April 1999

The Corsa Rossa delegation at the MAARC Wine Tour - read more below!

April Monthly Gathering

On Tuesday evening April 13th a Healey and MGA left Winston Salem for Corsa Rossa and in route hooked up with one then two Ferraris. What a fun drive to Kernersville. At the car park were two Alfa Romeos, another Ferrari and great weather. Congratulations went out to Thor and Amy for winning and Bob and Linda Wright for finishing 3rd in the Benito Juarez Rally.

At the meeting were John Hauser (Healey) , Steve Karapetian (Ferrari 308), Jack O’Brien (MGA), Charles Calkins (Ferrari Mondial), Tim and Susan Simmons (Alfa Romeo Spyder), Bill Craig (Alfa Romeo Veloce), Jim Clarkson (Ferrari 328) and Bob Wright, Thor Mirchandani, Amy Kudla, and Blake Frazier.

John Hauser show the 1965 Taga Florio road race in Sicily which was won by Vacarella and Bandini in a Ferrari. The Sicilian Country side alone was worth the viewing and the cars and race were exquisite. The sounds alone were a treat!

At the Meeting it was announced that we were making progress in collecting Phil Hill Memorabilia for the display at Reynolda House Museum of American Art at the October 9th European Car Festival. This year we will celebrate the carear and the 1961 World Driver’s Championship of Phil Hill. Each class winner will receive in addition to the award presented by the sponsoring merchant a copy of Phil Hill:Yankee Champion . Brown Fox books has generously agreed to donate 22 copies of the book to be awarded with the class winners. We will also have copies of the books on sale. At this time we are working on collecting Art work depicting Phil Hill’s carear using the Turner Picture of Hill and Von Trips at Spa and black and white photograghs from the Klemantaski Collection as well as other sources for the Phil Hill Display.

Although Ferrari will be holding a concours at the show and Phil Hill raced six years for Ferrari, he also raced MGs, Chapparals, Jaguars, Healeys and other marques as well.

The weekend of April 16th will be busy with Bill Craig and John Hauser driving Bill’s Alfa Romeo and Thor Mirchandani and Amy Kudla driving Thor’s Ferrari to the Mid Atlantic Alfa Romeo Wine Tour in Charlottesville coupled with Jim Clarkson, Steve Karapetian, Adam Beroth, and Charles Calkins driving their four Ferraris to the tour in Chatam and Orange counties with the Ferrari Club.
Buona Fortuna E Migliori Augri .................. john hauser

Mid Atlantic Alfa Romeo Club Wine Country Tour

At 3pm April 16th an Alfa Romeo and a Ferrari and four enthusiasts from Corsa Rossa left Winston Salem for Charlottesville, VA and the MAARC wine tour. David and Debbie Morris and the Hampton Roads Branch of the Mid Atlantic Alfa Romeo Club did a terrific job with the wine tour, now in its third year. There were 13 Alfa Romeos, 1 Ferrari, 1 Maserati and 1 Porsche to make up the group which met in Charlottesville Friday evening.

We stayed at the English Inn and Friday night had a superb meal at Oregano Joe’s next door within walking distance. Bill Craig and John Hauser came up in Bill’s Alfa Romeo Veloce Spyder and Thor Mirchandani and Amy Kudla came up in Thor’s Ferrari 365 GTC Friday afternoon, just in time to make dinner. The Corsa Rossa group traveled 421 from Winston Salem to Kernersville and 158 to 65 up to Reidsville and then 29 up to Charlottesville for a brilliant drive to the Shenandoah covering the 215 miles in just over 3 hours and 30 minutes.

