Giuseppe Busso

An Alfa Romeo engineer whose work included the Tipo 33 H-frame. Alfa Romeo later credited him as the designer of the two-litre V8 used in the 33 Stradale, refined by Carlo Chiti’s team for the project.

Giuseppe Busso was born in Turin on 27 April 1913 and took an industrial-technical diploma there. After military service he joined Fiat’s aviation-engine office in 1937, later moving to its experimental railway-vehicle bureau. In January 1939 he entered Alfa Romeo’s Servizio Studi Speciali, the racing-design office created by Wilfredo Ricart, and developed competition engines under Orazio Satta Puliga.

In June 1946, on Gioachino Colombo’s recommendation, Enzo Ferrari hired Busso as technical director at Maranello. He oversaw development of Colombo’s 1.5-litre, 60-degree V12. The unbodied 125 first ran on 12 March 1947; the 125 S made its race debut on 11 May. Recalled by Satta, Busso returned to Alfa Romeo in January 1948.

Back at Alfa Romeo, Busso led mechanical-components design. His work included the 1900, Alfa Romeo’s first car made on an assembly line and without a separate chassis. He designed the Giulietta’s 1,290 cc aluminium-alloy twin-cam four-cylinder engine, introduced in the 1954 Giulietta Sprint.

In 1964, Alfa Romeo began the Tipo 33 project for sportscar racing. By the end of 1965, the Servizio Esperienze Speciali, led by Satta and Busso, had completed a prototype. Busso designed its asymmetric H-frame of three riveted tubes, with a magnesium front structure and fuel tanks in the side tubes. The project passed to Autodelta in early 1966.

The 1967 33 Stradale used a steel form of the H-frame, with a wheelbase 100 mm longer than the race car; Aeronautica Sicula fabricated the chassis. Its 1,995 cc, 90-degree V8 produced 230 hp. Alfa Romeo later credited Busso with the engine’s design and Carlo Chiti’s team with refining it for the 33. Alfa Romeo recorded 18 chassis for 1967–69. Busso resigned on 30 March 1977.