2025 Rendezvous

[John Elwin]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Ha... Je rêve de voir ce chat noir de la république se ravitailler au chat bleu ! There's a chocolate shop at Le
Touquet worth a visit. Subsidiaries at Paris and Lille, the last one located in the vieille bourse building. Nice place.

Yes, the vielle bourse is interesting, haven't been for a few years though - Lille is just too much of a hassle.

Brigitte M's family have a chocolate shop in Arras too.

Had a family lunch today - 16 French folk & me, which was rather nice after yesterday's rugby!! A couple from Ruel Malmaison were amongst them; probably still trying to recharge their electric Audi e-tron to get home...

[E.B]

Here is a great video clip which I am sure our Alfistis will enjoy, as will most here I reckon.... I certainly did.

Its about what started life as a 1973 Alfa GTV 2 litre, and was found abandoned and rotted under a tree.. Its now called the Alfararri... I guess therein lies a bit of a clue. Not bad for a daily driver cum track day car. Beautifully engineered and a labour of love from the ground up.

Hopefully it isnt geo-blocked.

https://youtu.be/O03x--KO3LQ


This clip is more the finished item. He has a YT channel with more of the detailed stuff include a 15 minute clip on the Alfa creation.
https://www.youtube.com/@HomeBuiltByJeff

[Gerard C]

Amazing this 8-32 in 105 Series guise. What a professional job, interior trim and special logos. Great catch, thanks.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Gerard C

Amazing this 8-32 in 105 Series guise. What a professional job, interior trim and special logos. Great catch, thanks.

If you enjoyed that one here is a fast motion replay of from start to finish. Quite fascinating to watch and I take my hat of to his skills, from fabrication to upholstery, bearing in mind he is a fireman by profession.

https://youtu.be/kns2wdReCzs

[GORDON STREETER]

Something that amazed me ! I put this picture on the Anglia owners club Facebook page and it has had over 700 likes and comments in a few hours

[Lancsbreaker]

That Aussie fireman certainly has some skills!


Your Anglebox looks good, too, Gordon

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by E.B

Here is a great video clip which I am sure our Alfistis will enjoy, as will most here I reckon.... I certainly did.

Its about what started life as a 1973 Alfa GTV 2 litre, and was found abandoned and rotted under a tree.. Its now called the Alfararri... I guess therein lies a bit of a clue. Not bad for a daily driver cum track day car. Beautifully engineered and a labour of love from the ground up.

Hopefully it isnt geo-blocked.

https://youtu.be/O03x--KO3LQ


This clip is more the finished item. He has a YT channel with more of the detailed stuff include a 15 minute clip on the Alfa creation.
https://www.youtube.com/@HomeBuiltByJeff

WoW! Thanks Chris. I've only watched the second video so far and it was a great way to start my morning before work! A very (and multi) talented guy and what a lot of effort he put into that, but with spectacular results.
Back in the 1980's there was a guy here in the UK (Nigel Worswick I think was his name) who rallied a Ferrari engined Alfa Romeo that was a fearsome beast, but I don't know much detail about that...

[rbs]

There are several video's of the Alfa Ferrari of Andy Burton on the net, he was competing with this in the late 80'a as Viv said. It had been kept in a bar for 28 years when it reappeared for a show in wales recently.
Nigel Worswick did rally a Ferrari 308.

[VIVA GT]

Originally Posted by rbs

There are several video's of the Alfa Ferrari of Andy Burton on the net, he was competing with this in the late 80'a as Viv said. It had been kept in a bar for 28 years when it reappeared for a show in wales recently.
Nigel Worswick did rally a Ferrari 308.

Thanks rbs, I'd obviously got my wires crossed with those two guys. As soon as I read your post I r5emembered it was Andy Burton!

[E.B]

Originally Posted by rbs

There are several video's of the Alfa Ferrari of Andy Burton on the net, he was competing with this in the late 80'a as Viv said. It had been kept in a bar for 28 years when it reappeared for a show in wales recently.

