900 series cars at the 6 hour

[colcol]

At last weekend's Alfa Romeo Club 6 hour, there was a good range of 900 series cars, with an early model Sud 2 door, a late model heavily modified twin carb Sud, A late model Sprint with 2 drivers and a 16 valve last series 33 with 2 drivers.
All cars appeared to be running at the end, with none being towed in that i could see.
With the age of these cars and being driven by 2 drivers, they stand up well to a fair bit of driving.
With the popularity of this event and the basic entry requirements, now is the time to start planning for the 2015 6 hour in your 900 series car, Colin.

[Gary Pearce]

Hey Col,
How did the Abath go on the way home. how about posting a road test report.

[colcol]

Ok, so once again Uncle Col gets the job of having to drive one of the course cars home, didn't really want to, but did only to help out the Alfa Club.
Picked it up from a certain J.A. on Saturday night, and was impressed by how easy it is to drive, had no idea about the car, as it is not an Alfa, but it comes from Italy, from a manufacturer starting with the letter A.
First of all, lets get out of the way the things i didn't like about the car,
1. No cruise control, have been driving cars with cruise controls for 30 years and was lost without one, with money hungry Authorities out to steal your money without doing anything, with all their '$afety camera$'$ and my right foot ached, having to hold it on the gas pedal.
Now, what i liked about the car,
1. The Style, so faithfull to the original 500, which is an absolute favourite of mine, you cannot help like the cuteness of the car, the two headlights look like puppy eyes looking at you, and the interior, is retro, with the painted dashboard and the big single dial in front of you, with 110 at the top, not obscured by the steering wheel, but the 30-60-90-120 numbers were a bit confusing, would have been better in 20's, and the rev counter was in the centre of the speedo, which was cool.
2. I was worried that my large suitcase and supplies for the 6 hour wouldn't fit in the boot, but to my surprise, they did without the need to put them in the back seat.
3. The interior was very comfortable for even a Barge-ar$e like me, as you sit up high and your legs go down, rather than forward, the airconditioning worked well and was easy to understand and the radio was well placed and had a good sound.
4. However, the 'Blue and Me' or something with the Microsoft voice commands didn't work very well, it asked me to sink my [Nokia] phone and it wouldn't work in analogue, then i asked the car to drive at 150 miles per hour and it refused and then it asked me about what music i wanted and i said 'Ramones' and it couldn't find any, clearly it needs a bit more work.
5. The car handled very nicely, with just a hint of understeer on the turn in, with a slightly stiff ride, but nothing i couldn't put up with, because the car is quite high, it was moved around by side winds, as it was quite blowy on the way back home.
6.The power unit had a far bit of power, no idea at all, so looked it up on interweb and it said 118 kilowatts, which is nearly as much as my 156 JTS, with about 400 kilograms less, the all important torques figure was 230 newton metres, 28 more than the 156 JTS, the turbo starts to work at about 1,500 revs and it kicks in while going up a hill.
7. The fuel consumption was good, while taking no figures, it seemed even more frugal than the 156 JTS and it was easy to fillup, just press the fuel cover and open the cap with the ignition key, unlike some cars, but won't mention here.
8.Children, Grandparents, People standing at the side of the road love its look and look at you and smile and wave at you, even some young girls in a Corolla waved at the car [ not me ], you could hear them say, 'great car, ugly driver'.
9. I think it has a similar or same motor as the Alfa Romeo MiTo, that is no inlet camshaft, and valves are controlled electronically and pneumatically, that open only a small way at idle and open a lot at high revs for good gas flow, this engine won 'world engine of the year in 2010', or it may be not that engine, as i don't know much about the car.
10. Would i buy one?, no i wouldn't as it has far too much power for an elderly hoon like myself, if i hadn't killed myself in it after a week, then my licence would be gone as i teach myself the public transport system.
11. Many thanks to Chrysler Fiat Australia for supplying the Safety and course cars for the 6 hour this year, without their ongoing help, we would have to borrow club members cars, as we have in the past.
12. The car?, comes from Italy, starts with A?, Abarth Fiat 500, Colin.

[aggie57]

Nice report Col. Tell me, did it feel like a small car on the freeway?  I know they're much bigger than the originals but they look so small next to most other cars on the road these days, even next to a modern Mini.

[colcol]

Aggie, it felt about the same as the 156, sitting up quite high, unlike the 33, thats lower and the widths about the same, but its about a foot shorter than the 33.
Also report that the Arbath had a 5 speed gearbox, with the reverse down from the 5th, nice quick shift and very light.
Was done up with all the Abarth stickers with the body wrap coating, will appear in next Alfa Club magazine.
Uncle Col usually checks out the back seat, but hadn't quite mastered how the seat tilt works, so rather than have to be rescued, decided to stay in the front.
Very practical car, remembered a Sunday run a few years ago, 20 Alfa Romeo's loitering with intent to have fun at a petrol station, bloke in a new Fiat 500 turned up to see what was going on, and decided a Sunday drive sounds like fun, and can he come along too!.
He was a home handyman repairer and had the back of the Fiat 500 done with all his tools and and equipment in place, why not?, he said, most tradies have utes, i have something better, a Fiat 500, Colin.

[Neil Choi]

He was a home handyman repairer and had the back of the Fiat 500 done with all his tools and and equipment in place, why not?, he said, most tradies have utes, i have something better, a Fiat 500, Colin.

Hey Colin,
Would this one be better.

[colcol]

Another point in the endless Front Wheel Drive versus Losers debate, the Abarth has very good off throttle response, ie, you get off the loud pedal and it slows down.
With a front wheel drive, get off the throttle and you put weight onto the front wheels and it turns in nicely, but with most cars get off throttle and nothing happens, except understeer - understeer - understeer, its due to pollution controls that doesn't allow the throttle to close until all the pollutions are burnt.
With the Abarth, just like in the olden days, it slows down like it should, without the need for riding the brakes.
Also another good thing is that the Abarth has 4 drink holders, 2 in the front and 2 in the back, they won't hold a large squishey from a quicky mart, but normal small water bottle or standard can of soft drink, they are fine.
The seat belt stalks on the front bucket seats are nearly on the floor, so you need long arms to plug them in, not next to the seat base, like on most cars.
As of some Fiats these days, they are not built in Italy, but assembled in Poland, to take advantage of the lower labour costs, Colin.

[colcol]

And while i was driving the Abarth to and from Chrysler Fiat at Port Melbourne, done up with all the stickers to look like a racecar, most Japanese and Korean car drivers didn't even give it a second look, but Euro drivers like Peugeot, Citreon and BMW drivers gave it a second look, but those crazy people that drive Italian cars, tooted, waved, cheered, asked me at the traffic lights, if it goes as good as it looks, to which i replied, "no it goes even better than it looks", i was even spotted by a driver that is sometimes on this forum...., Colin.

[Evan Bottcher]

Three of the 900 series cars running at the 6-hour.  I didn't get a photo of Ray's beastie.

(or his car)

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Great report on the Abarth Colin.

As I said to you at the Motel, I had one of these for a weekend a couple of years ago; this was my report.....    http://www.motorlist.com.au/2013/road-tests/abarth-500-esseesse-road-test/

Our findings seem remarkably similar.   I also gave up on Blue and Me pretty quickly, it couldn't find my Ramones either, let alone Burt Bacharach.