Unforgettable Car Geniuses: Giuseppe Busso

It’s rare for an engineer’s name to become the identity of the engine he created. Among the few exceptions — like Fuhrmann and Mezger of Porsche — is the Italian Giuseppe Busso. Still today, Alfa Romeos fitted with his V6, first built in 1979, are known as models with the “Busso V6”. Even though the engine’s most famous success was Alfa Romeo’s dominance in the highly competitive German DTM touring car championship — a serious slap in the face to Germany’s own automakers, long-standing protagonists of the series — the engine had an incredibly long life and was used in many vehicles, not only from Alfa Romeo but also Lancia and Fiat.

Giuseppe Busso, born in 1913 in Turin, is remembered for the engines he designed for Alfa Romeo.

Busso, however, didn’t begin his career with this engine, nor even with Alfa Romeo, despite his deep affection for the brand. He started his professional path at Fiat in 1937 at age 24, but in 1939 he left Turin for Milan, drawn to Alfa Romeo, which was tied to the world of racing he loved. There, he met Enzo Ferrari and worked with a talented engineer, Orazio Satta Puliga. The world was on the brink of war, and Ferrari left Alfa to start dreaming of his own cars — even though, due to the times, he was forced to produce machine tools useful for war material production. Busso worked on Alfa’s aviation engines, specializing in the application of compressors and turbines. When the skies finally cleared, Enzo Ferrari asked Gioachino Colombo — an engineer he had worked with in the Scuderia days — for the design of his first V12, which in 1947 powered the debut Ferrari 125.

The most significant Alfa Romeo engine identified as “Busso” is the V6, first mounted in the Alfa 6 sedan in 1979.

Colombo, who was also employed by Alfa Romeo, had obtained authorization for this side project and wanted Busso to work with him due to the project’s complexity. His support was crucial — so much so that it sparked a rivalry. After experimenting with supercharging the V12 and an inline-six, and after the satisfaction of seeing the 159 single-seater — with its V12 enlarged to 2 liters — win the 1947 Turin Grand Prix with Raymond Sommer, Busso returned to Alfa. It was the beginning of a lifetime fully devoted to the Milanese marque. The famous, powerful, responsive, and durable four-cylinders with dual overhead cams in the Alfa 1900, Giulietta, and Giulia were Busso’s magical gift—a gift that lifted Alfa to the top of the hearts of countless enthusiasts.

The “Busso” V6 was used for over 25 years in the most powerful versions of Fiat, Lancia, and Alfa Romeo, from the 164 to the highly sought-after 147 GTA and 156 GTA.

Then in 1979 came the V6, the engine most closely tied to his name. But Giuseppe Busso didn’t stop there. He also supported Alfa’s racing activities with the legendary 33s in the World Sportscar Championship and, as previously mentioned, the racing variants for DTM competitions. His bond with Alfa Romeo feels almost moving when one learns that upon his death in 2006, just shy of his 83rd birthday, he wasn’t enjoying retirement in Tuscany or the Côte d’Azur — but in Arese, near the Alfa Romeo factory that had been the true center of his life.

How could anyone forget Alfa Romeo’s 1993 DTM championship win with the 155, powered by an extreme racing version of the “Busso” V6?