■ Alfisti Issue 169 ■ October 2014

Inside:

Aero Club Open Day

Twilight Drive

Curborough Sprint Experience

Alfa Driving Day

Our Cars

. . . and more

Alfisti is edited and produced by

John Griffiths AROC East Midlands Section Secretary

Tel: 0774 8881317

e-mail: john.jhgcs@gmail.com

See our website for latest news and more:

www.AROC-UK.com/EastMids

Alfisti’s production sponsored by

ALFISTI / EASTMIDS

Free to club members

Running through to Christmas we’ve got some good stuff lined up as always, just have a look down the column on the right. Going from bottom up, we always enjoy the HUGE Classic Motor Show—can you believe over 60,000 people now attend over the course of the event? Our stand this year promises some fabulous cars reflecting the popular models owned during the AROC’s 50 years of existence. Now, we always need helpers on each day, including the Thursday when the stand gets built, so if you can offer some time on any day, do please let me know.

Our Karting night is all booked in for Friday 17 October. It might be damp, it might be chilly, but you can guarantee it will be AMAZINGLY good fun. With a damp track kart control is heightened—you can steer so well on brakes and throttle, it is hilarious! Sutton Circuit is a great fast and twisty track, and well floodlit so we won’t have any problems there. It is a team endurance format, with price held at £40 a head that will allow a practice and 30mins driving time a head. It’s a case of the more the merrier so if you want to take part why not invite some family and friends? (Minimum age is 16). The photo below is from our night there a couple of years back - see that oversteer! All equipment is provided (helmet, overalls, gloves) just bring some trainers and be prepared to have an excellent time driving absolutely flat out! The braking zone at the end of the main straight is without doubt one of the best kart track features in the country.

As you will see opposite, we’ve had to move our Section AGM to the November meeting night. That was unavoidable I’m afraid owing to availability of committee members (including me!!) We will still have some fun at the October meeting, am working on something there so keep an eye on our website!

Of course, key at the AGM is our review of the past 12 months and discussion around what we might do in the next. There are always the firm favourites worthy of repeat but new things are always welcome. Just think of the ‘new’ activities we’ve had this year; a return to Morgan Cars with its excellent visitors centre; the fascinating trip to the Rolls Royce Heritage Centre in Derby; the curry night at Out of India; the rolling road power runs on the Dyno-night in Syston; the Fox Run across south Leicestershire; World Superbikes at Donington Park - all really good fun, and there were more too - we may need some additional pages in Alfisti when we do the review of the year!

Thanks for the terrific support at our events over the last few months. We’ve certainly not been bored. Inside we look back at 4 all from September alone! I hope you’ve enjoyed them as much a I have, and I look forward to seeing you at the activities we have planned this autumn and winter. Meantime, enjoy driving your Alfa while we still have some decent weather - it’s what it’s all about. Cheers!

Wednesday 8 Oct, 7.30pm

We had originally planned this to be out

Section AGM and Alfa Quiz evening but we’ve

had to put that back a month owing to people

availability reasons. John is organising some

additional entertainment on this evening

though - keep an eye on our website for clues!

Fri 17 October, 6.30pm

Our karting extravaganza will return. It’s a team

endurance race format, £40 a head for a 60 or

90 or 120 minute race depending on numbers

(individuals get 2 race stints of 15 minutes

each plus practice). Friends and family are very

welcome, minimum age is 16. BRILLIANT fun!

Please contact John if interested. Sutton

Circuit is fast and challenging, with some great

bends. Karts are evenly matched and in this

format you don’t have to be an expert!!

14-16 November

A very special display of Alfas is promised on

our stand for AROC’s 50th Anniversary year. A

special ticket discount code is also now

available saving £5 on advance Adult tickets

for the Saturday or Sunday. See Gazetta inside

on page 7 for more details.

This is one of Europe’s biggest and best classic

shows with literally thousands of brilliant cars

to see, plus tempting things to buy; books,

pictures, memorabilia. It’s a belter.

