auto italia 77Nord class GT Junior of Richard Merrill.
Cars in the Monza class included the GTAs of Bernard
Hartogs and Neil Merry, plus the familiar 1600-engined
Giulietta Ti of Gavin Watson and the 2.0-litre Sprint GT
of David Alexander. Giulia saloons are always among my
favourites (my first Alfa was a 1600 Giulia Ti in 1966)
and it was good to have two Giulia Ti Supers, for Frank
Slevin and Ben Cater, plus James Gibbons’s 1600 Ti.
VSCC meetings don’t have ‘qualifying’ but ‘practice’,
although the times all count for the grid nonetheless!
After a freezing night, things were a little (not a lot!)
better when the 15-minute practice session got
underway on Sunday morning. The times indicated a
very close battle at the front between Chris Snowdon
and his pursuers, led by David Alexander and NeilCLASSIC ALFA
CHALLENGE
Silverstone played host to some fine classic action
Report by Michael Lindsay
Photography by Jeff Bloxhamgreen then), while Lawrence’s red-and-white colour
scheme honoured French Alfa racer, Dany Snobeck.
Alex Jupe entered his own Marlboro-liveried Alfetta
and also prepared an ex-South African car for Jonathan
Horsfield. Other familiar Alfetta GTVs were those of
Richard Leggett and the Napolina-liveried car owned by
Stephen Chase but driven by his son Henry. Richard has
owned his car since the late 1980s and has raced and
rallied it regularly over the years.
Although it doesn’t quite fit into the Challenge
criteria, James Wright was out again in his beautifully
prepared 75 Twin Spark, while Louis Frankel was at the
wheel of a 116 Giulietta, looked after by Richard Drake.
Another one-off car was the 2000 Berlina of Miguel do
Valle, while an expected front-runner was the 2.0-litre