Alfa Romeo is celebrating 100 years of its iconic Quadrifoglio badge appearing on its models. Conceived as a good-luck charm during the 1923 Targa Florio, the Quadrifoglio (four-leaf clover) has defined the racing heritage of Alfa Romeo, and has adorned race cars and the most powerful and exclusive road vehicles ever since. Current Giulia and Stelvio models are powered by the Alfa Romeo 2.9-litre V6 bi-turbo engine producing 510hp, 600Nm of torque and can power both cars from zero to 62mph in under four seconds.
During the 1923 Targa Florio in Sicily, Alfa Romeo painted a lucky four-leaf clover on their “Corsa” RL race car in the hope of taking the brand’s first major international race trophy. With the car adorned with this new charm, Alfa Romeo driver Ugo Sivocci won the race, followed by his teammate Alberto Ascari in second. This victory cemented racing pedigree of Alfa Romeo and transformed the Quadrifoglio emblem into the logo for the team’s race cars.
From that first victory in Sicily to today’s association with Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake in the 2023 F1 World Championship, Alfa Romeo has created a rich heritage with racing. Alfa Romeo cars wearing the four-leaf clover have won some of the most prestigious races in motorsport including the first two F1 World Championships, Le Mans four times, six European Touring Car Championships, ten Targa Florio, eleven Mille Miglia, and two Sport Prototypes World Championships.
This racing pedigree has fed into the development of Quadrifoglio badged road cars. Previous models to have a Quadrifoglio variant include the Sprint, 90, 33, 75, 164, 145, Spider, Mito, Giulietta (2010), with the latest two, Stelvio and Giulia Quadrifoglio, representing some of the most dynamic and exciting cars in their segments.
The Giulia Quadrifoglio set a lap time of 7.32 at the iconic Nurburgring Nordschleife, while the Stelvio Quadrifoglio completed the lap in 7.52. Both Giulia and Stelvio have won over 220 awards between them including the Giulia being named Best Performance Car for Thrills at the What Car? Car of the Year Awards 2023, for the second year running.
Most recently, the Quadrifoglio racing pedigree helped create the Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA and GTAm. Born in 1965, GTA is an acronym for Gran Turismo Alleggerita which means ‘lightened gran turismo’. Utilising expertise from the Alfa Romeo Formula One and Sauber Engineering teams, the GTA has a best-in-class power-to-weight ratio and handling to match.
Over the years, some models have worn the Quadrifoglio badge, while others have had variants with the Quadrifoglio name. The badge has been used in ‘Quadrifoglio Verde’ (green four-leaf clover) form to signify high performance models, and ‘Quadrifoglio Oro’ (golden four-leaf clover) to signify top of the range versions. The first road car to wear the green Quadrifoglio badge was the Giulia TI Super in 1963 with a limited run of 501 lightened and more powerful cars designed to be used for racing. The first models to have a Gold Quadrifoglio variant were the Alfetta (1980) and Alfasud (1983). Throughout the 1990s the ‘Q’ badge was used to denote some of Alfa Romeo’s most advanced technologies including ‘Q4’ four-wheel drive, and the Q-Tronic automatic gearbox.
To celebrate 100 Years of Quadrifoglio, Alfa Romeo has revealed a new badge. The new logo, designed by the Centro Stile Alfa Romeo, celebrates the centenary with a gold outline around the iconic four-leaf clover emblem.
Alfa Romeo is also celebrating the 60th anniversary of the creation of Alfa Romeo Autodelta, the brand’s legendary racing department, with a new badge. The team was set up as a separate entity under the management of Carlo Chiti in 1963 in Settimo Milaneso, not far from Arese.
Some of the most famous Alfa Romeo racing cars stemmed from the Autodelta division, including the Giulia Sprint GTA which was the first touring car to lap the Nurburgring Nordschleife in under 10 minutes. Autodelta cars, such as the 33 TT 12, also won some of the most prestigious racing competitions in the world such as Le Mans, 1000km of Nurburgring, 500km of Imola and 24 Hours of Daytona. The company was also involved in the development of some of the most talented drivers of their generations including Jacky Ickx, Mario Andretti, Jochen Rindt, Andrea De Cesaris and Bruno Giacomelli. The Autodelta division was disbanded in 1985 but its legacy lives on.
Alfa Romeo will be celebrating both anniversaries with a series of events throughout the year, including on the 113th anniversary of the brand on 25 June 2023, with two events taking place at Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese.
For information on the Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio range please visit www.alfaromeo.co.uk.
.svg)
.svg)
