Held annually as a tribute to the late Dominic Spardaro this event always brigs out the most interesting mixture of classics and exotic cars. A Midsummer’s Rallye And Concourse - Great Cars, Great People In Elegant Westchester To Benefit The Sloane Kettering Cancer Research Foundatio
This event this year at historic Watkins Glen speedway was a sensational four day affair. We were treated to mucho vintage track events including an "Alfa only" race which was won by Jay Ilohans 1968 Tipo 33/2 Daytona. Also appearing was another 33: Toni Kasemets's red 1971 Tipo33 #50.
The preceding endurance race was won by Joe Colasacco in a yellow TZ1 which took the Nuvolari trophy. There were over thirty Alfa racers which competed in a number of races including the three GTA Trans-Am Championship Alfa's from 1970 ! The GTA's owned and raced: #3 Bernie Martinez, #25 Sam Cummings and #93 Dave LeBraun. And the Peter Giddings 1935 8C looked, sounded and ran amazing.
Mike Besic ran several beautiful GTA's, Joe Cannella superfast '68 GTV. Tom Lacosta, Sam Cummings and Rob Davenport all ran and showed GTA's. Eliseo Carrillo's #99 '63 green Giulia Spider, tech by Rex Chalmers, was lightning, and Rob Mocas piloted his cool yellow/black '67 GTV.
A very interesting "barn find" was Ken Geiger's unrestored 1965 GTA Stradale RHD.
There was also a classic car show, a reception at the Corning Glass Museum, Police escorted racecars, and a wonderful dinner banquet with guest speaker Robert Little featuring his personal slide presentation: "Inside the Walls" of AUTODELTA and ARI Racing! Afterward, Robert was presented with a special memento of Autodelta Alfa Montreal by Dr. Martinez.
The Rita award was presented by SVRA Robert Mocas who made an emotional speech regarding the late and highly respected racing lady.
AROC/NYAROC members attending/pit crewing: Joel Belser, Bactosh and Jen, Keith Goring and Vic and Gail.
It seems that every five years there is a special Alfa Romeo Dedication and this year was it. A fair number of our NYAROC members went up for 2005 and a larger group attended the 2010 event which was a blast. 2015 was great and hopefully we'll all be around to do it again.
Photos by Gail Cerami.
Text by -Vic Cerami - NYAROC / AROC
24 June - 28 June of 2015 Warwick, Rhode Island was the setting of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club Convention hosted by the New York and Connecticut chapters of AROC-USA. After many months of planning the event is remembered as one of the best AROC conventions.
Here is a video shot for Italian TV (In Italian) RAI.TV Broadcast
The Vintage Motorsports Festival returns to the Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park road course for three days of vintage racing action, hosted by VRG and VSCCA. This event features cars from throughout the past century, including formula cars, sports racers, sports cars, vintage production and more.
The Sunday edition of the Greenwich concours was held on May 31st 2015 and featured cars of Europe. Several NYAROC club members presented their cars at the show.
“I Almost Entered the Greenwich Concours”
- By Stuart Light
One of the nicest car shows I have ever attended is the Greenwich Concours. I hadn’t been there for a few years…the last time was in 2008 when my Alfa Romeo GTV-6 was selected as an entrant. Unfortunately in years since there were scheduling conflicts. However, I am not currently affiliated with competing car shows on Long Island and this year without any show conflicts I intended to enter my 1963 Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider.
I asked one of the show organizers, Maria Jannace how far in advance I needed to submit an application…I was informed that if my application was submitted by mid-April there wouldn’t be any problems. I thought this was great…now I can order a new convertible top, have it installed and have enough time to prepare the car for the show. Then again…when it comes to ordering parts for an Italian car…especially an old one…nothing goes as planned. It took weeks for the top to arrive….the Alfa Auto Clinic then brought my Giulia Spider a few doors away to A & B Upholstery for installation.
Mid-way through the installation process it was discovered that the top was not the correct top and by submitting the vin# of the car to the top manufacturer it was discovered that there was a mid-year change in the top design…it figures.
So there I was waay past the cutoff date to submit an application for entry. I wanted to attend even without a car to enter. Since I’m a card carrying member of the Madison Avenue Sports Car Driving and Chowder Society and the Head Honcho, Bruce Wennerstrom runs thewhole “shootin match” at the Greenwich Concours at least getting in would cost the usual admittance fee.
I left home before 6AM and pointed..or rather aimed my FIAT 500 up the Cross Island Parkway over the Throgs Neck Bridge and onto I-95 North…by the time I exited at exit 3 in Connecticut less than an hour had passed…..parking was easy…not many people were in attendance at 7AM.
I positioned myself at different locations to get a few good photos of cars arriving and then being placed on the field. Not many Alfa Romeos this year…there was Vic & Gail Cerami’s 1967 “stepnose” GTV, a Giulia Spider and a 1900 Coupe. FIATs ranged from a “Jolly” to Vinny Lambroia’s Bertone X1/9 to two Abarth Zagato bodied “Double Bubble’s.
I took a look at the Miller Motor Cars display. I kinda liked the blue McLaren, butthe Aston Martin convertible with the 6 speed manual transmission is a “Stuart car”…something I could actually see myself driving…if I ever won the lottery…yeah…like that’s gonna happen anytime soon (lol).
I know a lotta people really get a thrill drooling over big $ older exotic cars…ya know like a Lamborghini Miura SV…maybe a Ferrari 275GTB/4….perhaps a Ferrari Daytona Spider or an Aston Martin DB 4 or DB5…yeah…I like looking at those cars too. However I’m an old fashioned sports car guy driving a an almost “Pre-historic” 52 year old sports car so I got as much of a thrill looking at a FIAT Jolly, Alpine Renault, an Amphicar...even a “bug eyed” Sprite. Yeah I know…with the exception of the Alpine Renault…the others don’t drive well, but they’re sure as hell fun to look at.
