June 2001

Cento Quaranta Miglia

On Saturday June 16th at 9am we ran the second Cento Quaranta Miglia from West End Boulevard in Winston Salem. The first Cento Quaranta Miglia had a an Alfa Romeo Speciale and a Ferrari 328 to toe the start. This time we had 14 teams at the start. Entries included:

The 140 mile rally started in Winston Salem’s West End and worked its way up past Reynolda House and out highway 67 across the Yadkin River past Richmond Grill, East Bend and north. In Booneville the road was lined for 3 miles with hundreds of people in lawn chairs and road side vendors. Passing by in a stream of sporting cars looked like a scene from the Mille Miglia , Targa Florio, or the Carrera Panamericana or a page out of Montezuma's Ferrari. The townsfolk in reality were waiting for the Booneville Historical Day Parade which was gathering on the other end of town. When the last of the rally cars reached Elkin we crossed the bridge and into town to discover a fencing competition being held in the open on Main Street next to our first stop. From Elkin we ran through the mountains and passed Kapps Mill, Devotion, Mountain Park, and many narrow one lane bridges with additional check points at the overlook and at Devotion. We ran at our own appointed speeds up the mountains and down the switchbacks and ended at Theos for and Italian lunch. From Theos Bistro we headed home around 3pm for the final stretch. Jon Saylor did a fantastic job organizing the rally.

Fiat Mystery Solved?

  

Remember the Fiat Mystery in the December 1999 newsletter? Looks like we may have an answer at last. We received the following email from Brian Richards:

"It looks like you have a modified Fiat Dino Coupe, the prancing horse emblem was used on these cars due to their engine. The engine should be a quad overhead cam 2.0 or 2.4 depending on the year. This car was a hybrid the car was built by Fiat, but the engine is a Ferarri race engine, put in this vehicle because they needed at least 500 installed in production cars to qualify for use."
Brian A. Richards

Sounds very plausible. And a road-going Dino with a Ferrari race engine sounds like asphalt heaven!

Is this the final word on Rick Howard's Mystery Fiat? If so, perhaps somebody can tell us more about the car's history etc? If not so, tell us why!

BCD at Tanglewood

Congratulations go out to the Triad Austin Healey Club and the other British Clubs that assisted in this wonderful event which reflected a wonderful aray of cars including the new Jaquar X , XK8 and XKR and especially James Finegan and Christian Schlager who came from New Jersey at our own Lee Davis' request to BRING THE NEW BMW Mini Coper. What a treat! Enzo Ferrari owned three Mini Cooper Ss at different times.

What a Bimmer for Ferrari!

Ferrari through Schumacher came in Second at Montreal cheered on by our brethren Clarkson the Elder, Frazier, Clarkson the Younger, Jones and the Emmis. Ralf Schumacher brought BMW in for its and his second Win of the year after a superb race duel against Michael Schumacher and Ferrari.

Mid Atlantic Alfa Romeo Fall Driving School

In September we will focus our attention on VIR and this annual event. Last year Kevin Harper drove his GTV, Dan and Terri Emmi drove their Ferraris and Blake Frazier and Don Feree worked as corner workers. In the past Jim Clarkson has participated as well. Given the price worthiness and the nearby track it will be a great opportunity to sharpen our driving skills. Watch the Alfa Advocate for a registration form.