SECTION CONVOY RUNSECTION CONVOY RUNSECTION CONVOY RUNSECTION CONVOY RUN We will meet up at the A14 Services at

Rothwell near Kettering, which is just past Junction 4 heading east, at 8am ready to depart by 8.30. This should get us there in good time for a very enjoyable day. See you there! Well, the event calendar has started to get

good and busy now for sure. So as not to be called ‘samey’, we are promoting a different event this year in the shape of Spring Italian Car Spring Italian Car Spring Italian Car Spring Italian Car Day at BrooklandsDay at BrooklandsDay at BrooklandsDay at Brooklands. That promises to be well worth the drive down to London and will be a fair bit different to Spring AD too, if just as good. See panel on the right. Closer to home, if you are watching the fuel

bills, our friends from the Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club have invited us to their Classic Car Night Classic Car Night Classic Car Night Classic Car Night at Beedles Lake Golf Centre again on Tuesday 19th April. All Alfas are welcome of course, and there should be some nice and varied classic machines there for us to see alongside the Jaguars. Starts from 7pm. Well, what about the Alfa 4C GTA... signs of a

new beginning for Alfa Romeo? Well, there was lots of positive talk at the Geneva Motor Show in March as you’ll see inside, with new cars aplenty promised, many based on the foundation made by the excellent new Giulietta. Let’s see! Cheers, John John John John

SUNDAY 17th APRIL

Spring Alfa Day returns to the superb facilities at The Imperial War Museum, Duxford for the first time since 2005. The museum houses a fascinating collection of aircraft, from superbly maintained world war two craft to an SR-71 Blackbird, heck, even a B52 bomber! All are in special display theatres, and there are also hangars full of planes being restored and fettled too that you can get really close to. Out on the hard standing areas, you can even get on board Concorde. Also on site is an excellent display of tanks and military vehicles, all in making it a terrific backdrop to the 500 or more Alfa Romeos expected there. The club’s Alfas will have a dedicated parking

area, but do get there early as late comers will have to go in the general parking area. You have been warned! Admission for club members is just £9.50 in

advance, with under 15s free. Entry forms were posted with February’s Club Magazine, but if you missed it, it is still just £10.95 on the day. Important though, make sure you take your club membership card if you have not booked in advance to get a discount rate. Hard to believe we were last there back in

2005; how the time flies!

Inside this edition:

��� Race Retro Show Race Retro Show Race Retro Show

��� Geneva Motor Show ReportGeneva Motor Show ReportGeneva Motor Show Report

��� Rockingham AROC SprintRockingham AROC SprintRockingham AROC Sprint

��� Alfa 147 Photo ShootAlfa 147 Photo ShootAlfa 147 Photo Shoot

��� 2011 Event Preview2011 Event Preview2011 Event Preview

��� Our Alfas… Our Alfas… Our Alfas… and more.and more.and more.

■ ■ ■ ■ Alfisti Issue 132 ■■■■ April 2011

Alfisti is edited and produced byAlfisti is edited and produced byAlfisti is edited and produced byAlfisti is edited and produced by

John Griffiths AROC Central & East Midlands Section Secretary

Tel: 0774 8881317

e-mail: jg.alfa@tiscali.co.uk

Section website, for latest news and more:

www.AROC-UK.COM/CEMIDS

Production sponsored by

Spring Italian Spring Italian Spring Italian Car Day Car Day Car Day BROOKLANDSBROOKLANDSBROOKLANDS Saturday 30Saturday 30Saturday 30ththth April April April

Auto Italia Magazine’s first event of the

year always brings in big crowds, and with historic Brooklands’ fantastic backdrop we shouldn’t be surprised.

The parking space for Alfa Romeos has

been greatly increased this year not far from the Mercedes Benz test track. That will have a host of fascinating Italian cars circulating on it too at lunchtime as well as in action on the famous test hill. There will be

tremendous static displays too, with Italian exotics and historics in equal measure, plus plenty of trade stands into the bargain.

