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The tests were entrusted to Arturo Merzario, and after a few laps it was clear that the 33TT12 was understeering. “I asked Alfa Romeo engineer Gherardo Severi if they had any other springs”
Willi tells us:
“He took me to a warehouse filled to the rafters with titanium springs, which cost a lot of money, but there wasn’t a single hard spring; the only ones I wanted”.
As Merzario preferred to run cars with soft settings, Willi sent Derek Bell, who had already been signed to a full-season contract, for more testing. After two days, Severi had the steel springs Kauhsen requested made, and Bell tuned the 33TT12 for neutral handling. Willi says:
“Within a few days, my two mechanics and Bell had solved the main problem with the 33TT12”. “I was sure that the reason the 33TT12 had been slower than the competition for years was because it had been set up too soft”.
Seeing Merzario’s reluctance, Willi went so far as to ask his mechanics, Mike and Roy, to make sure Arturo didn’t run with soft springs, which it later turned out he had requested.
Despite the great desire to compete, there was a feeling that the 1975 season would continue to lose its appeal: Ferrari and Matra had withdrawn, and Gulf Racing had sold its GR-7 to privateers. Furthermore, the Le Mans and Sebring races were no longer part of the championship. Fortunately, Renault announced its entry into the championship with the A441 Turbo, and the presence of the Porsche 908/03 turbos entered by Martini Racing and Team Joest was confirmed, so the outlook and hopes for the championship changed radically.
The relationship with Jacky Ickx
In February 1975, Jacky showed up at Kauhsen's team office and expressed his interest in driving for Alfa Romeo in the 1975 season.
“Jacky Ickx came to my office and said he wanted to drive for me all year. Then he asked me what salary I would offer him. I told him that, like all the other drivers, he would receive 45,000 DM. Ickx was enthusiastic. Then I made him understand that this was the salary for the whole season, not for a single race. He was shocked and said to me: 'You're crazy, that's a ridiculous amount.' I told him that this was the contract: if he didn't like it, never mind, I would find another driver. Then I explained to him: 'Everyone gets the same salary. Besides, if you want to win, you have to drive an Alfa Romeo.'
"And, jokingly, I added": Jacky didn't take it well straight away, but the allure of driving an Alfa Romeo was so strong that he accepted and was in the race at Mugello and Spa- Francorchamps".
The 1975 season
The championship officially began with the 24 Hours of Daytona, a race in which neither Alfa Romeo nor Renault took part.
On March 23, at the 1000 Km of Mugello, all the 3-liter Sports were present. The Alfa Romeo 33TT12 was presented with the classic red livery and only had the WKRT logo on the front. Many journalists still wondered how Kahusen had managed to finance Alfa Romeo.
Willi entrusted the preparation of the cars to Bell and Henri Pescarolo, who were followe by his two mechanics and the aerodynamic engineer Michel Tetu. From then on he always called the car entrusted to Bell ‘the English car’, and the one entrusted to Merzario ‘the Italian car’, which would always have alternating drivers and which would be prepared by the Autodelta mechanics and followed by the engineer Severi.
After the first free practice session, Willi wondered why Merzario's co-driver Ickx was unusually slow. The Belgian driver suspected that Merzario had secretly refitted the soft springs. The hypothesis was confirmed. In the first free practice session on Saturday, Bell and Pescarolo were very fast and were a few seconds ahead of their teammates.
Then, when the ‘Italian car’ returned to the pits for the break, the Autodelta mechanics fueled up the tank, and after a quick check they went to lunch in the restaurant in the Mugello paddock. Meanwhile, Mike and Roy Giddings continued to tinker around with the ‘English car’ to complete a long maintenance list.
When the Autodelta mechanics returned to their car just before the second practice session, the ‘Italian car’ was covered with a sheet, and Willi said dryly: “I'll give you updates at dinner, but this car is not leaving the pits today. It is all clear, you understood!”.
A few hours later, Chiti reached the WKRT garage to try to resolve the situation. Willi, furious, asked him if he had read the contract and told him that he was not allowed in the garage and could not say a word on the track. “From which moment,” Willi recalls, “the relationship between us became more than cold”.
