Origin of Daytona Coupe

[GWL]

I was reading the online Sports Car Digest this morning and came across this car which I found very interesting. I have not read much about the design history of the Daytona Coupe but I do know it resembled the Maserati 151, but I also wonder if this car had any influence on its design. The Daytona Coupe was built in late '63 to early '64 and first raced in 1964.

1964 Alfa Romeo TZ Coupe









Any other thoughts, George

[Mark IV]

Pete Brock was influenced by the aero theory work of Dr. Kamm (i.e. "Kammback") that held a long taper was not needed and that cutting the taper off with a flat tail kept most of the benefits of the long taper. Several other designers came to similar results, the Maser, the Ferrari "breadvan", the Alfa, etc. All of those designers were heading for the same results so many of the shapes were similar.

[Historybuff]

Not to take anything away from the Brockster but I believe he was also influenced not only by the four Maserati 151 coupes (all of which had slightly different body styles) but by the Aston Martin 212, 214 and 215 prototypes. I once asked him about the Astons and he said he didn't remember them but I subsequently found a picture of Pete Brock racing a Cooper and he was following one of those Aston kammbacks. The car you show is the Alfa GTZ which came out in '63 before the Daytona coupe. Brock has also written that it wasn't Dr. Kamm but some previous German aerodynamicist who influenced him, and he discovered this man's theories in a book at the GM Tech Center where Brock was a student intern at the age of 19. I'll be doing a blog on this after I find art on the Astons.
Here's some nice drawings of the Alfa GT Zagato. (GTZ)

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/696...uliagtzpro.jpg

And these pictures of the '63 Maser 151 show strong Daytona resemblances.
http://www.themaseraticlub.com/Tp151.html