Dual Revolution - There is something endlessly captivating about the experimental spirit that shaped many motorsport projects of the past, especially those conceived before digital modeling and strict efficiency targets became the norm. Ideas flourished freely, risk was part of the thrill, and the most unconventional machines often carried the most personality. In that landscape, few creations stand out quite like
the Alfasud Bimotore Wainer—an audacious prototype that pushed
Alfa Romeo into territory it had never seriously explored.
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| The 1974 Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti Bimotore 4×4 Wainer—an audacious prototype that pushed Alfa Romeo into territory it had never seriously explored. (Picture from: Silodrome) |
Its creator,
Gianfranco “Wainer” Mantovani,
had already built a respected name in Italian racing circles.
Starting in the 1950s with Formula Junior and later crafting his own F3 single-seaters powered by Fiat and Alfa Romeo engines, he combined engineering intuition with a willingness to stray from the familiar. When endurance rallies such as
the Safari and
early Paris–Dakar began capturing global attention in the 1970s,
Wainer saw a chance to bring
Alfa Romeo into the world of long-distance rally-raid competition. It was a bold ambition for a brand better known for tarmac rallying success than for desert endurance.
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| The 1974 Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti Bimotore 4×4 Wainer crafted by Gianfranco “Wainer” Mantovani, had already built a respected name in Italian racing circles. (Picture from: Silodrome) |
His starting point was
the 1974 Alfasud Ti 1200, a compact front-wheel-drive model that already represented a break from traditional
Alfa thinking.
Wainer took the chassis and added a twist rarely attempted outside experimental prototypes:
he installed two 1,186 cc flat-four engines,
each producing 79 hp—
one in the original front bay,
and another mounted centrally where the rear seats once were. The concept echoed earlier twin-engine oddities such as
the Citroën 2CV Sahara and
the Mini-based Twini, while nodding to
Alfa Romeo’s own twin-engined 16C of 1935.
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| The 1974 Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti Bimotore 4×4 Wainer, built on the compact front-wheel-drive Alfasud Ti 1200, featured a rare twin-engine setup with one 1,186 cc flat-four in the front and another centrally where the rear seats once sat. (Picture from: Silodrome) |
Inside,
the Alfasud changed more dramatically than its outward appearance suggested.
The rear bench was removed entirely to make space for the second engine,
which sat beneath a removable cover for easier servicing during extreme events. Supporting systems grew accordingly:
a larger 80-liter fuel tank,
side-mounted radiators with electric fans,
and an additional oil cooler. Despite these functional intrusions, the car retained a surprisingly familiar silhouette, making its complexity visible only to those who looked closely.
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| The 1974 Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti Bimotore 4×4 Wainer featured two independent drivetrains, each with its own gearbox and differential, controlled through a single gear lever, one pedal, and dual instruments. (Picture from: Silodrome) |
Mechanically,
the setup was as unusual as it was ambitious.
Each engine kept its own gearbox and differential, essentially creating two separate drivetrains that the driver controlled through a shared interface. One gear lever managed both transmissions, one pedal commanded two clutches, and a doubled set of instruments kept track of each power unit.
The engines could be started individually via buttons labeled “Ant” and “Post,” yet proper forward motion required both running in sync—an elegant idea on paper but challenging in practice.
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| The 1974 Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti Bimotore 4×4 Wainer’s interior was transformed far more extensively than its familiar exterior would suggest, accommodating the rear engine and supporting systems. (Picture from: Silodrome) |
The rear engine’s exhaust routing highlighted just how intricate the packaging became.
With the manifolds facing forward,
the pipes had to loop toward the front of the car before curving back under the chassis to exit on the opposite side.
Even so,
performance figures were promising for such a compact machine:
around 8.2 seconds from 0–100 km/h and a top speed claimed at 215 km/h. These numbers suggested real competitive potential, provided the complex mechanical choreography could be made reliable.
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| The 1974 Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti Bimotore 4×4 Wainer never raced in major competitions but underwent extensive snowy testing to validate its ambitious design. (Picture from: Silodrome) |
Ultimately, reliability proved the limiting factor. The difficulty of synchronizing two drivetrains in harsh rally-raid environments meant
the Bimotore never saw the major competitions it was designed for. It did, however, undergo heavy testing in snowy conditions, evidence of the effort invested in validating the concept. Rather than being discarded,
the prototype survived intact and reappeared decades later,
eventually selling at RM Sotheby’s Paris auction in 2021 for €63,000.
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| The 1974 Alfa Romeo Alfasud Ti Bimotore 4×4 Wainer survived intact over the decades and was eventually sold at RM Sotheby’s Paris auction in 2021 for €63,000. (Picture from: Silodrome) |
Today,
the Alfasud Bimotore Wainer stands as a vivid reminder of an era when motorsport innovation thrived on bold experimentation rather than incremental refinement. Its twin-engine layout captures a rare breed of creativity—one driven not by marketing goals or production feasibility, but by the pure excitement of exploring what a machine could be. Even in the age of electrified all-wheel drive, its unconventional spirit remains refreshingly alive.
*** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | ITALPASSION.FR | SILODROME ]Note: This blog can be accessed via your smart phone.
