Car/Driver line-ups for the Enduro

[argtv7]

Quote:

Originally posted by 75evo For the enduro of next year (hopefully it will be organized again), my brother and I will team up.

[alfacupp]

Has a date been set for the fall school? I plan to do some suff to the car during the brake after this weekend. But don't want to miss anything. Oh and things didn't workout, my dad and I will not be driving the endro. But I will be there for the race.

[Bruce Colby]

I just did a quick check of the TT Time Archives (they go back to 1993 and are reasonably complete!) and find only a couple Berlinas noted. Both ran in 1994. One was driven on 2 occations by Simon Avakian in F Class, the other, dirven once by John Abbene in D Class. There could have been others that were listed as "Alfa", or "Sedan", or whatever, but there were only two clearly designated as Berlinas.

[argtv7]

Andy,

Dude! What happened? How come you are not racing?

[alfacupp]

Well, typical racing stuff. Couldn't get the team together. The other team member, my dad, raced this lastweek end up at sears point. I guess it was a big vintage event put on by the same poeple who do the Monterey historics. And my sisters wedding is coming up soon. Anyway these things plus work he just couldn't commit.
I thought about doing it solo but driven with dad was what would make it specail. And it was a little late to get a pit crew together if he wasn't there. Car reliablity was also an issue, I have not finished a whole weekend this year.
I was also have problems with the Hyundai big wigs. It seems I can still time trail but the contract forbids all non-hyundia racing. I'll be there this weekend but officially only time trialing. ha ha! I hope we have another enduro Next year. I'm a little bummed because I was hopin to do a father son team.

[jthraen]

Bruce,

I think you are correct about my Berlina not racing. I believe that it was time trialed in 1989 or 1990. (I found a copy of the 89/90 competition code in the glove box).

The car was Red, black interior, no roll bar (that's how I know it wasn't raced) and the license plate read "AIAIAI", which was supposedly funny on many different levels. The PO's name was "I" (try telling a story about a person called I without confusing your audience)!

Anyway, now the car is Oliva Verde Metallica with a tan leather interior. It was restored with the intention of being shown at Concorso Italiano, but it is so much fun to drive that I am itching to bring it to the track.

I am curious, how did the lap times of the past Berlinas compare to other cars of the same class? I have a spare car which I have considered building as a full race Berlina (oxymoron?). It would be hard to get the car classified higher than C! The only question is - could it be competitive?

[alfacupp]

There are some guys on the east coast club racing a berlina and I think they are real competitive. The thing to do is build it up to class D. It should be more competitive there. I believe the berlinas are heavier than the supers and gtvs so keep it light. In D you will not be up aginst the 6 cylinder cars that are not that much heavier or the $30k true race cars. Unless you have $30k to spend on a racer and then I would suggest buying a car. I started building a vara racer and have been bogged down with it for awhile now. Plus it cost alot more to build one.

[argtv7]

OK, i'm not buying it. The race is less than a week away, and I don't have a team yet, either. So, it sounds like you have four choices:

1: Race solo.

2: Get one of our club guys, like John Cote, to be your teammate. He has been racing for 30 years, and most recently in his '74 Spider. Before that, he campaigned a GTAM (there was some suspicion to it's originality, but it was f***ing fast!!). So, you drive the first stint, he (or someone else) drives the second, and you drive the third. 40 minutes each! I also hear Vince Rinner's car broke and he needs a ride, and club prez, Paul Blankenship (another long-time racer) is currently rideless.

3: Since you are going to be there anyways, and we need someone to run our pits, be our pit crew. We have a mechanic, but we need someone to oversee our race. You could be "crew chief" for us (me, John Morton, Terry Waton) AND them (Steve Luftman, Milt Minter, David Krueger). Note that Milt Minter raced a 600 hp Tipo 33 Can Am car in 1973 and 1974. John Morton was a 3 time Trans Am champion, and won the 24 hours of Daytona driving for Ferrari........Oh, and he won the 12 hours of Sebring 3 years in a row, and the 24 hours of LeMans........should I go on??

4: Do whatever it takes to race! To finish first, you must first finish!! Especially in endurance racing.


So, I was at Sears Point last weekend........what was your dad driving? Is he a CSRG or HMSA guy? I saw his race.......which one was he??

BTW, for any Alfa fan............like me......

