AONE Tech Session/Swap Meet
at Glynn Motorsports

Bring your Alfa and whatever parts or Alfabilia you might have lying around—we’ll be having a swap meet in the parking lot. The topic for the Tech Session still hasn’t been determined—if you’d like to suggest a topic, contact the Editor.

Glynn Motorsports is located at 120 Rear Haverhill Street, Rowley, MA 01909. Directions: From I-95 take Route 133 East toward Rowley, straight through a traffic light crossing Route 1, 1-2 miles and turn right at the sign for Glynn Motorsports. Proceed warily as you get close, since it’s easy to miss, although we’ll try to have our Alfa banners out front. There is a large lot to park, show your parts, and display your car.

You know, you don’t have to be a gearhead to enjoy one of these gatherings! There are lots of various Alfas to ogle, always lots of interesting cars in Paul’s shop, and lots of fellow Alfa enthusiasts to shoot the breeze with. Why, we’ve even had several females of the species in attendance of late! (One wouldn’t go so far as to say that it’s a great place to pick up chicks, however.)

The Alfa Romeo Owners of Connecticut chapter is again sponsoring two days of driver’s school, open practice and timed laps at Lime Rock Park. Everything possible has been done to keep the fees reasonable, and there will be a car limit of 60 per day to maximize your track time.

This year marks the return to the traditional format of two track days. Friday’s focus will be classroom and track instruction for the less-experienced drivers and practice sessions on the track for the more-experienced veterans.

All cars must come to the track pre-tech inspected. Unchanged this year is the requirement for a Snell-90 or newer helmet; also, safety equipment (seat belts, roll-bar coverage) must be identical for driver and front passenger. Those of you with open cars will need to have an SCCA-legal roll bar that extends two inches above both driver’s and passenger’s helmets—insurance rules no longer allow cars with street roll bars onto the track.

The first group will be on the track at 9:00 sharp, the earliest that local ordinances allow. ARO-CT has the reputation of running the smoothest and safest track event around, and this year will be no different.

Cost is $165 per day or $250 for both days if you sign up before March 31, $200/$300 after. Contact ARO-CT’s Mario Romagnoli for more information on this wonderful event (or if you’d like to volunteer to help). He can be reached at (914) 693-7426 evenings, via email, or by fax anytime at (914) 693-1636.

Mount Washington, that is. This won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but that’s okay. This tour will tend to be a little longer—an overnighter!—with more seat time and an opportunity for individual treks to sight-see or shop.

We’ll be driving our Alfas up to Mount Washington Valley on Saturday morning, June 30, with a little regularity run over part of the route; staying at a small B& B on Saturday night; and then driving a few miles from there up to the start of the Mount Washington Hillclimb, a major event that takes place the next morning!

The name of the place where we’ll be staying is the Cabernet Inn, which is located on Route 16 just north of North Conway. The Inn has about a dozen rooms that had not been booked for the night of June 30 when I checked recently. Some may be gone by now, so call me if you can’t book. In fact, rather than go into more detail at this point, any members who are interested in the idea of this event should simply call me at 508-879-1881 or email me for an idea of the room costs.

The itinerary will involve a long run up I-93 to the Lakes Region, where we will exit north of the usual Laconia exit and travel cross-country to Route 16 (this is where the regularity part comes in). We will also use back roads to avoid the "outlet store" traffic in North Conway. Interested? Get in touch, as I’m trying to see how many will go. 

—Kevin Murphy