A rare day off at Monza between the ELMS and WEC weekends in 2021 gave us the opportunity for what turned out to be an extraordinary trip to the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo at Arese on the outskirts of Milan – the museum housed in the final bit of real estate operated by the company adjacent to the once enormous but now completely demolished plant that for four decades served as Alfa Romeo’s main site.
All that is now left is a small complex of still sizeable buildings (the inset left is visible in the bottom left corner of the picture above – for scale!) that serve as the hub for the brand’s customer service and retail networks as well as the museum.
With huge thanks to the museum staff not only was a guided tour of the (absolutely excellent) facility arranged, but also an opportunity to see the full two floors of the building dedicated to the reserve collection store – and there were some astonishing treats in store.
We had informed the guide that there were some specific cars that we wanted to see – and the SE 048SP was very much top of that list.
A real ‘unicorn’ car, the 1990 SE 048SP was intended as the replacement in competition for the Lancia LC2 as the Group C regulations transitioned into the 1990s with V10 power and lightweight 750 kg cars – F1 politics was very firmly in the ring!
With Lancia transitioned into rally, and Ferrari focused on F1, the stage was set for Alfa Romeo to step into the sportscar racing arena for the first time in well over a decade.
Plan A. saw the car, with an Abarth-designed chassis (as had the Lancia LC2), powered by the 600 bhp+ Tipo 1035 3.5 litre normally aspirated 40 valve, DOHC V10 initially designed for a then-cancelled contract with Ligier in F1 and then utilised in the rapidly cancelled but spectacular Alfa 164 Procar Silhouette racer (watch this space for that car to feature here too).
The car, as conceived by ex Osella designer Giuseppe Petrotta featured rear wheel covers, and somewhat unconventional front-mounted radiators but with the car readily identifiable as an Alfa Romeo thanks to the very prominent integration of the famous grille.
The proposed racer was preceded by another unraced car, dubbed the SE047, a mule based around a Lancia LC2 but powered by the V10.
Sadly that test programme proved that the V10 was not a ready made endurance engine, it had, after all, been designed with F1 in mind, and the budget to get it to the required endurance performance was simply not on the table – The engine was never fitted to the SE048.
Instead, the decision was taken to replace the V10 with the 3.5 litre 60-valve Tipo 036 Ferrari V12, paired with a 6 speed manual transmission. In its F1 tune the engine produced a class-leading 680+ bhp – but it was again, not designed as an endurance powerplant! The engine did though come equipped with a then pretty much state-of-the-art electronic engine management system – development was possible – if the will was there to undertake it!
And that was the issue at play, Alfa’s engineers and management wanted the car and the programme. But above them in the group hierarchy, FIAT senior executives were far from convinced – a full factory programme was not going to get the green light.
Enter MOMO’s Gianpiero Moretti who was using back channels to stay close to those still working on the car. That interest though faded as the realities of the situation crystallised.
In late 1990 the shutters finally came down as FIAT wielded the axe, the cost, complexity and uncertainty of success in a Sportscar World Championship in flux was to be the programme’s undoing, the direction was to shift, immediately, from sportscars to touring cars, and a more relevant racing figurehead for Alfa a then struggling brand.
That would emerge as the Alfa 155 SuperTouring car, and multiple national titles would result from its dominance. The SE048 meanwhile would be consigned to the museum, one of the prettiest Group C cars of them all, and yet another ‘what might have been!’
