Two Driveshafts, Two Engine Blocks, Kicked Hitler's Ass: 1934 Alfa Romeo P3VintageRacer
continues to send us great photos of beautiful cars, and today we're going to check out a car that beat the mightiest of Nazi Germany's Mercedes-Benzes and Auto Unions at the Nürburgring in 1935. Sure, a car from Mussolini's Italy beating the Germans wasn't quite as inspiring as, say, Jesse Owens beating them at the '36 Olympics, but the P3 is still quite the machine. Make the jump to see the whole gallery and read VintageRacer's observations.


One of the great things about vintage racing is that you'll see some truly historic, special cars. This is one of them. Conservatively estimated at being worth 2 - 5 million dollars, owned and raced by Jon Shirley. This is THE car that Tazio Nuvolari won the 1935 German Grand Prix in. Here's a link as well... Some interesting details - if you look inside the cockpit you can see that the driveshaft splits just in front of the driver. Each rear wheel is driven by a separate shaft. There is an "axle" that connects each side, but they are driven individually.The fuel is a mix of 85% ethanol, 12.5% petroleum (didn't get that detail exactly), and 2.5% acetone. It sounds amazing at full throttle, and was driven enthusiastically all weekend long (well, except when it rained in its heat).