75 (Type 162) 1985 - 1992

The car was first registered to Mr D Hayes (Heath End, Farnham, Surrey) 29/09/92 from Cleveland Cars Ltd Ash, Aldershot, Hants. GU12 6LR, the local Alfa Romeo dealer.

 I purchased the car from the same dealer for £6790 with 16000m on the clock (part exchanging our Red Alfa Romeo 33 1.7 8v K505WPM 21000m) on 25/06/95 to be the main family car.

The car became my daily drive until 09/08/99 when it was retired due to the fact that my father kindly gifted me a Ford Fiesta to do the work run.  Thus the 75 was put in the garage as a third car having reached a total of 49,300 miles in the five years of our ownership.  In that time she had become a part of the family and we had enjoyed many miles of reliable and sporty motoring.

The idea was to now enjoy her as a toy.....car shows, track days and fun summer motoring.  To that end a few subtle modifications were added over the next few years to enhance the enjoyment

During this time I enjoyed the car at various track days inc Goodwood, Castle Combe, Donnington, RAF Odiham and Bruntingthorpe.  Not only was the car excellent to drive, it also looked fab (in my eyes) and  got plenty of attention.  Up until Sept 2004 Adie Hawkins (AH Motorsport) had looked after the car for me and had done a sterling job, very highly recommended indeed.

Unfortunately in 2004 I had an off at a track day at Castle Combe (on the off camber Tower corner for those who are familiar) and the car required some work to the OS rear.  Adie recommended Alex Jupe as a trans axle specialist and so off she went to Alex for all the repair work.  Fortunately the chassis was straight and over time Alex made a great job of getting her back in shape. We also took the opportunity to get the Speedline alloys reconditioned.  Alex Jupe Motorsport also took over the servicing from this point as well.  The car obviously looked "the part" after all of Alex's excellent body work and the car was featured at the 2008 NAD "front of house" display (where a certain Mr Clarkson was very complimentary as we chatted by the car).

I was very pleased to be asked to park up at the front of the house for the NAD car display.  Compare and contrast.......JC was very complimentary........notice Ed McDonagh entering stage left to remove my wife off the bonnet of "that 75"!  A very amusing day all round and nice to watch on Top Gear as well. 

Various work was done to the car to improve the handling and braking (after the Castle Combe experience!).  This included a change in front suspension geometry and a lowering of the front torsion bars.  Brake lines were upgraded to braided lines and it was decided to use ATE DoT 5.1 race fluid. It was around this time (2010 with @ 65000m on the clock) that the car developed an intermittent electrical problem which would blight the enjoyment of the car for many years to come! 

Regular fuel and electrical investigations were carried out and numerous parts replaced inc distributors, cables, relays and solenoids etc during annual MoT and services by a number of garages.  Over the period of 11 years and 10000m the car had a very quiet life and became unfortunately a bit of a "garage queen".

In Oct 2021 (as I describe in the Competition History section) I gave the car to Chris Snowdon (CSRacing) with the brief "go through it with a fine tooth combe and tell me what's wrong with it.....warts and all.....and from that I'll decide whether to sell it or sort it for good".  I'd pretty much had my fill of having a car that promised so much but, due to a fault that was proving impossible to fix, underdelivered.  Well the rest is history as they say! Chris did miracles on the car and sorted it out, urgeing me definitely NOT to sell it.

As a way of celebrating this new found servicability the car was selected to be displayed at the Goodwood 90's Sunday Breakfast club.   This also heralded the start of developing the car for Sprinting and Hillclimbing with the outstanding help and expertise from Chris Snowdon and Richard Melvin (living close to Chichester does have so many advantages to the transaxle owner).

I started competing with the car in 2022 with the Classic Marques Sports Car Club who run a Speed Challenge based on a handicap system.  It works brilliantly and you find yourself swapping places with 100/th sec differences with cars as diverse as Jaguars, TVR's, Porsche's, Reliant Scimitars, MG's etc, etc.  I was notable in my first season as the only Alfa Romeo out of @ 80 cars competing as well as the ONLY saloon!  Not being what you would describe as the ideal tool for the job, the 75 nevertheless has its strengths and certainly got some attention.  I was featured with the car in the on-line MSUK magazine "Revolution" edition 38 in an article entitled "My first hillclimb".  The car also caught the attention of Sam Dawson from Classic Car magazine (no 509 Aug 22 edition) featuring in the article on the Prescott Historique Festival.  I'm never short of interest from the people who come through the paddock at all events who just want to know what I'm doing there with an Alfa 75?  The car continues to be developed in a subtle way (in line with the Blue Book) and trying to keep it looking "in period" as well still pleasureable to drive on road and track.  With Chris and Richard's help over the last three years the 75 has finally started to become the car I wanted it to be. 