Thanks rbs.... piqued my curiosity so I went hunting! Its a great story with a bit of background. I think t this might / must be that first showing when it crept out of the bar(n) after 28years.
https://youtu.be/17kFU04m9gk

[rbs]

Originally Posted by E.B

Thanks rbs.... piqued my curiosity so I went hunting! Its a great story with a bit of background. I think t this might / must be that first showing when it crept out of the bar(n) after 28years.
https://youtu.be/17kFU04m9gk

Both of the cars in the video were always spectacular in the Forest with an unbeliveable sound. Sure I am not alone in missin both the Alfa & Peugeot.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by rbs

Both of the cars in the video were always spectacular in the Forest with an unbeliveable sound. Sure I am not alone in missin both the Alfa & Peugeot.

Yes I watched a video of the Peugeot Cosworth earlier, and it certainly sounded very crisp and pleasant on the ears. Not to mention driven very hard and capably! Good viewing and listening..

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by rbs

There are several video's of the Alfa Ferrari of Andy Burton on the net, he was competing with this in the late 80'a as Viv said. It had been kept in a bar for 28 years when it reappeared for a show in wales recently.
Nigel Worswick did rally a Ferrari 308.

Nigel is local to me and often did the same rallies as us, back in the day. I remember one event we did, the Solway Lido - a great 2-day event based in a closed-season holiday park, where we were in a Lada (it was a Lada Challenge round) and Nigel had the Ferrari. Overnight I "might" have snuck up on the Ferrari and stuck a "Recycled Lada" label on it........

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

Nigel is local to me and often did the same rallies as us, back in the day. I remember one event we did, the Solway Lido - a great 2-day event based in a closed-season holiday park, where we were in a Lada (it was a Lada Challenge round) and Nigel had the Ferrari. Overnight I "might" have snuck up on the Ferrari and stuck a "Recycled Lada" label on it........

[Tel 911S]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

Nigel is local to me and often did the same rallies as us, back in the day. I remember one event we did, the Solway Lido - a great 2-day event based in a closed-season holiday park, where we were in a Lada (it was a Lada Challenge round) and Nigel had the Ferrari. Overnight I "might" have snuck up on the Ferrari and stuck a "Recycled Lada" label on it........

The "Recycled Lada " idea probably came from the fact that Russia paid for the rights to build some of Fiats models with deliveries of steel . I don,t think there was an exchange rate for the Rouble at that time .
But I believe that the steel came from Russian ships which had been sunk around WW1 time ,which were then reclaimed and sent to Italy .
Which would probably explain why Italian cars of that era had a reputation for rusting a lot .

[Lancsbreaker]

Its a longish read, but this article has some salient points to make to help debunk the long-held myth about "Russian steel" being the cause of many Italian cars rotting badly. Like the myth of Alfas always blowing their engines and being stranded at the roadside, its become a handy tagline for lazy journalism.......


https://driventowrite.com/2022/05/17...-3/#more-84746

[Tel 911S]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

Its a longish read, but this article has some salient points to make to help debunk the long-held myth about "Russian steel" being the cause of many Italian cars rotting badly. Like the myth of Alfas always blowing their engines and being stranded at the roadside, its become a handy tagline for lazy journalism.......


https://driventowrite.com/2022/05/17...-3/#more-84746

There will always be stories about how something happened .
The main point of that article seems to be , where would the Soviets find enough steel .
Well , the Russian fleet sunk by the Japanese was well over 200,000 tons of steel , and I remember reading up from a long time ago it showed up on aircraft instruments as a mass of steel underwater , so not hard to find .
And then in WW11 , just the battle of Kursk had well over 100,000 tons of tanks wiped out , and I guess they eventually reclaimed all of the steel from them .So it was easily possible to find huge amounts of scrap steel .
But the stories will come and go , it is just true that Italian cars got a very bad reputation for rusting after a deal with the Russians .

