March 1999

March Monthly Meeting

We had 7 people at the monthly meeting and we were bumped out of our private room by another group. Despite the winter storm and earlier snow and ice we had 7 of our faithful to attend but no Italian cars. This was a far cry from the 16 to 18 faithful who attended last week with a bevy of cars. Jeff Berg, April Wood, John of Greensboro, John of Winston Salem, Steve karapetian, Jack O'Brien, Blake Frazier were there.

We discussed the upcoming Saturday March 20th Benito Juarez Ralley and the after Rally get to gether at the Sombrero Resturant in Winston Salem. The rally starts at 12 with a driver/navigator meeting at the Pilot Mountain Overlook on Highway 52 just north of Wiston Salem. The first car will leave at 12:30pm so come with a full tank of Gas.

We discussed that a publisher is considering donating a book to each of the class winners at the Corsa Rossa European Car Festival on October 9th in addition to the award provided by the sponsoring merchant in the village.

There has been added interest in our club's Reynolda House Show since the Ferrari Club has announced in its publications that it will be holding its Concours at the Corsa Rossa event at Reynolda Village.
John Hauser

Italians Massacre Brits at the Benito Juarez Memorial Rally !

The British legions faced stiff competition from a handful of Italian heroes! Vae Victis!

On Saturday March 20th the Triad Austin Healey Club hosted its sixth Annual Benito Juarez Memorial Rally. At the drivers meeting were teams from various car clubs including the Mid Atlantic Alfa Romeo Club, The Triumph Club of the Carolinas, the Carolinas Area Austin Healey Club, the NC MG Car Club, the Piedmont British Motor Club, the Porsche Club - and Corsa Rossa.

At the overlook everyone signed the BMC Competitions History Book for Bill Wood who is in Intensive Care at North Carolina Baptist Hospital. Bill fell 40 feet and is suffering internal injuries, a cracked vertebra, two broken arms, two broken legs, a cracked pelvis and an infection. John Hauser later delivered the book to Mary at the Hospital. (Bill was asleep at the time.) Bill is the president of the Triumph Club and historian for the Triad Austin Healey Club.

The delightful Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 Spyder of Bob and Linda Wright. The car is very clean and original, and came to its first rally in the the Triad to finish in third place. The infamous "Hauser-Healey" ready for takeoff. Read more about John's thoughts on British Racing Green at another place in this issue!

The rally began on Highway 52’s overlook in the shadow of Pilot Mountain and proceeded north with two differnt routes so there would be no train effect or bottle necking. The 1st course was .3 miles longer than the 2nd course and the first course took 26 seconds longer to drive if one were driving perfectly. Two penalty points were assigned for every second fast and one penalty point was assigned for every second slow. The first course was 69 miles long and required a perfect time of 1 hour 34 minutes and 15 seconds. The second course was 68.7 miles long and took 1 hour and 33 minutes and 50 seconds for a perfect score. The course was simply excellent. Winding its way through the scenic Appalachian foothills it offered first-rate motoring opportunity, as well as specatcular views and occasional wildlife sightings. Among the more unusual sights along the course were an emu and ostrich farm , a llama ranch and grazing long-horn cattle!

The rally finished in the El Sombrero parking lot. Everybody was eager for Mexican food, war-stories and the rally result. Jeff and April drove the white 911. Last to start they were not the last to finish.

The Italians, after not scoring a single point last year, cleaned house in this Time Speed Distance Rally. Thor Mirchandani and Amy Kudla in a Ferrari 365 GT in first and Robert and Linda Wright in an Alfa Romeo Guilia 1600 Spyder in Third brought home the team honors. Both are members of the Mid Atlantic Alfa Romeo Club and Corsa Rossa the Italian Car Club of the Triad.

The scores looked like this:

Not a single British car on the podium! In spite of the excellent end result, the day did not start very well for our valiant Corsa Rossa brethren. The plan was to meet at John Hauser's at 11:15 and caravan to Pilot Mountain. At 11:30 only John, Donald and Tony were there! Here's the scoop: On the way over to John's, Steve and Kate Karapetian heard a strange noise from the lower regions of the Ferrari GT4. Closer inspection revealed that the floor-plate covering the steering box was loose and hanging on by sheer luck. After some decisive road-side mechanical work the plate was deemed non-vital for rally purposes and ended up in the trunk!

