The Vittorio Jano designed 8C was Alfa Romeo's primary racing engine from its introduction in 1931 to its retirement in 1939.

[2] In its later development it powered such vehicles as the twin-engined 1935 6.3-litre Bimotore, the 1935 3.8-litre Monoposto 8C 35 Type C, and the Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Mille Miglia Roadster.

In 1924, Vittorio Jano created his first straight-eight-cylinder engine for Alfa Romeo, the 1987 cc P2, with common crankcase and four plated-steel two-cylinder blocks, which won the first World Championship ever in 1925.

The 8C engine, first entered at the 1931 Mille Miglia road race through Italy,[3] had a common crankcase, now with two alloy four-cylinder blocks, which also incorporated the heads.

[4] As the resulting car was too heavy and complex, Jano designed a more suitable and successful racer called Monoposto Tipo B (aka P3) for the 1932 Grand Prix season.

While the racing version of the 8C 2300 Spider, driven by Tazio Nuvolari won the 1931 and 1932 Targa Florio race in Sicily, the 1931 Italian Grand Prix victory at Monza gave the "Monza" name to the twin seater GP car, a shortened version of the Spider.

'8C 2300 tipo Le Mans' was the sport version of the '8C 2300' and it had a successful debut in the 1931 Eireann Cup driven by Henry Birkin.

A 1933 8C 2300 Le Mans, chassis #2311201, is part of the permanent collection at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, PA, US.

The car was owned by Lord Howe who campaigned it in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1934 (DNF) as well as in 1935 when it set the fastest lap before retiring.

Tazio Nuvolari won the 1935 German GP at the Nürburgring at the wheel of a 3.2 L Tipo B against the more powerful Silver Arrows from Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union.

On September 14, 2013, a former Scuderia Ferrari 8C 35, in which Tazio Nuvolari had won the 1936 Coppa Ciano, was sold for £5.9 million; a new world record price for any Alfa Romeo.

In 1935, to compete with Mercedes Benz and Auto Union, Enzo Ferrari (Race team manager) and Luigi Bazzi (Designer) built a racer with two 3.2-litre (bore: 71 mm, stroke: 100 mm, 3167.4 cc) engines, one in the front and one in the rear, giving 6.3 litres and 540 bhp (403 kW).

It could never quite succeed against the Mercedes W25 B of Rudolf Caracciola, the car handed very badly because of uneven weight distribution, thanks to one of the engines being behind the driver, and was hard on fuel and tyres.

[15][16] As such, it had an inline 8-cylinder 2.9-litre engine using two Roots type superchargers fed by two updraught Weber carburettors[17] and fully independent suspension with Dubonnet-type trailing arm suspension with coil springs and hydraulic dampers at front and swing axles with a transverse leaf spring at the rear.

[16] The engine, with a compression ratio of 6.5:1 and a stated power output of 220 bhp (160 kW) at 5300 rpm, was detuned from the Grand Prix racing version.

[31] The other two 8C 2900B Mille Miglia roadsters did not finish; Farina crashed and Eugenio Siena had a blown engine.

[32] Phil Hill competed in several west coast United States races in Pintacuda's car in 1951 before driving for Ferrari.

[14][33] Alfa Corse also prepared and entered a single 8C 2900B, chassis number 412033, for the 1938 24 Hours of Le Mans.

[34] In 1987, an Italian magazine had the car tested at the Pininfarina wind tunnel, where a Cx of 0.42 was measured, down to 0.37 with air intakes closed.