Alfa Romeo has enjoyed many successes as a factory operation in Australia from Kevin Bartlett and Brian Foley’s efforts during the 1960s to Colin Bond in 1987 driving the Italian brand’s latest turbo offering.
Bond had enjoyed an association with Alfa Romeo since 1984 by spearheading its Group E campaign using the GTV.
Group E was a growing formula based on Series Production specification, but internationally recognised Group A regulations were coming into effect for the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1985 leading to Bond making the step up.
Not only was Bond returning to the ATCC, but his teammate was 1980 World Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship winner Alan Jones.
It was hard to miss the two Alfa Network GTV6s due to the yellow hue both wore and the pair were underdogs against more powerful models including the six-cylinder BMW 635 CSi used by Jim Richards to win the title.
Jones was entertaining in what proved to be a part-season duo to his return to Formula 1 with the Beatrice Lola team.
However, Jones was a multiple class winner and was just shy of the outright podium on many occasions, while Bond kept this up also when the 1980 champion departed after Surfers Paradise.
The next year, it was Bond running solo in the former Luigi Racing chassis of Jones to limited success.
Bond finished fourth at Sandown and fifth at Winton to end the season ninth, but running the #75 was a hint of things to come.
With the advent of the World Touring Car Championship, Alfa Romeo entered its turbocharging era by entering 75.
The 75 proved the grand finale for Alfa Romeo in Australian touring car racing of which the new model fell short of expectations.
Featuring all the makings of a solid race entry, Bond’s 75 featured an almost perfect front and rear distribution, plus it smartly lowered its cubic capacity to fit under the FIA’s turbo equivalency factor.
Bond highlighted a bigger turbo may have made the 75 more competitive, with his Caltex-sponsored example struggling for both pace and reliability.
Again, built by Luigi Racing containing a steel roll cage, the 75 was debuted by Bond at the Oran Park 25th Anniversary meeting before a pair of sevenths at Lakeside and Adelaide International Raceway were the best Bond was able to muster in the ATCC.
Arriving with just 200bhp, Bond’s pursuit of speed led to many experiments including a successful one when the 75 was converted to right-hand-drive.
A big crash at Bathurst with co-driver Lucio Cesario at the wheel historically bought out the first safety car in the race’s history.
Just one more event remained at the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix meeting for Bond to run and after qualifying fourth he finished in fifth to achieve his best result of the season before it all came to an end.
Alfa Romeo pulled out of racing and soon took a break from the Australian marketplace in 1992, while Bond raced a Caltex-backed Ford Sierra RS500 Cosworth up until Group A ended.