Technology in race cars (53): Alfa Romeo 16c Bimotore (1934) - the Alfa that almost became a Ferrari

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Technology in race cars (53): Alfa Romeo 16c Bimotore (1934) - the Alfa that almost became a Ferrari

Created on October 21, 2025

Text:

Gerhard Schütz

Photos:

Archiv Gerhard Schütz

13

Dominic Fraser

2

Martin Sigrist

1

Bruno von Rotz

1

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Alfa Romeo 16c Bimotore (1934) - Tazio Nuvolari in the car, Enzo Ferrari behind it

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Alfa Romeo 16c Bimotore (1934) - Rear starter crank

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Alfa Romeo 16c Bimotore (1934) - Backing the right horse

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Alfa Romeo 16c Bimotore (1934) - At the AVUS race

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Alfa Romeo 16c Bimotore (1934) - Cockpit with power distribution via differential at the gearbox output. Separating clutch for rear drive

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Alfa Romeo 16c Bimotore (1934) - The prancing horse on the Alfa Romeo. In Milan they were not divertito...

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Alfa Romeo 16c Bimotore (1934) - Dubonnet suspension

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Alfa Romeo 16c Bimotore (1934) - Dubonnet suspension on the Alfa Romeo P3

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Alfa Romeo 16c Bimotore (1934) - Elegantly integrated side tanks, side air intake for the rear engine

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Alfa Romeo 16c Bimotore (1934) - Two engines require two mechanics

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Alfa Romeo 16c Bimotore (1934) - Spread drive, adopted from the P3

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Alfa Romeo 16c Bimotore (1934) - Superior drive power elegantly packaged, the driver in the engine sandwich

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Alfa Romeo 16c Bimotore (1934) - On June 15, 1935, Tizio Nuvolari broke the previous speed record with over 320 km/h

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Alfa Romeo GP 16C Bimotore (1935) - in the special Ferrari-Lancia-Abarth exhibition at Passione Engadina 2017

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Museo Storico Alfa Romeo Arese - Alfa Romeo 16C Bimotore (1935)

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Alfa Romeo 16C Bimotore (1935) - In the special exhibition "Grand Prix - Icons of the premier class" at the National Automobile Museum The Loh Collection

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Alfa Romeo 16C Bimotore (1935) - In the special exhibition "Grand Prix - Icons of the premier class" at the National Automobile Museum The Loh Collection

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Summary

What do you do when one engine is no longer enough to keep up with the competition? Exactly - a second one is needed! That's probably what Alfa Romeo thought when they launched the Bimotore in 1934.

This article contains the following chapters

Creative emergency solution
Dubonnet suspension on the front axle
Tests and races
Epilogue

Estimated reading time: 7min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Reinventing the racing car - this motif runs through the entire history of racing car technology up until the 1980s. Then, safety regulations and ever-improving simulation tools increasingly led to a technical convergence, to a kind of standardization, so that today Formula 1 cars differ externally in some cases only by barely perceptible aerodynamic refinements. Before 1986, outstandingly innovative cars were created every decade, which were not always successful or never even made it onto the road, but often provided impetus for new standards later on, until these were sometimes called into question again.

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