In the 1990s, the British Touring Car Championship was going through one of its best phases. There were cars of all types and for all tastes: cars and even vans; Swedes, French, Germans, Italians and Japanese; front and rear wheel drive.
The BTCC was, at that time, one of the most fantastic speed championships in the world and Alfa Romeo decided to join the “party”. It was 1994, when the Arese brand asked Alfa Corse (competition department) to homologate two 155s for their debut this season.
Alfa Corse not only complied with the request but went even further, exploiting a loophole in the strict regulations (especially with regard to aerodynamics) which said that 2500 road cars of a similar specification had to be sold.
Hence the 155 Silverstone, a modest homologation special, but with some controversial aerodynamic tricks. The first was its front spoiler that could be placed in two positions, one of them capable of generating more negative lift.
The second was its rear wing. It turns out that this rear wing had two additional supports (which were stowed in the luggage compartment), allowing it to be in a higher position and that owners could mount it later, if desired. And during pre-season testing, Alfa Corsa kept this “secret” well guarded, releasing the “bomb” only at the start of the season.
And there, the aerodynamic advantage of this 155 over the competition — BMW 3 Series, Ford Mondeo, Renault Laguna, among others… — was remarkable. So remarkable that Gabriele Tarquini, the Italian driver that Alfa Romeo chose to “tame” this 155, won the first five races of the championship.
Before the seventh race and after several complaints, the race organization decided to withdraw the points that Alfa Corse had won so far and forced it to race with a smaller wing.
Not satisfied with the decision, the Italian team appealed and after the involvement of the FIA, ended up regaining their points and being allowed to use the configuration with the larger rear wing for a few more races, until 1 July of that year.
But thereafter, at a time when the competition had also developed some aerodynamic improvements, Tarquini only won two more races until the stipulated deadline. After that, for the next nine races, he would only achieve one more triumph.
However, the frantic start to the season and regular podium appearances earned the Italian driver the BTCC title that year, and the example we bring you here — an Alfa Romeo 155 TS with chassis no.90080 — was the car that Tarquini raced in the penultimate race, in Silverstone, already with the “normal” wing.
This unit of the 155 TS, which only had a private owner after its renovation from the competition, will be auctioned by RM Sotheby's in June, at an event in Milan, Italy, and according to the auctioneer it will be sold for between 300,000 and the 400,000 euros.
As for the engine that animates this “Alfa”, and although RM Sotheby's does not confirm it, it is known that Alfa Corse ran these 155 TS equipped with a 2.0 liter block with four cylinders that produced 288 hp and 260 Nm.
Plenty of reasons to justify the several hundred thousand euros that RM Sotheby's believes he'll earn, don't you think?