The first race of the season was a disappointment for the WKRT team and Alfa Romeo. Jean-Pierre Jabouille and Gérard Larrousse won the race with the new Alpine-Renault A441. Arturo Merzario and Jacky Ickx finished in 2nd place, one lap behind. The Italian press did not report on the disagreements within the team and, in support of the Milanese manufacturer and Merzario, the weekly magazine AutoSprint wrote on its cover: ‘Turbo Merzario is not enough for Alfa’. The race showed how fast and fearsome the new Renaults were and how much work still remained to be done at the WKRT team.
Alfa Romeo then rented the track for two weeks of testing before the second race in Dijon. Here too, the power games between the Italian mechanics and Kauhsen continued. All the recommendations were ignored and, during the test drives, the ‘Italian car’ was always lower than the ‘English’ one.
“It soon became clear that the Autodelta mechanics were not taking the adjustments and measurements with the necessary precision” Willi recalls, “I explained that if we wanted to be successful, they would have to adopt other ways of working. After a few tests, the Italian mechanics accepted, albeit reluctantly, my instructions, and the work bore fruit. Merzario won the next race in Dijon”.
For the Italian press it was a moment of pure joy and, on the cover of AutoSprint, the photo of the 33TT12 driven by Merzario and the words ‘344 days after Monza ‘74 an all-Italian world victory is renewed - for Merzario and Alfa has finished the… Dijon’ and took centre stage.
After the success in Dijon, it was clear that you couldn’t have a successful season with a divided team. Willi and Domingos therefore decided to rent a 5-star restaurant at the nearest airport and invited all the drivers, engineers and mechanics from both Renault and Alfa Romeo.
“The whole evening cost us around 25,000 DM. It was worth it” Willi recalls.“After that party I had an incredible team! They would have thrown themselves into the fire for me. They accepted my requests and, above all, understood why I had made these requests in order to best prepare a car for training and a race.” He adds: “After the Dijon weekend, German precision and Italian enthusiasm came together and it was a winning combination”.
1000 km of Monza
For Italian motorsport and Alfa Romeo, April was a month to remember. In a few days, the Alfetta Group 2 of Amilcare Balestrieri won the Rally dell’Elba (15-19 April) and the 33TT12 of Merzario and Laffitte won the 1000 km of Monza (20 April).
In the trials, the Mirage Ford of Mass-Schenken emerged, while the Alfa of Merzario- Laffitte, with Merzaro at the wheel, lost a wheel due to a broken hub during the Friday trials before the Parabolica. Despite this inconvenience, the 33TT12 managed to get the front row next to the Mirage Ford of Mass-Schenken.
The race was characterised by constant overtaking and battles between the cars, and the 33TT12 of Merzario and Laffite managed to prevail over the Renault Alpine A442 of Larrousse and Jabouille, and the Mirage-Ford of Mass and Schenken. The second Alfa Romeo 33TT12, driven by Henri Pescarolo and Derek Bell, finished in fourth place, despite some technical problems that forced the mechanics to replace the shock absorbers during the race, compromising their chances of obtaining a better result.
SPA Francorchamps
As mentioned, when Dr. de Bona signed the contract with Kaushen, he agreed not to speak publicly about the financing. To avoid scandalous speculation by the media, Willi had the Campari logo applied to the Alfas from Spa-Franchorchamps onwards, although in reality Campari paid nothing until the end of the season. Kauhsen received a small money for the previously free sponsorship, only at Watkins Glen.
Returning to the Spa 750 km on May 4, Willi recalls: "For Jacky the Spa race was a disappointment, in the pouring rain Bell and Pescarolo won, while behind the scenes of the race there was a real argument between Jacky and Arturo.
The soft suspension set-up, chosen by Merzario, was not appreciated by Jacky who argued that such a set-up could work on slow tracks, but not on a fast circuit like Spa-Franchorchamps, where he believed it was essential to have a hard and neutral car.
So the Autodelta mechanics adjusted the set-up to a harder one. Merzario, who was used to tuning the car to his liking, got angry, and Arturo's indignation was even greater when Ickx praised the car's new road holding.
