by Bruce Murray and Klaus Nessel

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About this time last year, the two of us were deciding how to take a well-earned break from the business of earning a living, and it seemed like a great idea to spend about two weeks focussing on cars in general and Alfas in particular. Most of the time was spent in Germany, followed by a trip to the Festival of Speed at Goodwood in England. In Germany, we saw some splendid museums, rented an Alfa 166 (with a Fiat engine) and took it to the Nurburgring to lap as fast as we could. We took a fair number of photos, of course, and a selection are included here. The rest can be found in a "photo album" on this web site.

The trip we took started in Frankfurt in June, and we visited several museums in that part of Germany, most notably the Rosso Bianco Collection in Aschaffenburg, which has a superb collection of Alfas within a total of some 200 exhibits. This picture shows the ground floor and has many Alfas mixed in with other continental exotica. Several Tipo 33 variants were on display and their pictures can be seen in the "photo album". The cars are in superb condition and, as well as our favorite make, virtually all of the important sports car manufacturers were represented. We pretty much had the museum to ourselves, it being a weekday, in spite of the busy tourist season. Going up to the second floor reveals a beautiful array of Alfas in a well-laid-out setting.

The collection was inaugurated in October of 1987 in an abandoned textile mill by former sports car driver Peter Kaus and his then partner Hans-Holger Frenzel, and is probably the most encompassing two-seater sports car gathering in the world. Kaus's motoring passion was implanted by his father driving a compressor Mercedes 540K before WWII. In his career, Kaus was involved in the development of polymer plastic car bodies for prototypes like the early Corvette and German-made NSU. The cars from the collection are often entered in the leading vintage car events, and visiting the museum shortly before or after a race could be disappointing. Since the early days, cars have left the Aschaffenburg halls to find other homes, but the 10601 engine on its former textile roll rack display continues to keep guard and greets the Alfista amidst other memorabilia on the ground floor.

Unfortunately, although we went to the Porsche factory, we were unable to tour the production lines since there is a long waiting list. Nevertheless, the company museum is interesting if small, and it certainly is worth a trip if you are in the general area. We did watch a video address by the company chairman extolling the Porsche way of doing things—as opposed to the Japanese way—rather pointed and direct but the message was very clear. The Porsche way is to build a car with the highest imaginable engineering standards (but not necessarily with the emotional impact of the Italian makes—author's opinion!).

A major focus of the tour was to push an Alfa around the North Loop of the Nurburgring using the twin counterbalanced four-banger's redline as much as possible. Going there is almost like a religious experience, since some of the finest Grand Prix and sports car drives ever made occurred here. The loop is no longer used for Grand Prix, primarily for safety reasons; however, it is kept in superb condition, with a smooth surface and good run-off areas. The course is about 14 miles around and the picture shows how tortuous the course is. It is used for endurance racing like the 1000 km or the 24 hour race and vintage car racing of all sorts, with the "Oldtimer Grand Prix" being the annual highlight. The Alfa we used was a rented 166 Twin Spark, for which the preparations consisted of pumping up the tires and making sure we had the engine oil topped up to the full mark.

The basic arrangement is that, for a few dollars a lap, you can drive any vehicle you wish around the course just as fast as you want to. You must concentrate not only on driving the course itself but also on the traffic mix, which includes very fast two- and four-wheel machinery. You pick your line for a corner and all seems well with the car, and then you get blown off by a rice burner at full tilt—quite unnerving! We were able to take a few laps before the course was closed to clear away an accident or two. We were not set up to take pictures during the laps, simply because we did not have a camera mount on the car, and hand-held just can't be held steady enough. So all we can show here is a slow-speed shot of the gate at the start of a lap. You can just make out the Porsche and the motorcycles forming up a group ready to take off.

The 166 handled well around the course, and the brakes were progressive and did not seem to deteriorate during a lap. However, it would have been much nicer to have the 3 liter engine, but unfortunately one wasn't available.

The Nurburgring experience is simply unforgettable and probably unique in the world, not only for its history and location, but also because you can experience the limits of your own ability. Such a long course is a challenge to learn and clearly many visits are needed!

The Auto-Technik Museum at Sinsheim, on our drive to Nuremburg, is well worth a visit for exhibits you probably won't see elsewhere. A large hall with a splendid display of cars (we don't remember any Alfas) also contains moving railway engines and massive submarine diesels. Another hall contains German WWII military equipment and aircraft, both damaged and not. The displays are well laid out in realistic settings, rather that just stand-alone artifacts.

