At IMSA’s Daytona opener, 17 totally different marques will grace the paddock. Alfa Romeo received’t be certainly one of them, although.
After six seasons of campaigning the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Veloce TCR within the IMSA Michelin Pilot Problem, KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering will transfer to the most recent Honda Civic Kind R.
“I didn’t need to do it–I’ve an emotional love affair with these Alfas,” says Louis Malone, who serves as workforce principal alongside Kevin Wheeler. In addition they acknowledged how the followers really feel about their Alfa Romeo Giuletta Veloce. “The fan assist we get has simply been overwhelming,” Kevin says. “There’s a lot love for the model Alfa Romeo.”
In the end, the workforce felt the Alfa Romeo was outdated when in comparison with the remainder of the TCR discipline. The smallest engine. The smallest wheelbase. A design originating within the 2010s.
It was time to improve, the group concluded, however making the Alfa aggressive might need been essentially the most rewarding expertise for Louis and Kevin throughout their 30-year profession in skilled motorsport.
Maybe much more so than a Le Mans victory.
9 wins. A close to miss of a championship. No manufacturing unit assist.
They did it nearly all on their personal.
That is the story of the little Alfa that would and the way it reignited the fervour for 2 burned-out racing professionals.
The Loopy Duo Behind the Loopy Thought
Workforce principals Louis Malone and Kevin Wheeler. Photograph by J.A. Ackley.
If Louis, Kevin and crew come throughout as merely membership racers having enjoyable, you’re proper–to a sure diploma.
“We work collectively day by day of the week,” Louis says. “A few of us work on the professional aspect and a few of us work on what we name the KMW mothership. The mothership has to outlive so as to go racing.”
Don’t assume that this workforce is only a bunch of informal, weekend warrior racers. Removed from it.
Louis and Kevin ran their first Rolex 24 At Daytona in 1995 with a homebuilt Porsche 911 RSR. From there, they helped run the efforts that received championships from the late Nineties to the 2000s. It’s possible you’ll acknowledge a few of the names.
Hurricane Racing Acura Integra R in Motorola Cup.
Champion Racing Audi S4 and RS4 in World Problem with drivers Michael Galati (2001-’02) and Randy Pobst (2003).
In 2005, Kevin left competing on the skilled degree and Louis went on to win Le Mans total with Champion Racing’s Audi R8 and drivers Tom Kristensen, JJ Lehto and Marco Werner. Then, in 2008, Louis additionally stepped again.
The 2 nonetheless beloved racing, although. They competed in HSR, profitable championships there, too.
Success tends to breed success, although–and a spotlight. In 2018, the higher ranges got here knocking on Louis and Kevin’s proverbial door once more. Compass360 Racing invited each of them to run two Audi TCR vehicles whereas Compass managed an Audi and a McLaren. The 2 entities labored collectively as one workforce.
“That was the primary 12 months for TCR, and it was actually enjoyable,” Louis remembers. “We simply form of fell into this Alfa factor. An excellent buddy of mine has imported two of them over. I didn’t have a plan for them. We had a completely functioning workforce, so we had the Alfas and began working them.”
For Louis, he had one other mission. A private one. He had skilled a lot success in motorsport, however he lacked one factor: title recognition.
“I by no means received a single professional race with my title above the door,” Louis says. “I wished to perform that earlier than I retire. I bear in mind once I got here residence and instructed [my wife], ‘I need to go professional racing once more. All I need to do is win only one professional race that may say KMW TMR received a professional race.’
“We received three races in 2021, and she or he was like, ‘Okay, so we’re performed.’ I’m like, ‘Effectively, we completed third within the championship. I need to win a championship earlier than I retire.’”
The Problem of Working Alfas within the Problem
Photograph courtesy KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering.
When the preliminary TCR Alfa Romeos have been constructed, they have been supposed for sprints, not endurance races. They labored with the builder of the TCR vehicles in Italy, Romeo Ferraris, to make them higher suited to that venue.
“As soon as Romeo Ferraris realized we have been a superb workforce and knew what we have been doing, they allowed us to develop the endurance bundle,” Louis explains. “In Italy, they’d by no means run ABS. We helped them develop that. Easy issues, like you need to do a tire change dwell in IMSA, they by no means needed to do it. So the studs, the nuts, the centering cones on the wheels have been fallacious. They allowed us to develop all that stuff, homologate it and make it authorized.”
That’s proper, this small workforce helped develop the Alfa Romeo with the builder in Italy. To be truthful, Romeo Ferraris is about the identical dimension as KMW, says Louis.
In 2021, a brand new model of the Giuletta received homologated, the Veloce. The workforce received a brand-new one.
“It was a lot larger advanced,” Louis says. “It was easy issues. They moved the engine within the chassis a bit of bit for higher weight distribution. They moved the driving force to the suitable some. [They changed] some kinematics within the suspension, moved some subframes up. They put their finger on each single half and stated, ‘What can we do to make it higher?’”
The Veloce That Might
Sebring 2023. Photograph courtesy KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering.
Within the IMSA Michelin Pilot Problem TCR paddock, the well-resourced efforts of Hyundai, Honda and Audi encompassed many of the house. Then there was the only real Alfa Romeo.
The closest that Louis and Kevin had for manufacturing unit backing was sponsorship from the native Alfa Romeo sellers. All that Stellantis did was log out that they may run the Giuletta. Surprisingly, they did, contemplating the automobile was by no means bought within the U.S.
Romeo Ferraris in Italy served as the first supply for components and assist for the Alfa Romeo. Whereas throughout an ocean, the group glad the workforce’s wants.