Admission costs £12 in advance, £14 at

the gate. (Discounts for children/fami l ies/concess ions) . Advance purchase is recommended to aid swift entry.

CONVOY RUN

Our Section members will meet up at the Watford Gap Services on the M1 southbound at 8am ready to depart by

8.30. This should allow us to beat the queues and hopefully arrive together! (Please drop John a line if you are intending to go.)

SPRING ALFA DAY!SPRING ALFA DAY!SPRING ALFA DAY!

A new 147 GTA at Duxford Spring Alfa Day in 2005 - now a collector’s machine!

CENTRALCENTRALCENTRAL & EAST& EAST& EAST MIDLANDSMIDLANDSMIDLANDS SECTIONSECTIONSECTION NEWSLETTERNEWSLETTERNEWSLETTER

Alfa 4C GTAAlfa 4C GTAAlfa 4C GTA

Geneva Motor Show - Alfa Stars!

The Geneva Motor Show is the first big European show of the year, and a chance for all Manufacturers to unveil new models and tease with concept cars. Well, who’d have guessed last year that one of the stars, if not THE star of the show would belong to Alfa Romeo? Alfa had a much smaller stand this year showcasing effectively two production models - Mito and Giulietta, the latter being equipped with Dual-clutch TCT transmission, the former a slightly revised MiTo Cloverleaf (lovely, carbon-backed Sabelt sports seats, aluminium Cloverleaf badge, subtly revised front lower grille - blink and you’ll miss it) and a MultiAir TCT model in a new metallic brown (it really the new white?) with ‘unusual’ new seat and dash trim. On the big turntable however—the one everyone wanted to see. The 4C

GTA. Mid engine (1750cc) rear wheel drive, carbon chassis, subtle alloys reminiscent of GTV Cup but ‘spiralised’, a true concept-style interior plus matte red paint flopping into black. I’m sure many Alfisti will have absorbed tons of facts about this machine so I will not repeat it here. Suffice to say, it’s looking like it will appear in production form - possibly a 5,000 car run - for USA, Europe and UK. Suggestion is 45,000 Euros, but possibly £50K in UK.. RHD? No word yet. Top 10 UK Alfa dealers will get it - already interest is being lodged by our local members at Chris Variava. (x 3 at time of writing.) Pictures here are from a number of our members who attended the show. Viv Stevens was

there on the first press day (he’s doing some work for Morgan), then Leigh Nethercott (who took an unhealthy interest in Volkswagens again), Simon Addison (recovering from back-op) and Martin Lindus. The latter three are pictured right with hostess Virginia as part of a very nice ‘VIP’ package. All were able to get really close to the 4C and all unanimous in its praise. Generally the consensus was that it was fantastic - if not exactly a ‘daily driver’, certainly in this conceptual form. They loved the detailing, the expanses of carbon fibre and the futuristic ‘superbike’ style interior. Other Italian cars being of notable interest being the Lamborghini Murcielago replacement

the ‘Aventador’, the new 4WD Ferrari FF, and a diminutive Fiat 500 Zagato coupe. The last word has to go to the 4C though. If this car doesn’t actually get production, this concept certainly worked in attracting huge attention to our favoured brand. Magnifico. John

Simon, Leigh & Martin with Virginia.

Below L-R: MY2011 MiTo Cloverleaf, then its fab new seats, then ‘Bruno’ MiTo. Bottom L-R, 500 Zagato Coupe; the new Cloverleaf badge, and VW Microbus concept. (Thanks Leigh!)

