Alfaholics Win U2TC Outright at Donington Historic Festival 2019!

5 victories for Alfaholics in the past 6 years at the Donington Historic Festival!

Grid numbers might have been down for Donington this year, but the competition was no less fierce with British Touring Car champion Andrew Jordan trying his hand in the series driving a JRT prepared Cortina, alongside the sister car of Ambrogio Perfetti and another serious Cortina contender driven by British GT driver Shaun Balfe.

Heavy rain overnight meant that qualifying would play out on a drying track, but the weather was still looking unpredictable and there was a very real likelihood of further rain falling during the session. It would be important to get out the traps quickly and set a benchmark time, in case the weather turned. Andrew went out first in our GTA and, in typical fashion, his first timed lap was already looking extremely competitive – 5 seconds faster than anyone else and quickly followed by a succession of laps that improved that time by a tenth or two. But the Cortinas were coming – slowly improving and getting closer. A red flag interrupted the session and JRT used the opportunity to relay hot-shoe Andrew Jordan into the driver’s seat of their Cortina and he made it to the front of the queue in the pitlane. As the track continued to dry he just pipped Andrew’s previous time, only for Andrew to get back on top as he crossed the line a few seconds later. This tit for tat went on for several laps until Andrew pitted to change driver to Max. On our in-lap, Jordan again went fastest and as we headed back out the rain started falling again. Max circulated as the fastest car on track, but alas times were slower as track conditions continued to deteriorate, so we ended the session P2. It was a bit frustrating not to claim pole, but the front row of the grid would be a great basis for the race.

As the lights went out, Andrew got an excellent start on the outside of row 1 and challenged for the lead taking the outside line through Redgate and Hollywood, alongside the pole position Cortina. They were side by side as the cars headed down the Craner Curves which gave Andrew the inside line into the left hander and allowed him to make the move stick for the lead. He immediately set about pulling out a gap that could not be challenged. The chasing Cortinas soon became embroiled in a 60 minute long battle, which further helped us to extend our advantage. By the driver change we had a 20 second lead and by the end of the race we had stretched that out to nearly 40 seconds, with Andrew Jordan being the next Cortina on the horizon to be lapped! It was a bit of a lonely race at the front but the dominance we were able to show with the GTA took even us by surprise.

Alfaholics Race Report – Spa-Francorchamps 2018

Having won with the GTA at Spa in 2017 and with the McLaren M6B proving to be super-competitive in the Masters Historic Sports Car Championship, we went to Spa hopeful of victory with both cars. After free practice on Thursday everything looked good and, come qualifying on Friday, things only got better. Andrew went out first in our GTA and immediately went quickest with Olivier Hart closely matching our times in his 1600 GTA, fresh from his win at the Goodwood Revival. With a tenth in hand, Max went out to finish qualifying and squeezed 0.03s more out of the car to secure pole for the Alfaholics GTA.  Surprisingly, the closest Cortina was 3^rd and somewhat behind on pace! There hasn’t been a GTA front row lockout in U2TC for a very long time, so it was great to finally see the GTAs getting the upper hand over the Cortinas! Immediately after U2TC qualifying, we were out in the McLaren and yet again Andrew took pole with a time that clearly wasn’t going to be challenged for the remainder of the session. Both cars on pole for their respective races – we were thrilled!

The U2TC race was scheduled for the following day and we knew it would be a tight fought battle with the GTA of Olivier Hart. Andrew managed to get a great start and took the lead, with Olivier in hot pursuit. Lap after lap, the two GTAs crossed the line with Andrew just extending his advantage by 0.05-0.1s per lap. The GTAs were in a class of their own, dropping the pursuing Cortinas by several seconds every lap. Just before the pitstops, Olivier started to close the gap and then followed Andrew into the pits on the same lap.  Max got away cleanly, retaining the lead, with the other GTA right behind. Then, just a couple of laps later as Max was settling into his stint, a sudden axle tube failure brought our car to a halt on the exit of Stavelot – what a disappointment! No sooner had we retired, Olivier was given a drive-through penalty for “exceeding track limits to gain an advantage”. Such hard luck – without the mechanical failure it would have been an easy victory!

