
Ignoring the fact that the P two was largely based on the Fiat 8 0 5, the
25:38
retrospective claim that the P two had set a new standard for race car design,
25:42
calling it authentically avant-garde.
25:46
For NY proof of the car's greatness came in the 28 19 30 period when this
25:51
older car was beating newer cars.
25:54
Sometimes.
25:55
Moreover, NY was confident that the car could even hold its own
25:59
against contemporary competition.
26:02
That would be auto unions and Mercedes.
26:03
So.
26:04
Make of that what you will hyperbole aside.
26:06
A Philipp's article demonstrated the continued legacy of a car that had
26:11
elevated Italy to the top of Grand Prix racing in an era when Mussolini's
26:15
fascist regime was being constructed in peace time Alfa Mayo contributed
26:18
to the triumphs of Italy on the track.
26:20
In 1941, Alpha's production was directed to the war effort, and
26:25
although the Italians are struggling on the battlefield, its access
26:28
partner was walking all over Europe.
26:29
For Philippines readers memories of the P two could be harnessed in
26:33
the hope that Italian technology could once again triumph, while
26:36
history would demonstrate otherwise.
26:38
Thank you.
26:45
Thank you Paul.
26:46
That was fascinating.
26:47
Anyone have questions?
26:49
We have a question from the internet for Paul Terry Johnson writes, are there
26:53
any P two alphas currently appearing at vintage and or historic events?
26:58
Uh, I don't know if they appear at events, but I think there
27:00
are still two in existence.
27:02
There's a, an original P two, the first spec of the P two in
27:07
the Alpha Mayo Museum in re.
27:09
And there is one of the later P twos at the um, automobile museum in Torino
27:15
or Turin, so I know that they exist.
27:18
I don't know if they take them out on the track though.
27:20
I'm just interested in your commentary on the state sponsorship of Alpha Rome
27:23
or other Italian motor manufacturing and how this episode plays into that.
27:27
If it does or if it does not.
27:28
Yeah, that's an important question.
27:30
The fascist regime did not subsidize the racing teams the way the Nazi
27:34
regime did, but Mussolini did intervene on a few occasions to
27:39
save the company from bankruptcy.
27:41
In 1933 though, uh, alpha Mayo was taken over by the, it was
27:45
bailed out by the IRI, which was the state run bailout institution.
27:50
So after 33, it did become a state owned.
27:53
Team, but it wasn't racing officially as a works team.
27:57
Alphas were always raced by the Ferrari.
27:59
However, in 1938, they did come back as an official team, alpha corse.
28:03
So in that sense, yes it was because it was effectively owned
28:07
by the state at this point.
28:08
So.
28:08
I dunno if that answers your question, Paul.
28:10
It turns out I have something of a follow up question, which is to compare,
28:14
if not narrowly, regarding finances, the Nazi use of symbolism in racing
28:18
during this time with the Italians.
28:20
In, in what sense are they equally active, more successful in using, uh, auto racing
28:26
as a a means of political expression or.
28:29
Oh yes.
28:29
Yeah.
28:30
Uh, absolutely.
28:30
The Nazi regime, of course, would very much celebrate its victories.
28:34
Uh, the, the German cards, victories, and, um, Italy did the same for the, um,
28:38
Motorsport magazines, but even in the national newspapers, there would always be
28:41
front page coverage when Alpha won a race.
28:44
So you did have a similar type use of propaganda.
28:47
For the races.
28:48
Absolutely.
28:49
When Fascist, Italy no longer existed, did Alpha Romeo struggle to shift any
28:55
kind of negative associations with it, or was it relatively smooth sailing?
28:59
They were able, I think, to shift rather easily into the postwar, and
29:03
that that goes with any sporting hero.
29:05
Actually under fascism.
29:06
Even the great cyclists like Bartley and the soccer teams, they were all
29:11
able to really easily transition.
29:13
Uh, Simon Martin, uh, a sports historian, non Italian.
29:17
Sports history makes this argument.
29:19
I mean, it shows that the sporting heroes were able to create their
29:22
own kind of popularity or their own niche in the Italian imagination
29:27
that transcended fascism.
29:29
So perhaps going back to Jim's earlier question that shows that
29:31
maybe the regime was not as successful ultimately in making it truly fascist.
29:36
I have to say though, that the managing director of Alfa Romeos
29:40
name was Ugo GoTo, and he was, uh, he was appointed by Mussolini.
