P.O. Box 804, Bellville 7535 http://www.alfaclub.co.za capealfaromeoclub@gmail.com Newsletter April 11 Monthly meeting Berlina 50 years old: The Berlina which was designed by Bertone was first shown to the public in 1968 and production ran up and till 1977. Berlina s were assembled at the Rosslyn plant in Johannesburg South Africa. They came with two engine derivatives 1779cc 118 bhp and 1962cc 132 bhp the later advertised with a 200 km/h top speed. For the American market Berlina s were fitted with Spica fuel injection. For the not so boy racers an automatic was made but not very successful only 252 in 1750 derivative and 2200 in 2000 derivative. In total around 192 000 Berlina s were built. Special thanks to James, Tony and Greg for bring their cars on the night and all members that attended was a great evening.
Formula one and Touring car news: I suppose the Formula One is not quite what everyone was hoping for but in the words of Sergio Marchionne Alfa Romeo can return to Formula one as long as they do not beat Ferrari says a lot and you could not expect them to run with the front runners. Australia March 25 Marcus Ericsson qualified 17 th with a time of 1.24.556 and Charles Leclerc 18 th with a time of 1.24.636 very much on par with each other. Not the best result but for the first time out Charles Leclerc finished 13 th overall while Marcus Ericsson did not finish on lap 5. Bahrain April 8 Marcus Ericsson again out qualifying his team mate 17 th 1.31.063 and Charles Leclerc 19 th with a time of 1.31.420. Ericsson opted for a 1 stop strategy which was a huge mistake, it kept him in the top ten however on old rubber it was always going to put him under pressure from the drivers with newer rubber. He did manage to hold on to ninth which is a fantastic achievement for the new team giving them their first points of the season and Ericsson s first points in 50 races a record in itself. Both drivers finished Ericsson taking 9 th and Leclerc 12 th overall. Constructors Championship 8 TH overall Driver s championship Ericsson 12 th overall. UK TCR Championship 2018: This is the first season of the UK TCR championship and the first race was held at the Silverstone race circuit with a 13 car field not great but enough to make for some exciting racing. Laser Tools are fielding a two car race team with the drivers Alden Moffat and Dereck Palmer both driving Giulietta s. Romeo Ferris the Giulietta TCR builders flew in from the launch of the World Touring car cup in Barcelona to assist the team with preparations for the weekend. From the start the team put in a strong performance qualifying in second place. In the first race Alden Moffat who by the way is only 21 years of age finished a very respectable second place. Unfortunately in race 2 Moffat s car slowed to a crawl as he ran out of fuel 2 laps from the end due to a technical issue from their refuelling equipment.
Laser Tools is currently 3 rd in the team category while Alden Moffat sits in 5 th place in the driver s championship. This looks like a good series to watch.
British Touring Car Championship 2018: Duo Motorsport team with HMS and Rob Austin has brought the Alfa Romeo Marque back to British Touring car series with great results at the first round Brands Hatch Indy race. There were three races on the day with the Alfa having a DNF in the first because of a racing incident. They recovered well to finish 6 th in race two and a fantastic 3 rd in race three. This puts Rob Austin currently in 4 th place overall in the championship. A fantastic result especially seeing this is its first season in the BTCC with the Giulietta. World Touring Car Championship 2018: Not enough space or news at present to warrant an article but here is the WTCR Giulietta team watch this space Giovanardi and Morbidelli both very strong drivers.
STELVIO HAS BEEN NAMED CROSS OVER OF THE YEAR 2018 BY POPULAR MECHANICS SHORTLY AFTER THE GIULIA SCOOPED THE CAR OF THE YEAR AWARD BY MOTOR TREND Alfa Romeo Berlina concept Model of the month Alfa Romeo Stelvio 1:18 Resin models by BBR Just launched this beautiful specimen would sit pretty in anyone s bar on the mantel piece. They are about as pricey as the real McCoy made in resin so unfortunately there are no opening features. Before any custom duties or shipping costs they will set you back around R3500.00
New Members Birthdays Fabio Cicalese 1996 155 2.0 Super Renato Marchetti 05 APRIL Ulrich Luhr 1962 Giulietta Ti Mark Wilkin 07 APRIL Werner Nortje 2006 166 Ti Jeremy West 15 APRIL Paul Liebrecht 15 APRIL Stephen Wearne 25 APRIL UPCOMING CARC EVENTS TO DIARISE 11 April: Monthly Technical - Berlina 9 May: Monthly Technical TBA 13 June: Monthly Technical TBA 24 June: Chairman s Breakfast/ long service awards TBA 11 July: Monthly Technical TBA 8 August: Monthly Technical TBA 26August: Monthly Weekend TBA 12 September: Monthly Technical TBA 10 October: Monthly Technical TBA 4 November: Killarney Motor show 14 November: Monthly Technical TBA
UPCOMING RACE DATES TO DIARISE 7 April: Killarney Drag racing 14 April: Killarney Street car track day and Oval track 15 April: Formula One Shanghai China 21 April: Killarney Rally cross and Drifting 29 April: Formula One Baku Azerbaijan 29 April: BTCC - Donnington Park 28/ 29 April: WTCC Hungaroring 1 May: Killarney Drag racing 12 May: Killarney Power series Rnd 5 South African endurance series 4 Hour Rnd 2 10/ 12 May: WTCC Nurburgring 12/ 13 May: TCR UK - Knockhill 13 May: Formula One Barcelona Spain 20 May: BTCC Thruxton 19/ 21 May: WTCC Zandvoort 27 May: Formula One Monaco GUESS THE MYSTERY CAR FNM ONCA Onca refers to the largest cat in the Panthera family the Jaguar. This particular car was designed by Genaro Malzoni and loosely based on a 1964 Mustang. FNM was interested in producing their own models as they were already producing around 300 Alfa Romeo trucks. Less than 10 of these examples were produced in Sao Paulo and were all hand crafted.
The views expressed in this newsletter do not reflect the views of the Cape Alfa Romeo Club, the Alfa Romeo Owners Association of South Africa or that of Fiat Group Automobiles SA (FGASA) Questions, comments or suggestions? Send them to: capealfaromeoclub@gmail.com