The Historic Sports Car race on Sunday was a more straightforward matter. Andrew got away well from the start and dominated the first half of the race, building a 32 second lead over the first 12 laps – some of the biggest gains coming as the field began to lap traffic! Watching our progress on the timing screens, Max’s job for the second half of the race appeared a simple one – keep lapping just a bit quicker than our closest competitors without taking any more out of the car than necessary. All was going to plan until the safety car was deployed with 15 minutes to go, which eroded our lead and put the pack back on the McLaren’s tailpipes! The safety car lights finally went out with just 3 minutes on the clock, so the restart would see a one lap dash to the flag.  Now was the time to execute the perfect restart to try to break away and avoid pressure from other cars in the last few corners. Having backed up the pack nicely before Blanchimont, Max opened up the taps and got a jump on second place as they headed down the start/finish straight.  A quick lap saw the McLaren cross the finish line 7 seconds clear to take our first Historic Sports Car win – a brilliant end to the weekend!

Alfaholics Finish on the Podium at Silverstone Classic 2018

For our second race of the year, we headed to Silverstone for the world’s biggest historic race meeting. Knowing how fierce the U2TC competition always is at Silverstone, we scheduled a couple of test sessions prior to the event in order to do some more chassis setup work and try to eek out some extra speed from our GTA. We made good progress and felt confident that we would be competitive against the quickest Cortinas come the race weekend. News filtered through shortly before the event that ex- World Touring car champion Rob Huff would be sharing one of the front-running Cortinas. No doubt the job of winning just got a bit harder! In qualifying, we exited the pits at the front along with Rob Huff and immediately found a level of pace we hadn’t enjoyed at Silverstone before – the GTA clearly liking our new setup. Huff was going slightly quicker, but Andrew put in a superb lap to reduce the gap to just 0.3 seconds, only for Huff to open that gap out by a further 0.1 seconds by the end of his stint. Both of us had quite a gap to Steve Soper, who ended the session just over a second down. Steve later admitted he was struggling a little with his Cortina’s setup, but nonetheless it showed the progress we had made since Donington. Lining up for the race side-by-side with world touring car champion Rob Huff and touring car legend Steve Soper behind, was a clear sign of the quality of U2TC, widely regarded as the most competitive historic race series in Europe. Off the start, Huff got away blindingly quickly, with Andrew and Steve tussling it out for 2^nd place, until Andrew finally broke clear. Unfortunately the battle had allowed Huff to escape up the road and build enough of a lead to make any hopes of challenging him all but impossible. On the pit wall, it was conceivable that Huff might have taken too much out of the tyres on the Cortina and it might make Andy Wolfe an easier target in the second half of the race. With a slick driver change, Max set about catching Wolfe and a few quick laps brought the gap down slightly, but it soon became clear that the gap was still too great so we settled for preserving the car and maintaining a solid second place.

Alfaholics Finish on the Podium at Donington Historic Festival 2018

Have been so dominant in 2017 and winning the U2TC Championship, our GTA was firmly in the crosshairs of the top Cortina drivers as the 2018 season approached. Steve Soper had built another new car, while others had carried out development work over the winter. We knew that there was no room for complacency and therefore set about a winter rebuild programme to improve the performance of our car and try to maintain our advantage. A particularly busy Spring period in the workshop meant that we only managed one test day prior to the race and alas it turned out to be wet! Despite the lack of dry running, the car felt good and we headed into the race weekend confident of achieving a good result.

Qualifying got underway and we immediately took provisional pole, although Steve Soper was gradually chipping away at our advantage.  He finally eclipsed our time and despite trying harder, we couldn’t improve and finished the session second quickest and on the front row of the grid for the race. Reviewing our performance after qualifying, it was clear that we needed to do some more work to optimise the setup in order to unlock the car’s potential.

We made some small changes overnight in order to find a bit more grip and consistency in the car. Race 1 was a hard fought battle, nose-to-tail with the two lead Cortinas for much of the race.  However, we hadn’t quite found enough of that advantage and ended up a few seconds adrift in 3^rd place at the chequered flag.