Mark Sangster from our Section sent in the photos here having been to see the opening round of the AROC Sprint season. Ade Horne and his wife Clare have worked hard

to promote the AROC Sprint Series, raising the number of registered entrants to 18 for 2011. Anyway, on Sunday 27th March the season

kicked of at the superb surroundings of Rockingham Raceway near Corby. A rather cold day dawned, but it stayed good and dry, so the cars could run to plan. The field was very varied, with everything from

a 75 race car to a 170bhp (Well, over actually!) 147 Ducati Diesel, equipped with Q2 diff as standard. The field included some remarkably standard 156s too, that performed very well. Simon Foote, last year’s winner, was impressive as ever with his blue GTV 3 litre. The series moves to a number of airfield

circuits next, remaining calendar as follows: Woodbridge Sunday 22nd May Barkston Heath Sunday 24th July Llandow Saturday 13th August Croft (TBC) Sunday 4th September Blyton Park Saturday 15th October Mark had a very enjoyable day watching, meeting Clare and Ade and Ed McDonough there among others, and the drivers certainly did too. John.

AROC SPRINT Rockingham Raceway

Red Rarity - Chris Variava nets a very special MiTo

Group Used Car Manager Tim Hulbert from Chris Variava in Nottingham is well known to regulars in our Section. He’s particularly renowned for tracking down interesting stock too, but this one even took him by surprise. Among an order direct from Alfa Romeo UK was a MiTo 155bhp Veloce, ‘fully loaded’, it said and in red. Well, when it rolled off the transporter that red was clearly very special - none other than the full-on 8C Red option, listed at £15,000 (and that is not a typo), as applied by the artisans at Maserati who paint the 8Cs themselves! The finish looks absolutely stunning, and with all of its extras (leather, sunroof, Bose, climate control, 18” alloys) would have listed at £34,000! So what was the secret? Well, it was one of the display cars built for Alfa’s centenary display at The Goodwood Festival of Speed. One fantastic car anyway, with delivery miles only and an asking price of ‘just’ £19,995. John (PS - It may well have been snapped up now!)

Most of you will know I was fortunate enough to buy Dave Atkins' Spider S4 in December. The drive home was one of my last before suffering from recurring back problems leading to more surgery. I am now back on my feet but during the downtime I took the opportunity to get all the little jobs on the car sorted in readiness for Spring.

The car was in excellent condition but was suffering from under use. I decided to get IntaServices to re-commission it by doing a full all fluids & filters service together with fitting some new front tyres (the originals were like new but six years old), service the brakes, replace the track rod ends, do the valve clearances, fix the heater and sort a speedo problem out.

As usual, Dave Knott & the team did a great job but I needed holding up when the bill came through. lol. I've also spent a fair bit at Classic Alfa, replacing the electric aerial, chromed headlamp trims, and door seals. I've also invested in some upgraded security in the form of a steering wheel cover (Disklok) and a professionally fitted immobiliser in addition to a Ctek smart battery charger for when the car is stored, some fitted car mats & some chrome wheel bolt covers.

Now that it's all done it's even better than stunning. I'm totally smitten & now that I can drive again I'm looking at taking her out at every given opportunity, heeding Dave's advice to make sure I use it. She's great fun to drive, Clare (and Leigh) love her and she gets tons of lust-full looks and positive comments wherever she goes.

Clare & I are planning a Euro Trip in May for my Birthday. We are looking at Belgium, Germany (including a visit to the 'ring) and Holland. We can't wait!

I remain very grateful to Leigh & Mandy for giving her a temporary home and for helping me with lots of the little DIY jobs we've done on her. Subject to some uncertainties with my health & my job, Clare & I really need to pull our fingers out and find a bigger house with a multi car garage.

Cheers to all, Simon

Spider S4 Update - Simon Addison

Just a small one car feature for AROC this year after the huge display for Alfa’s Centenary in 2010, but the event still had lots for Italian Car fans to enjoy, with Lancias to the fore.

