The Alfa Romeo Owners Club (AROCA) is a vibrant club which supports owners and enthusiasts with a range of social and competition activities to suit all tastes.
Introduction
The Alfa Romeo Owners Club of Australia was formed in August 1969, when a group of like-minded Alfa Romeo owners met to form a Club so that they could get together to share and enjoy their common interest. The first meeting was conducted at the Light Car Club of Australia’s clubrooms in Melbourne. Since then the Club has enjoyed a very rich history with a membership that continues to grow in Victoria and nationally, with divisions established in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.
Structure
The affairs of the Club are managed by a committee who meet each month and work to ensure that the club meets the needs and interests of its membership. Please refer to the contacts page for the current committee members. The Club holds its Annual General Meeting in March each year at which members vote for each of the committee positions and receive reports from each committee member.
As an incorporated body AROCA Vic operates under Articles of Association which requires a report to be submitted to Victoria’s Consumer Affairs each year.
Nationally the Club has a National Coordinator who maintains the communication links between each state division and Fiat Chrysler Australia, the importer of Alfa Romeos into Australia.
Club Patron
The Club is honoured to have as its patron David Wright. David was one of the Club’s foundation members and has been involved in Alfa Romeo as an employee of a dealer for Alfa Romeo Australia for most of his working life. He is also a published author in the field of Alfa’s and one of the country’s foremost experts on Alfa Romeo in Australia from Pre-war to current.
Life Members
Over the years the club has awarded Life Membership to the following Members for their long and outstanding service to The Club.
| Ann Beck | Colin Beck (dec.) | Andrew Carra | Neil Choi |
| John Edwards (dec.) | Norm Craven-Kelly (dec.) | Don Dickson | Ross Flood |
| Alister Grigg | Bruno Colautti | Mary Colautti | David Floyd |
| Victor Lee | Brian Horman (dec.) | Hugh Harrison | Wendy Harrison |
| Anthony Sharp | Ray Sharp (dec.) | Colin Thomas | Vincent Sharp |
| Maria Sharp | Stuart Thomson | David Wright | Ernie Stock (dec.) |
| Joan Stock | Tom Woolnough (dec.) | Anne Woolnough | Barry Edmunds |
Club Nights
Club nights are held on the second Wednesday of each month (with the exception of January) at Bells Hotel, starting at 8pm with procedures relatively informal, usually consisting of reports from committee members, updates, news, buy/swap/sell and quite often feature a guest speaker.
Meals are available in the hotel’s bistro and many members arrive early.
New members and visitors always welcome.
Click here for address and Map
Club Runs
A regular feature on the Club’s calendar each year are Early Morning Runs (EMR) which enable members to get together to enjoy a drive along Alfa Romeo friendly roads in the country-side not too far out of Melbourne.
EMR start times are usually around 8am to 9am (depending on destination) with a half way stop for a break and then finishing at an appropriate venue for lunch.
Spettacolo
In November each year the Club’s major display; Spettacolo, is held at Wesley College in St Kilda. Members, non-members and Alfa Romeo enthusiasts are invited to display their cars on the oval and enter The Concorso (Concours) and The Zagame Wash ‘n Shine competitions. Club shop, food and coffee are also available throughout the day.
Trophies are presented to the winners from each class and photographs are taken of the winning cars for the Club’s magazine Cross & Serpent.
Competition
AROCA is one of the most active car clubs in Victoria, conducting The Alfa Romeo Owners Club Sprint Series over 8 Rounds at Sandown International Raceway (Melbourne), Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Broadford Raceway, and Winton Raceway (Benalla), The Alfa Club Team Relay at Winton Raceway, and a motorkhana at Werribee.
Member participation in sprints and other competition events is welcomed as a means of entering open competition. New members who have not competed previously are encouraged to use sprint events as the ideal way to improve their driving skills in a controlled and low pressure supervised environment.
The Alfa Club Team Relay is a team based regularity relay event open to teams from car clubs of 4 to 6 drivers. Each driver nominates a time which the driver must not go under; or the lap will not count. For every lap which the driver completes over the nominated time, the team scores a lap and for every lap done within one second of the driver’s time a bonus lap is awarded. The winning team is the team whose lap totals are closest to their possible total and is calculated based on each driver’s nominated time compared to actual running time, and is then doubled to take into account bonus laps. Therefore the winner is the team that is most consistent rather than the fastest.
Motorkhanas are non-speed events in which competitors compete against the clock in a series of tests around witches’ hats. These events are a great way of learning and testing a driver’s car control skills with little risk of damage to the car. For new drivers motorkhanas offer the best possible environment for learning car control.
The Club runs events under the auspices of CAMS and AASA the two bodies that control motor sport in Australia
Driver Training
The Club runs a day of racecraft and driver training at the Winton Circuit near Benalla in Central Victoria. During the racecraft training sessions drivers undergo classroom and practical sessions under the supervision of experienced instructors to learn cornering lines, braking and gear shifting skills.
General driver training is also run under the watchful eye of experienced instructors and participants are put through a series of tests aimed at teaching car control during braking and swerving manoeuvres and accident avoidance skills.
Junior learner drivers are accompanied by a licensed parent during the classroom and practical sessions have proven to provide life saving experience in car control and accident avoidance skills in a safe and supervised environment.
Alfesta
Alfesta, which was first held in the 1970’s, is the annual gathering of the Alfisti from around Australia. Usually held at Easter the event is held in a different state each year with participants gathering for four days of fun and social events which can range from games for the young and old, to tours of local attractions, an observation run, a show ‘n shine and finishing with a formal dinner at which the various Alfesta event trophies are handed out. Many club members have been regulars at Alfesta for many years and they look forward to catching up with old friends and renewing longstanding friendships.
Chapters
The Club has a Regional Chapter in the Goldfields district which both conduct events and functions in their area for local members.
Click here to view the Regional Coordinator on the contact page.
Registers
The Club has a number of Register Captains who provide an avenue for owners to source technical and other information about their particular model of Alfa Romeo. Register Captains also organise and run events as well as contributing articles to the club magazine and newsletter.
Click here to view the full list of register captains on the contacts page.
Club Shop
AROCA Vic has a shop which stocks a range of Alfa Romeo merchandise, including clothing, model cars, keyrings, stickers, stubby holders and other Alfa Romeo memorabilia. Click here to view the club shop page showing the current selection.
Club Publications
The Club produces a Bi-monthly full-colour magazine, Cross & Serpent and E-Alleggerita, an E-newsletter which is published 6 times a year. Both publications provide reports on club events, details of upcoming club events, club news, general interest articles on all manner of topics, usually Alfa Romeo related, lots of photographs of club members at events and classified advertisements.
