I knew I'd find some empathetic ears amongst you blokes.

I'll post some Christmas party and final Qld Raceway 2007 sprint pics over the Chrstmas break.

Merry Christmas,

brent

I am writing this on the forum because I know there is someone out there who will understand where I am coming from. I had a new exhaust fitted to my twinspark yesterday. I took it for a short but rapid blast around the back roads near my mechanics place and haven't been able to wipe the ridiculous grin from my face ever since. It's been almost 24 hours and people here at work keep asking me what I'm grinning about.

This isn't normal behaviour, is it? How can a bent piece of 2 1/4 inch pipe have such an effect on a bloke?

Aaah...merry Christmas...

Brent

Razor,

You just missed out a great little GTV 2000 that club member Paul Ross had for sale. It was $15,000 and was a tremendous little car in British racing green. Michael Lew has one for sale that I think from memory is about $20,000 but it is in absolutely immaculate condition. There will be cheaper cars around but Michael's is a gem.

Our club website's classifieds are extremely out of date, so if you would like some details for Michael Lew, let me know and I'll email them to you. There are always cars changing hands within the club, so if you are not a member, join up and check out the classified pages in the club magazine each month. You join by downloading a word file of the application from the AROCA Qld site and returning it to the club secretary.

Cheers,

Brent

Thanks Victor. I'll certainly speak with some after-market ECU manufacturers to see what the options and costs are.

Thanks very much for this mate. I'll do some pricing on these units and see what I can get. Bob Romano down the road from my place is a dealer for Haltech, so I might look into how they perform.

Thanks very much for the advice. We're off to Qld Raceway for the final sprint round of the year on Saturday and rain is predicted, so it could be interesting.

Cheers,

Brent

I want to look into the possibility of a chip upgrade for my 75 Twinspark but am unsure where to begin. This car is being transformed from stock standard road car to a track machine. I've stiffened the suspension, stripped the interior, added a cage, am having a better flowing exhaust made and thought that I would investigate possible upgrades to the engine management system.

Are there any Twinspark experts out there who have done a chip upgrade that they could recommend? There are no other AROCA club members racing Twinnies up here in Qld, so I'm treading new terrain.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Brent

The track you are taling about is called The Clubman. It is 2.1km against 1.89km for the Sprint. The Sprint turns right at the same point as the Clubman then takes a quick left into a short straight, then another quick right/left and right again into the main circuit's turn six, which leads onto pit straight. Due to the two crossovers, as they call them, the Sprint track is inherently slower than the Clubman, but in some ways slightly more challenging. For most Alfas the Clubman takes 3 to 3.5 seconds longer than the Sprint.

I will update again following the December 1 sprint round.

Bernard has posted a bit of footage of his 3lt beast on the Alfa BB site, in the Milano section, for anyone who is interested.

Cheers,

Brent

Scott,

Our competition secretary Ken Percival is probably the best person to update the group on the Qld Alfacomp but I don't think he venture online too often.

Last Saturday we had round Seven of Qld Raceway's Saturday Afternoon Sprints. 17 AROCA Qld members entered in in 14 cars. We always run on the sprint version of the QR circuit for this event, which I think from memory is 1.89km. The fastest time of the day belonged to Bernard M in his sensational quad cam 3l 75. Bernard ran something around the 62.5 second mark and was closely followed by Bob Whitehouse in his "stealth" sprint.

For the sake of comparison, our Alfacomp sprint record is held by Bob and at an educated guess I think the time was 60.89. There are quite a bunch of race cars in the 63.5-64.5 bracket and a handful of modified roadcars consistently lapping in the 65 second region.

It was a stinking hot day so most cars were slightly off the pace.

I ran a PB of 67.74 seconds, which was 2.74 better than my previous (this is my first year, so I'm peeling off the easy seconds each round).

Then last Sunday six of the lads were out racing in the QR Topgear series. This is door handle to door handle racing on all four versions of the QR layout. I'm not sure of the results but I heard that everyone had a sensational time despite the failure of three starter motors.

A strong line-up of Alfas will be back at QR on December 1 for the final round of the sprints and some may back up for the Topgear on Sunday.

When I figure out how to post pics on the forum I will put a few up, as my brother Chris always takes plenty each raceday.

Cheers,

Brent

Scott,

I am chasing a driver's side headlight if you still have one. My mobile number is 0418 215 259 if you would like to give me a buzz. I'm in Brisbane but I would send you a postage paid padded box to mail it in to save you any hassles.

Thanks mate,

brent

Thanks very much for making a dedicated folder for us Queenslanders. You know we are shy creatures and don't really like mingling with others, so having our own corner in which to munch bananas and chat all things Alfa will be great.

Thanks also for maintaining a diverse and fascinating forum. I check it almost daily and usually find something new to absorb.

Cheers,

Brent

Phil,

Thanks for the reply. The East Coast Challenge was an absolute ball. Being a first time racer, as opposed to sprinting, I had no idea what I was in for but now can't wait to get amongst it again.

It would be great to see you guys up here next year. Our competition secretary, Ken Percival is talking about speaking with your guys and the NSW boys about a three state, three meeting challenge for next year. I hope it comes off. I'm sure the convoy to Victoria would be half the fun.

Brent

Hi there chaps,

If anyone is interested, I'll answer my own question here, as I've gone ahead and experimented via trial and error. I purchased the 112mm offset Performance Superlites. The hub still scraped on the front calipers of my Twinspark 75, so I had them machined down from 160mm diameter to 140mm. Also had to machine down 25mm to make sure it cleared the front of the caliper. Machining cost me $35/rim.

I then fitted them with 205/50 R15 Dunlop DZ03G tyres. The tyres scraped on the inside of the bumper and the guard flair. With a race to run last Saturday I took to the bumper and guards with the grinder on Friday night to trim off the offending plastic and metal. All was sweet as a nut on Saturday and I picked up five seconds around Qld raceway's Clubman circuit over my previous PB with former stock suspension set up and road tyres.

Unfortunately the NSW boys took away the silverware in the Qld vs NSW East Coast Challenge but a great weekend was had by all.

Regards,

Brent

Hi there,

Just wondering if any 75 owners can give me feedback on the superlite wheels by Performance Wheels. I want to order a set for my Twinspark for the track but there seems a bit of conjecture over the correct offset. Performance makes the 15x7 wheel in both 112mm and 125mm offset. I hear that the 125mm has trouble clearing the brake caliper and the 112mm clears the caliper fine but scrubs the guard. Does anyone have any experience with these wheels that they can throw my way? For the record, I plan to run 205/50 R15 tyres.

Thanks,

Brent

Phil,

Thanks very much for the welcome. I've been regularly checking the forum. You guys have a really active member base, which is fantastic. I currently own a red 75 Twinspark, which is undergoing a mild transformation from bog standard road car to slightly more competitive track machine. I bought some stiffer torsion bars from your very own Vin Sharp, as well as some heavier rear springs, poly sway bar bushes, a race seat, harness and roll cage. I've only had the three runs on the track so far and am now kicking myself that it took me 16 years of Alfa ownership to have a crack at it.

Keep up the good work in the Vic club and I might see you at Phillip Island one day.

Cheers,

Brent