Category Archives: From the President

Feel like racing anyone? Indoor F1 Karting?

The club is considering a drive up to the Lehigh Valley Grand Prix for some indoor karting. They’ve just upgraded their entire fleet to Sodi GT5 Proline Super Karts with 9HP engines with a top speed of up to 50mph.

New-Grand-Prix-Karts

 

The best part about driving at the LVGP course is the printout you get at the end of every heat showing you the metrics from your race, data from the kart transponders, lap times and field position changes. You really can work on improving your driving style after a couple of runs. And you can access the information at any time from home:

 

Screen Shot 2013-03-13 at 10.42.40 PM

 

Here’s LVGP’s promotional video:

 

 

 

We’re currently in talks with LVGP to pick a date and get some special club rates to keep the price reasonable. Helmets mandatory, driving suits optional (both available at the track, for no additional charge).

If you’re interested, please contact me at mike@dvaroc.org and I’ll put you on the notification list.

 

 

 

Alfa 4C to be built by Maserati!

Fiat has announced the Alfa Romeo 4C will be built by Maserati in Modena, Italy. Production of Alfa Romeo’s new halo model will commence in May next year with an expected production of up to 2,500 units per year. The Alfa Romeo 4C is likely to mark Alfa’s return to the United States.

The Alfa Romeo 4C is a small lightweight sports car which made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in 2011. The car will weigh only 850-900kg and will be powered by an aluminum 1.8 liter turbocharged engine which provides ‒ depending on the rumours ‒ 230 horsepower, although 300 has been mentioned as well.

With a power-to-weight ratio of below 4kg/hp, the rear-wheel drive Alfa 4C should be able to sprint to 100km/h from standstill in less than five seconds, while it’s top speed should be around 250km/h.

The small, light and powerful Italian sports car will probably cost € 50,000 ($ 66,000), making the 4C a serious competitor for the Porsche Cayman and Lotus Exige.

According to David Wase of DC Alfas:

The decision was said to have been made because Maserati has in place the necessary capability to build low volume, high quality production models.

Exciting news!

Alfa return to the US in 2013

DCALfas’ member, Bob Lubran alerted us to Bloomberg News’ April 19 story that further confirms Alfa’s return to the United States beginning with the introduction of the 2-seat 4C high performance spider. The Bloomberg story was headlined by Alfa Romeo’s registration of trademarks related to the Alfa 4C:

Marchionne, 59, said April 4 that that the 4C will go on sale in North America by the end of 2013. The Alfa Romeo 4C trademark, covering accessories such as clothing and toys as well as the vehicle and parts, was issued by U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on April 10, according to a release posted late yesterday on the U.S. Federal News Service.

Perhaps of greater interest was the apparent confirmation of what some Alfisti including those of us at DCAlfas.org have long discussed as Alfa’s necessary strategy:  The success of Alfa in the US will only occur by producing BMW-class automobiles but with price tags that will make them stand-outs in the marketplace.  Currently, Alfa plans to produce an initial line up of 6 models including sport-utility vehicles:

Fiat Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne plans to remake Alfa into a luxury brand to compete with industry leader Bayerische Motoren Werke AG. (BMW) Developing a full range of models for Alfa and focusing on North America’s car-market growth are crucial to his strategy of boosting combined revenue…

Clearly, Marchionne has his sights set on a personal legacy of remaking FIAT into something more than just a profitable car company and Alfa Romeo into something more than a derivative brand of re-styled FIATS or re-badged Dodges.  Nothing would assure his legacy more than a successful challenge to an industry leader such as BMW.

Full article on Bloomberg: Bloomberg 4C Registration

Thanks to David Wase, editor of DC Alfas for the update!

The Classics at Brantwyn

Alfisti, this note came in from Paul Merluzzi:

Hi,

I was the “foreigner” in the green Jaguar XK-150 at the Alfa Club tour on November 6.

I run a benefit car show for the Kennett Symphony Orchestra. It is an elegant affair with 30 invited cars and 300 invited guests. Here is a Fact Sheet and a Newsletter to check out.

The event is scheduled for October 7 this year (always the 1st Sunday in October). It’s the 5th anniversary of the event and we are trying to get participation by car clubs, like the Alfa Club, Ferrari Club, and Delaware Valley Jaguar Club. The 30 (approx.) show cars are displayed in the rear garden of the Brantwyn Mansion. In the front of the mansion there is a huge lawn area that we designate as “The Cool Car Corral”. That’s where we put the car clubs in clusters. We have a committee meeting next week where we will discuss pricing for the event and I hope to offer a discount to car clubs if participation exceeds a certain number of cars.

