I went to a talk last night by Reeves Callaway. Turns out he got his start doing bolt on turbo kits for the 320i. His arc includes the famous twin turbo Corvettes of the 90s (including the fastest street car ever made, the Sledgehammer), the racing C6.Rs and tons of other stuff (including a twin turbo Alfa!). I did a pretty long write up that you can read here. Matt
That's one of 35... I don't know if the 5 prototypes are included in that number, but there are 40 or less for sure! It must be a hoot to drive. Just over 6 seconds 0-60, about a 140 mph top speed, Alfa handling, all out of 2.5 liters. Thanks for the photos! Matt
I got a chance to drive a Callaway Twin Turbo 'Vete in the late '90s. It belonged to a certain US Representative from Canyon Country, CA who happened to be a personal friend with Reeves Callaway. The guy had a nice car collection and this was one of them. Being a Congressman and a pillar of the community, the guy and his cars were well known by the local sheriffs and their auxiliary due to his generosity and the 9-11 Foundation live membership license plate frames. I found out the benefits of all that as I was testing out the top end of second gear at about 85 mph in the 35 mph zone. That is the only time and the only car that I have gotten a bye in in that particular jurisdiction. Oh, and the car was an absolute beast. The acceleration was simply brutal.
I don't think it's hard to make power on a vette motor with turbocharging. The real selling point of a Callaway was how OEM the work was....like RUF, but for vettes. Did you know this Callaway is the same family as the golf company?
He spent some time on this point. And was very concerned about it going in. But he thought that they had made a very good dependable car for Alfa. Based on his track record, I don't have any reason to doubt him. Matt
I wish the Callaway designed turbo from the 2003.5 Mazda Mazdaspeed Protege (170hp/160lb-ft 2.0-liter 4cyl Garrett turbo engine) would have had more horsepower and torque, maybe like 195hp/184lb-ft because then maybe it would have encouraged Mazda engineers to pursue a plus 200hp 2004 Mazda Mazdaspeed Miata MX-5 (178hp/166lb-ft 1.8 liter 4cyl IHI turbo engine)