John

Alfa Romeo Owners Club UK

East Midlands

Section

Formerly Central & East Midlands

@AROCeastmids

Twilight Drive The George & Dragon, Thringstone, 10 September

Our September meeting night at the George & Dragon in Thringstone has hosted a drive

for several years now, and it was great to have it on a warm and clear evening for a

change. Brian Smith lead the way again, living locally he knows the lanes like the

proverbial back of his hand. For about 30 minutes we enjoyed a blat around the lanes as

dusk fell - managing not to lose anyone either! Duncan took the passenger seat next to

Brian in his Spider S4 up at the front, and I took Peter Crichton for a spin in my Giulietta

right at the back having taken snaps of people heading off. (It was fun catching up!)

After blowing away a few cobwebs, very safely of course, back at the pub we enjoyed

some pub grub, drinks and a good natter. A fun evening again. John

ALFISTI - October 2014 - Issue 169 AROC East Midlands Section Newsletter

Alfa Driving Day at Chris Variava

Paul Jones organised a special driving opportunity on 13 & 14 September. The

very latest Giulietta Quadrifoglio Verde and MiTo QV were both available to be

booked in advance for 30 minute driving stints, and several of our members took

the opportunity including Bob Human and his son, Alan Lathwell, Duncan

Langford, Danielle Kisby—and me! I’d driven the Giulietta QV LE recently so

thought I’d Try the latest MiTo instead, and was very impressed. The new TCT

software seems excellent, the car responding very rapidly to commands from the

paddle shift. The turbo MultiAir engine has substantial torque too, but the speed

of down change when you touch the throttle in Dynamic mode is what most

impresses—it’s instantaneous and the corresponding acceleration is fantastic. It’s

a proper hot-shoe! The clever suspension, linked to the DNA system, is very good

too. Cornering is very flat, but with a very decent ride too. John

Photos by John G, Clockwise from top right: Alex Pope turns back into the G&D in his MiTo SBK; David Malpas departs in his 3.0 V6 Spider, Alan Lathwell drove the brand new MiTo QV TCT that Paul had brought over from CV’s; Colin Davenports Spider next to Brian’s; One of our lines of cars early on; Steve Drury gears up to go in his GTV 3.0 V6, Duncan smiling alongside Brian ready to go.

Above: The Matt Magnesio Grey paint and black trim give the MiTo a very serious edge. The car itself is a delight to drive, and definitely begs to be driven hard. The MultiAir 1.4 turbo with 170bhp makes it shift too!

Below - a lucky customer is about to take delivery of a 4C. Under the covers this one is black. A rare choice perhaps.

Below - Chris Variava always keeps a good stock of used MiTos in. There are some superb examples among them. Two SBKs, and two highly spec’d Cloverleafs….

Curborough Sprint Experience 2014 - No. 2!

Thanks to El Presidenté, George Cole, we were back at the

Curborough Circuit near Lichfield for a second ‘Sprint

Experience’ day this year. The weather was glorious, and those

of us there could enjoy as many laps as we liked on the track

which benefitted this time from a resurfaced crossover section.

Sprints with one car on track at a time can of course use a criss-

cross design. George showed us the ‘official’ route, but in

practice we were able to take whatever we fancied, 3 laps at a

time. The beauty of the place is you are not putting anything like

the amount of wear on your car as you would at a big race track,

but it is still challenging and a real thrill, particularly when you

get your lines right!

The fun of being with a group of friends is you can get to ride in

one another’s cars and even get to drive them. As always,

though down to a couple of cars less than normal this time, we

had a BIG variety - this time with one FIAT into the bargain too.