"Merzario drove 20” slower and after mandatory and half-hearted laps he handed over the cockpit to Ickx. Without any significant competition, Ickx set the 2nd fastest time in practice” he then added, “All this happened at the wrong time. Before the Belgian race, de Bona told me that Cortesi would be at Spa and if I could take care of him. Domingos organized everything for the occasion and, since Cortesi was a very Catholic person, he also organized an exclusive visit to a Cathedral. Cortesi was lodged in the luxurious Park Hotel Quellenhof and escorted to Spa in a large limousine that looked like a state car used by diplomats."
Luckily Cortesi did not notice anything of what happened on the ‘Italian car’”.The race was characterized by adverse weather conditions, with rain and strong winds that made the track particularly challenging. The 33TT12 of Pescarolo and Bell proved to be very reliable and managed to maintain the lead for most of the race. Merzario and Ickx, with the other 33TT12, were protagonists of a tight fight with the opposing cars, managing to obtain second place.
“We celebrated the conquest of first and second place with the President with a luxurious dinner”
1000 Km of Pergusa
In the next race on May 18, the Coppa Florio, a 1000 km race that took place on the Pergusa track in Enna, Sicily, the 33TT12s had an excellent performance both in the tests and in the race. During the tests, the drivers praised the handling and speed of the car, which allowed them to obtain the 1st and 2nd time in the tests and the 1st and 2nd place on the finish line. It was the fourth consecutive victory and Alfa took 95 points in the standings and had finished the race with a 111 km advantage over the Porsche 908.04 Turbo of Joest-Casoni.
It should be noted that Alpine-Renault was not officially present, and the A441 entrusted to the female crew of Lella Lombardi and Marie-Claude Beaumont, during free practice, was seriously damaged, so much so that it was not possible to repair it and it did not take part in the race. The Italian media were now very confident and counted the points that were missing for a possible mathematical victory before the championship came to an end.
1000 km of the Nürburgring
After 5 championship races, thanks to the efficient and thoughtful management of team manager Domingos Piedale, the team still had good financial resources.
Willi therefore decided to field the third car, usually considered the 'T car'.
To make this possible, without any controversy, the car was given a red, white and blue livery, the colors of Redlefsen by Karsten Redlefsen, a meat products manufacturer, who had financed Willi's races with the Porsche 917/10 in the Interserie the previous year. Willi claims that the operation was also done as a thank you for the support received in the previous year.The car was entrusted to Jochen Mass and Jody Scheckter, drivers who, in the plans, were supposed to win the race.
The confidence that 33TT12, chassis 11512-009, was superior to its two sisters ...came not only from the 'free' sponsorship and fast drivers, but from the fact that the engine that would power it was more powerful than any other boxer available.
Willi explains that at the time he was contacted by Bernie Ecclestone, owner of Brabham, who wanted to use Alfa Romeo boxer engines in his F1 cars from the 1976 season. He asked him to secretly use one of the new Formula 1 engines with about 50 more hp in the Nürburgring race. As we know, secrets are often made to not be secrets, and the news became public knowledge.
The greater power of the engine allowed them to aim for overall victory, but it would also have been a problem; Willi explains:
"I told Jochen and Jody that we would fit a big engine, a ‘Big engine’, but to be careful because more power would also require more use of the brakes, and that we did not have brake pads that could hold out for the entire race. I explained to Mass that he should take the lead of the race, but to keep in mind that he would have to pit two or three laps earlier than expected to change the brake pads.
"I also told him that he would certainly lose time, but then he would be able to accelerate again and get back into the lead. Well, Jochen was no different from the other drivers, and what did he do? Of course he did not pit early, and when he came to the pits the brake pads and the brake disc were as if welded together, so much so that we had to separate them with a chisel”.
Mass and Scheckter thus fell to sixth place.
As for the other cars, Pescarolo and Bell did not even manage to finish a lap, due to the conditions of the track. Although the race was held on June 1, there was still light snowfall in some parts of the course.