“Italy’s been wonderful for components,” Louis says. “We have now an incredible bundle with FedEx. If I wanted a entrance bumper and a splitter, I might have it in three days. One factor we’ve got performed is we preserve a superb stock. I’ve certainly one of each single half on the automobile. We have now two or three of the issues which are frequent to interchange on the truck.
“You wouldn’t assume it from the skin trying in, however we’ve got a few of the finest assist within the paddock, regardless that there’s nobody right here from Italy,” Louis continues. “I’ve an engine engineer that’s on name for us 24 hours a day once we’re on the race observe. I ship them knowledge each afternoon. They analyze it. Then they inform us what to do.”
Whatever the workforce’s dimension and the challenges that come together with it, the Alfa Romeo received. In 40 races, it emerged victorious 9 occasions.
“It’s a really predictable automobile, a really pleasant automobile,” says driver William Tally. “It’s not received any evil traits.”
When veteran driver Tim Lewis was approached about racing the Alfa Romeo, he was hesitant at first.
“I at all times heard front-wheel-drive vehicles have been horrible to drive, no enjoyable,” Tim says. “I used to be pleasantly shocked. It does a whole lot of issues proper. We’re quicker in most corners than GT4 vehicles. It’s like a child GT3 automobile–it has a whole lot of comparable dealing with traits. Regardless that it’s a front-wheel-drive automobile, with the dimensions of the tires we run, the ability it makes for a four-cylinder turbo, the large brakes [and] aero assist, it makes it enjoyable to drive.”
In addition they got here oh so near a workforce championship. In the course of the remaining race at Highway Atlanta, two GT4 vehicles received collectively within the hairpin, and the Alfa Romeo received caught up in it, ending their day early.
“We cried rather a lot that night time,” admits Louis.
Admittedly, they received some satisfaction on the banquet once they have been sandwiched between two Bryan Herta Autosport Hyundai groups. Bryan and Louis privately shared a second on stage.
“Bryan Herta shakes my hand,” remembers Louis. “He stated, ‘You actually had us nervous this 12 months. That was too shut.’ I stated, ‘It’s solely a matter of time–we’re coming for you.’ It was a pleasant second.”
Out-moneyed? Completely. Outraced? Hardly.
The Hardest Factor to Overcome
Photograph by J.A. Ackley.
Many individuals joke in regards to the perceived unreliability of Italian vehicles, and that popularity surrounded the Alfa Romeo TCR automobile. The reality is that notion didn’t align with actuality, Louis says.
The 2024 season finale at Highway Atlanta was the 18th race on the engine. It had by no means been freshened or touched throughout that point. That’s with the identical 1750cc turbocharged four-cylinder you’d discover right here within the U.S.-spec Alfa Romeo 4C.
Fielding only one automobile, and an obscure one at that, unfairly magnified any points they did have, claims Louis. At Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, they DNFed after a difficulty with wiring led the gas strain sensor to malfunction.
“It was a pin that broke off contained in the harness and was intermittently making contact–it was most likely 5 seasons outdated,” Louis says. “When that occurs, all people within the paddock is like, ‘Oh, the Alfa Romeo breaks once more.’ However when there’s a herd of six Hyundais and Taylor Hagler’s automobile can blow a motor, ship a rod out into orbit, in a fiery oil slick, it’s no downside as a result of there are 5 different Hyundais.”
What did damage the Alfa Romeos, although, was the truth that its design dates again to the 2010s. When the Alfa debuted, it competed in opposition to automobiles such because the Hyundai Veloster, Audi RS 3 (2017 model) and Civic FK8. All these producers have launched new variations, and with {that a} key change.
“The whole lot now, they’re all 6 to eight inches longer within the wheelbase than the Alfa,” says Louis. “Neglect every little thing else. [The wheelbase] modifications the high-speed cornering traits to a spot the place there’s nothing we are able to do about that. I can’t lower the automobile in half and make it longer.”
Louis cited a number of examples of the place they struggled.
“Turns 17 and 1 at Sebring, we get our asses kicked,” Louis says. “We’re nice in every single place else. However we’re 6 to eight mph off minimal velocity via Flip 1 from the typical Hyundai. However we’re 5 mph up via the hairpin.”
Locations with an abundance of high-speed turns required William and Tim to essentially hustle the automobile to maintain up and ensure they minimized any errors. Seeking to eradicate a variable that’s presumably holding again the workforce, they reluctantly determined to alter course, switching to a Honda Civic Kind R for 2025.
Photograph courtesy KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering.
“I’m most proud that we developed a workforce and developed a automobile,” says Louis. “[With the Honda,] I needed to verify a couple of hundred packing containers from a regular automobile to [make it] an endurance automobile on the order checklist. With the Alfas … I by no means anticipated it to go so far as it did. We have been answerable for all of the endurance stuff. Have a look at who we have been going in opposition to–they weren’t small gamers. It’s a huge deal to get second within the championship. I’ve that trophy proudly displayed in my cupboard.”
The targets for KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering this season are to determine the Honda and win a championship by 2026. Then, Louis will retire to a farm, presumably someplace in Tennessee, together with his spouse. Possibly. That story’s been floated round earlier than, hasn’t it?
So what is going to occur to the workforce’s Alfas? Will they be saved away, by no means to be seen once more? Completely not. You’ll find them competing in HSR competitors, the place they will proceed exceeding the expectations of the plenty and provides the fervent Alfa followers one thing to cheer for.
Photograph courtesy KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering.
