ALFA ROMEO 8C 2300 ZAGATO SPIDER 

This Le Mans-winning Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Zagato Spider appeared in the very first issue of Octane. More than 20 years on, Robert Coucher acquaints himself – and finally gets behind the wheel

Photography Amy Shore

The legendary Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 is regarded by drivers, collectors, engineers, historians and enthusiasts as being one of the best sports cars of all time. Created by great Ingegnere Vittorio Jano, the Alfa’s superb chassis was clothed by the leading carrozzerie of the 1930s, including Zagato, Figoni, Touring, Pinin Farina and Castagna. Around 188 were produced, about half that number with the Corto (short) chassis, and the rest in Lungo form. This Corto example, with lean Zagato Spider coachwork in the Alfa Romeo racing house colours, looks sublime. But it’s a whole lot more than just good looks.

Vittorio Jano was one of the brains behind Fiat’s racing success before moving to Alfa Romeo in 1923. He was responsible for the Alfa Grand Prix cars from 1924 until 1937, including the straight-eight-powered P2 in 1924 (which won the World Championship in 1925), the Tipo B (also known as the P3), the 8C 35 and the 12C 36. He later went on to design Lancia’s Aurelia, its D23/24 sports racers and the D50 Grand Prix car. And just to keep himself busy while at Alfa Romeo, Jano created a succession of touring and sports cars alongside his racing machines, culminating in the 8C with its supercharged, twin-cam straight-eight, the competition versions of which dominated motorsport.

The 8C’s extraordinary list of victories includes winning the Italian Grand Prix in 1931 at Monza (the track gave its name to the 8C racing cars), the 24 Hours of Le Mans consecutively in 1931, ’32, ’33 and ’34, the Mille Miglia in 1932, ’33 and ’34 (and almost again in 1935), as well as the Targa Florio in 1931, ’32 and ’33. Many years ago, I bagged my first drive of a legendary Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 while I was the editor of Classic Cars magazine. Tricky centre-mounted throttle pedal and almost non-existent rod-operated drum brakes aside, I remember the 8C being light and reactive and the supercharged straight-eight as alive and instantaneously responsive. The sound? Operatic verging on the outrageous.

We started Octane magazine in 2003 and, as editor, I determined to include an Alfa 8C in issue number one. So I got in touch with leading Alfa historian Simon Moore – he wrote The Legendary 2.3 among other books, so he knows his straight-eights – and asked him to pen a piece on one of these magnificent cars. Simon chose an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Zagato Spider, chassis number 2111018. Photographed in a studio, this was not a road test but a history piece on the car, because it had a fascinating provenance. Or maybe not – we’ll get to that in a moment.