Carlos Tavares: my first race car, an Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint, welded with chewing gum

Nearly a year after his resignation as CEO of StellantisReplaced since June 2025 by Antonio Filosa, Carlos Tavares is back in the news. The Portuguese executive has just published a book entitled Un pilote dans la tempête, which we have read, and in which he looks back on his life, his career and his passion for cars. And among the many anecdotes he shares, one will make Alfistes smile: that of his very first racing car, an Alfasud Sprint 1.5L... partially welded with chewing gum.

The Alfa Romeo of its beginnings

In Chapter 15, soberly entitled "The Driver", Carlos Tavares recounts how his passion for motor sport began in his teens. His first official race took place in July 1980, at the wheel of his own car: an Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint 1.5L, a gift from his parents. But before he could enter it in a competition, he had to transform it. Fire extinguisher, circuit breaker, roll bar... everything has to be installed. The young Tavares had no budget and no infrastructure, so he had to make do with what he had on hand.

The homemade hoop

The roll bar, mandatory for running, will be made to measure... at a gate manufacturer located at the foot of the building where he lives. Steel used? Approximate. Thickness? Uncertain. As for the welds, they are, in his own words, "anything but regulation".

He remembers cutting the carpet in the passenger compartment to fix the tubes, then improvising where access was too difficult. In these areas, which were impossible to weld properly, he used... chewing gum, which he then painted the same color as the rest of the rollbar, just to fool the scrutineers.

An unexpected podium

Against all odds, the car passed the test and took the start. But this daring DIY move didn't prevent Tavares from putting in a good performance: he finished 2nd in his class and 10th overall.
That day, the future ex-boss of Stellantis won his very first trophy.