As the meeting is a double header, with the final result aggregated across two races, we had nothing to lose for race two and made a significant setup change to the car overnight in a bid to grab the win. The car was transformed and Andrew immediately jumped into 2^nd place and set about keeping Steve Soper in his sights, to enable Max a chance in the second half of the race. It was still very tight with Andy Wolfe and Max exited the pits right with Andy Wolfe, but somehow Steve had gained several seconds. Max set about hounding Wolfe and within a couple of laps was past and started chasing down Steve. By the end of the race we were the fastest car on track by some margin, but the gap was too great to close.

In the end, second overall was a very good result in the circumstances. The value of time spent testing should never be underestimated in such a tightly fought series!

Alfaholics Win U2TC Championship 2017!

We are proud to announce that we have won the U2TC Championship for FIA specification pre-1966 Touring Cars!

For the last race of the season, we embarked on the long drive to Portugal to the wonderful Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, near Portimao.  Having won all 4 of the U2TC races we had entered this year, just a 3^rd overall from this double-header would be enough to wrap up the championship.  As ever, we anticipated quite a battle with the Lotus Cortinas in the glorious Portuguese sunshine.

The weekend kicked off well with a solid pole position in qualifying, ahead of Steve Soper in his Cortina.  Our strategy was to capitalise as much as possible on our pole position by trying to stretch a lead in race 1 and then be able to take a more calculated approach to race 2 to ensure we could safely secure the championship.  However, things don’t always go as planned so we would just have to see how each race would unfold.

Race one was somewhat chaotic.  Andrew and Steve both got a great start and maintained position as they began to pull away from the rest of the field.  Then, after just 2 laps, the Safety Car was deployed.  No sooner had it returned to the pits and the race restarted, it had to come back out again for another incident!  The race was still running under Safety Car as the pit window opened, so Andrew led the field into the pit lane as everyone scrambled to find their own space for the driver change.  Having been blocked in during our stop, Max managed to get away at the same time as Steve and both cars continued down the pit lane side by side! At the pit exit, Max just had his nose ahead so managed to retain the lead while still under Safety Car.  At the restart, it was racing again and as close as ever with Steve tucked in tight to the boot of the GTA.  On one lap, he managed to pass down the pit straight on the approach to turn 1, only for Max to get back past into turn 2.  At the chequered flag, Max crossed the line just 0.1 seconds in front to take the win.  Part of the plan had worked but there wasn’t much of a lead to take into race 2!

The second race on the following day was thankfully incident free.  Andrew started from pole and led into the first lap but Steve showed tremendous pace as he reaped the rewards from tweaking the car all weekend.  He managed to get past Andrew and was flying.  With Steve out of touch, Andrew elected to consolidate 2^nd place.  After the pit stop, Max had a lonely stint but most importantly brought the car home in a strong 2^nd place to clinch the title.  What a fantastic season!

Alfaholics take double victory at U2TC Spa-Francorchamps 2017!

A wet qualifying session saw us line up on the front row of the grid next to Steve Soper’s Team Dynamics run Lotus Cortina for race 1. Andrew got a typically excellent start and battled hard with Steve for the first 20 minutes regularly changing places until we finally managed to build a 2 second gap in time for the pitstops. With Steve having a slightly slow driver change, Max was able to come out of the pits comfortably in the lead and keep a gap of several seconds to the hard charging Cortina in the second half of the race, finally taking the chequered flag 3 seconds clear. Race 2 was an even closer affair, starting from pole Andrew lead the first lap, but with the Cortina on his bootlid, Steve used the BHP advantage of the Cortina to good effect down the Kemmel straight on lap 2 to get past. Andrew used the GTAs superior braking and more agile corner entry handling to get the GTA back past, only for Steve to blast past on the next long straight. This set the tone for the full 40 minute race, with the cars never more than a few car lengths apart emerging from the last chicane in a different order most laps! We came out from the pitstop with Max now 0.5 second behind Steve, and after a committed out lap, Max was back on Steve’s bootlid and managed to squeeze up the inside into Stavelot to regain the lead. The long back straight allowed Steve to get past again and a repeat of Andrew’s epic first half battle was recommenced in the second half. After about 10 changes of position, Max took the win by a car’s length to secure a double win for Alfaholics.

