18 April 2012

I want one of those

 Gordon Spice and Holman Blackburn dispute some Thruxton tarmac.  In 1975/6 the Mark 1 Capri was still competitive with its newer (and heavier) brother. 
This photograph was taken from the Thruxton 1976 DJM RECORDS EUROPEAN FORMULA 2 TROPHY programme Easter Monday April 19.  (I was there!)

Back in the day, when I were but a lad (well a bit older than that), but I still had hair on my head!  Anyway we had a British Touring Car Championship that was made up of various classes of car with loads of different makes all competing for class and overall wins.  At various times there were BMWs, Triumph Dolomites, Capris (of course), Minis, Escorts, Metros etc.  In fact just about every kind of shopping car you could name.

Outside of the big class, which at various times included Andy Rouse, Gordon Spice, Vince Woodman and Geoff Allam, was an accountant by the name of Jon Dooley.  Jon ran an Alfa Romeo Alfa Sud in competition with (among others) Richard Longman in his Escorts or Minis.  Jon was pretty successful, taking class wins at various tracks in his Group 1 1/2 car.  He later had a Group A engine installed and went out to play with that.  Well look what they've found Classic And Sports Car; Jon's alfa has been discovered in a "barn" in what can only be described as an apparently woeful condition.  Given that the Alfa Sud was prone to serious rust, I wonder how salvageable this one may be?  That said, I do hope someone buys it and brings it back to its former glory. 

Would make a fantastic addition to the JD Classics series, plus it would also look good on the 360MRC 6hrs grid.  Hmmmm.

1 comment:

  1. Good news there Peter!! More Alfa's to follow so I hear?

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