[E.B]

Just noticed its John Ruston's birthday today (I presume Monday, as it is now being with the advance party, Monday am in my part of the world and it shows as today)

So have a Happy Birthday John and enjoy.

Cheerrs
Chris

[Tel 911S]

Bit of nostalgia coming up .
After the death recently of Marianne Faithful , the film " Girl on a Motorcycle " is on TV tonight .I saw it when it came out ,1968 , but will have to watch it again .
Back in the day , I knew several people in the motorcycle racing world , and Bill Ivy , [ RIP ] , did a lot of the bike riding scenes for the film .
Can it really be that long ago????

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Tel 911S

Bit of nostalgia coming up .
After the death recently of Marianne Faithful , the film " Girl on a Motorcycle " is on TV tonight .I saw it when it came out ,1968 , but will have to watch it again .
Back in the day , I knew several people in the motorcycle racing world , and Bill Ivy , [ RIP ] , did a lot of the bike riding scenes for the film .
Can it really be that long ago????

I saw the movie too back in the day. I actually re-watched it again a few years ago. I was a big fan of hers and her Broken English album I have in vinyl and then got it in CD form. I even went to see her play live at the Atheneum.Theatre in Melbourne where she sat on a stool just with a guitar for the performance telling the stories behind every song. Ahe did a couple of encores and repeated standing ovations Absolutely brilliant.

[Tel 911S]

Been a bit quiet on here , so I thought I would bring up a subject that might have a lot of ideas about it .
What do you eat when you are doing events .
Not talking about foods that lead to puking it up after a bit of energetic action , but something that stands by you for some time when you need the energy .
When I was doing European rallies , which are normally 2 days of constant " on the go" with little time to spare , I did some reading up on foods which are good for that sort of thing .
Found that spaghetti bolognese was good for day long energy , and is also usually available in most European countries .
What has anybody else found that works for them .

[Gerard C]

Spaghettis too here but not bolognese. I had a belgian codriver,ex works,and we found during an endurance at Jarama that we had thé same habits between two stints. Bananas and milk chocolate with walnuts. Water of course and Coke for me. Some aspirin or paracetamol was a good addition to help and join the check flag. His name is José Close.

[Lancsbreaker]

Many years since I did any rallying of more than a day - I think back in the 80s it was generally just a case of grab whatever the service crew stuffed through the window - a sandwich, a Mars bar or similar, and coffee or a coke. When we did the Swedish we stocked up on pizza every evening because it was the cheapest thing we could find, and there was generally a big bowl of coleslaw came with it which we emptied

[midgetman]

When I raced I paid not one jot of attention to my diet - hence my shape! I used to boast that speed events were the only sport where you could sit in the beer tent all morning, drive for 50 seconds or whatever and go back to the beer tent. Was this bad? Clue: I never won anything at this stage in my life.

Later when I was racing I lived off nervous energy and didn't eat when racing. That was a mistake too.

Since becoming a "team owner" I've been a lot more responsible. I had one driver I watched cram a huge meringue down his throat just before he went to race. He was soooooo bad that session! Food clearly pays a large part in performance even at club level.

I just make sure the drivers eat well, not stuff themselves with sugars or Colas.

Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk

[morninggents]

In the last few years of my racing activity up to 2015 we were mostly doing HSCC events which were almost always 2 day events. With traffic/motorways being what they are we usually set off after work on Fridays to set up at the circuit then find a nearby pub to eat - typically pub grub and a beer. Breakfast would usually be cereals and a cup of tea in the Transit van (or a croissant if they could be found). Lunch would be what was on offer at the circuit eateries then back to the pub for more pub grub and beer.
Repeat breakfast and lunch on the Sunday then pack up and head home. If returning home from somewhere close by, rather than the 4 or 5 hours from Brands, Snetterton or Thruxton, there was the chance of good home cooked fare .... and a glass of wine.
I do miss those days but good a non-racing diet has meant I've lost half a stone since then.