After many years of the family enjoying the delights of watching the Hillclimbing at Gurston Down and Prescott I took the plunge and in the Aug of 2014 I completed the Prescott Hillclimb Drivers School as a birthday gift.....this was a watershed moment.....as it was singularly the most enjoyable and challenging thing I'd done in a car.  I was bitten.

In the autumn of 2018 I made the decision that I wanted to try and Sprint and Hillclimb the car potentially in 2019, more probably in 2020. This was after watching a Sprint meeting at Goodwood and meeting members of the Classic Marques Sports Car Club. The club runs a Speed Challenge Cup based on a calculated handicap system so no matter what car you have, you race all together on a level playing field....full race cars against roadgoing production cars.  I was immediately drawn in by the concept as well as the great atmosphere around the paddock.  My timing wasn't perfect and due to a number of issues, mainly retiring from the Royal Airforce and taking on a new job as well as Covid nothing was really done until Oct 2021.

The car was delivered to Chris Snowden Racing - CSR (13/10/21) with the following brief. "please go over the car with a fine tooth comb.....tell me everything that's wrong.....warts and all....and from that I'll decide whether to keep or sell it".

Chris came back to me in a matter of days and said "whatever you do do not sell that car" along with a number of very pleasing compliments about how it drove.  I decided to keep the car and Chris agreed to support my desire to sprint and hillclimb in the 2022 season.

The intention was to drive to and from all events and run in the Road Cars series Production class thus keeping the cost down and still trying to maintain the car as a usable road vehicle.  Therefore when the car returrned to CSR  in the Mar of 2022 the brief was to build in resilience/serviceability and not speed.  Particular attention was paid to the clutch (kevlar lined and braided hose) and brakes (CL race pads fitted) as well as replacing all the gear linkage mechanism. List 1a Yokohama Advan A008 tyres were fitted (205/60 - 14).

The car also paid a visit to Northampton Motorsport for the mandatory Power and Weight check, the car delivering the following results:

Eng power - 139bhp @5850 rpm

Eng Torque - 136 lb/ft @4900 rpm

Not bad for a 30 year old italian car (the words of the mech's running the test!).

With 8 scores counting to your  season total I decided to do just 8 rounds in my first season.  I kept as local as possible and tried to keep the unecessary mileage to a minimum.  So we Hillclimbed at Gurston Down, Prescott and Wiscombe Hall and Sprinted at Goodwood (twice), Castle Combe (twice) and Lydden Hill. 

Overall, I finished 35th out of 79 and came 4th out of 10 in the Intersport class as well as being the runner up novice.  As an indication of the clubs good humour and level of paddock banter, I was also awarde the "Four Door Cup".....as I was the only competitor racing in a saloon!

My biggest satisfaction from the entire season was the fact that I was able to drive the car to every event, compete to a reasonable standard and then get it home in one piece......something a lot of my fellow competitors didn't believe possible (in an Alfa!).

22/23 off season

It was decided to up the safety in the car for the 23 season even if it wasn't required by the MSUK regulations.  So an FIA four point OMP harness was fitted along with an FIA fibreglass Sparco race seat. The harness fit required the removal of the rear seat back rest which was replaced by a self made replica.  I also decided to add a HANS to my personal safety equipment. The car was fully serviced with gear linkage and front brake discs also replaced.

With some experience under my belt I decided to take on a few more rounds in the 23 season and entered 11 in total while still trying to keep mileage to a minimum.  So we visited Abingdon, Gurston (twice), Goodwood (twice), Lydden Hill, Brooklands, Castle Combe (twice), Prescott and Wiscombe Hall.

I benefited from fitting  an in car GoPro part way through the season which helped in the post run debrief. It's amazing what you pick up off the video (and forget in the heat of the moment!). 

There was a steady improvement from the 22 season.  Overall I came 25th out of 95 and 1st in the Intersport class out of 7.  The highlight was undoubtedly finishing 2nd overall at a wet end of season sprint at Castle Combe where I was leading going into the final run of the day as the track dried.....ultimately beaten by a Porsche 718 GTS.

