November 20th, 2002

by Ed McDonough
Photos by Ed and Nancy McDonough

Correspondent Ed McDonough somewhow manages to do what most of us can only dream of. The following is Part I of a two part feature about racing, and winning, an Alfa at the Nurburgring.

Ed leaves the pits for practice in the fog at the Nurburgring.

The name Nurburgring always conjures up some of the most important and hard fought motor races of all time, and visions of flying Formula One cars on the long twisty circuit in the Eifel Mountains of Germany was one of the premier sights in motor sport.

Sadly, those great battles are much rarer these days, certainly amongst the F1 cars. Fortunately the 14 mile Nordschliefe circuit still exists, though not used for the significant races as it was in the past. In spite of the changes, however, racing at the Ring is still a great experience, and even the much shorter and vastly changed Grand Prix track sees some very good, and sometimes unusual races.

I was lucky enough to be invited for the second time to race the Alfa Romeo Giulia 1300 TI of Belgian Alfa dealer Thierry Inghels at the 750 Meilen Race on November 1st. Even better, we won. Well, we won our class.

The Car
Alfa TIs and Supers are popular in vintage racing circles for three reasons: there were a fair number of them made, and the road cars can be converted to race versions fairly easily; the parts are available; they tend to be reliable and great fun to drive. They also cost less to buy than the coupes.

Coincidentally, the year 2002 is the 40th anniversary of the Giulia sedan. Nomenclature and models are often confusing; for example the 1300TI Super was not the smaller version of the famous 1600TI Super; despite the 1300cc displacement, the 1962 sedans were never called Giuliettas; Not all the sedans were named TI, and if you call a 1600 Super a TI Super you are way off base. The first small Alfa sedan was called the Giulietta Berlina in 1955, and the Giulietta TI was an upgraded version introduced in 1956; TI means Touring International, first used with the 1900 sedans as raced in the Carrera PanAmericana, and can be found abbreviated as both "TI" and "Ti".

The Giulietta 1300 Berlina TI, precursor to the Giulia 1300 and 1600 sedans.

Giulias came in two engine sizes-1300, 1600, plus a Perkins diesel. Giulias were in production over a range of models from 1962 to 1977, the 1600 starting in 1962 and the 1300 in 1964. The 1300 TI was a more powerful version of the 1300 with different trim. Some of the Giulia sedans were built especially for competition, the 1600 TI Super being the first though they were soon overshadowed by the more glamorous GTA coupes and the TZ. The competition versions had reduced weight and up-graded mechanical specs. The Giulia sedan continued in lengthened form (and not as much fun) as the 1750 and 2000, but was no longer referred to as a Giulia, but as the 1750 and 2000 Berlina.

Inghels’ 1966 1300TI conforms to strict FIA Appendix K regulations, which means it is essentially as it was new, but stripped of all interior, and with the lighter body panels. It has the later 5 speed gearbox, four wheel disc brakes, twin Weber carbs (replacing the original Solex), 8.41/1 final drive ratio, independent front suspension, rigid rear axle, telescopic dampers, 15 inch wheels with Dunlop Racing tires. The engine has been balanced and produces about 100bhp. The basis of endurance preparation is to go through everything after every major race, check bearings, and replace minor parts each season. We tend to keep to a modest rev limi--6500rpm.

The Drivers
Thierry Inghels is the Principal of Garage van Steenkiste in Ghent, Belgium, which is the world’s oldest existing Alfa Romeo dealer, founded in 1951 and recently having celebrated its 50th anniversary. Thierry’s mother is now 80 and still is part of the business team, and has long standing connections with Alfa notables over many years.

Alfa drivers Inghels (right) and Ed McDonough.

Thierry is a great Alfa enthusiast, and is generally a part of every major Alfa event in Europe. He visits the Alfa events throughout Europe, and is a regular visitor to Britain, which is how I met him several years ago when I was Chairman of the UK AROC. He owns a Giulietta Spider which he let me run in the rally which was part of the 50th Anniversary event.

For my part, I’ve been involved with Alfas for years. I owned a later Giulia 1600 Super, and have had a Guilia Sprint GT for 22 years. I owned several Alfettas, sedan and GTV , which I raced, and still own a 1958 Giulietta TI and a Minari kit car based on Alfa 33 mechanicals.

I have done two races on the old Nordschlieffe circuit, the 1000 Kilometers in 1973 in a Dulon-FVC, the last year in which every Grand Prix driver was also in sports cars. That year there were the Alfa 33s, Ferrari 312, Matras, Mirage--it was fantastic. Then I came back to do the 24 Hours in 1989 in a Ford Escort, a car which had been running in a road going race series. Dave Phillips owned it and it was his shopping/everyday car as well. We did it as a two driver race and it was enormous fun. We argued every time we had to change drivers because we each wanted to stay in the car. As the big Eggenberger Sierras fell out, we helped Ford win the team prize. I then did two races on the GP circuit, but have done a lot of testing on the long circuit, last July in a Ferrari 288 GTO Evoluzione--that was a 200mph car!

The Grand Prix circuit, on which the 750 Meilen race in November was held, is easy, as it is relatively short and you can see what is coming, but that is very different to the Nordschieffe, with 14 miles and endless corners. Some people say you can’t remember it, but I don’t think that is true. Once you have done a 24 Hour race there, it all comes back. My tactic is to go out and note the places I find difficult to remember--the blind corners mainly. Once you reduce the effort to that it is a lot easier. I tend to say "it’s ok all the way to Adenau, then what?" So I can concentrate on speed to Adenau and then focus on the next two corners, and after a few laps it tends to fall into place. But then one also has to deal with the fog, which is particularly nasty in the fall. As we shall see, the fog is also a factor on the new Grand Prix circuit as well.

Next: Part II The Race