In the Masters World Sportscar race, we qualified the McLaren M6B 7^th in very tricky wet conditions for the 1 hour endurance race. Andrew got a belting start and was soon running 3^rd behind a pair of very experienced Lola T70 Mk3Bs. Unfortunately Andrew’s half of the race kept being interrupted by safety car periods, but after the final safety car intervention Andrew managed to jump into the lead and start to build a gap to P2, very exciting on the pitwall! No sooner had he built a couple of second’s advantage it was time for the driver change. We unfortunately lost some time in the pitstop so Max emerged a nett 4^th. Max managed to re-pass 2 of those cars that Andrew had got past in the first half but sadly the lead T70 was too far down the road to be able to challenge. At the chequered flag we were 2^nd overall, a fantastic result in only our 2^nd race in the car.

What a weekend! 2 cars, of very different types, built and developed in house at Alfaholics and driven by Andrew & Max taking wins and podiums, against the very toughest competition in historic racing, the whole team were thrilled to bits!

Alfaholics Win U2TC Outright At Donington Park Historic Festival 2017

Having won this race for the last 3 years in a row, there was a certain degree of expectation amongst followers of the series that we would win again this year. However, we knew that nothing could be taken for granted as the Cortinas had been undergoing some intense development over the winter.  Of particular interest, ex BTCC champion Steve Soper (now in his second season of U2TC) had commissioned current BTCC champions Team Dynamics to build him a new Cortina for 2017 that they would run for him.  A man on a mission!  Alfaholics on the other hand had spent the winter building customer GTA-Rs, so with a quick check over and a wash, our GTA was wheeled out for another season’s racing.  Whilst it would be the same tough competition at the front of the field, the U2TC race format had been altered – no longer a 1 hour enduro, but rather two 40 minute races with an aggregated time for overall victory.

We managed to get to the front of the collecting area for qualifying to ensure a clear couple of laps before coming across slower cars.  Andrew managed to put in an excellent lap which was a clear 1 second faster than the gaggle of Cortinas behind. Over the next few laps, the traffic was not too kind to us and the Cortinas started to chip away at our margin.  Then, just before we planned to pit for a driver change, Andrew had a free lap and made it count with a quite remarkable time of 1m22.36 – no-one was going to get near that and we finished the session nearly 1 second clear of the field!

In race 1, Andrew got a superb start from the lights and managed to fend off the Cortinas down the straight and into turn one. With his head down and on a charge, he had pulled a 1 second lead by the end of lap one, which prevented the more powerful Cortinas from being able to challenge on the straights. Lap by lap he increased the margin and, by the driver change, he had pulled 12 seconds clear of the pack. Following the pit stop Max set about extending that margin, making it a full 24 seconds from Steve Soper by the chequered flag.

Starting from pole again in race 2, but now with Steve Soper next to him, Andrew again got a good start but found a very determined Soper right alongside by turn 1. Andrew defended superbly and retained the lead. By the end of the lap, Steve was still on his bootlid, absolutely wringing every last bit of performance and more out of his Cortina. Lap after lap they came round, nose to tail until finally Andrew just broke away a little. By the time we were ready for our pitstop, Andrew had built a 4 second lead, when suddenly the Safety Car was deployed. That meant everyone piled into the pits to minimise the loss of time from making the compulsory stop.  Max emerged still in the lead but now with the pack right behind awaiting the re-start. This was not to be the easiest of re-starts as Max was fresh in the car and the two Cortinas behind of Steve Soper and Andy Wolfe were single driving the race!  At the restart, Max defended firmly for the first lap before managing to get away and took the chequered flag with a 4 second margin from the following Cortinas.

Pole position and two lights-to-flag victories for the Alfaholics 1600 GTA against the toughest of competition – we could not have asked more from the weekend!

Alfaholics Podium Finish in Masters Pre-66 Race @ Spa-Francorchamps 2016!

