ALFAGTV6.COM

[Micke]

We have 22% VAT since ages but Matslandia tops that easily with 25%.

[fedezyl]

That's enough off-topic wandering for now; go back to track talk you guys or even better, go buy some tickets and go play for real!
Jim K.

Wish I could! but spent all my vacation money on finishing up the Giulie V6 project and a 1959 Giulietta Berlina Ti, but i've already convinced my girlfriend to come along may next year (hard to say no to a trip to Europe!), so hopefully we can share some schnitzels with a south american alfisti !

[Zamani]

JK,

Do all the 75s there have bad synchros? Everytime I see an RSR 75 on youtube the gearbox seem to grind all the time.

Hey how about some videos of your fast lap?

I have a time trial in June with AR4me. The ring...maybe I can go there next year when I go to London again.

[Mats]

25% VAT and 50% income tax, best country in the world...

[Jim K]

Bad synchros? If you consider how many people have driven these cars (most without respect) is it any wonder? Gearbox repairs are expensive and these cars have been Ron's main moneymakers for a long time...my opinion is it makes -unfortunately- financial sense not to repair them! Besides, we are mostly talking about 1st/2nd gear which don't matter much in the Ring. If you get a real bad one and don't like it, they'll gladly exchange it for another car as there's no shortage of 75's! Nowadays a lot of customers mostly pick non-Alfas though and Ron has had some problems with track officials not wanting older cars in the track -at least that was their way of discouraging private car rental, in order to promote the track's own rental business.

Mats, it all has to do with cost of living and income. Greece is either the most expensive or second most expensive country in Europe regarding consumer prices, while the average income is about half of the rest in the EU. Even Greek products cost 20-40% less in Europe than here!! Under these circumstances the new measures are devastating.
Jim K.

[Mats]

Yeah, you're getting a royal reaming at the moment. We had a similar "cleansing by fire" some decades back, remember people having a 500% intrest rate on thier house mortgage/loans for instance and the Swedish Krona was devalued a lot.

Nowadays it seems to be common sense to buy swedish produced stuff from the US because you save about 30% even if you pay all the fees, toll and Swedish VAT... It's a lovely world..

[xrad]

and our Swedish produced stuff comes from China.....

[Mats]

and our Swedish produced stuff comes from China.....

Your? Explain please...

[MD]

Our Swedish designed, German speficied, USA conceived and Oz peddled goods are also made in China..chances are the footage was also taken with a Chinese camera..

[Mats]

Ah, yeah. Everything is chinese...

At least you can identify the mechanical Chinese products on the smell and then buy something else. "Chinese oil".

[xrad]

I thought Europe bought it's discount products from Poland or one of the other former Soviet nations..........



I know that smell of Chinese oil! leads to all the bad machining.... AND you can tell by the cheap cardboard box it comes in...


IKEA = made in China...even the little cow milk pitcher

[Duk]

Our Swedish designed, German speficied, USA conceived and Oz peddled goods are also made in China..chances are the footage was also taken on a Chinese imitation Nurburgring

[MD]

You can't win'em all but there's no harm in trying...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCEX8yLCGKw

[MALDI]

Wow, fabulous video!

The track is amazing. Is it where the Bathurst 1000km was held in days of yore? The elevation changes were spectacular, but they end up giving you no run-off room and lots of walls. Are the walls yellow in the downhill section 'cause that's where you'll piss yourself?

Also, do you know, were those just 4 cylinder Alfettas? They must have had forced induction to stay with the 308 and to pass that 911.

[Terafrost]

Wow, fabulous video!

The track is amazing. Is it where the Bathurst 1000km was held in days of yore? The elevation changes were spectacular, but they end up giving you no run-off room and lots of walls. Are the walls yellow in the downhill section 'cause that's where you'll piss yourself?

Also, do you know, were those just 4 cylinder Alfettas? They must have had forced induction to stay with the 308 and to pass that 911.

100% correct on the track front! However the Bathurst 1000km still occurs every year, though no longer by the same name. Changes all the time due to sponsorship etc.
Incredible track to drive on, as you can see in the video. It's also a public road when not in use... Shame about the 60km/h speed limit!! The back straight, or 'Con-rod' straight (getting its name from a famous race in the 1940s where a bloke lost the championship after throwing a piston through the side of the block, bending the con-rod into a figure-eight) is particularly nasty... 300km/h leads to plenty of big smashes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathurst_1000 - check this out.

Unfortunately the field is now limited to what we call the 'V8 supercars' race series, which is basically an evolution of the super sedans of old (road car based - though VERY loosely nowadays) between our two main manufacturers here, Ford and Holden (GM).
As the infamous Jeremy Clarkson once said "The Bathurst race is a place where Holden and Ford fans from all over the country go and have a big fight and occasionally... a race breaks out". Regulations are incredibly tight now, so much so that basically all that differentiates the two marques are the fiberglass stickers on the outside

Anyway! I was actually speaking with the owner of the silver Alfetta GT a while back and he was kind enough to tell me what he was running. Anyway without giving away his secrets, I'll tell you that the car weighs 960kg and is running a solid 160hp at the wheels.
That video was taken whilst running in the new motor, so he says he was taking it a little easy. AFAIK, regulations for this event require factory engine specs, with basic things like compression and cam changes allowed.

Great to see them in front of a Ferrari