The Automobiliac Proposes Vol. #4 - Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione

When the new Alfa 8C came out, many Alfisti praised it as some sort of "return to form" for Alfa. Return to what form? Under Walter De Silva, Alfa was arguably making their prettiest cars since WW2, and his departure for Audi left shoes that his successor has, in my opinion, utterly failed to fill. While I was excited to see Alfa produce a world class small volume sports coupe, I never have found the styling to my taste, either in photos or in person. People continually compare it to the TZ2 or to the 33 Stradale, but to me, that is like comparing Scarlett Johanson to Grace Kelly. One might be young and hot, but the other is incomparably beautiful. It's no contest. The biggest problem I have with the 8C is how stubby and pudgy it looks. It really needs to have longer, more lithe proportions to make the surfacing work. Like many modern sports cars, it is too short for the size of its wheels, and the entire design suffers as a result. For my proposal, I have lengthened the wheelbase, and reduced the amount of space between the top of the wheels and the top of the fender, which Alfa made so thick! The windshield rake has been redone, and the C pillar is less massive. It is a subtle effect, I'll admit. When you look at the original now, doesn't it look like a Pontiac Solstice?

SPICA the devil

Say what you will about the reliability of Italian fuel injection. I just think the plaque on the Montreal engine is pretty darn sweet.

Guest column at Motoring Con Brio

Last week, I wrote a guest column for my friend over at Motoring Con Brio.

If you aren't already sick of hearing about my Alfa GTV6, check it out here. His photos came out spectacular!

Alfa Century Autocross Gallery

Because I was driving, I didn't get any nice photos of myself at the autocross. But thankfully, an enterprising photographer was on the scene, and for a reasonable fee mailed me a CD of all the shots he took of me driving. I think you'll agree he got some great photos!  I love all the body roll, even though that really means I need a thicker sway bar. But then the photos would be boring, right? Click the photo below to see the whole gallery. That's my friend Rob - a former champion Autocrosser himself - in the passenger seat giving me pointers.

Alfa Century Rally and Swap meet Gallery

In additon to the concours below, the previous day began with an autocross. I participated, and below you can see my cleanest run.  I didn't do that great, to be honest, but it was my first autocross and I had a good time. The biggest shock was how well the Spiders did.  I figured that the GTV6 should wipe the floor with the Spiders, but their lighter weight and lower center of gravity made up for their lack of power and chassis stiffness.  Autocross is sort of like a dog agility course for cars, and though it is a lot of fun to drive in, it looks so lame when you are watching it. I think Karting is more enjoyable as a beginner's form of motorsport, but then again, here you at least get to feel the handling limits of your road car in a safe environment. Thanks to my friend Rob for filming this!

After the autocross was over, my friend Rob and I sat for an hour in the sweltering heat waiting for the TSD (time speed distance) rally to begin. There was a huge line of cars, and each of them was seen off exactly one minute apart.  Most of them were Spiders, and one of them was a multi-million dollar prewar 8C 2300! The rally was also open to non-Alfas, so there were also some rental cars in there, and also a 1950's era De Soto, which drove off a minute before my car was sent on its way.  We ended up playing an absurd game of tortoise and hare with this gray, lumbering behemoth of a car! We caught him almost immediately, and passed him. But a wrong turn saw us backtrack for a mile or so and there we were behind him again!  After following him through miles of twisting roads where there was no passing, we managed to get ahead and disappeared off into the hills.  But when we stopped for a sanctioned 15 minute fuel and food break, he caught back up and started early so he was now ahead of us again!  After a few more miles of twisty roads, we got by again, and then proceeded to drive like mad to make up lost time.  We passed 3 or 4 other Spiders and a few rental cars, and I have absolutely no idea how we did in the end.  But Rob was a great co-driver and we had a blast on some truly breathtaking and fun Maryland roads.

Finally, it was time to kick back and relax at the Convention Hotel parking lot, and there was dinner served while people milled around and looked at the cars and commiserated.  My buddy Glenn, who originally sold me my car, was there with his two GTV6 track cars (including the infamous "Blue Meanie") as well as a customer car he was delivering for a new buyer and his wife. It was great to see him again, though he had some bad luck and broke both cars at the track so he never got to compete in the autocross.  Such is life with racing and Alfas I suppose. Click HERE for the full gallery of the whole day! And make sure not to miss gallery page 2!