Alfaholics Castle Combe Trackday 2012 – FULL REPORT

Roz Shaw’s extensively Alfaholics equipped 1750 GTAm

Video onboard Maxim’s Alfaholics GTA-R at the Alfaholics Castle Combe Trackday 2012

The track day weekend kicked off with our annual Open Day on the Friday.  This was a great success once again as customers travelled from far and wide to check out the latest products on offer as well as tour the workshops and see all the cars in differing stages of build.  The atmosphere was fantastic as the car park filled up with 105s of various colours and nationalities. Once again, we had plenty of visitors from abroad – most notably a Belgian and Dutch contingent making the journey across the Channel.  Everyone took advantage of a lovely afternoon in the sun; the weather forecast for Saturday at the track looking far less promising! All too soon it was time for everyone to head into Bristol and check into the hotel. We then assembled in the bar and headed out to our familiar Italian restaurant where we took over the entire upstairs restaurant area. After a fabulous dinner and not too much wine (!), the evening drew to a close in preparation for the following day.

Line up of cars at the Alfaholics Open Day

Dinner in Bristol Italian restaurant Friday night

Saturday dawned a little chilly and the overnight rain had left the track wet. After another light drizzle, it actually turned into quite a pleasant and bright day and the track dried out completely.

Added excitement this year was the presence of the team from Classic & Sports Car magazine.  Attracted by the tremendous array of cars, they were acquiring content for a forthcoming 105 series article to celebrate the model’s 50th anniversary. Look out for this in the August 2012 issue on sale very soon! As usual, there was a fabulous selection of 105s on track – ranging from standard specification road cars to super-quick modified twin spark track day cars and race cars, all well presented and well prepared. It is often mentioned how high the standard of the cars is of the cars that take part in the annual Alfaholics track day and this year was undoubtedly the best yet. The semi open-pitlane format meant that there was plenty of track time on offer.

As well as the participants, plenty of visitors came along to watch the fun and many brought rare and interesting cars with them. The chance to join the lunchtime parade will have been an added incentive no doubt!

The full Alfaholics team was on hand to offer help, advice and passenger rides as a way of demonstrating the various upgrades available for the variety of Alfas that we run between us. As ever, the high driving standards and great camaraderie meant the day was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Thanks to everyone who attended for helping make the day such a success and see you again next year!