Nuremberg itself has a lot to offer, like Bratwurst and Pilsner beer, besides the German Rail Museum, the Toy Museum and the Zeppelin Grandstand of ill-reputed 20th century German history, now serving as backdrop for the German Touring Car championship races on Norisring.
On Sunday, June 18, the Darmstadt Mercedes dealer had an open house in the showroom for race fans to watch the Canadian Grand Prix. A large-screen TV was set up and straw bales were distributed around to give the required ambience. It was very enjoyable and presumably generates showroom traffic. Unfortunately for the home team, the red car won that day and the McLarens also had some problems.

A brief interlude, and then off to Goodwood in the south of England for the Festival of Speed. In just a few years, this event has become one of the most important automobile events in the world, and without any doubt is A MUST for the European vintage motorist. Sports and racing cars, both privately and factory owned, are shown and raced or demonstrated up a hillclimb course cut through the private estate of the Earl of March and Kinrara. Many celebrities attend, and it is delightful to wander through the paddock and see fine old machinery and their drivers being set up for the hillclimb. Occasionally one smells Castrol R, which is one of the most emotive scents for the senior set.

Alfa, celebrating its 90th anniversary, was very well represented, with the factory transporter bringing four cars: a P3, a 159, an 8C2900, and a 33TT12:

	To see and hear this P3 being started up in the pits was fabulous. The car was immaculately turned out and did the hillclimb, but only as a demo run and not a timed exercise.
	Nice as it is to see the immaculate Museo Storico car, the patina of No. 28 was very welcome and the owner had no compunction about going as fast as he could up the hill.
	This 8C2900 was the factory entry at Le Mans in 1938. It set fastest lap at 97mph, before bursting a tire on the Mulsanne straight.
	The Museo Storico 159 Alfetta from 1951 was a wonderful car to see and hear. The acoustics as they were getting the car running were superb.
	A 33TT12 from 1975 waiting in the paddock for its demo run up the hill.
	The view of the 33TT12's 500HP 3 liter 12 cylinder boxer engine

The Alfas arrived in an immaculate transporter, on which the loading platform unfortunately stuck and couldn't be freed for several hours. Some muttered cursing, no doubt! However, the transporter driver couldn't care less and had succumbed to the after-effects of an insistent sea sickness due to the unfriendly channel weather. But, in spite of this, even he showed a heart for the odd two enthusiasts who wandered away happily with two copies of the Alfa Romeo Museo catalogue leaflet. Thanks, Giancarlo!

Alfa UK did themselves proud (especially when compared to the official showings in Germany) and, as well as the racing cars, they had a superb pavilion set up showing production cars, both old and new. The pictures to the left show a 2600 Touring Spider, a Giulietta SZ, a 1900 CSS by Touring, and the Pininfarina Giulietta Spider prototype (note the US-style windshield), all brought over from the Museo Storico.

The final event in the tour was a solo visit by Bruce to the Brooklands museum in Weybridge, near Heathrow. Brooklands was the first banked race track built in the world and opened in about 1907. Racing ceased there pre-WWII, but a section of the banking has been kept and you can walk on it and ponder the courage of the men, and women, who drove at outrageous speeds around this bumpy concrete track. There is an interesting museum where, amongst the usual memorabilia, you can buy a CD video game called "The Spirit of Speed". The game is set in 1937 and allows you to race in period cars such as a P3 around the major European race courses of the time (but not the Nurburgring, unfortunately). It's a blast and well worth about $30, but you do need a good steering wheel and pedal setup for your PC. Leather gloves and a flat cap on backwards are useful accessories. The cars to choose from include three Alfas: a P3, a Bimotore, and a 12C. Worthy opposition comes from Bugatti, Auto Union, Miller, and Mercedes.

After having indulged in some fine automotive machinery, steam engines, twisting country roads chasing Ford Escorts uphill, a fascinating and demanding race track, the truly unique high class picnic atmosphere of Goodwood—just to top things off, the authors of this little report were blessed with the births of two grandchildren during their trip—one in the US and one in the UK—that's why this turned out to be the Overdose Tour! 

Bio note: Klaus Nessel, a past member of AONE used to live in Cohassett where he cared for a Touring Spider 2600. Upon his return to Germany a few years ago, he shipped the 2600 to Bremen and then drove it to his home near Darmstadt.

But wait—there's more! Make sure to browse through the Y2K Overdose Tour Photo Album!

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