The Alfa Romeos gather in the IAP parking lot
Saturday morning we met at International Auto Parts which gave everyone a 10% discount and provided blueberry muffins, bagels and donuts. We then were led by Dave and Debbie down route 663 past Earlysville and the Rivanna river and and then the South fork Rivanna River Reservoir and on to Mechums river up Jones mountain past some great horse farms and to the first winery: WhiteHall Vineyards, which produces 5 wines. They were the Governors Cup winners of 1997 and 1998 for red wines. After a wine tasting under the hundred year old oaks on a hillside next to the winery, we had lunch provided by the Salernos.
Arrival at White Hall. Sampling under the oaks.
After purchasing some nice wines the rumble and whine of three red Alfa Romeo GTV6s, a blue Alfa romeo GTV, a black Alfa Romeo Milano, a red Maserati Ghibli, a red Ferrari 365 GTC, a white Porsche 911, a red Alfa Romeo Duetto, and red, blue, silver and cream Alfa Romeo Spyders could be heard leaving the village of White hall on route 674 heading towards Doylesville and the Doyles river which seemed to parallel the road and up Martins Mountain and over Muddy run and up Lick mountain and down to Boonesville and back up Harris mountain by Nortonsville where we went up a tiny lane to a very modest set of structures known as Autumn hill Vineyards. At Autumn Hill we were treated to an extensive cheese sampling as well as a wine tasting. The wines were excellent and I went way over budget. This winery won first place at the San Fransico Wine Tests for its Cabernet Franc. From here we had a spirited ride to Charlottesville.

After some of us swam in the greenhouse pool we met at Rococo’s for dinner and enjoyed another good Italian meal. Bill and I then went over to Lord Hardwicke’s pub next to Oregano Joe’s for some English Tudor atmosphere and some British Ale.

The Salernos beautiful Maserati Ghibli.
The next day Dave and Debbie led the group to the Jefferson vineyards between Monticello and Ashlawn Plantations for wine tasting and hors d’oeuvres and then to Oakencroft vineyards on a picturesque farm winery west of Charlottesville. This was a weekend filled with great fellowship; excellent Italian food; good wine; splendid roads, weather and driving! I am already looking forward to next year and this will be first on my list for April before putting anything else on the calendar. Dave and Debbie do a great job in picking new wineries, great roads and restaurants each year.


John Hauser

The Eastern Region of the Ferrari Club Sunday Tour

On Sunday April 18th while four of us were in Virginia’s Shenandoah three red ( Corsa Rossa) Ferraris left Winston Salem to join the Ferrari club in Chapel Hill. Jim and Dorothy Clarkson driving their Ferrari 328, Steve Karapetian and Miriam Bonds and their daughter Kate driving their Ferrari 308 GT4, and Adam Beroth driving his Ferrari 512 BBi headed east on 4o to meet two Ferrari Mondials, a beautiful fly yellow Ferrari 246 GTS, a silver Ferrari 365 GT 2+2, a red Ferrari F40, a red Ferrari Daytona Spyder, a late 70s Ferrari 308GTS, several Alfa Romeo Spyders, two BMW Z3s a Mercedes 230 SLK and a Porsche.

After some spirited driving and excellent sight seeing they had a great Italian meal at Aurora’s in Carr Mill Mall where Carrboro and Chapel Hill converge at Franklin and Main. Steve is still raving about the ravioli!

The restaurant which is traditionally closed on Sunday opened especially for the Ferrari gathering. It sounds as if this outing will become an annual event. The center section of Corsa Rossa is filled with pictures Steve took on this Sunday Drive.


Steve Karapetian

Don't miss these events!

Like Italian cars? Need a life? There's plenty fun stuff to do this year! For example, visit

Driving Tours in Europe !!

Ferrari Drivers Tour

Steve Barney is hosting a tour of England, Italy, France and Monaco Sunday May 9th through Tuesday May 18th. The tour will include driving at Brands Hatch in England with driving in a single seater, a visit to the Ferrari Museum in Italy and luch at Ferrari’s Cavallino Restaurant, Boat trips in Nice and Monte Carlo and grand stand seats at the Monaco Grand Prix followed by a trip to Paris. The land tour price is per peson based on double occupancy at $4,576. for complete details and reservations call New Horizons Travel in Charlotte at 1 800 333 8016.

Mid Atlantic Alfa Romeo Club Tour of Italy

The club will be hosting a trip from Setember 3rd through September 13th. Barry Ward of Charlotte is working out the details. The trip includes flying to Rome, a tour plus free time, picking up a rental Alfa Romeo and 6 days of driving.