For our last race of the season we headed to Spa-Francorchamps, deep in the Belgian Ardennes forest. This time we chose to run with Masters, which would put our GTA wheel to wheel with the big American V8s, namely the Ford Mustangs and Falcons, as well as the usual array of Cortinas. Qualifying proved to be a very tight battle, as we traded fractions of a second with Furiani’s GTA and Wolfe’s Cortina.  In the end, the V8s prevailed on this fast track while the quickest 4 cylinder cars lined up 4^th, 5^th and 6^th on the grid, separated by just 0.2 secs.

We knew the race would be tough with the V8s able to stretch their legs on the straights but then hold us up in the corners; however some light drizzle just before the race was certainly going to add to the fun!  Off the line a couple of V8s blasted by and Andrew set off in close pursuit of Furiani’s GTA, as we both stretched away from the Cortinas.  After 4 laps, some more light rain appeared and Andrew’s overtaking spree began, first a couple of Mustangs and then Furiani’s GTA. This raised us to 3rd overall behind two Mustangs, as the pit stops began.  We executed an excellent driver change, before Furiani pitted a lap later.  As Max rounded La Source, Furiani was just exiting the pits in front and the cars headed down to Eau Rouge nose to tail.  A close battle ensued, but was sadly disrupted by an extended Safety Car period before battle recommenced for the final 3 laps. At the chequered flag, we were separated by 2 seconds and the GTAs were the first 4 cylinder cars home in 3^rd and 4^th place – a great result overall!

Alfaholics Finish on U2TC Podium at Silverstone Classic 2016

For our third race of the year, we returned to the sensational annual Silverstone Classic – the world’s largest historic race meeting with packed grids and plenty of action all weekend.  The racing is always fierce at the Classic as some of the big names come to fight it out in what is recognised to be the toughest historic touring car series in Europe.

In qualifying, we were out of the traps fast and soon had the Alfaholics GTA on provisional pole position.  For 30 minutes we traded tenths with the fastest Cortinas, before finally ending the session 4^th quickest.  Only 0.85secs covered the top 4 cars so it was as close as ever and set for a great race.

As we lined up on the grid, the Alfa looked a bit lonely in a sea of ermine white Cortinas, but it was nice to be up at the front against some formidable opposition.  The first half of the race was tough for Andrew, battling the front-running Cortinas that were supremely fast down the straights but hampered our progress in the corners.  On the pit wall, we were comforted somewhat by the fact that was still a long way to go in the race with the prospect of pit stops and driver changes to mix things up.  After our pit stop, Max shuffled up the field to bring the car home in an excellent 3^rd place, notching up another podium for our increasingly successful GTA.  This was realistically the best result we could have hoped for on a circuit which always favours the Cortinas, but it was fun to be able to put on a good show for all the Alfista in the crowd!

Alfaholics Win U2TC Outright @ Donington Historic Festival 2016

After a fierce battle at our season opener at Goodwood, next stop was the highly acclaimed Donington Historic Festival which is always a fun event. Having finished on the podium 4 years in a row and having won the race outright for the past 2 years, there was much expectation for us to complete the hat trick! However we were under no illusions that this would be a tough feat as U2TC maintains its reputation as the most competitive historic touring car series in Europe.  This year, ex BTCC champion Steve Soper joins the series in his super` quick Team Dynamics prepared Lotus Cortina.

With the cars lined up in the assembly area and blue skies over head, qualifying appeared to be a straight-forward shoot out for pole position between the top 4 or 5 cars. However, 3 minutes before the cars were due out on track, the heavens opened and we were subjected to a mix of snow, hale and rain. It was a cold day, but no one anticipated that! With no time to change settings, the cars were waved out on to the water-logged track. At the end of the opening lap, Andrew came drifting out of the chicane without another car in sight; his provisional pole time was 3 seconds faster than any other car – the Alfa was flying! Lap after lap Andrew chipped away at his time, until he pitted while still holding a slim pole advantage. We made some setting changes to better suit the wet conditions and sent him back out to go faster. A quick driver change near the end of the session and Max was out on a drying track but our softer wet set-up was no longer doing us a favour. In the last 2 laps, we tumbled down the order to 7^th as cars were finding traction on a drying track that the softer Alfa could not. At this point, the likelihood of a win in the race seemed a very distant prospect!

