Alfa Romeo Corsa - e-Journal | E001

The Alfa Romeo 8c 2300 was one of the most successful of the prewar Grand Prix cars. With its supercharged, double-overhead camshaft, straight-eight engine the nimble Alfa was able to show its heels to many larger and more powerful cars. In addition to the famous international drivers like Fangio and Caracciola, the Alfa 8c 2300 was the mainstay of local race drivers. One of the more successful of these national drivers was Vasco Sameiro of Portugal.* In 1933, Frederico Abecassis painted his 8c 2300 Corsa white and asked Vasco Sameiro to drive his car. The result was impressive:

• 14 May 33 Campo Grande, Lisbon 1st
• 18 June 33 Vila Real 1st
• 25 June 33 Montjuich GP, Barcelona 2nd
• 23 July 33 Rampa da Penha Guimaraes 1st
• 13 August 33 Circuit de Boavista, Oporto 1st

Although there are questions about the chassis number of this car, there is ample photographic evidence of the car at various races; two photos in Simon Moore's epic The Legendary 2.3 show Sameiro drivng the car at the 1934 Isle of Man race, and another photo shows him posing with a dozen trophies arranged on the hood of the car.

This is the story of how Detailed Model Cars started with a Pocher Muletto and ended up with a tribute to the little known successes of Portugal's Vasco Sameiro.

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