23/24 off season

It was decided to move  from 14" wheels and go 15" as well as fit Black motorsport Powerflex suspension bushes throughout to gain some added control and response from the suspension while maintaining acceptable road manners.   I selected Compomotive style TH turbo 3 piece split rims (as raced in period on ETCC and BTCC Alfa 75 and GTVs by Jon Dooley no less) as an alternative to the Speedline teledial originals. I also decided to stick with List 1a Yokohama rubber (perhaps list 1b next year).  It was also initially decided to replace the 20 year old adjustable Koni Sport shocks like for like. Unfortunately the funds dried up and it was decided to delay their purchase.  Interestingly, on fitting the new Watts linkage bushes it was found that the originals had seized!!!.... enough said on that one but I'm definitely looking for more grip off the rear next year!!! 

To help with the post run debriefing (along with the GoPro in -car video) I purchased a Racebox Mini S.  So I'm looking forward to getting my head around this piece of equipment and all the data that will become available to me. 

The car was finally ready for the 2024 season having had a new set of "Compomotive" style TH Turbo alloy wheels fitted (and Yokohama Advan A008's) which I think look particularly smart with the right amount of "retro competition" style.  In an attempt to minimise transit mileage, but also to go to some other venue's, I'd planned on doing 12 rounds inc Shelsley Walsh and Mallory Park as well as all the usual suspects (Wiscombe, Goodwood, Castle Combe, Prescott and Gurston).  Unfortunately I was having to miss Lydden due to holiday plans (not good as it's previouisly been my best scoring venue).  I was also looking forward to a track day with driver tuition (Chris Snowdon obviously) at Goodwood  two days before Round 4 at the same track.  All in attempt to eak out that extra sec or two.  These two events also tied in with "Auto Italia" visiting to do a feature on the car and my 91 year old father coming to see me compete for the first time.  I was so looking forward to Goodwood.  The Hillclimbing Gods had other plans for me and K260 UPL!

This was not how I imagined the 2024 season would start.  It was a very wet and slippery Wiscombe that greeted us on Apr 27.  Successfully completed practice and the first timed run in the morning to only lose it coming out of Sawbench and end up on my side!  Very unlucky to roll onto the side......very lucky to NOT roll over onto the roof and down the hill....Hillclimbing can be a cruel mistress!

K & N 57i induction air filter - 09/08/99 - Demon Tweeks

OMP 3 point clubman track harness- 19/01/00 - Demon Tweeks

Superchip fitted - 14/04/00 - Autotechnics

Eibach Pro Rear springs - 11/11/00 - Demon Tweeks

Koni adjustable sport shocks - 11/11/00 - AHMotorsport

Alfa 75 V6 front antiroll bar - 20/10/01 - AHMotorsport

Powerflex castor bushes - 20/10/01 - AHMotorsport

Slotted/Drilled front discs and EBC pads - 4/11/02 - AHMotorsport

OMP Targa steering wheel and ext boss - 12/12/02 - Demon Tweeks

Fit programmable ECU and tune on rolling road - 4/10/03 - AHMotorsport

CSC exhaust system (Center and tail) - 4/10/03 - AHMotorsport

Front Torsion bars lowered and bespoke front geometry dialled in - 27/07/07 - Alex Jupe Motorsport

Braided brakes hoses and DoT 5.1 fluid fitted - 28/06/10

Lifeline 1.75 kg AFFF Hand held Ext fitted - 15/01/13 - Demon Tweeks

Kevlar lined clutch fitted with braided hose - 21/03/22 - CSRacing

CL racing brake pads fitted - 21/03/22 - CSRacing

Lifeline 2.4 kg AFFF Hand held Ext fitted - 6/06/22 - Demon Tweeks

Sparco Rev QRT fibreglass FIA race seat - 28/01/23 - CSRacing

OMP 801 FIA four point Race Harness with reinforced rear bulkhead - 28/01/23 - CSRacing

Uprated race front brake disc's - 28/01/23 - CSRacing

Powerflex Black suspension bushes (Fr Castor bar, Upper spring mounts, Watts link and centre) - 18/02/24 - CSRacing

Set of TH Turbo Three piece alloy wheels (5x98 pcd, 27mm offset, 15"x72) - 18/04/24 - Image Wheels/CSRacing

Last but definitely not least I would like to thank Adie Hawkins (AH Motorsport), Alex Jupe (Alexjupemotorsport) and Chris Snowdon and Richard Melvin (CSRacing/Alfagtv6) for all the sage advice, hard work and continuing support.  As a non-mechanically inclined individual I couldn't have run the car as described without their assistance....Cheers gents!

A slightly potted and inaccurate account of the car.....but still great to get into the magazine!