Alfa muscolo

The final years of the Improved Production era saw big V8s battling it out, with smaller machines nipping at their heels, such as Brian Foley’s four-cylinder Alfa GTAm. Foley soon bought into the ‘big into little’ mantra by fitting a V8.

Story: Paul Newby

The advent of a multi-race series for the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1969 ushered in a new philosophy for the Improved Production class, whereby a car and driver could prevail as a result of consistency. That year, Alan Hamilton’s two-litre Porsche 911 T/R almost stole the title from Ian Geoghegan’s familiar Mustang. Two seasoned class campaigners, Jim McKeown (Lotus Cortina) and Brian Foley (Morris Cooper S) took notice and both graduated to 2.3-litre Porsche 911STs for 1970. McKeown fared better, even snaring a win on his way to finishing runner-up in the series. For Foley it was a different story as he struggled to get to terms with the rear-engined Stuttgart stormer. While McKeown remained with the German marque for 1971, Foley, who had just opened a new Alfa Romeo dealership…

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Australian Muscle Car (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 79

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