Race day dawned and the weather was just as changeable, raining and then drying out all morning. Starting in 7^th, we knew flat-out was our only option to bring ourselves into contention. Andrew got a cracking start and after 5 laps and some robust overtaking manoeuvres on the Cortinas in front, the Alfaholics GTA was in the lead! By setting some superb lap times, Andrew stretched his lead out to 15 seconds by half distance and an efficient driver change allowed Max to re-join the race with a healthy advantage, which we held to the chequered flag.  So we managed to achieve that hat trick after all!

Alfaholics Annual Castle Combe Trackday 2016 – Report

Our ever-popular trackday reached its 15^th anniversary this year which shows that Alfa Romeo owners really like to use their cars in the way Alfa intended! The format this year followed the same pattern as the most recent years with an Open Day at Alfaholics on Friday where customers could come along and see the workshop, storage and warehouse. Highlights on display this year were the recently completed Autodelta works GTA restoration, the Alfaholics GTA-R 290 (recent star of Evo Magazine’s Trackday Car of the Year and the Charles Morgan Carfection video), no less than two TZ1s as well as other exciting ongoing projects.

The carpark started to fill up from about 10am and pretty soon there was a nice car show for the other residents of the estate to feast their eyes on. It’s always nice to be able to meet our customers and show them round and this year was no exception. The weather was lovely which added to the atmosphere and boded well for the trackday at Castle Combe on Saturday.

Out of bed early the next morning for the trip to the circuit, look out of the window and “Oh no! It’s been raining!” Fortunately it had stopped by then but the wet roads meant that all the previously pristine cars arrived at the circuit with a light coating of road dirt on them. Once the briefing and sound testing were out of the way the fun could begin. As you can see from the photos, it did rain a bit later in the day but this didn’t seem to dampen the enthusiasm of the participants although the circuit restaurant was busier than usual! As always, there was a nice selection of cars on and off the track with spectators bringing some nice modern (and very old!) cars along. The lunchtime parade laps were as popular as ever.

Photos

We’ll leave you with a selection of photos of the on and off-track action. You can visit our Facebook page for more photos taken by people on the day!

Alfaholics 1600 GTA Races at Goodwood Members Meeting 2016

An invitation to race at the 74^th Goodwood Members’ Meeting was a fantastic opportunity to kick off our 2016 race season.  Now in its third year and proving to be a huge success, the Members’ Meeting was conceived by Lord March to recreate the wonderful atmosphere of the original BARC Members’ Meetings of the 1950s and 1960s.  There was to be a spectacular line-up of races this year, ranging from the fearsome Edwardian racers of the early 20^th Century to a GT40 only race to the Group 1 touring cars of the 1970s, as well as a number of high speed demonstrations.

Our 1600 GTA was entered in the Whitmore Cup for pre-1966 under 2 litre touring cars, a race in which we would do battle with Lotus Cortinas, BMW 1800 Tisas and Minis.  The competition looked fierce with the likes of Steve Soper and Dickie Meaden in Cortinas and Nick Swift and Rob Huff in some extraordinarily quick Minis.  UK race meetings in March can often be decidedly wintry and sure enough there was little sign of Spring in the air as we arrived at a bitterly cold Goodwood.  Fortunately, it would stay dry for the duration of the weekend so it was just a case of wrapping up warm and enjoying the atmosphere.

Qualifying was scheduled for late afternoon on Saturday and Andrew managed to get out early and set about putting in some quick laps.  Having spent the session trading times with Mark Sumpter in a similarly paced Cortina, Andrew finally prevailed and qualified 3^rd on the front row of the grid alongside Dickie and Steve Soper.  With some more quick Cortinas just behind, it would make for a very exciting race the following day!