This edition was designed for people who hadn’t had opportunity

to drive there before. Bob and Gill Woodward were keen to join in

with their Fiat Strada Abarth 130TC which Gill has owned since

new (!), and their lovely red 164 3.0 V6 automatic. Ian Jephcott

joined in with us with his fabulous green Concours winning 2000

Berlina which appeared to drive really well and made some

wonderful noises from exhaust and its twin carbs. Coming up to

date, Mark Gunston was along

with his tremendous looking 8C

red Giulietta Cloverleaf. I loved

driving that - the 1750 turbo

engine is a real belter. Old

hands (figuratively speaking)

next; Brian Smith with his S4

Spider, another hoot to drive;

Keith Davies with his 916 GTV

TS that made some wonderful

noises, particularly from its

tyres! George had his ‘new’

silver145 Cloverleaf (a little beauty) and then there was me with

my Giulietta Sportiva Nav TCT. The flying Taxi. I gave it a few

runs, not driving terribly hard as its still so young - the TCT being

a tad confused in auto mode but great fun in full manual,

especially using the sequential stick shift. The paddles are fine,

but the stick is all the more ‘Touring Car’ style fun.

So, a right old collection. Classics with ‘exciting’ lean angles, all

LSD and RWD; classic 80s Hot Hatchery; Busso V6 howl; modern

DNA, eDiffs, ESP etc etc - a great eclectic and very Latin

mix. Basically, we had a ball - and you will probably be able to

tell by the smiles in the photos! Thanks again to George for

organising. Here’s to the next time. John

ALFISTI - October 2014 - Issue 169 AROC East Midlands Section Newsletter

George at the wheel

Check out our

website for LOADS

more photos . . .

Keith & Brian

Ian having a ball! Mark Gunston with his Giulietta Cloverleaf

This event at Leicester Airport is becoming more

and more popular with our club members. We had

45 Alfas attending this year on a glorious late

summer day that saw temperatures hit a very

welcome 22 degrees C.

There were some great planes to enjoy seeing this

year again, including the Battle of Britain Memorial

Flight Spitfire MkIX, their Douglas Dakota, plus late

in the day a superb P51-D Mustang that came in to

land for a bit of a pit stop. There were some superb

aerobatic displays as well; the Pitts Special that

went up at around 12noon put on an absorbing

performance with smoke everywhere, pulling some

superb high level swoops and turns. A little later, a

glider pulled off some phenomenal stunts too,

finishing by swooping in incredibly low circles

directly over our viewing position. Its rush through

the air almost sounding as is if was jet-propelled!

I’ve never seen anything quite like that, and we

were delighted when he repeated the performance

later in the afternoon. We’d hoped to see the

BBMF Lancaster during the day, but sadly it

couldn't make it, being in huge demand at shows in

the north of the country. A low-winged stunt plane

did a late display that, even minus smoke trail, was

mesmerizing, The dive on to us from right over head

with its engine cut for several seconds was, err,

quite exhilarating!

A new feature this year was a parade for our Alfas

on the smooth taxi-way and main runway. This was

a great opportunity which people really enjoyed.

Should we get the opportunity to do it again

however, we will ensure that all Alfas extricate

themselves from the parking area first before

commencing the lap, as things got a tad

complicated once the first batch had come around

and people were still coming on track! Anyway,

there were smiles aplenty after the run as you can

imagine.

Talking of smiles, many of our members got to

have free pleasure flights, though general public

demand was considerably up this year. The

organisers countered this by a raffle format for

deciding the lucky ones. The biggest winners

seemed to be those who went up in the biplane

affectionately known as the Banana… AROC Shop

operator Danielle Kisby was very lucky to get an

early trip in that and had an absolute ball, including

looping the loop!

The barbecue, bar, archery, ice creams, police car

display were all other welcome attractions on what

was a really super day.