RACE RETRO

The Historic Motorsports Show (aka Race Retro) was really a case of event promotion for our club this year, and the Mallory Park Classic Festival on 18 and 19 June in particular where AROC will have two Alfa races for cars from the mid ‘60s to the mid ‘90s. Sharing the stand with Mallory’s event organisers, the

Classic Touring Car Racing Club, Steve Dymoke’s lovely modified Alfasud Ti fitted in perfectly. Steve’s car having been originally built as a racer in the mid 80s, it passed through several owners’ hands until Steve bought it in 2006. The car has a steel shell with fibreglass bonnet front panel, wings and arches. Its engine is an 1800cc Brunswick Motorsport unit, giving around 185bhp. Powering a car weighing just 720kg and with an LSD and dog-cut ‘box, slow it ain’t! Around the halls it was great to see former club

Chairman Ed McDonough with his Historic Racing Car Magazine’s stand - featuring a beautiful 1991 Penske; a sublime 2900 8C, then a host of Lancias including an incredible Delta S4 rally recreation (road legal!). Jody Sheckter’s 1977 Ferrari 312T2 was just gorgeous too on the Motor Sport stand. Great to chat to Section Member Gary Smith who was promoting his superb brass sculptures again (pictured) - then outside, the Rally Cars on the 1 mile exhibition stage were just awe-inspiring. Favourites included a mad Ferrari 308 GTB; Lancia Delta Integrale in famous Martini colours (of course), a well driven Fiat 131Rallye, a feisty MG 6R4 and a bonkers Rover 3500 SD1 being hurled round the tight course, bouncing off the straw bales. Great stuff! John (All Photos John G)

Ferrari 308 GTB Stunning Ferrari 458 Italia.

(I’d have resisted the carbon sills.)

Fiat 131 Abarth Lancia Delta S4 Recreation

Lancia Delta Integrale

Ferrari 312T2 Sublime Alfa 2900 8C

Steve Dymoke’s Alfasud Ti

More from Race Retro

Above: Ed McD in the PenskeE Below; Ed McD getting out of the Penske!!

Above: Abarth X1/9 Above: Stratos display. Who cares if they are kits?

Above: Don’t rally cars look great muddy? Above: Serious intake trumpets!

In February I was asked by Auto Italia magazine to some more Alfas for a photo shoot at Bruntingthorpe Proving Grounds. Five cars requested this time, all 147s from 1.6 Twin Spark through to mighty GTA. Checking our local membership list the 1.6s are certainly the most numerous. I’d owed Pete Brailsford a favour for all the stuff he’s done for our section recently, so his 1.6 TI was first choice and I was very pleased he could make it. For the rest it was direct emails to owners I know around the country and a broadcast email to the AROC 147 Register members. The response was tremendous - there’s some

serious enthusiasm out there, to the point where there were three times as many cars in reserve! Distance seemed to be no problem either! Tom Taylor was to bring his mint GTA from Liverpool, Dave Peakall his 2.0 from Bristol, Mark Grimshaw his remapped JTDm from Tewkesbury and Malcolm Dowson a 2008 Selespeed (so rare) from Dublin. He wanted an excuse for a holiday he said! Michael Ward did the honours with the mag

photography again, and Guy Baker was the very enthusiastic Journalist driving the cars once again to get his impressions to turn into prose. The weather was a bit warmer than the last

shoot I went too there in December - snow everywhere - with the sun even coming out for a while. It was great fun chatting to all the owners too. I couldn’t stay for too long, but picked up that Guy was impressed with the general ride of Peter’s 1.6 Ti, and that Mark’s mildly re-mapped turbo-diesel’s mid range go really took him by surprise. Should be fascinating to see and read the finished results of course. Keep an eye out for Auto Italia in WH Smiths around May time. Before that, the Alfa saloons feature, as seen in last month’s Alfisti will appear. Oh, watch out - possible Spider feature

coming soon… Owners beware my phone call! Cheers! John

Bruntingthorpe: 147 Group Photo Shoot

Keep an eye-out for the article in

(...still apart from Alfisti)

Five 147s, and not a red one in sight! Michael Ward’s Grande Punto Van did a great job as camera car for this shoot.

Well, with the 4C GTA concept it is great to see the sporting nature of our brand come to the fore again. Light weight, mid-engined, who’d have believed it a few years ago. So, does it herald a new beginning?

