Perfecting the Alfa Romeo 8C with a manual gearbox
The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione was the definition of a flawed beauty. One of the prettiest cars of the 21st century also happens to be one of the most dynamically compromised. Well, Officine Fioravanti are here to offer some corrective measures for your 8C’s ills, starting with the fitment of a manual gearbox. Oh yes.
Because one of the 8C’s fatal flaws was its single-clutch robotised manual transmission, operated (clunkily) by paddles behind the wheel. Ferraris of this era were starting to make these gearboxes work but the 8C’s version was seemingly from a generation behind, with whiplash up-changes, glacial-pace down-changes and downright disobedience.
Fioravanti’s solution is a beautifully machined, gated six-speed manual that’ll make the 8C sing like it always should have. There’s other stuff going on inside too, for in this fettled 8C, you’ll be sat in the new carbon seats that improve comfort, support, and the driving position, while reducing weight.
Another issue was in how the car carried itself down the road. By rights it should have been sublime, but it was apparently set up by toddlers, with a crashy road ride and very poor body control on track. Managing to muster both of those together is, if anything, quite impressive. Fioravanti’s solution? A new set of electronically controlled adjustable Ohlins dampers.
The brakes were dodgy, too, back in the day, with a new ceramic braking system added for good measure here, along with some weight savings in the car. Topping it off is a workover of the engine’s control electronics, to release some more power from that howling 4.7-litre V8. Exactly how much hasn’t yet been revealed.
Really, we couldn’t put it much better than Officine Fioravanti with this: “It’s time to bring out all the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione from the garages where they have been resting for years,” their social media post reads.
“To enjoy their lines, their chassis, and their inimitable sound.”
So, the Alfa Romeo 8CM (as it’s badged) by Officine Fioravanti: the ultimate sportscar the 8C always should have been? We’d love to find out…
Images courtesy of Pietro Martelletti / Officine Fioravanti.
Road
News
Alfa Romeo
8C
