Warning: Not for the faint hearted!
I almost cried during this.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QQHfQiGDciY
But Fifth Gear is better than Top Gear as its just got too silly for words, mind you Fifth Gear is heading down the Top Gear path with its quest for ratings.
Tiff Needal was a Grand Prix Driver, Jason Plato is a Touring car driver and Vicki Butler Henderson raced go carts in her teenage years against the likes of David Coultard, so they all know how to drive.
There was an episode a few weeks ago, where they raced a Porsche against an aeroplane, that was stupid, but see shows from a few years ago and it was good, just like Top Gear was good until it become a boys club.
Part of the problem with cars being in the blind spot of other cars/trucks/trams/buses/motor cycles is that if they are travelling at 100 kays, to pass them, you have to do 103 or so and then you get pinged by a money camera, so no one wants to go faster and no one is going to back off to 97 kays to let the other pass, as you will feel cheated out of 3 kays, which will mean someone starts tailgating you, Colin.
Sad as it was for the 164 . At least it wasn't the usual suspect a 156 Selespeed. Are they (156 SS) getting thin on the ground over there???
The clip was made in 2007, so the price of a 164 would be rock bottom, if it was made later, they may have used a 156 that was [hopefully] a Selespeed, Colin.
I will miss Top Gear a lot, the three are irreplaceable. Just to add, the 164 platform is rock solid as it shares the same chassis with a Saab 9000 which I've had and it was a tank, shared with Fiat Croma and Lancia Thema. Anyway, my point is that if that crash was with a 156, instead of the 164 we wouldnt be able to recognise it since they are made from paper lol
Hahaha,
Yeah Top Gear will be missed. Fifth Gear will never replace it. I find that show boring at the best of times.
Top Gear was quite good 10 years ago, but the ratings chase forced it into doing silly things.
I reckon Clarkson will be back after 12 months in the sin bin, once its all calmed down.
156 are made from paper??, they are quite a solid [heavy] car, the JTS weighs a portly 1380 kilograms, put it up on 4 jackstands and you can still open all the doors.
If 156 are made from paper, then what are 33's made of?, tissue paper, put them on jackstamds and you can't open the doors, due to body flex.
Fifth gear is a bit boring at times which means you are learning more and being entertained less, Vicki Butler Henderson is easy on the eye as well, Colin.
Funny you should say that Colin,
I had my 164 on 2 jack stands under the front of the car and the front doors shifted. They caught a little when you would try to open them. Also you could see the top of the door was way out of alignment compared to the back door (about 5mm).
Andrew.
33's are so light, that the front rails crack on them, due to all the flexing, don't try to open the door when up on jack stands, as i will most likely break the door handle.
And thats with 4 jack stands firmly planted under the jacking points.
When the 33 came out a tester remarked that the electrical system was so bad, that when you drove it over rough roads the interior light came on.
Yes it did, but not due to bad electrics, but the body was flexing so much, the door was moving away from the door pillar, causing the pin switch to switch the light on.
Consider it an honour that it comes on occasionally, due to hard driving, as it should be in an Alfa Romeo, Colin.
I do quite like that Vicki Butler-Henderson though...
I thought it was ok to make fun of our Marques every now and then Colin? :) I do agree on Vicki Butler as well ;)
Yep, the 156 is stronger than people think. I had a guy come straight through a red light and T-boned the passenger side of my 156. Only damage was the outer door skin, and skirt. Even the electric window kept working.
Yes, was a nice 164, black with sunroof and Zender wheels, the best colours for a 164 would have to be in the order of black, red then white :)
Light 33, well I guess you have to remember they were the cheaper Alfa Romeo of that period, I had every model except the sport wagon and chassis cracks were a common thing, I remember that my Permanant 4 had bars added going down to combat this :o
I'm surprised about the 33flex comments. I had an '88QV Sprint and often marvelled at how rigid it was. Often when on a jack stand (front) the rear wheels would also lift off the ground. Opening the door was easy and it never jammed.
Maybe your 33 was toasty?
The Alfa 33 was light, but it wasn't for cheapness, it was to save weight, one of the best ways to save fuel, in the olden days, was to keep the weight down, but now its done with computers and cleverer engineering.
The 156 JTS weighs in at about 1380 kilogams, the 33 would be under 1000 kilograms, but the 156 JTS has a cleverer power unit that gets 25% better fuel consumption than the 33, Colin.
The couple of 33s I've owned were all very flexible - you'd really notice the chassis twist over railway crossings etc. Not as bad as the Suds I've owned. I always assumed they were pretty stiff when brand new, but a few years and a few big bumps and I expect a few spot welds let go.
Our Sud race car had HEAPS of flex, until we had a six point cage welded in, tagged into the windscreen pillars and bars extended to the shock towers. Now you definitely only have to use one jacking point to change both front and back wheels.
I remember back in the days when dinosaurs walked the earth and i used to run the 33 at track events, at Winton, the front use to flex so much, the left gaurd would rub against the A pillar and rub the paint off it!, it always looked like a paint chip, took me a while to work that one out.
The cutout in the 33 rail, where the driveshaft goes through is a pre determined weak point where the car crumbles in an accident.
The 33 has a surprising to me high crash test rating, not good compared to todays cars, but good for a compact car from the 80's, by a manufacturer that was going to the Italian Goverment for money, Colin.
All of this talk about the flexability of the 33 chassis has me wondering about applying the typical aftermarket chassis bracing techniques to them.
A strut tower brace is obvious, but seeing where the bulkhead is in the 33, probably not woth it. But in guard bracing the helps prevent the strut towers from being pushed upwards with bump forces and lower chassis bracing that tie the lower control arm mount/chassis together, may prove to be very helpful.
On top of that, selective seam welding or plug welding at panel joins, even drilling old spot welds to replace with plug welds. Perhaps adding gussets or additional box sections, too.
Pretty sure that the chassis could be considerably stiffened without adding more than 10kgs could be done. Just a matter of being smart and thorough about it.
The Sud and the 33 had almost the same rails and subframe, the Sud was lighter than the 33, so maybe thats why the 33 was more prone to cracking.
The twin carb Sud we had, cracked the rails, but it was never fixed, but my 33 also cracked and i had the rails fixed by an expert, ie not me!, but they cracked 10 years later.
DUK, that bracing looks like a good thing, but i remember seeing some bracing on a car, running from the bottom rails up to the top of the firewall and thinking, that in a head on, the front rail would transfer all that energy back to firewall instead of absorbing energy, Colin.
it's true if you have ever driven a truck in traffic their are HUGE blind spots on the left hand side. I like tiff from fifth gear he reminds me of colin .
Tiff reminds me of Colin as well, except Tiff is handsome, knows what he is talking about and can drive.
If you believe the rumours, Tiff Needall was the original 'Stig' on Top Gear.
If you look at youtube, he tests an Alfasud and comes to the conclusion, that its the best handling front wheel drive, i have to agree.
Tiff was also in Formula 1 for a brief time in the early 80's, Colin.
colcol you are a modest thing arnt you