Well, with Fiat Group’s direct links with Chrysler a replacement for the GM-linked Alfas - the big saloon and coupe, you could say, is certainly needed, terrific as both cars are. Coming out of the Geneva show, the indications are that the first step in that, the saloon (probably to be named Giulia) will appear sooner than anticipated in early to mid 2012, with possibly even a preview of sorts at the Frankfurt show later this year. What has been communicated is that a Sportwagon variant will also appear, and that a ’GT’ style coupe will follow too. The car being built on the expanded version of the new and highly impressive Giulietta platform.

Fiat Group are also showing signs that they want their sporting asset to broaden its range too. Two ’SUVs’ are tabled, again on the ’C-Evo’ platform and primarily targeting the huge US market. A 5-door MiTo will come soon, and a Mini-esque Cabrio version of Alfa’s distinctive baby is a real possibility. The name Spider is synonymous with Alfa, so surely that will appear. (How about a 4C Spider? Use a 1.4 turbo in a mass-market version too? There’s an idea, but carbon-fibre monocoques don’t come cheap!

Meantime, the spectre of a sell-off to the ever-expanding VW Group will not go away; “We have time”, repeated group boss Ferdinand Piech at Geneva. However, the signs now for Alfa under Fiat ownership are looking distinctly better than of recent times, though the jury is still out on those SUVs…. John

New models for Alfa?

Car Cleaning Tip of the Month Car Cleaning Tip of the Month Car Cleaning Tip of the Month --- Sealants Sealants Sealants

Just waxed your car? Done the hard work, but don’t really want to have to do it all again in a hurry? Well you need a sealant. I’ll explain.

For the anti-cleaners, the doubters, the lazy ones - back to basics first. Wax is the stuff you put on a car to protect paint and create the deep lustrous shine. A polish is what you use to improve or remove paint imperfections - swirls, scratches and abrasions –first. If you’ve read any car wax adverts lately you’ll have heard of Carnauba wax. Carnauba being the natural exotic plant extract that is one of the shiniest compounds on the planet. The more Carnauba content - the better, but dearer, the wax. Well, a sealant, or Polymer Sealant a kind of the anti-carnauba. They last a lot longer, they are easy to apply, but there’s nothing natural about them. A paint sealant is made of polymers, which are composed of tens of thousands of synthetic particles that are linked together. When a sealant bonds to your vehicle’s paint, it forms a rigid shell. It is not the ‘warm’ carnauba that seems to melt into the paint. Paint sealants basically sit on top of the paint like a transparent chain-mail suit. They are glossy and slick. Some ‘detailers’ (the nuts that I fear I’m turning a bit into!) really love the hard-as-glass look, but carnauba lovers will tell you they do not have the warmth and depth of a carnauba.

However, the real selling point of a paint sealant is durability. A premium paint sealant can last four to six months, as against a wax’s six to eight weeks, and sometimes longer. By “last”, I mean that

water will continue to bead and the paint will remain protected from UV rays and contamination. For people that spend more time driving than detailing but want to protect their Alfa, the paint sealant is the way to go. Paint sealants are very easy to apply; always in liquid form, they spread easily on a car too, a real time-saving feature. Some take a while to ‘cure’ before you buff them - but it is worth the wait. So, there are a lot of differences between paint sealants and natural carnauba waxes. Glassy, hard shell or deep, liquid shine? Six months or six weeks? Well, a growing number of enthusiasts simply refuse to choose. Instead, they coat their cars with a layer of sealant for long-lasting protection and then top it with a layer of carnauba-rich wax` for the dazzling shine, over time layering them up of course. Even if you forget to reapply carnauba in 6 weeks, your paint won’t suffer. Recommended sealants? Well, I’ve used Autoglym’s Extra Gloss Protection with its gold label for absolutely years. It is readily available, well priced and long lasting too as you only apply a really thin layer, like sun lotion. Treat yourself to an Autoglym Palm Applicator to go with it (super speedy and even application!) and some nice microfibre towels for buffing to the finished result and you will be awayE So, sealants and waxes - heck there are things called Glazes too, but we’ll leave that ‘til another time! John

Right; Auto Express magazine’s rendering of a potential Alfa 159 successor. Smart and aggressive, but a touch too Audi?

