A Ring of Alfas Part II
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 II of a two part feature about racing, and winning, an Alfa at the Nurburgring. Part I was featured in the November 20th edition of VeloceToday.

Fog and mist are the main attractions at late year Ring events.

The 750 Meilen is one of those late season events for historic cars, combined with a Sports 2000 race at the same time! Forty-six historic cars from Ford GT 40 to Mustangs to Porsches, Jaguar E-Types, Corvettes and even a Kellison J5 showed up, in addition to nine various Alfa Romeos to fight the BMWs and Ford Escort for Italian honor in the Touring and GT Class. The race was organized by the ADAC, which is the German National Automobile Club. The 750 Meilen Historic Rennen--the 750 Mile Historic Race--has been the regular end of season historic race at the Ring, where there are dozens and dozens of races every year. Actually, it rarely is 750 miles, and was shortened this year to Six Hours because of the weather. The Eifel weather is usually the biggest challenge in November, but in spite of very thick fog on Thursday and Friday morning, when you could not see the end of the pit lane, it cleared for the race. The fog makes it essential to know your way around! As I hadn’t seen the recent changes, it meant going a bit slower, but the new parts are very slow--and boring--it’s hard to understand how the Grand Prix drivers think it’s interesting--if they do. The four corners after the pit straight are all slow until you join up with the downhill section, but it is nothing like the long circuit. The fog was marginally better than in 1999 when there was rain, sleet and snow in my stint!

The Giulia 1.6 of Wolte/Bovenseipen was 2nd in Up to 1.6 Liter Touring Cars, and here leads the McDonough/Inghels 1.3 Giulia.

Getting my first look at the modifications to the Grand Prix circuit to suit the F1 teams, I was impressed by how little imagination there is in modern circuit design, and that lovely fast left-right at the end of the fast pit straight has now been replaced by a 20 mph hair-pin and a series of very slow corners before rejoining the more interesting section of the circuit. While the Giulia is very much at home on the tight corners, out-braking and out-handling Corvettes, Mustangs and E-Type Jags (and beating most of them as well) it was much happier getting into the rhythm of the medium fast downhill section of a few years ago. However, if we had had the usual rain and snow, I suspect we would have been in the top half dozen overall with our better fuel consumption and no tire wear.

The Track
We did 90 minute sessions, which meant we could go out with a less than full fuel tank and still get decent distance before stopping again. The Giulia is harder work on absolutely full tanks so we worked on getting the fuel accurate and keeping the consumption low. A 6 hour race goes by quickly, not really long enough to get some rest. I tend to go off and see what other people are doing or take pictures, as I know I am going to be doing a race report. I also go tell other people it’s slippery and they should slow down!

Inghels takes a turn at the Ring with the 1300 Giulia.

The Giulia is pretty much flat all the way up the hill from the bottom hairpin on the GP track, in 4th through the chicane coming uphill and also in 4th for the left and right before taking 5th down the back straight where I was seeing 7000rpm in top gear before the last chicane--all great and invigorating fun. One must keep an eye on the rearview mirror though, as the faster cars come up very quickly, and because the GP circuit is so tight, you can’t stay out of their way! Well, at least in the corners. The Alfa was as quick or quicker than most under braking so it was really a question of watching the mirrors so you could get into a corner before anyone could squeeze in front. With Corvettes, Mustangs and Ford Falcons, you need to keep your eye on them as you go down the straight and not move over as you enter the corner, but the Giulia was so good that if I was near the corner before the bigger stuff got past, I held the line. The only car that actually overtook in the corner was the Ford GT 40, and that was why they kept changing brake pads and over-heating the calipers.

The Giulia 1.6 of Wechselberger/Pippig/Beguelin, stopped late in the race with dead battery.

The Plan
There has to be a plan in endurance racing. What do you do if the pace car comes out? If there’s a yellow flag within 15 or 20 minutes of your planned stop, do you come in and re-fuel then? How is the signal crew going to let you know when you have 20 minutes left? What do you do if you can’t see the pit board in the fog? All of these things happen and you have to be ready for them. We had everything work to plan except when I started my session the car stopped at the end of the pit lane and wouldn’t start. There are two fuel pumps so I switched on the second pump and it started. It was supposed to run on one pump but didn’t. When I switched the second pump off on the straight a few laps later, the engine stopped so I turned it on again. You need to be ready to deal with the unexpected and not panic, which loses you time.

The GT40s spent time in the pits changing brakes and getting gas...

There is something special about all endurance racing, where the balance between competitive speed and lasting the distance has to be carefully calculated. The European scene has a number of these races so the historic crowd knows how to build cars which last, and only ten cars dropped by the wayside. My teammates Belgians Thierry Inghels and Philippe Moeraert and Dutch veteran Thom Fransen also know how to drive quickly and plan well, our three stops giving just enough time for a driver change and enough fuel for 90 minutes. Although we were at the back of the grid for the start, we climbed 16 places overall with a cautious but steady pace and a conservative rev limit. It’s a nice feeling to see that Corvette or Jaguar E-Type which blasts past you on the straight sitting in the pits for longer fuel stops, and brake pads, while you take back the laps they make on you on out-right speed!

The Finish
Two starts saw the Sports 2000 cars, Lolas and Tigas, go off 30 seconds ahead of the main pack, and Allen Lloyd put his Ford GT 40 into the lead of the historic contest, and kept it there for most of the race, getting up among the Sports 2000s in spite of a long stop for tires and then new brake pads. He held out from the German Ford Mustang and a sensationally driven Alpine A110 of father and son team Werner and Jens Schafer.

The Mini battled with the McDonough/Inghels Alfa until the clutch broke.

Italian cars did extremely well in the smaller classes, and the 1.6 Giulia of Frank Roosen/Philip Ebeling took the Up to 1600cc. Touring Car Class, the Giulia Spider Hardtop of Alexandra Avemarg and Eric Granmontagne the Up to 1600cc. GT class, with the Giulia 2000GTV taking the 2 Liter GT Class with Jochen Surbach and Marc Hiltscher.

This left the smallest Touring Car class to our little Giulia Ti after a race long battle with an English-entered Mini Cooper ended with the Mini’s clutch breaking near the end. And while the racing is always especially good at these events, there’s no holding back at the post-race celebrations, and the Eifel Mountains provide plenty of scope for a relaxing day or two before the P & O Ferries trip back to the UK. We took time out this year to walk the 8 kilometers around the nearby volcanic lake, the Maria Laache,

Giluia Spider 1.6 of Avemarg/Granmontagne/Lussen, 3rd in Up to 1.6 Litre GT.

to burn off some of that local schnitzel and Bitburg! After the race, everyone packs up, and by 8 PM we are all in the big, modern Dorint Hotel at the circuit for a dinner of German ham and sausage and other specialties, a bit of beer, and the awards. The organizers tend to reward people for their efforts, so we took the Under 1300cc Touring Class, but to make it interesting, were also lumped into the GT/GTS Class and got a trophy for being 3rd there. Because the race was on Nov. 1st, All Souls Day, which is a holiday in Germany, that left Saturday for people to travel home. Or see some of the local sights. I stay in a family hotel which is actually within the long circuit…the Gasthaus Muhlenhart in Herschbroich….where we can see the Nurburg Castle from the bedroom window, soaking up the atmosphere.! Looking forward to next year.