Stichting Club Alfa Romeo Bezitters

In AD7-2748 Mark P. in New J**sey (not getting in THAT squabble!) asks me
to respond to his questions about the "Irish" four-leaf clover found on racing Alfas as far back as the 1923 Targa Florio.

The usual shorthand legend is that the familiar four-leaf clover on a background triangle, point up, was first painted on Ugo Sivocci's 1923 RLTF prior to the Targa Florio by a mechanic to bring him good luck; Sivocci then won the race (which was arguably Alfa's first really important victory) and it subsequently became a standard Alfa emblem used on the racing cars to continue that good fortune.

A hedge is that there were four RLTFs on the factory team in 1923, usually driven by Sivocci, Ascari, Masetti and Ferrari (yes, THAT Ferrari) and in all the photos I have seen Sivocci's car had a cloverleaf on a diamond, while the car Ascari and Ramponi drove to second place had it in the familiar point-up triangle, and neither Masetti's nor Ferrari's cars wore cloverleafs during that season. The distinction between triangle and diamond suggests that it may have been initially a recognition factor for pit purposes, analogous to
the different-colored grill borders that the 159s ran in the fifties. In any case it would seem odd for Alfa to have made a big thing of the second-place car's triangle.

Anyway during this early period the ground was sometimes a diamond, sometimes a point-up triangle, sometimes a point-down triangle, and the clover hadfour leaves sometimes, three leaves other times. The only text reference I have found to a three-leaf clover in any authoritative history was in the caption of a photo of Brilli-Peri's 'coda tronca' (or 'coda bauletto') P2 at the 1925 Belgian Grand Prix. That caption, in 'Le Alfa Romeo di Vittorio Jano', ends with "Infine, un'ultima notazione: la vetture di Brilli reca l'emblema del trifoglio, che nel primo periodo si alterna al quadrifoglio". In English approximately "Brilli-Peri's car carries the emblem of the trefoil, which in the first period alternates with the quatrefoil."

From 1924 through 1928 the Targa Florio cars of which I have photos sometimes had triangles, sometimes diamonds, sometimes neither, and the number of leaves is usually hard to count. The P2s, which ran in the GPs, had quatrefoils in triangles for the 1924 French Grand Prix, but trefoils for the 1925 season.

Alfa then retired from GP racing for the duration of the new 1-1/2 liter formula. On their return the 1930 version of the P2 ran without clovers. An early Monza ran with a cloverleaf in the French Grand Prix in 1931, but on a triangle with the point down; other than that I do not find a photo of a Monza with the cloverleafs. The short-lived Tipo A (the side-by-side Bimotore) also ran a point-down triangle.

The Tipo B (or P3) apparently never ran with a clover emblem; I have never seen a photo of one, and Peter Hull in his brief but excellent monograph on the P3 writes that the quadrifoglio "was seldom, if ever, worn by the P3s", and I believe he certainly would have known if it had been.

After Alfa, broke, withdrew from racing at the beginning of 1933 the Scuderia Ferrari ran Monzas and later P3s with the rampant horse shield, and no cloverleafs. After Alfa resumed proprietorship of the racing program the 158 ran with neither horse nor cloverleaf in 1938 and 1939, but early in 1940 the definitive four-leaf clover in point-up triangle reappeared.

Until 1952 the emblem was apparently used only on Grand Prix cars, the early Targa Florio cars and the 158 voiturette; as far as I can tell from photos it never appeared on a Le Mans car or on a Mille Miglia car until the 6C 3000 CM ran in 1953.

None of which addresses the Irish question. I believe that four-leaf clovers as good-luck talismans are not restricted to any national or ethnic group, but even if they were, neither Irishness nor luck would account for the three-leaf clovers used on the 1925 team cars and I believe on some others. Do they need firm reasons? I doubt it. I believe icons and talismans can start on whim, with little or no initial rationale, and accrue meanings simply through repetition. Not much of an answer, but you are welcome to write your own.

Cheers,

John H.

Ach wat is juist? Alfa heeft zelf ook diverse variaties gebruikt.

Als je kijkt naar de originele versie dan is het nog iets anders
De quadrifoglio werd voor de eerste keer gebruikt in 1923 tijdens de Targa Florio. Op die versie kwam de steel uit het linkerblaadje van het klavertje vier en wees naar beneden. De quadrifoglio werd afgebeeld in een witte driehoek waarvan de punt naar boven wees en een zijde van de driehoek exact horizontaal was. De afbeelding van het klavertje vier zelf was in deze witte driehoek 5 graden met de klok meegedraaid.

Nog een voorbeeld

Nee dus... Zie boven.

Maar wat "juist" is is dus "juist" de vraag.

Geen van allen is "juist".

Nog een voorbeeld

Damn ging duidelijk iets fout

Nog een voorbeeld

Nog een voorbeeld

Ha, was deze voor mijn topic " project Alfetta Gt" bedoeld? Maar ik vind dat je het hier niet duidelijk op kunt zien.