The Greenwich Concours took place about a week ago. I just heard today that a correct replacement convertible top for my Giulia Spider was just shipped to the Alfa Auto Clinic. Hopefully within a couple of weeks A & B will complete the top installation. At least I’ll be able to drive my Giulia Spider with the top down until late Fall when the weather gets a bit too cool to drive with the top down. There’s always next year…maybe in 2016 my Giulia Spider will be picked by the selection committee to participate in the 2016 Greenwich Concours.
April 3-12 at the Javits Center in New York City. This year Alfa Romeo was an important presents as they displayed both historic and new models, including the premier of the 4C Spider.
- Report by Stuart Light
Mention the name 4C to a non-car person and more than likely they’re gonna think that you’re referring to a brand of bread crumbs…you know the stuff that you sprinkle on top of salads and perhaps use in the preparation of stuffing to be used in a Thanksgiving turkey.
However when ya mention 4C to a car person, especially an eye-talian car person, right away they’re gonna know that you’re referring to the Alfa Romeo 4C, Alfa Romeo’s first regular production sports car to hit these shores in 20+ years.
Last year I had the pleasure of seeing the 4C couple in person and trying out a couple of them for size.…as I mentioned at that time…I had little trouble squeezing in and out over the door sill due to my relatively thin frame…well…not as thin as it was 30 years ago…but still thin enough to get in and out of sports cars. Last year a few Alfisti didn’t like my less than positive comments about the leather seats which although great for road racing might not comfortable for a road trip of more than two hours.…hey...I felt the same way about the FIAT Abarth, preferring the fabric seats to the leather seats.
This year the big difference is that for a 4C Spider was on display. Ya gotta give Alfa Romeo credit….as long as I can remember they’ve made “drop top” cars look great whether the top is up or down. That goes for my 1963 Giulia Spider, the Duetto and the Spiders of the 70s, 80s and 90s. There isn’t much of a weight difference from the 4C coupe to the 4C Spider… maybe twenty something pounds due to the carbon fiber tub giving the 4C enough stiffness as to not require much modification to convert it to Spider with a drop top mechanism. Like the 4C Coupe the Spider has an all-alloy 1750cc engine with 4 valves per cylinder and direct injection good for 237hp…..enough power to propel it from 0 to 60mph in 4.1 seconds with a top speed of 160mph.
Alfa Romeo enthusiasts who contacted me after visiting the New York Auto Show commented that there was a lotta interest in the Alfa Romeo exhibit. That included the older vintage/historic/classic cars on display…..my favorites would have been the Series 2 TZ and of course the 1968 Tipo 33 Stradale. Most of the crowds of course were around the 4C Spider including NYAROC members Dino and George Pappous, plus Vic Cerami and Lou Grasso.
Do I like the 4C?…what’s not to like…I’d still like to see a 21stcentury version of my front engine rear wheel drive 1963 Giulia Spider....maybe Sergio will listen and grant traditional Alfisti our wish.
This article isn’t as thorough as usual due to that fact that I composed it while in the hospital with an I.V. drip plugged into me This is only the second time I missed the Press Preview at the New York Auto Show since themid-1960s…the last time was 40+ years ago when my Father passed away. I almost felt guilty that I wasn’t up at 4AM, on a train bound to NYC at 5:38M and at the Jacob Javits Convention Center by 6:45AM to sign in.
Fortunately I had Vic Cerami to provide me with tech information plus Phil Roitman and Martyn Schorr who took great photos of the Alfa Romeos on display. Don’t worry…I’ll be back at the New York Auto Show in 2016…..you know there will be more Alfa Romeos plus new foreign exotics on display….something to look forward to.
The New York Alfa Romeo Owners Club had the pleasure of congregating once again for it's annual post Holiday "Holiday Party" at the charmingly inviting home of George and Lynn Pezold. The welcoming Victorian was the former estate of Silent Film Actress Fannie Brice and has served as the setting for countless NYAROC Holiday Parties.
Although the rain was unrelenting, the turnout was fabulous and the laughter, good times, and great food was equally unrelenting. As old friends caught up with each other and exchanged their latest and greatest Alfa stories, the overwhelming buzz in the air was about the Alfa Romeo 4 C. Yes, a new Alfa Romeo that is currently available on our shores. In addition, much excitement revolved around the upcoming National Convention, dubbed Alfamiglia Nordest 2015, that NYAROC will be jointly hosting with the Connecticut Chapter as well as having numerous volunteers from Alfa Owners of New England (AONE).
With Dr. Frank LaSala(Connecticut Chapter President) making the 270 mile round trip it was a testament to the brotherhood that our clubs share. Together with NYAROC President (Dr. Dino Pappous), the Alfamiglia Nordest 2015 Convention news was updated and T-shirts and apparel were on display. The convention effort is in full swing with sponsorships accumulating and the convention web site ready to open for registration.
All in all, it was another grand success culminating with a belated New Year's Toast led by National and New York Board of Director member Mr. David Rivkin. As the bubbly flowed and the rain fell, the NYAROC Holiday Party spread belated holiday cheer on all that congregated yet again. Through the continued hospitality of the Pezold's, to the coordinating of the food by NYAROC Secretary Mr. Vincent Lambroia, to the spectacular graphic art deployed in all of our promotional efforts by NYAROC Board of Director member Mr. Louis Grasso,to the spectacular photography of NYAROC Board of Director Mr. Giovanni DeGeorge, and on to the coordinating efforts of NYAROC Vice President Mr. John Catera, and NYAROC Board of Director Mr. George Linton, the NYAROC team put on a great show once more.
---Dr. Dino Pappous
President New York Alfa Romeo Owners Club