Above: One idea for an Alfa SUV among many shockers on the Internet.

Above right: What a 5-door MiTo might appear like. ‘Required’ by Americans it is said. Others say - ruins it, 5-door Corsa style.

Right: Maybe this one works? As long as they can hide any Mini-Cabrio ‘pram’ style folded roof.

I used to hate cleaning black cars, but my goodness nowadays you can make them shine! Autoglym High Definition Wax, Poorboys Black Hole Glaze and Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection - or just the latter in a hurry - and that black paint glows in the dark! Below - and the rain just beads up and runs off, and any necessary shampoo & wash is a doddle. Nice...

AROC Central & East Midlands Section Events 2011

Date Event

13 Apr ‘11 Regular Monthly Meeting at The George & Dragon in Thringstone - starting at 7pm

17 Apr ‘11 Spring Alfa Day - Imperial War Museum, Duxford, Cambs, CB22 4QR Includes Section Convoy Run to start - see Cover

19 Apr ‘11 Classic Car Night - with the Jaguar Enthusiasts’ Club at Beedles Lake Golf Centre near East Goscote (LE7 3WQ) from 7pm. Bar meals available - delightful venue.

30 Apr ‘11 Auto Italia - Spring Italian Car Day at Brooklands. Includes Section Convoy Run to start.

TBC May ‘11 Visit to Cosworth Engineering, Northants. Saturday p.m. tour (approx 3 hours). More details in a later edition. Limited numbers, priority given to regular event attendees.

11 May ‘11 Regular Monthly Meeting at The George & Dragon in Thringstone - starting at 7pm

5 Jun ‘11 Italian Car Concours - Stanford Hall near Lutterworth, Leicestershire

8 Jun ‘11 Section Fun Concours Night, at The George & Dragon in Thringstone - starting at 7pm

18/19 Jun AROC at Mallory Park - Large AROC gathering at our local circuit to watch two Alfa-only races among a packed programme at the Classic festival. (To be supported by Chris Variava Alfa Romeo Nottingham.)

26 Jun ‘11 Cotswold Alfa Day - Buscot Park, Faringdon nr Swindon.

13 Jul ‘11 ‘Spider Night’ at The George & Dragon in Thringstone - starting at 7pm

17 Jul ‘11 National Alfa Day, Basildon Park, Lower Basildon, Reading, Berks RG8 9NR

10 Aug ‘11 ‘Blag-a-Ride’ Night at The George & Dragon in Thringstone - starting at 7pm

14 Aug ‘11 MITCAR - Midlands Italian Car Day at Stoneleigh Abbey, near Coventry.

4 Sep ‘11 Leicester Aeroclub Open Day - Leicester Airport, from 10.30am

11 Sep ‘11 Autumn Italian Car Day - Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon, Warwicks.

14 Sep ‘11 Twilight Drive at The George & Dragon in Thringstone - starting at 7pm

TBC Sep/Oct 11

AROC Track Day - venue and date TBC. Expected to be good value at a circuit near us. Free expert driver tuition available too - ideal for the novices.

12 Oct ‘11 Section AGM and Alfa Quiz at The George & Dragon in Thringstone - from 7.30pm

TBC Oct ‘11 Tuscany Fly-Drive trip! Including visit to the superb Padova Classic Car Show. Section ‘lads’ trip, staying at and around Barga.

9 Nov ‘11 Regular Monthly Meeting at The George & Dragon in Thringstone - starting at 7.30pm

11 - 13 Nov Classic Motor Show - NEC Birmingham

14 Dec ‘11 Regular Monthly Meeting at The George & Dragon in Thringstone - starting at 7.30pm

Lots more events to be added through the year

6 April ‘11 Jamie Porter Talk Night - The Aviator, Sywell Aerodrome, Sywell. Northants. 7.15pm for 7.30pm. Please email john if you intend to go. (See panel below.)

