Alfa Club member wins Bathurst

[colcol]

OK, now i have your attention, former Victorian Alfa Club Member from about 94-95, Steven ' Richo' Richards has won the Supercheap Auto 1,000 at Mount Panorama, driving a Pepsi Max Ford with regular driver Mark  'Frosty' Winterbottom, finishing ahead of Jamie 'Jaydub' Whincup and Paul Dumbrell in a Red Bull Holden, third was Craig 'Lowndsy' Lowndes and co driver Warren 'Luffy' Luff in a Red Bull Commodore.
Back in 94-95 'Richo' was the freshly crowned Formula Ford Champion driving for Gary Rogers, and they decided to taper back their Auscar racing at the Thunderdome and go 2 Litre Touring Car racing, and the Gun Touring car at the time was the Alfa Romeo 155.
Rogers and Richo went accross to Italy and purchased a 155 to run in Australia in the Valvoline  - Pyroil race team, they invited the Victorian chapter of the Alfa Club to their Springvale road race shop where we got a record 80 members turning out to check out the newly landed 155.
President of the time Ian James at the end of the night presented Steven Richards with Alfa Club membership, about 4 weeks later i was out at Calder helping out a freind at a test day and Richo turned up at Calder with the 155 on the back of a trailer to run some test laps as a shake down to the start of the 2 litre Supertourers Series.... and on the back window of the 155 was a sticker with 'Alfa Romeo Owners Club of Australia' on the back window, i was chuffed, as that made him one of us.
The car cost $200,000 delivered to Australia, they had to pay the full amount and it turned up 6 weeks later at the docks, while in Italy they were not even alloyed to drive it, turned out to be a good car, it was built as a spare and never raced or pranged, they actually wondered if it would turn up at all as they thought the Italian team manager might do a runner.
The 155 had a Fiat twin spark block with a Lancia head on it, turned around 180 degrees with the intake at the front so that the air could be rammed in from the front.
The killer part on the 155 was it had a good airdam on the boot, that was ok on the road version, but Alfa Romeo had Homoligated 50mm spacers for it, and supplied them, and when you went racing you took them out of the boot and put them under the airdam which made the car stick to the road like glue, all legal until the governing body closed the loophole for the following year.
The 155 was rced by Richo for 2 years until it was replaced by a Datsun as Rogers was a Datsun Dealer at the time and it aligned his dealership with his racing.
The 155 was then sold to British driver, David Auger who co driver at LeMans with F1 commentater Martin Brundle, the 155 suffered an enormous prang at Phillip Island when nerfed of by some wally in a Vauxhall Vectra, it was reshelled with a car purchased from New Zealand, as the 155 was sold there.
David Auger ran it for a few years in Australia, then with the demise of the 2 litre Touring cars ran it in Asia for a few years, the 155 now runs in the Historic Touring Cars in Hungary.
The 155 was never sold in Australia as there was no Alfa Romeo importers here at the time, but  a few have been privately imported, it replaced the popular 75 series and was a forerunner to the successfull 156 series.
Back to the main story, congratulations Richo!, Colin.

[Ray Pignataro]

Colin thanks for your historical knowledge of all things alfa

[colcol]

Thanks Ray, its just that the younger generation were not born back in the day when Alfa Romeo actually raced cars, i have seen The Alfa Romeo Formula 1 Team race in Adelaide and the 155 race at Calder, Winton, Albert Park and Phillip Island and each time, i was proud of the Marque, now with all the Fiat $$$$ going to Chrysler, no hope off any racing in the future, Colin.

[Darryl]

What you don't think we will get to see a Chrysler, an Alfa and a Maserati running against each other in V8 supercars? Surely there is great potential to get economies of scale in a multi-car team while promoting a broader product range. How much can a nosecone and a few badges cost?

[colcol]

You might see a Chrysler, entered by a team with the Manufacturers approval, but not with any money coughed up, Garry Rogers Fujitsu Valvoline team were chasing Chrysler, but Volvo stepped in and said run Polestar Volvo's AND we will support you.
The rules state that for you to run a car you must have Manufacturers approval, but not neccesary their support, to stop a bunch of backyarders running a car with disasterous results.
Dick Johnstone was rummored to be close to running a Mazda 6 with a Ford V-8, with support from the Queensland Mazda Distributor, but Mazda Australia said No.
Mercedes Benz Australia said no to V-8 Supercars, so Erebus got some AMG Mercedes from Germany with approval from AMG, purchased the Stone Brothers Racing organisation and now run AMG's, but don't often call them Mercedes Benz's, their best place this year was 4th at Sandown.
Alfa Romeo and Maserati running in V-8 Supercars, i don't think so as its not really their market, imagine a $300,000 Maserati being beaten week in week out by a $30,000 Commodore, not a good look, and the rules will always favour the local cars which have an enourmous fan base.
BMW and Jaguar have both said no to V-8 Racing as they said they would be crazy to get involved, as if they win against a $30,000 Falcon, well they should cause they are 3 times the price, if they get beaten by a Falcon, then it looks bad.
Maserati's ran at Bathurst in 1987 when it was part of the international Group A Touring Car Series, one of the Drivers was Bruno 'the panda' Giaccomelli, and a V-8 Commodore driven by Peter 'perfect' Brock won, not a good look in the Maserati racing history, Colin.

[Darryl]

just to show I've removed tongue from cheek...

Great background info, I had wondered what Mercedes Benz thought they would gain- nothing apparently. For BMW, in the broader car market and trading on a very strong (and promoted hard) image around performance that they have little to gain and a lot to lose from the exposure (contrast with Volvo). Maseratisti aren't likely to be influenced one way or the other but just getting some brand awareness wouldn't hurt? Although a big problem for marques like Maserati and Alfa is that the formula doesn't allow getting any visual distinction into the car.

It is more interesting to see not an Alfa up against not an Aston Martin and not a Mazda.. in sports sedans - at least they don't all look the same.