Sunday’s timetable was jam-packed, not only with races but also a series of high speed demonstrations, the highlight being the Group 5 Sports Cars of the early 70s, featuring a number of Porsche 917s and Ferrari 512s – an incredible sight and noise!  Unfortunately, several bad accidents throughout the day served to delay the schedule and our race was shortened to just 10 mins.  After a busy first lap, Andrew spent the race locked in a titanic battle with John Young’s Cortina and Nick Swift’s Mini.  The pace of the Cortina on the straights combined with some good positioning thwarted Andrew’s attempts to pass, as he simultaneously fought to fend off the Mini which hardly seemed to brake for some of the corners! At the chequered flag we just missed out on a podium position, finishing 4th overall.

Race Photos

Evo Track Car of the Year – Which car takes the crown?

Charles Morgan’s Classics – Carfection

Charles Morgan looks at the Alfaholics GTA-R 270, a re-imagining of the Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint.

Alfaholics Victorious at Donington Historic Festival 2015

The cream of the U2TC grid assembled for the 2015 season opener at Donington, with all the fastest FIA cars present. Having won the race in 2014, all eyes were on Alfaholics to see how we would fare this year. Qualifying was due to be a tricky session, as it had rained overnight and showery conditions in the morning were preventing the track from drying fully. As the cars came round to start their first flying lap, Andrew was visibly the fastest car, setting provisional pole on his first flying lap. Andrew chipped away at his pole time, improving his time by around 0.05 seconds lap by lap and retaining pole position. However, it was very close between the top 3 cars, so it could go either way. On the very last lap, we were shuffled back to 3^rd behind works Audi R8LM driver Frank Stippler in another GTA and ex-F1 star Jackie Oliver in the BMW 1800 TiSa.

Race day was sunny and the overnight rain had cleared in time for our race. Andrew got a cracking start from the inside of row 2, but found himself boxed in behind Frank Stippler and alongside the BMW with nowhere to go. At the end of the first lap, we were still third but catching the BMW and by the end of lap 3, Andrew had Jackie lined up nicely down the main straight for a move into Redgate. By the time we were past the BMW, Frank had pulled out a comfortable lead that proved too tough to close. Our driver change at half distance was an efficient 16 seconds stationary and once all the pit stops had been made, we had managed to close the gap slightly. However, within 2 laps of pitting, the lead GTA retired which handed Max a comfortable 20 second lead over the chasing BMW to give us another hard earned victory in this ultra-competitive series.

Alfaholics Finish On The Podium @ Silverstone Classic July 2014

This was a tough weekend’s racing in our FIA App.K GTA after an issue in qualifying left us outside the top 5 on the grid and doubtful of a good result. In the 50 minute 2 driver race, Andrew battled door to door with several Cortinas in the first half of the race, ultimately losing out on raw laptime to retain track position. A blisteringly quick driver change got us into 4th place and running in clear air for a lap, when Jackie Oliver exited the pits in his BMW 1800 Tisa directly in front of our GTA. It looked to be a re-run of Donington, with our GTA behind the BMW again, battling for track position. After 20 minutes of ‘hard but fair’ door to door racing (a real delight!) Max managed to get past Jackie and secure 3rd place overall, yet another podium for Alfaholics in U2TC! A superb result in the end!

Alfaholics Victorious at the Donington Historic Festival 2014!

We are very proud to report that we took outright victory in the U2TC race at the Donington Historic Festival! U2TC is widely regarded as Europe’s toughest and most competitive series for pre-1966 touring cars, so it was a wonderful result to beat all the Lotus Cortinas and BMW 1800s!

Qualifying was always going to be closely fought and Andrew managed to set a superb time early in the session to put our GTA on provisional pole. We hung on to pole position for most of the session, before being shuffled back to 3^rd in the dying minutes. The time sheets later showed how close the session had been – only a second covering the top 9 cars on the grid! It was set up for a fantastic race!

We chose to follow our usual format with Andrew starting and then handing over to Max at 30 minutes to complete the 1 hour race. Andrew was lined up 3^rd on the grid, behind the pole sitting BMW TiSA which was being started by ex-F1 driver and CanAm champion Jackie Oliver.  The next 10 grid slots were all held by Lotus Cortinas!