The featured mark at the Wine Country Classic was "Histroic Trans Am Cars". These were the actual cars that raced in the Trans Am series from 1966 until 1972. All muscle cars, all pony cars, Mustangs, Camaros, Shelby GT350s, Dodge Challengers, AMC Javelins, ..........and one four-cylider car! An Alfa! Yes, John Norman was out there with his GTV, the same one he campaigned in the Trans Am in the old days. I think he was the only original car/original driver combination. Well, he started dead last (in a field of 37 V8s and one Alfa) and finsihed in the top 10, just after passing Parnelli Jones' championship winning Bud Moore GT350!! Nice drive John!

I'd like to see John run that car in some of our Alfa Cup races.

[alfacupp]

I guess finishing the weekend ranks high up on my list. I am going to really focus on doing well in the alfa cup race. I was just joking along the lines of your Hyundai theme when I said I was only time trailing. I am driving in the alfa cup. Like you said first you got to finish to finish first, or place or show ect. I thought about trying to get something going with others, Jim Farris I think needs a ride too but in the end I think a shorter saturday is My best bet to still be running sunday.

My dad was running a 1934 austin formula 750cc. It is supercharged and has a top speed of well over 100 mph and almost no brakes. Turns out he didn't race sunday the car lost almost all oil pressure. He is a HMSA guy but most of this racing has been in a porsche 356. He has race aginst Anthony in vara and he and Randy Harris even tangled once.

See you at the track, Andy

[italcarguy]

Andy,
Racing with your dad was cool. The "coupster" was alwas fun to follow into the corners. Too bad we won't race each other again since he moved into the pre war class and i moved up to b sedan. Maybe we'll run into eachother at HMSA events with his silver 356 and our Giulietta Spider when it get done. My dad is actually building the car for himself and my sister. He is gonna run it in HMSA and my sister will race it with VARA in G or F Production. Did you see VARA has a proposed class change? It looks good.

[Bruce Colby]

Jeff,

Simon Avakian set an AROSC Class F track record at Willow Springs driving his Berlina in 1994. That record, 1:48.628, stands today. John Abbene ran a 1:48.583 which was good for 3rd in the D Class at Willow the day he ran. The winning D Class time that day was 1:46.341.

Rumor has it that Berlinas are a bit better balanced than GTVs or Spiders, so, even if they are a bit heavier, they are capable of competitive times.

[alfacupp]

Anthony,
I will miss the coupster too. You and I were on the track togther at least once at buttonwillow. The coupster was a blast to drive but the truth is it was not easy to drive (Alfas are alot easier). The backend was always wanting to come around and the car didn't steer were the wheels pointed. The ****fer was out of reach and sloppy. The engine was so cammed up it ran like crap below 4500 rpm while the rev. limater was set at 6250 rpm. Man it was like a rocket between the two though. The car was light 1600lbs and could out brake most anything.
I was just starting to get used to the car when my dad sold it. My last Time driving it was at the first Fontana race. I was grided 32 of 34 cars for the class E race on saturday because of transmitter problems. Anyways, by the last lap I was diceing it up with a white guilia spider for sixths when I broke a tranmission linkage rod. Unfortunetly it was in the trans. itself and that was the weekend and my last drive in the car.
My dad offered it to me for what his cost was 7 or 8 years earlier, but I had just bought a house and my son was on the way, so there was no way to buy the car. Six mouths earlier and I might of been able too. But then I would still be living in a condo, this is better. Maybe?
I have not seen the new vara classes. I think they still have my old address. I should get that changed. Not that I have anything to drive with them yet.

[75evo]

Hi Bruce,

ANy chance you could look up Laguna 1997?

Thanks!

Zamani

[argtv7]

Zamani,

I think my car still holds the "E" record at Laguna Seca from '91 or '94 at 1:57.989. That's when it was stock. Now, it's in A or B.

I was curious if aqnyone would break it when we were at laguna this year, but I don't think anyone time trialed in E.

[Bruce Colby]

Zamani,

Contact me offline on '97 Laguan Seca results. Please be sure to be specific about what you want to know.

Brad,

Yes, Laguna Seca Class E is still your record. It was set in '94. Incidentally, the track was modified a bit in '95. Do you think we should still use the older times? Just kidding.

So when are we going to see this Class A or B #7 car of yours?