Thanks again to Dave Atkins for organising our

attendance and to Alan Lathwell too for help with

advance organisation, plus Keith Davies and

Duncan Langford in particular for extra help on the

day. Thanks go again to Mick Ventola and all of

the Leicester Aero Club team for allowing us to

display our cars and join in with the day’s

entertainment. We’re already looking forward to

next year’s edition! John

Photos below by John G. Some of the superb aircraft performing at the open day.. Of note - bottom right, the surreal ‘hover taxi’ of the helicopters providing pleasure flights from the new Helicentre. Top Left, the flying Banana. Centre, the wonderful P51D Mustang. Bottom left, amazing Pitts Special stunt display. MORE PHOTOS ON OUR WEBSITE

Leicester Aero Club

Open Day

ALFISTI - October 2014 - Issue 169 AROC East Midlands Section Newsletter

ALFISTI - October 2014 - Issue 169 AROC East Midlands Section Newsletter

A couple of perspectives of our runway run - above pic by Mark Gunston Above, Gary and Karen Smith in their superb Giulia GTC

Chris Savill’s Giulia Nuova Our lines of Alfas with Control Tower back drop Bryan Alexander had the Italo-Jack flag

Wonderfully varied Alfa line up! Now this is CLOSE to the planes! Keith Krog &Graham Varmind, both AROC SA!

Ian Jephcott was over in his Berlina Neil Fairhurst’s Spider Bertone with 3.0 24v V6 fitted in foreground….

Sail Flag to the fore Dave French’s 1935 Ariel Keith Krog’s fab ES30 SZ

Alfa Giulia ‘Mule’ spotted Alfa Romeo’s new sports saloon has commenced road testing. There’s no bodywork for

the new Alfa Romeo yet, so this Ghibli-camouflage might just be the best solution

available for this early stage. The rear window sill and the upper part of the wheel

arches have been taped and the rear doors drastically shortened. This was also the

case during the development of the newest Quattroporte and Ghibli when they used

the old Quattroporte’s bodywork. Later spy shots captured ‘Tipo 952’ rather clumsily

taped to the dashboard - almost as if someone deliberately wanted it to be captured!

There were initial thoughts that this might be the new Maserati GT as per the Alfieri

concept but using a

number in typical Alfa

‘Progetto’ style surely

confirms that this is

Alfa’s long awaited rear

drive machine, using the

new ‘Giorgio’ platform.

You can see a narrower

track than the Ghibli too.

Long rumoured to be called Giulia, the latest

from Italy is that it will have a different name.

US 4Cs getting ready

North American spec 4Cs are now being produced. Owing to

various Federal laws, fully enclosed lights are required and the 4C

Spider Concepts units are fitted as standard. Other than that

there are only very minor detail changes.

And at the opposite end…. We can only assume these are

test machines, presumably off to the crusher!!

ALFISTI - October 2014 - Issue 169 AROC East Midlands Section Newsletter

Engine rumours are of an all new

2.2litre inline-four rated from

180 to 330hp and a 3.3-litre V6

with output from 400 to more

than 500hp. Meanwhile, two new

turbo diesels are rumoured to be

planned: a 120 to 210hp inline-

four and a 250 to 330hp V6. All

sounding great! John

Date Event

Weds 8 Oct Regular Meeting Night at The George & Dragon in Thringstone - starting at 7.30pm. Will feature some extra entertainment on the night. We had to move the AGM night to November for availability reasons.

Fri 17 October Karting Challenge - at Sutton Circuit nr Broughton Astley. Team format, price @ £40 per head. Sadly Alfisti had to go to print before date finalised. Please email John if interested.

Weds 12 Nov Section AGM and Alfa Quiz - at the George & Dragon, Thringstone, We’ll be electing the committee, reviewing events and looking forward to 2015. And there’s the traditional Alfa Quiz, multiple choice format (so you can guess!) with some nice prizes too.

14-16 Nov Classic Motor Show - NEC Birmingham. AROC stand will again feature some superb Alfa Romeos in this the Club’s 50th Anniversary year. See Gazetta for AROC discount details.

Weds 10 Dec Regular Meeting Night at The George & Dragon in Thringstone - starting at 7.30pm. Will feature some extra entertainment on the night… more next time.

Friday 9 Jan New Year Meal - at La Torre, Coalville. Fabulous food and more!

Please watch our website for latest event news, and join us on TWITTER!

