I have long been a fan of Alfa’s diminutive 4C. It’s a great little car, what with its carbon chassis and Italian good looks (okay, that’s subjective). It’s never been the fastest thing on four wheels, but it has provided many drivers with a fun experience that isn’t really like anything else. These cars are even better when they’re turned into race cars. Like this Picchio-built hillclimb car with an AER-built 700-horsepower 2.0 turbo. Yeah, that’s good.
I’ve been following the Hillclimb Monsters channel on YouTube for years, but this is probably the car that most deserves that monster moniker. Weighing in at just 1807 pounds, each horsepower only has to push around about 2.5 pounds of weight. That’s open-wheel levels of power-to-weight, which is truly incredible. Something with a top and covered wheels approaching Formula 2 levels of rapid is practically unheard of, and this car is probably imbued with more downforce!
While there were a couple Alfa 4Cs racing in Italian hillclimb this year, this one was driven by Alessandro Gabrielli to the E2-Sh Class championship. It’s been in development for quite a while, but with this season has reached its peak with a bunch of hardware to its name. This is a brutally fast car, as you can see from the video below.
The way this thing builds speed is startling. Obviously the car is incredibly well tuned with a flat power delivery curve, not suffering from the big boost lag of old-school hillclimbers. The quickness with which this moves through the gears is another part that makes me sit back and just stare. Those upshifts, particularly from third to sixth come about as quick as you can count. The short ratio box is by design, but it’s still impressive.
I hope this car sticks around the international hillclimb scene for at least a few years, because I’d love the opportunity to see it in action someday. Maybe Signiore Gabrielli will bring the car over to tackle Pikes Peak. That would truly be a sight to see.
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