It is not like most car shows – it’s more like a wedding reception. The guests get a gourmet brunch and open bar catered by the DuPont Country Club with live entertainment. Mike Tate has attended the last three events and has written about it in his Roving Reporter column for the Jaguar Club monthly newsletter, the ‘Purr’ (See page 8).

I’d love to have the Alfa Club participate as a club event. Let me know if there is any interest.

Regards,
Paul

 

Club members:

Now, this seems like a lot of fun if we can get some steam behind it. If any club members are interested, let’s try to get some consensus going, so email me at mike@dvaroc.org and fit this in the club calendar.

Mike S.

 

DVAROC Winter Lunch and Learn at Otto’s Brauhaus

Alfisti:

Alfa spring is right around the corner. To get everyone ready for the upcoming driving season we’ve invited Tim McNair from GP Concours http://gpconcours.com/ to meet up with us and give us some pointers at our annual winter luncheon.

We’re very excited about this special opportunity! Tim has prepared some of the absolute top cars for events such as Pebble Beach, Amelia Island, and Radnor Hunt. If you don’t know of Tim yet, take a moment to look at his company web site or browse these links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqowYP5JTY0
http://vimeo.com/16317043
http://bit.ly/xAQncQ

Tim will do a short presentation on how to take care of your Alfa, answer questions, and join us for lunch and casual conversations!

The lunch will be on Saturday, February 18th at 1:00, the price is fixed at $25.

Otto’s Brauhaus (215.675.1864)
233 Easton Rd (Route 611), Horsham, PA, 19044

See Otto’s on the Google Maps

Please preselect your lunch choice of: Stuffed Chicken Breast, Roast Loin of Pork or Broiled Flounder and respond with number of attendees and meal selections to rsvp@dvaroc.org.

Delicious à la carte cocktails will be available from the bar.

Alfa Optional/Weather Permitting!

NOTE: an EARLY RSVP is requested. Please reply to rsvp@dvaroc.org ON OR BEFORE FEBRUARY 10TH to let us know you can make it!

Let me know if you have any questions.

Mike S.

President
mike@dvaroc.org

 

2012 FIAT FreezeOUT Invitation

Members:

The Delaware Valley Chapter of FIAT Lancia Unlimited, our dear sister car club has thoughtfully invited us to their winter shindig on Saturday, January 28th at 5PM!

FIAT of Maple Shade (NJ) is hosting the party. The address is:

587 West Route 38 Maple Shade, NJ 08052.

Along with great company, we’ve been promised food, beverages, and music!

The only catch is you need to RSVP. Send an email to Sherman Barton at shore208@comcast.net with the subject FIAT FreezeOUT and the number of attendees, or by phone at 609-923-7426.

It promises to be a lot of fun, so please don’t hesitate to RSVP today!

Mike S., DVAROC President

 

 

 

 

 

Members – Get Involved

The club is looking for member help in the following areas:

Getting Involved:

Staff Writers – folks who like to write, post content about their cars, club events, Alfa-related content, product reviews, etc. Content will be posted on the dvaroc.org site!

Photographers – anyone with a camera really! Pictures of your cars, photos of members getting together, heck, kids’ drawings of cars. We’ll post the pictures on the dvaroc.org site and host them on flickr.com/dvaroc.

Advertising – know anyone who would like to advertise on the club site? This new site uses web syndication as it’s core design philosophy. Content we publish here is reduplicated across the twitterverse, the friends network, tumblred and retumblred, youtubed, etc. So our reach is quite extensive. If you know of a company with Alfa-related products or services who might be interested, or who have that we can review

Club Coordination – please insert your ideas here ___________. For example, here’s a tech session idea: company sends us a Spider ECU chip upgrade (gratis), we do a tech session install so everybody can join in the fun, benchmark performance change for 3 months, write up a review. One lucky owner keeps the part, the club and the chip maker benefit from the association.

Looking for ideas:

Club logo design – fancy yourself a designer? Email mike@dvaroc.org with your ideas and we can update the club logo.

We’d like a T-shirt design for the club. Or several. Pins, buttons? We can bounce the ideas off the club membership roster and generate consensus to have something cool made.

Love to have a conversation with anyone who has just-in-time manufacturing, apparel, screen printing or embroidery contacts. If we’re going to make pins or shirts, let’s make the best ones we can for our money.

Looking for new members:

I’ve asked the AROC-USA president, Brewster Thackeray about developing some kind of membership card we can give to Alfa owners we meet who aren’t club members. Something with the national website and membership/join information as well as chapter identification printed on it. Throw a dozen in your glove box and hand them out when you see another Alfa. What could be easier or more fun than introducing yourself to new friends who have the same passion for these cars as we do?

 Let’s have some fun!