The tour includes visiting Monte Catini near Florence, Rimini, San Morino to visit the San Marino Car museum with its collection of Racing Alfas, Ferraris, Maseratis, Lancias, Fiats, Oscas, etc. Then on to Milan via Maranello for lunch at the Cavellino ristorante and a Ferrari factory tour which has not yet been confirmed. In Milan there will be a tour of the Alfa Romeo Museum and reserved seats for the Italian Gran prix. The cost is $2,550 per person plus air fair estimated at $1,100 from Newark to Rome and back. The trip is planned for 32 people. Call Barry Ward at 1-800-333-8016.

Pence Springs Tour May 14th-16th

The Triad Austin Healey Club has kindly invited Corsa Rossa to participate in their Pence Springs Tour. (See article above for details on our latest involvement in a Healey Club event.) We will leave Winston Salem in the afternoon on Friday May 14th and caravan with the Healey Club and the PBMC and the Triumph Club to Pence Springs West Virginia where we will meet the Roanoke British Sports Car Club for a weekend of spirited touring and great food and exquisite scenery and fine fellowship. We will stay at Ashby Miller’s Pence Springs turn of the century Grand Hotel which has been restored into a warm and comfortable Inn.

Doug Tolbert and Melvin Reece of the Triad Austin Healey Club have been putting together a great weekend for us. For those of you who went on this trip four years ago you know it is one not to miss. This year we will not have a rally but spirited touring with rally maps in the event we get seperated. We will dine Friday night at Pipe Stem and Saturday night at the Pence Springs Hotel.

Melvin says several couples have already signed up and registered at the Inn. Doug says that there are about 30 rooms. The Master Suite runs $70 per night. The rooms with private baths are $50 per night and the rooms which share a bath with an adjoining room are $35 per night. We can pick who we want to share adjoining baths if that’s an issue. For folks going solo the rate is between $25 and $30 per night.

To make your reservations call Ashby at 1 800 826 1829. For information on the Friday caravan call Melvin at 336 431 3518. See you in the Spring at Pence Springs!

We will have a beautiful tour with instructions to drive through the valleys and along the vistas of the Greenbrier river and eventually meet at the Blue Moon cafe in Lewisburg and from there try out the local shops and restaurants. Saturday night we will have a wonderful dinner at the Inn. We will then retire to the secret Speak easy bar once frequented by Dellinger dating back to the roaring 20s and Prohibition down in the cellar. This will be more than fun, this will be an adventure!
William Booty

Corsa Rossa’s European Car Festival Update !

The festival will be celebrated on October 9th 1999 at Historic Reynolda House, Village and Gardens, Winston-salem, NC.

Our annual European Car Festival which began as an Italian Festival for the Italian olympic team in July of 1996 with 60 Italian cars on display evolved into a European Car Festival in October of 1998 with 120 cars. Given the pleasant response to last year’s festival we have the Southeast Region of the Ferrari Club holding their fall concours at the show. Also in response to our choosing this year to honor Phil Hill one of the United States’ most famous racing drivers this year, Brown Fox Books has donated 22 copies of Phil Hill: Yankee Champion to the awards for the 22 classes.

For those of you who do not have a copy of the book you can order one from Mark Godfrey at Brown Fox books at 1 800 450 7949. The book traces Phil hill’s career from his early midget racing days in California, to the Carera Panamerican Road Race to LeMans and his 1961 Gran Prix championship win with Ferrari. This 6X9 inch hardback has an extensive index and 114 beautiful and exciting images. The cost is $39.50 and $4.50 for shipping. We will have John Hauser’s current and Jack O’Brien’s 1961 edition at our May 11th meeting.

We are contemplating a tour instead of a rally after the show this year and would like your input. We had 26 cars drive the rally and many more request a driving tour encompassing the mountains around Hanging Rock and pilot Mountain State Parks outside of town coupled with a drive through of historic Bethania, Bethabra and old Salem.

If you are new to the area and Corsa Rossa, for more information on last years show including registration, awards and photographs see our November 1998 newletter.

For more information on the Festival call either Steve Karapetian at 336 766 1785 or Thor Mirchandani at 336 773 1008 in Winston Salem.

Click here for more info and pictures from the European Car Festival!