AROC East Midlands Section Events 2014

The Small Print: Alfisti is published primarily for the enjoyment of members of the Alfa Romeo Owners’ Club East Midlands Section. Chris Variava Alfa Romeo Nottingham supports the cost of Alfisti’s printed production carried out at cost rate by a Section Member’s company. Alfa Romeo Owners’ Club UK ltd cannot endorse or recommend services or products advertised in its publications. Any opinions published in ‘Alfisti’ or its sister website, Twitter account or other broadcasts are personal ones. Alfa Romeo Owners’ Club Ltd registered Number 01106134. Please contact John Griffiths if you have any queries about the Club or our active local Area Section. See cover for contact details.

Gazetta News Snippets

The AROC 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner

is confirmed for Saturday 18 October at

The Holiday Inn, Coventry. Up to 150

guests for dinner, and numbers are in

excess of 100 at the time of writing. If

you’d like to go to this Black Tie / Lounge

Suits event, please contact Ken Carrington

via ken.car@blueyonder.co.uk asap as they

may have al gone.

FOX RUN - now for 2015

We had a great Section navigational run

back in April and were looking at organising

another this autumn, however, owing to

various factors we’ve decided to hang on

until the spring for the next one. It will be

worth waiting for.

HOLIDAY ALFA SPOTTED!

Peter Vaughan caught site of this blue

beauty on the quayside at Paimpol in north

western France back in August. It’s a 101

series Giulia 1600 and looks stunning.

NEC CLASSIC MOTOR SHOW DISCOUNT

As mentioned on the cover, discounted

AROC Tickets are £16.50 for a single (use

code CSCMS14HTAUE) and £35.00 for

family (discount code CFCMS14HTAUE).

Offer applies to Saturday or Sunday pre -

booked only. This is a £5 discount. Call

0871 230 1088 to book tickets or online

at www.necclassicmotorshow.com

OUR SECTION WEBSITE is having some

tweaks, thanks to a recent necessary

software update. It

may mean that

some of the old

gallery pages look

a tad odd for a

period will be fixed

soon. If you would

like your car

featured in the

Gallery pages for members’ cars do please

send John an image to upload.

Ugly Car Corner

The new BMW X4. Don’t know where to start on this. Just WORRY if you could see yourself driving it . . .

SCARB - Alfa Club Holland’s Big Event at Zandvoort

Nick Clancy from AROC West Midlands organises various overseas Alfa-related motoring tours including this popular one. This year Simon & Clare Addison and Martin & Jackie Lindus went over in GT V6 and GTV V6 respectively and enjoyed the long weekend despite some poor weather. Track action was excellent, as you can glimpse here. The event’s cost is included in the Dutch AROC membership fee, substantially higher that the UK club’s I hasten to add, but it does mean there’s a very good attendance.

Photo on left gives you an idea of some of the many Classic Alfas present - this the Giulietta parade.

ALFISTI - October 2014 - Issue 169 AROC East Midlands Section Newsletter

CLAY TIME Now is a terrific time to prep your car’s paintwork for winter. I’ve gone in to some depth on it all in the October edition of the AROC magazine, but succinctly, one of the best things you can do is to use some automotive clay on your paintwork to lift off all traces of summer residue: dead insects, caked on tree sap, and all other kinds of ingrained dirt. AutoGlym’s Clay Kit is a good

one, ditto the Meguiars product, though you can source many other brands online. Essentially, you take a flat 50p sized piece of clay and, using a lubricant spray, work it in small circles across the car, drying off with a

microfibre as you go. It can take an hour to do a through job, but when you come to polish and wax afterwards you’ll get a superb finish. For winter, it’s a great idea to apply a top coat of a quality sealant such as AutoGlym Extra Gloss Protection. Apart from looking after the paint it makes car washing easier too as dirt will not bond as well to the surface.