29:44
After the state took over the company in 33, he was assassinated
29:48
by the Italian resistance in 1945.
29:51
And so not to be cynical, but I think by getting rid of him, even
29:55
though he was not, as far as I know, he was not a convinced fascist.
29:58
In fact, he had an industrial background.
29:59
He had worked for Fiat.
30:00
He had actually designed the lingo Hotel factory in Tur,
30:03
if you're familiar with that.
30:04
But he kind of paid the price, if you will, for Al Alpha Rome's
30:07
association with the regime.
30:09
So maybe that was enough to make others forget.
30:11
And keep cheering for Al Romeo.
30:13
Afterwards.
30:14
Al Romeo remained a state run company until the 1980s, and then it was taken
30:18
over by Fiat, if I'm not mistaken.
30:20
Ruby, Joanne Wright.
30:22
Were there any drivers that felt unhappy about Italy's fascism back then?
30:26
Great question.
30:27
There is no one that comes to mind.
30:30
I don't know of any driver that comes to mind that was either anti-fascist.
30:34
Or in some way bothered by the regime.
30:37
Not to say that these guys were fascists necessarily.
30:40
Antonio Skai, I think, belonged to a local fascist cell in Milan, Gaston,
30:45
really, Perry, whom I mentioned, he's the one that won the 25 Italian Grand Prix.
30:49
I think he was, he had a, he was known to be a, a fascist,
30:53
actually politically active.
30:55
Fascist.
30:55
As for the others, they were, I, I would argue they were neither fascists
30:59
or anti-fascists, as far as I know.
31:01
Again, we don't know enough.
31:02
This is a gap in the research.
31:04
I think we don't know enough about a lot of these drivers during the fascist
31:07
era because they didn't write much.
31:09
Uh, n Vladi did write a couple of articles, had it written for him, I
31:13
don't know, but his name was attached to them in some of the sporting magazines
31:16
where he used some fascist language.
31:19
Enzo Ferrari actually in the newsletters, would write periodically articles
31:22
that exalted Mussolini's regime.
31:25
But you have to remember too, that after the war, there was a lot of post
31:29
hoc refashioning or sanitizing of a lot of this, and a lot of drivers,
31:33
and a lot of people who carried over did not really talk much about that
31:37
past politically Anyway, so we, we, we don't know enough on that topic, but
31:41
it's, it's a, it's a great question.
31:42
Thank you, Paul.
31:43
That was terrific.
31:44
Thank you.
31:44
Thank you.
31:54
This episode is brought to you in part by the International
31:58
Motor Racing Research Center.
32:00
Its charter is to collect, share, and preserve the history
32:04
of motor sports spanning continents, eras, and race series.
32:09
The Center's collection embodies the speed, drama and camaraderie
32:14
of amateur and professional motor racing throughout the world.
32:18
The center welcomes serious researchers and casual fans alike
32:23
to share stories of race drivers.
32:25
Race series and race cars captured on their shelves and walls and brought
32:31
to life through a regular calendar of public lectures and special events.
32:36
To learn more about the center, visit www.racing archives.org.
32:42
This episode is also brought to you by the Society of Automotive Historians.
32:48
They encourage research into any aspect of automotive history.
32:52
The SAH actively supports the compilation and preservation of papers,
32:58
organizational records, print ephemera, and images to safeguard, as well as to
33:03
broaden and deepen the understanding.
33:06
Of motorized wheeled land transportation through the
33:09
modern age and into the future.
33:12
For more information about the SAH, visit www.auto history.org.
33:22
We hope you enjoyed another awesome episode of Break Fix Podcasts, brought
33:26
to you by Grand Tour Motorsports.
33:28
If you'd like to be a guest on the show or get involved, be sure
33:31
to follow us on all social media platforms at Grand Touring Motorsports.
33:35
And if you'd like to learn more about the content of this episode,
33:38
be sure to check out the follow on article@gtmotorsports.org.
33:43
We remain a commercial free and no annual fees organization through
33:47
our sponsors, but also through the generous support of our fans,
33:51
families, and friends through Patreon.
33:54
For as little as $2 and 50 cents a month, you can get access to more behind the
33:58
scenes action, additional pit stop, minisodes and other VIP goodies, as
34:03
well as keeping our team of creators.
34:05
Fed on their strict diet of fig Newton's, Gumby bears, and monster.
34:09
So consider signing up for Patreon today at www.patreon.com/gt motorsports.
34:16
And remember, without you, none of this would be possible.