Gazetta News Snippets

MINI Countryman. Huge, hideous, and just four seats.

BMW, WHAT IS THE POINT?

OTHER MARQUES

The Small Print: ‘Alfisti’ is published primarily for the enjoyment of members of the Alfa Romeo Owners’ Club Central & East Midlands Section with its cost effectively included as part of their annual subscription paid to the AROC. We are very pleased that local dealer Chris Variava Alfa Romeo also support the cost of printing production. Please note that the Alfa Romeo Owners’ Club UK ltd cannot endorse or recommend services or products advertised in its publications. Any opinions published in ‘Alfisti’ are personal ones. Alfa Romeo Owners’ Club Ltd is registered in Ipswich. Registered Number 01106134, Registered Office Address: 48 High Street, Ipswich, IP1 3QJ. VAT Registration Number 31801433.

Brian Hawkins, the new South Midland Section Secretary has passed on an invitation to our Section members:- “On Wednesday April 6th 2011, at our regular meeting date, we

have organised a talk by Jamie Porter (the Alfa Garage, Royston) on all things Alfa and wanted to extend invitations to our neighbours. The venue is The Aviator, Sywell Aerodrome, Sywell,

Northamptonshire NN6 0BN. (Private room, just off the Bar area). The Time:- 7.15 for 7.30pm start.

The Date:- Wednesday 6th April 2011. Please pass this onto your members, as you know we are a

friendly bunch and look forward to meeting a few of them on our patch, as it were! If you could let me know if you have any interest, that would be

great. It should be a good night. Brian Hawkins”

I’ll echo all of that. It’s a very good venue and Jamie is an extremely knowledgeable person, as members will know from reading his regular club magazine column. Please let me know by email if you plan to attend. Thanks, John

AN INVITATION - Weds 6th April ALFA TALK by Jamie Porter evening at The Aviator, Sywell Aerodrome.

CLASSIC CAR NIGHT - As you’ll have read on page 1, we are back to Beedles Lake Golf Centre on Tuesday 19 April, meeting up with our pals from the Jaguar Enthus-iasts Club. Some very interesting classic machinery is expected, and ALL Alfa Romeos are very welcome. It all starts from 7pm - worth getting along early. Pete Brailsford is still working on our planned visit to COSWORTH ENGINEERING, slightly complicated as the guy who was providing our way in has left the company… Pete is still very hopeful though for a date soon. Our website will be kept up to date with developments. 2011AROC SHOP ITEMS are now in stock. Danielle has used the wonderful ‘retro’ Alfa Romeo Milano badge on a number of superb, good quality Tee Shirts which look terrific. And just £10 each! See the whole range at Spring Alfa Day. TURIN MOTOR SHOW was always quite an event, held virtually every year from 1900 to 2000. Well, for the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification, the intention was to hold it again a bit later in the year. One problem though, the city Council looking for an event sponsor, line one up. Volkswagen Group. FIAT bosses got to hear about this, inevitably and, er, it’s now not happening. You know who’s got the power in Italy...

■■■■ Alfisti no.133 will be out in May

Our Alfas All the latest on our local members’ cars...

Alfa reverseAlfa reverseAlfa reverse---engineer engineer engineer ‘Rosso 130’ Paint‘Rosso 130’ Paint‘Rosso 130’ Paint

Alfa Romeo owners of old are well aware of how the old ‘Rosso 130 red’ paint is able to fade on cars - turning various shades of pink through to, eventually, matt. Well, what people are not aware of is that the special matt red paint on the fabulous 4C GTA is designed to gradually develop to full-gloss Alfa Red. It takes about 5 years, and does it gradually on random panels. Nice thinking Centro Stile.

