ALFA ROMEO CORSA SPERIMENTALE “BALENA” PART 2

YESTERDAY IN PART 1, CLASSIC & SPORTS CAR’S MICK WALSH introduced us to a one-off Alfa Romeo, his article reminding me why Classic & Sports Car is a favorite motoring magazine. Today in Part 2, the Corsa Sperimentale hides in WWII, earns its Balena nickname (Spanish for “whale”) in the Argentine, finds a new home with a real enthusiast, and continues to fascinate the rest of us. 

This and the following images by James Mann from Classic & Sports Car online, June 25, 2025.

The War in Hiding, Then the Argentine. Mick Walsh recounts, “Following Italy’s disastrous East African campaign, Alfa Romeo had more pressing government work during this dark era, and after testing the newly finished lightweight roadster was put into storage, safe from Allied bombings and inquisitive troops.”

Walsh related, “With the return of peace, Alfa began the challenging company rebuild. Argentina was a good market for exotic sports cars, particularly rapid 8C-2900s, and two were sold to South America. The first to be taken out of secret hiding was the Corsa Sperimentale, which was shipped from Genoa to Buenos Aires.”

This is where the Corsa Sperimentale earned its Balena nickname as the car competed in various South American races, among them the 1951 Buenos Aires Grand Prix (where it retired on the 10th lap).

Then, Walsh writes, “For decades it was hidden away in a dismantled state in Buenos Aires. Several classic car hunters in the 1980s, including American Ben Moser, recalled being shown the car’s parts stored around the private home of one Señor Iriarte, including in the owner’s bedroom and closets.”

Now Driven (Often) by Dutch Enthusiast Evert Louwman. Walsh cites the Corsa Sperimentale’s travels and restoration back to Italy, The Netherlands, England, and then via a Brooks’ Les Grandes Marques auction in Monaco to Evert Louwman and, as Walsh notes, “his superb Dutch Museum.” 

Walsh explains, “Evert has always loved driving his vehicles and the Balena is no exception. After a mechanical refresh, 412043 competed in the 1000 Miglia retrospective three times, in 1996, 2001 and 2002.”

Walsh notes, “Three years later Evert shipped the Alfa Romeo to Seattle for a 1200-mile road rally to Monterey before it was shown at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.”

Bravo, Evert Louwman!

Walsh’s Drive. What’s more, in researching this article Mick got to pilot the Corsa Sperimentale: “Once ensconced in the tight, tubular-framed seat, the hoodless interior is surprisingly spacious for a prototype sports-racer.… With the clockwork-toy-style key pushed in and the starter thumbed, the supercharged straight-eight is unleashed.”

“A short push on the centre throttle,” Mick says, “confirms its eager response, with the twin-cam’s exotic mechanical timbre underscored by the blower clamour.”

Mick continues, “Matching such light precision is the short action of the tall gearlever across the H-gate, which even with long linkages to the transaxle is impressively precise.”

“Sitting low behind the wraparound, full-width ’screen, with hands grasping the wide, three-spoke steering wheel and the long, blood-red bonnet stretching expansively ahead,” Mick says, “it’s easy to conjure those first tests on the deserted autostrada in 1941. How the young Romanian king felt isn’t recorded, but the performance must have blown his mind.”

I’m reminded of Ronald Colman: “If I were king….” ds

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2025