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Classic Alfa Goodwood Track Day March 2007

This year we lucky enough for Goodwood to give us a Saturday slot for our track day but it was pretty early in the year being March 17th and there was plenty of finger crossing for the weather! Fortunately, after an overcast start, we were blessed with fantastic sunny weather with a fairly cool breeze - perfect for a track day.

Having changed from a 5 cars-on-the-track format to 10, we were anxious for everyone to pass the strict 98dB static noise test ( much quieter than a 5 car 105db test). Fortunately we had brought with us some clip-on silencer cans which got one particularly sonorous car out of trouble. Everyone else passed the noise test without problems and all were out queuing for the pit lane by 9am.

There was a fantastic mixture of cars - fifteen Bertone Coupes, six 105 series Spiders, several Giulietta Spiders & Sprints including a fantastic 1956 750 lightweight, a 2600 Sprint, a Giulietta SZ, a couple of Giulia Supers and a Montreal. In all there were 37 cars and 42 drivers as well as a large number of visitors just coming to spectate! Drivers came from far and wide. David Miles drove 200 miles down from Oldham, Simon Gunney made the journey from Cardiff in his 101 Spider again, Christian Ondrak trailed his 750 Sprint Veloce over from Germany and Classic Alfa’s own Giles Amos flew back early from holiday in Switzerland to be here with his GT Junior.

The first few laps had a number of drivers being a little too exuberant through St.Marys & the Lavant Corner but fortunately no one hit anything! After this, everyone settled down to a great pace & began to really enjoy themselves. Chris Snowden was taking drivers out for tuition and all agreed that they learned a huge amount from him. I cannot understate how useful a tuition session with Chris Snowden can be, particularly after you have familiarised yourself with the circuit. If you have the tuition fairly early on it allows you to build your speed gradually, while practising what you have been taught. Goodwood is a fast circuit & the trick is to relax, go out at your own pace & get to know the circuit & then gradually build your speed with each session. The advantage of having tuition is that you can “fast track” this process and also have some guidance as to how fast you really can take certain sections.

Ken Carrington was on hand as last year, taking hundreds of thrilling action shots of everyone as they came through the chicane & through Fordwater. These are available to purchase as prints from Ken and he will be sending out proof sheet to drivers of all the shots of their particular car. You can contact Ken at - ken.car@blueyonder.co.uk

Simon Gunney’s 2000cc 101 Spider bears down on 1750GTV!

Alan Pritchard’s enthusiastically driven 2600 Sprint went really well

Also have a look at www.laurajanestudio.com for her marvellous photos which capture much of the mood of the day around the paddock & pit lane

The atmosphere around the track and in the pits was terrific and the new 10 car format proved very popular - resulting in so much track time (9 or 10 sessions for every driver) that some people went home by 4pm exhausted! Everyone drove really well & respected each other’s cars and the Goodwood staff were really helpful.

Thanks to everyone who came for making it such a wonderful day and keep an eye on the website for a possible extra date in Autumn!
Here are some further shots of the day -

There weren’t just lovely Alfas amongst the spectators!