At about the same time Thor and Amy in the big Ferrari had decided that it might be a good idea to have a full tank of gas. At the gas station Thor promptly broke the ignition key. Thanks to cellular phone technology he managed to get hold of Steve and "Buddy", who drove them back to "Thorassic Park" to get the spare key. (A 308 can be awfully small if you try to squeeze enough people into it!) After this gallant effort the two equipages reached Pilot Mountain in time to hear the final sentences of the drivers instructions. (They could have taken their time: In typical laid-back Corsa Rossa manner Jeff Berg and April Woods arrived to the drivers meeting in the Porsche well after the rally had started!) The whole scenario is so very characteristic of Italian sports-car motoring - you persevere and succeed in spite of all the hassles! (But you should have seen Thor's face when he was given start-number 13...)

Steve and "Buddy" Karapetian in the Ferrari 308 at Thorassic Park, ready to race - minus some non-vital pieces of chassis... The rally almost ended at the Exxon station for Thor and Amy in the winning Ferrari. "I told you we should have taken the mini-van, Thor."

Giovanni Hauser

Ferraristi ahoy! Don't miss the Chapel Hill event in April!

On April 18th the Southeast Chapter of the Ferrari Club of America is holding a Country Drive and Lunch at Chapel Hill, NC. Drivers and navigators meet at 10:00 AM for coffee in the Aurora parking lot. After a couple of hours of driving, a traditional Italian midday meal will be served at 1:30 PM at Aurora. The meal should be excellent, as should the driving! Rumor has it there will be a Ferrari F-40 present, which in itself is reason not to miss the event! For more info contact Bill or Wendy Djang of FCOA-SE (919) 881 0081 or Steve Karapetian of Corsa Rossa (336) 766 1785.
Steve Karapetian

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

It’s Open Wheel Season Again - and Some Scattered Thoughts on Green

The Drivers’ Championship of the World is contested in Formula One once again. Last Year Mika Hakinin of Finland won in the McLaren Mercedes narrowly defeating Michael Schumacher of Germany in a Ferrari. This year Irish/British driver Eddie Irvine racing a Ferrari took the honors in Melbourne Australia for the first race of the year.

So many British teams are running but none in British Racing Green. The Anglo German team of Mercedes McLaren is racing in German racing silver evoking the spirit of the German silver arrows of the 1930s and 1950s of Mercedes and Auto Union before the war and Mercedes after the war. Ferrari runs the unmistakenly passionate Italian Racing Red. Ford through the Stewart team is racing in American Racing white with a Scottish Tartan Swag. But none of the British teams are sporting BRG. Jordan is running yellow with a hornet on it and BAC is running a bizarre 2 one 1/2 paint sceams to represent two tobacco companies on its cars. Williams has a strange combination of adds on a red yellow and white mixture. Alot of good will would be engendered by BRG even though it might be a Jordan, Williams, BAC team instead of Cooper, Lotus, Lola, BRM, Aston Martin, HWM, or Vanwall.

It was Lotus who broke from the national colors and went to the colors of their sponsors. Since then it has looked more like a hodge podge of colors.

Its time to speak up for British Racing Green. Until they get it right my Healey will sport the color, the mystique and the spirit, as will a lot of Jags, MGs and Triumphs!
John Hauser

1999 Wine Tour

Arrangements are being finalized by MAARC through their Hampton Roads branch as this is written. They have selected HQ hotel, the English Inn of Charlottesville, VA. Very close to the Holiday Inn used the last two years. There will be a mailing, but to give you a head start, here is the pertinent information:

Std. Dbl. Rooms @ $67.50 + tax
King Suites @ $73.50 + tax
Reservations confirmed by calling 1-804-786-5400 0r 1-804-971-9900
Group Name to mention: Alfa Romeo
Group Number: 041699A
Full Breakfast Included

The wineries will be good again this year! Saturday features White Hall Vineyards, makers of great reds, and Autum Hill Vineyards, purveyors of good reds and decent Chardonnay. Sunday will bring us to Oakencroft Vineyard, known for Chardonnay, Cabernet and Merlot, and to Jefferson Vineyards of Pinot Gris, Riesling and Cabernet Franc fame.
Thor Mirchandani

Where the rubber meets the road in the Piedmont

Every car enthusiast has a favorite road. It can be as simple as a sweeping on-ramp for Fangio-the-Commuter. Maybe it is a tricky Appalachian mountain stretch, a challenge for both car and driver. Or just an empty country road, best visited with Webers snarling and Konis pumping early one morning when the sheriff's still sleeping.....

Wouldn't it be great if we could compile a knowledge base of great roads for spirited driving in the Piedmont Triad? Why don't you tell Corsa Rossa about your favorite stretch of Triad-asphalt? (Or maybe it's gravel?) Send us a message with a brief description of "your" road, and what it is that makes it so special to you. Time permitting, we'll pay it a visit in a fast car and write up a review for the web page!
"The 12-pack" (Thor Mirchandani, Steve Karapetian, John Hauser)

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.
Steve Karapetian

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