GTAm - MEANINGFUL LETTERS WITH A PROMISE
Reviving a 60 year old legendary name, which has been a dream car in the past, sounds like a bold move these days. What I’m talking about is the revival of the GTAm - four letters with a great meaning in motorsport and a promise for an honest, uncompromising and maybe a little redundant for our times pure driving machine. A dream car once again for many, that’s unreasonable and kind of unnecessary, but desperately needed by the alfisti, one that Alfa Rome built as a way to to celebrate their 110 year history and the legend behind it once more.
When the Giulia GTAm was revealed in 2020 and I understood what an extraordinary car it was, I was sure I never will get the chance to see one on a public road or even drive it myself. That’s what I thought at least… but a few weeks ago, within just a few unreal and blurry seconds of my first real contact with it, I gave my heart to this Alfa Romeo.
On a sunny Friday in Southern Germany I am on the Autobahn with my Veloce Ti. Travelling North, so I will meet her big sister in Frankfurt - we get to meet the Giulia GTAm finally outside of a museum. I was told I could drive her by myself on a public road for real! I have to admit I had some doubts if this really is going to happen, until two hours later at Klassikstadt, when I finally closed the seatbelt around my waist. The seatbelt that keeps me in this perfectly tight shaped and sleek GTAm branded Sabelt Racing seat. At last I put my hands on the steering wheel and start that ignition… Buongiorno V6 biturbo and Akrapovic exhaust, my heart instinctively jumps in excitement and here we go! Waving good bye to the Giulia GTA an the Quadrifoglio and looking for the fastest way out of the city - open roads here I come!
The rear window view through the mirror is something else! Red roll cage, Alcantara all around with a nice GTAm stitching and the huge wing framing my view. I could get used to that. While making the first kilometers on the almost empty Autobahn I start to get to know this special Giulia and push her further, play with the gears and the engines reactions, so I can feel how she behaves - let the engine, the suspension and the tires communicate with me. And I feel, see and hear her, loud and clear. It feels familiar to me so frightening fast. 140, 160, 180, 200 km/h … the GTAm does that within a glimpse and with a stability on the rear and lightness on this old, uneven Autobahn - no Quadrifoglio does it like that. The downforce through the advanced Sauber engineering aerodynamics is magnificent! The GTAm simply marches effortless and so powerful, like she is actually looking for that freedom.
Equipped with more attributes directly out of motorsport like suspension, engine cooling, wider body geometry and the tires, combined for a symbiosis of maximum grip and challenging acceleration. And as a sensible driver who’s familiar with the driving behavior of a Giulia instantly I notice the difference to a Quadrifoglio or a Veloce. When I finally approach a hairpin curve I challenge the car like I always do with mine, testing its limits by accelerating steadily while I pass the apex. And she just bites into the asphalt, like I would never have expected it. The GTAm goes faster, passes the 80km/h in this challenging curve and I never even feel a tiny bit of a loss of grip or unsteadiness. The grin on my face gets wider with every km/h she goes faster now. It so feels like home driving this Alfa Romeo, unbelievable! Breaking with the carbon ceramic breaks also feels quite differently and more precise, than I am used to. But more about that later.
After a short photo shooting against a panoramic backdrop and a brief stop where some policemen suspiciously checked out every carbon fiber aero part of this beast, we are on our way back towards the city. I really enjoyed some awesome kilometers in the Taunus hills outside Frankfurt on beautiful roads, and I’m officially in love again. But these few hours with the Giulia GTAm have passed to fast unfortunately. I will miss that surrounding: soft matt carbon interior elements, alcantara dashboard, the red details like the door loops, the cage and this Sabelt racing seat. But… I really will get another chance with the GTAm two weeks later. I thought of this as a once in a lifetime experience for me small Alfista, but it proved to be kind of a twice in a lifetime thing.
So we meet again two weeks later, on a rainy grey day on the proving grounds of Pferdsfeld, Western Germany. During a break of the Pista e Piloti races, where several GTA and GTAm are used as pace cars, I can experience the GTAm on a racetrack, again happy me behind the steering wheel. Front splitter is extended to Race usage and now it’s about to get real, also because the surface is a little wet and the track has changing surfaces. It’s a nice 4,2 km track with some chicanes, a nice decent steep curve and a long straight where it is easily possible to go past 200km/h with the GTAm’s 540HP and 600nm. And this time the carbon ceramic brakes are doing their thing extraordinary. Such incrediblee direct feedback when breaking, more informative than the one you get from the carbon breaks in the Quadrifoglio. Fortunately I had the direct comparison on that same track, as my next test drive 5 minutes later was with a Quadrifoglio on carbon breaks. But not only that, driving both cars in Dynamic mode they behaved so differently in almost every way - Race mode wasn’t used due to the weather conditions. They were like two totally different cars.
There are no power restrictions with the GTAm when driving fast corners, like the Quadrifoglio now and then gives you. There is almost no understeering noticeable, unlike what I felt with the Quadrifoglio on this track. Steering feels more on point and she’s just glued to the track, among other things thanks to the rear wing. Then the RPM range on the GTAm has been extended compared to the one of the Quadrifoglio. In direct comparison the GTAm is more responsive, direct and communicates so much clearer with the driver than a regular Quadrifoglio. I can orchestrate this machine so precise like I never could in any other car. That’s what I expect of a track queen. And one beautiful last detail… because of weight reduction operation, the missing rear seats and of course thanks to the Akrapovic exhaust, the Giulia GTAm has a strong and awesome sound reverberating inside the cabin, especially between 3,000-4,000 rpm. I just love it!
It was a really intense adventure. All I’ve experienced with the GTAm, how she reacts, the handling, the power development she shows and that growing confidence this car gives its driver with every meter you drive it… It felt a bit like a travel back in time, to times where a car was all about driving, the journey itself and where it was allowed to admire unreasonable powerful and extraordinary beautiful cars just because of what they were, without any justification needed. The GTAm will be a milestone in Alfa Romeo’s history, because she really honors the letters she’s presenting on her rear and maybe the last of its type in this era, but it perfectly embodies once again the fascination and passion of Alfa Romeo, so proudly.
