Ferrari-Powered Alfa Romeo Rally Car Sees Daylight After 28 Years

It’s fairly unusual for a Ferrari engine to wind up anywhere other than in a Ferrari – from the factory, anyway. In the magnificent place that is motorsport’s cottage industry, things can be very different. Take this Alfa Romeo Sprint, which was built to go rallying in the ’90s and has the 3.0-litre V8 from a Ferrari 308 sat in the middle.

It’s the work of British rallyist Andrew Burton, who acquired the two donor cars – both written off – from a friend in the 1980s. He then set about transplanting the Ferrari’s heart into the Alfa’s body.

Inspiration apparently came from the Lancia 037 – famously the last two-wheel drive car to win the World Rally Championship – but it’s also reminiscent of Alfa’s own Sprint 6C, a plan for a mid-engined Group B contender of its own that never went beyond a couple of prototypes.

The car is a bit of a mish-mash of various other Group B icons – the rear suspension design is borrowed from the Ford RS200, and the bonnet is taken from an Opel Manta 400.

As for the powertrain, Burton says it’s largely standard, save for the addition of a close-ratio five-speed gearbox. That should mean about 252bhp from the 308 engine, plus a delectable eight-cylinder soundtrack.

Burton rallied the car across Britain for a decade between 1986 and ’96, with a series of victories coming in its final year of competition. However, a long straight section on an event that year proved too much for the powertrain, with the engine blowing up and putting what would prove to be a fairly permanent end to the car’s career.

The car ended up stashed in a barn, where it remained for 28 years before being dragged out last year for the 100th anniversary of Burton’s local motorsport club – a process documented by British Rally Media. Hopefully, it’s an impetus for this magnificent Franken-car to be recommissioned so it can once again fill Britain’s rally stages with glorious Ferrari V8 noise.