Andrew got a great start and was tucked up behind Jackie on the run down to Redgate, managing to take the inside line, and slipped into second place as the pack headed down the Craner Curves. Over the first few laps, the leading 4 cars were all nose to tail, Jackie leading in the BMW, Andrew second in our GTA, closely followed by a pair of Cortinas, all battling hard for position. On the 5^th lap, Andrew got a good run out of the Old Hairpin and managed to dive up the inside of the BMW into McLeans to take the lead. In clear air, he managed to capitalise and stretching his lead to 6 seconds by the time the BMW pitted for the driver change. The BMW was stationary for a mere 15 seconds before it way on its way in the hands of Richard Shaw. On the following lap, Andrew came in to hand over to Max and, as the GTA accelerated out of the pitlane, the gap was back down to 2 seconds. With a handful of quick laps and ensuring lapped traffic did not compromise lap times too badly, Max built the lead back up to 4 seconds and monitored the gap to take the chequered flag with a winning margin of 6 seconds! In taking the victory, we also set a new lap record for U2TC at Donington by 0.5 seconds. A thrilling result to start our 2014 season!

Alfaholics Race in the Monterey Reunion at Laguna Seca – August 2013

This summer, we were invited to take our FIA App.K 1600 GTA to California to race in the annual Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, which takes place at Laguna Seca over the Pebble Beach weekend. Although this would mean us missing two important European meetings, namely Silverstone Classic and Spa 6 Hours , it was a one off opportunity that we could not refuse!

We were entered in both the Pre-Reunion meeting as well as the Reunion feature meeting the following weekend. Although there was no free practice, a couple of sprint races in the Pre-Reunion would hopefully be enough to learn the circuit in preparation for the main weekend.  On arrival at the circuit, it soon became clear that we would be up against some stiff opposition made up of mainly GT cars, including countless Porsche 911s, Lotus Elan 26Rs and Ginetta G4s, most of which were running semi-slicks.  We would be the only car on Dunlop CR65s!

So, it was straight into qualifying for the first race of the Pre-Reunion and Max spent the first half of the 18 minute session bedding in new brake pads and scrubbing tyres before setting a lap time good enough for 12^th on the grid of 30 cars.  In the race, he managed to pick up some places and finished 9^th overall amongst the Porsche 911s. Andrew used his qualifying session to scrub our second set of tyres for the following weekend and learn the circuit. In his race, he started in Max’s finishing position and finished 8^th and was the first Alfa home, having had a long battle with another GTA and a GTAm.

For the main Reunion weekend, the entry list was revised and fortunately the huge Porsche 911 contingent had their own race.  However, our group grew to 40 cars with a mix of sports cars, GTs cars and saloons which included a 1970s Jensen Healey and even a Chevron B8! After the 2 qualifying sessions, we had set a lap time of 1m48.0secs which placed us 14^th on the grid for the first race. We were the fastest GTA and in the middle of a group of BMW 2002s, just behind the Lotus Elan 26Rs and Ginetta G4s.

In the first race we managed to slip in front of all the BMW 2002s and battled hard with a Ginetta G4 to finish 11^th overall and the first period correct saloon car, dipping into the 1m47.0s in the process. The main feature race was looking very good for us, starting 11^th on the grid, but it turned into a nightmare for many of the front runners! A car blew its engine on the warm up lap while going through the long left hand corner after the Corkscrew but the marshals had not noticed the oil slick on the racing line so there were no oil flags on the opening lap!  As the leaders came through the Corkscrew we were up to 9th, but then everyone hit the oil and 5 of the first 10 cars spun into the sand trap, including us.  Fortunately there were no cars damaged, but the race was stopped while the stranded cars were recovered and the sizeable oil slick cleaned up.  The severity of the spill meant that this took quite a while so there was only enough time for a 2 lap sprint race after the restart – certainly no chance to work our way back through the field. A frustrating end to a very enjoyable two weeks in California, but racing can go that way – at least no-one suffered any damage in the chaos!

We shared pit space with the superb Dennison International Team over both weekends

Leading the Porsche 911s at the Pre-Reunion

Andrew powerslides through the Corkscrew!

The start of the final race of the Reunion Weekend