Pescarolo slid into the guard rail on the Wehrseifen section of the course and destroyed
his car. Fortunately, he walked away from the car unharmed. For fans, the Wehrseifen
section of the Nürburgring is a narrow, downhill, sideways-sloping curve that leads into a
small valley. This part of the circuit is particularly challenging because the natural downhill
slope increases the speed of the car, making it difficult to brake.
Additionally, thesideways-sloping characteristic reduces traction, making the curve more prone to sliding. Merzario and Laffite battled with the Alpine Renault and the Gelo-Mirage GR7, driven by
Ganley and Schenken. The new Renault Alpine A442 was then delayed by turbocharger problems. Meanwhile, Ganley managed to take the lead of the race, closely followed by Laffite.
With a bit of cunning, Willi played his cards to secure the much-desired victory at his home
race in the Eifel. Willi recalls:
"Four laps before the end, Georg Loos from Mirage asked me: 'Hey Willi! When are you going to fill up the tank?' I replied: 'Now!' Domingos asked me: 'What happened? What did he want?' I replied: 'He wanted to know when we were going to go back for fuel.' Domingos looked at me and said: 'Do you agree with me?' 'Yes, of course,' Isaid, 'let's not fill up!'
The Mirage was in the pits for only a few minutes when Laffite overtook him on the straight and secured the win with his last drop of fuel. A few metres later, he ran out of fuel and was unable to re-enter parc fermé. It took less than ten minutes for race director Ali Schatz to reach me with a protest from Georg Loos. I said,
'Ali,you know the rules! I have one hour to get my car to parc fermé. My mechanics have brought four batteries to the south bend. If we don't get there in an hour, George can protest.' Laffite continued to operate the starter motor and 33TT12 arrived in parc fermé just on time”.
The press reported that Dr. Cortesi was also present at the race and, after the German success, he declared that he would like have wanted three cars also at Zeltweg to mathematically close the championship. In post-race interviews, Mass and Scheckter confirmed that they had used the same engine that would have equipped the Brabham F1 in 1976.
Scheckter declared: "..it is an engine that certainly has much more power than the Cosworth that I use in F1. I was struck by its promptness of delivery and how quickly it revs up to maximum power in the blink of an eye". Mass also praised the engine, defining it:
"The engine is more powerful than the best Cosworths. It has a lot of torque at low revs and extra- ordinary acceleration".
Furthermore, after the race it was announced that one of the 33TT12s could be entrusted to the Merzario-Andretti duo for the race at Watkins Glen.
1000 km of Zeltweg: Alfa Romeo is World Champion!
At the Österreichring near Zeltweg, the WKRT team had a chance to win the World Championship for Makes for Alfa Romeo. Jacques Laffite had to defend his lead in the F2 championship, so Vittorio Brambilla was enrolled to race with Merzario in the ‘Italian car’.
Much to Willi’s surprise, he discovered that Danny Crobag, the head of Goodyear-USA had an entire plane with special tyres flown to Vienna for the decisive race.
Before Vittorio Brambilla took on the qualifiers, Domingos informed him that he would have to pit after three laps at the latest, because the tyres would no longer hold up and would burst. Obviously, this recommendation was ignored and, on the fourth lap, Vittorio destroyed the Alfa Romeo; as expected, one tyre could not stand the strain and burst on the fourth lap.
During the night, the car was rebuilt, in a workshop near the track, by Vittorio, his brother Tino and the mechanics of WKRT.
During the race, both Renaults were forced to retire due to engine problems and the Alfa drivers had no mechanical problems whatsoever. However, the drivers had to deal with heavy rain that poured like torrents on the track and forced them to struggle to stay on the track. They succeeded and Bell and Pescarolo won the race after 103 laps ahead of their teammates Merzario and Brambilla.
It was done, Willi Kauhsen, Domingos Piedade and the WKRT team had finally secured their first title in the World Championship for Makes at the Österreichring, and Alfa Romeo returned to being World Champion after 25 years since winning the title in F1 with Nino Farina's 158.
The team celebrated the title with a huge party. Willi Kauhsen recalls: “I rented the entire
Hotel Schloss Seefels, including the ‘Drop in’ disco. Domingos, a little worried, said to me:
'Willi, do you know how much it costs?' I simply said: 'If not now, when?'”.
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