Next a little tip; many Alfa seats are fitted very tight to the sills, and getting at dirt deposits with a vacuum can be tricky if not impossible. To clear those bits of dirt, wet a cloth and push into the gap using a stick, screwdriver or blunt knife, work it side to side and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how much dirt you can lift away. John

Alfisti no.170 will be out in November

- SCOOP! - Unusual news from the world of motoring

Alfisti’s production is kindly sponsored by Chris Variava Alfa Romeo Nottingham

Spider S2 - Anabel McDougal Anabel has owned this fabulous blue Spider 2000 Veloce for many years.

We were delighted to

see it along at the

Leicester Aero Club

Open Day where it

looked great lined up

with the varied ranks of

Alfas. It sits on a set of

smart period alloys and

has a delightful original

finish throughout. We

hope to see Anabel and

her Spider at more of

our gatherings.

FOR SALE - Giulietta Veloce 2.0 JTDm/170 (Rob Sandars) 61 plate, registered 20 October 2011, 27.500 miles. Taxed until 31/12/14. Full main dealer service history, Red Leather,18” 5 hole alloys, Brembo brake factory upgrade, Alfa upgraded exhaust tail pipes, Rear parking sensors. Genuine reason for sale - expanding family! £12,395 Please contact Rob Sandars on 0759 0843837 or abbyrob @sandars .net

Giulietta Distinctive M/A- Peter Vaughan At long last my new Giulietta arrived in August - 170 Multiair

again in Distinctive trim. After initially ordering a red one I

changed my mind and went for Cobalto Blue - very pleased I did, it looks fab

and everyone comments on the colour. I've also got Tan Sports Leather this

time around which really enhances the interior and looks very luxurious. The

18in teledial wheels should be a lot easier to clean than the old multi-spokes,

which were hard work to keep nice. My white Giulietta went back to the lease

company with 58k miles and had hardly missed a beat in four years, after a

new battery very early on. The top of the gear knob needed gluing back on at

some stage and the driver's seatbelt was starting to jam from time to time

when it went back. Oddly, it was much quieter at motorway speeds when the

rear tyres had been replaced. Alfa has improved the Giulietta - the ride is

better (despite going from 17in wheels to 18in's), it's quieter, and quality is

improved too. It even sounds better, more rorty. I like the fact that it now stays

in Dynamic when you switch off (I never, ever, drove the old one in Normale)

but it seems odd that automatic lights and wipers have disappeared from this

version’s spec. All round, though, I'm thrilled with the new motor. Peter

Spider S4 - Mick Smith Mick brought his Spider along to the Leicester Aero Club Open Day. Up close

the car looks in

really

excellent

condition.

Parked

against the

top end of our

area Mick

was able to

get in the first

batch on

track and

enjoyed the

blast along

the runway.

New Alfa Giulia Technology According to Scoop sources, the forthcoming Alfa ‘Giulia’ saloon will offer a smartphone app so up to date that it will allow you to find its location, turn on its heating system and also find other single Giulias in the area looking for a good time...

164 3.0 V6 Lusso - Bob Woodward Gill and I really enjoyed the Curborough event. Gill was a little circumspect

to begin with but as the day warmed up so did her lap times as she got more

confidence in both the 164 and the Strada. Sadly on our return home the

drivers window regulator failed on the Strada which meant the window could

not be raised and as we are going to the Isle of Wight tomorrow Friday it

called for a change of car. Next in line was our Fiat Croma Turbo (featured in

the October’s AutoItalia), however, the drivers electric seat was still being

fixed. As the 166

is deemed too

new we are off in

my beloved 164

Super again.

Photo attached is

of the 164 on

display at Ryde

esplanade back

in 2012 with a

funky Panda 4x4.

Cheers Bob.

FOR SALE - Giulietta Cloverleaf - (Neil Fairhurst) April 2012. One carefully owner. 6,000 miles. 8C Red, 5 hole (proper Alfa)

wheels.

Electric

folding

mirrors. Rest

as standard.

£15,995.

(Private plate

not included

in sale.)

Please

contact Neil

on nf145

@icloud.com