- SCOOP! - Unusual news from the world of motoring

GTV 2.0 TS - Stuart O'Donnell Stuart’s black GTV is his weekend machine really - a perfect sporting antithesis to his daily driver, a whopping great Lexus. Stuart says he has to get down into this one of course, where as a ladder is almost in order for the big machine! Generally it’s going great, though IntaServices have been fixing the odd warning light malady. I think we’ve all had those over the years...

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

Pete Brailsford - 147 1.6 Ti Pete, our special ‘insider’ from Bilstein, was delighted to come along to the Auto Italia 147 photo shoot featured inside, bringing along his rare Ti model to the throng. He’s owned it for two years now and it’s been a superb,

reliable machine, and even on his usual short journeys still returning around 35mpg. The TI has special trim and unique ten-spoke 17” alloys made by Toora in Italy. Whenever asked what got him into Alfas, his stock reply is always ‘the badge”. Guess he’s got a point there. The fact they drive so well and look so good is a bonus!

Left: VW Scirocco Mk111 ‘R’ in blue.

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Right: Panzer Mk111 ‘R’, also in blue.

GT 2.0 JTS - Jim Cowan Jim has swapped his blue GT - for a red one! Looks terrific in Rosso Alfa of course. We look forward to seeing it and his partner Beth’s MiTo during this year.

MiTo Veloce 16v - Maria Griffiths I remember when I was a MiTo doubter. Wasn’t sure about the looks, wasn’t sure about the ride. Well, after the 2010 revisions and the general passage of time, I’m officially besotted! The car was to Mrs G’s spec of course, hence the vibrant Corsa Yellow paintwork and the big black sunroof. Have to say I still really love it on such a fun car too. The 1400cc 16v unit, with just 3K on it now is getting run in and its feisty Italian nature is really coming to the fore: it loves to be driven hard in ‘Dynamic’, belying its size. Getting in with electronic gizmos, the blinking lights, the flick of the needles, shutting the frameless coupe-like door behind you, is always an event. If you’re ever thinking of a new smaller car, for goodness sake do not miss out on a MiTo, they are delightful. John

Brera S V6 - Martin Lindus From an email to John: On the way back from the Skittles match, I got a bit of a vibration on the Brera and pulled over to discover a flat tyre!! - Middle of no where on the A47, a l m o s t m i d n i g h t wearing just a shirt - temp 1degree C! Fortunately I knew a man that could help,

and the AA arrived 20mins later and put the space saver on. Two days later, and £500 lighter, I have two new Pirellis - and boy does the car handle better. Now, in theory I shouldn't have had to worry about the Brera being out of action whilst tyres were ordered, however the GTV had an MOT the next dayE.. and of course decided to leak brake fluid so not only failed but couldn't be used for a week. It’s amazing how you vehicle status changes in just 24hrs!!! Martin

Panzer Division Corner

From an email to John from Herr Nethercotzen: Gutten Tag Johann. Vot do you zink to mein new leetle Tank? Ist nice jah? JAH?! STAND STILL VEN I AM TALKING TO YOU!! I vos forced to buy it as meine Brera vos, how you say, “getting-on-a-bit”, und das Italians are no longer making eine new big coupe. Especially mit das DoppleSchmeizerGrősser (DSG) gearbox zat I need. (I have some shrapnel in mein left ankle.) VOT EES DE MATTER VIS ZEM??? So, das Volkswagen vos reqvired after I observed ozzer German machinen. Das BMW, das Audi und das Tiger (too big). Das Scirocco Mark Drie Typen R (Reichstagg Edition) ist more manoeuvrable zan das Half-Trak I tried from Mercedes Leicester, und has most impressive fire power. I nearly lost a track on za virst day vis it, but das kerbstone voss CRUSHED. So, you see zat I like it veeery much. Ze only problem zo, I am told, is zat it is very schnell through Poland, France und das low countries, but not good at crossing ze channel, or in North Africa or Russia. ‘Til ze next time vee meet. Panzer Commandant Leigh Nethercotzen.

Our next monthly meetings at The George & Dragon in Thringstone are on Wednesday 13th April and Wednesday 11th

May, both from 7pm. See you there! John