Dicembre 1998

Inside the Ferrari factory. Still in primer.

The December Meeting

Tuesday December 8th at 6:30pm at the Sagebrush Steakhouse in Kernersville was great fun with 14 members in attendance. Susan and Tim Simmons drove their beautiful Alfa Romeo Spyder in open defiance of the rain, and not driving Italian Cars were Tom Jones, John Harrill, Norm Wiginton, Terry DiMarto, John Hauser, Jeff Berg, April Wood, Jack O’Brien, Thor Mirchandani, Steve Karapetian and Blake Frazier.
Assembling a flat 12. One year's salary worth of valves.

Norm gave us an update on the restoration of his Alfa Romeo. John Hauser passed around a book on the history of the Mexican Road Race, la Carrera Panamericana.

Tubing waiting to become chassis. Primer bath in the body shop.

As the main feature, Tom Jones gave a slide show on the Ferrari Factory. The slides were very interesting and informative especially with Tom’s narration. Tom has made several trips to Modena, and the pictures were from his 1978 training trip to learn to work on fuel injected 308s.

Virginia International Raceway

In November corsa rossa sponsored a drive to VIR which was led by Blake Frazier. There were approximately 8 cars that went including a Healey with Jon Saylor and Larry Jarvis which toured topless around the course several times. On Saturday January 23rd Thor Mirchandani is heading up a club drive back to VIR. Presently signed up for the trip are Steve Karapetian in his Ferrari 308 GT4, Jim Clarkson in his Ferrari 328, Thor in his Ferrari 365 GTC, John Hauser in his Austin Healey. If you are interested please call Thor at 336 733 1008.
Tommy Hilfiger Ferrari 355. Rebodied 250 Ferrari.

If you can read this you already know that

Thor Mirchandani is keeping up our web page http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Track/2690/ The web page allows us to post color pictures and text without the cost of printing and the scramble to pay for it. The pictures this month are provided by Tom Jones and Blake Frazier.
Classic Alfa-Romeo design. Italian $$$-grin.

Corsa Rossa's European Car Festival Update

Corsa Rossa donated the proceeds after expenses to Reynolda House for its Childrens’ Art programs. Corsa Rossa’s European Car Show will be held this year on Saturday October 9th at Reynolda House and Village. Steve Karapetian announced that the Ferrari Club was going to hold its Southeast Regional Concours that weekend in conjunction with the Corsa Rossa European Car Festival at Reynolds House, Village and Gardens.

Click here for info and pictures from the 1998 European Car Festival!

The factory-option wider wheels might improve the performance of this 1978 308 GT/4.

Carolina Team in Mexican Road Race La Carrera Panamericana

Mike Van Thiel and Bill Passmore entered a 1953 Porsche in this years edition of that most famous Mexican Road Race. On Monday October 19th they headed south to start the seven day long race from Veracruz Mexico to Laredo Texas. Van Thiel campaigns an Austin Healey in European vintage motor sports events and asked Von Patterson to professionally prepare the Porsche 356 with only this race in mind. The car has a 4 cylinder 1700cc engine producing 110 horse power. The car ran well on the low octane fuel sold in Mexico and its light weight offered great handling and results over the mountain passes. Van Thiel drove and Passmore ran the service team.

The team arrived in Veracruz Mexico late Wednesday evening and on Thursday underwent the tech inspection along side Alfa Romeos, Lancias, Fords, Studebakers, Mercurys, Lincolns, Donges, Volvos, Corvettes, Porsches and more cars of the period the race was run in the early 1950s. Friday was spent doing speed runs on a major four lane interstate with traffic stopped to determine the starting time.

Saturday morning they started at 8:38 am and were first in class and in the top five by the end of the day. This was their first race and remained first in class Saturday through Tuesday morning until they had a collision with a Corvette, which sent them down an embankment approximately 30 feet below the road. The bank was steep and the dirt and gravel too loose to maintain traction to climb back up the hill. But on the hood was painted a beautiful Mexican Flag. Wham! About 25 Mexicans came running to the rescue and literally picked up the light little Porsche and carried it up the embankment and placed it on the road. There you could see them rubbing the flag on the hood. The Mexicans cheered them on as they took off surely thinking this must have been a Mexican entry with the Flag and all. Little did they know the grateful team consisted of a German car, prepared in a small South Carolina shop, being driven and navigated by two Dutchmen from Holland and a pit crew from North Carolina all of whom had never been to Mexico before!

Too much time was lost during the spin off the road and there was not enough time to recover first place. The Team finished 2nd in class and in the top ten. Maybe they should aim for the Mille Milgia next year!