Alfa Romeo Day
My husband Steve (who is a bit of a petrol head) is currently restoring an Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT. He is a member of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club and each year the club have a National Alfa Day. This year we went along...
The event was held at Newby Hall, Ripon, North Yorkshire and we had booked the tickets months in advance! We spent the night at a campsite not too far away from the venue at a little village called Minskip. It was a pleasant evening and we enjoyed a barbeque along with a fantastic sunset.
Sunday July 4th 2009. It's 10am and the sun is shining - great, looks as though it's going to be a warm day. There are already hundreds of Alfa Romeos on display and many more turning up as the minutes go by. Steve thinks he's died and gone to heaven!
First stop.... Catering tent! Just for a coffee - to wake us up!
Steve is on a mission to find a couple of badges to put on his car (one of the originals got mangled a long time ago) so off we go hunting around the stalls. Unfortunately no joy - not a badge to be seen. Never mind, maybe next time.
By now it's 11am and time for a bacon bap (of course) and another coffee. I have to say, the catering tent is excellent.
After refreshments we head off in search of a Giulia Sprint (image left). Steve is hoping to find one so that he can take some pictures of a finished product for reference with his restoration project. Out of all the cars (goodness knows how many there are - it seems like thousands but certainly hundreds) there is only one to be found! However, it is an excellent example and Steve is really chuffed to see it. The owner is very helpful and lets Steve photograph it in detail. This takes quite a while....
After lunch we manage to have a quick wander around the lovely gardens of Newby Hall. Perhaps we'll go back one day for a proper tour of the house and grounds.
Then it's time for the driving skills Auto Test. - a little agility course for those brave enough to give it a try. Quite a few Alfas and even a couple of non-Alfas (what are they doing here?) join in, although it takes a while for some of the competitors to pluck up the courage. It's nice to see that one of the fastest to complete the course is a lady driver!
Another quick wander round to admire the cars, then sadly it's time to go home (we've got a four hour drive ahead of us and have to pack the tent up first).
I've got to admit, I'm not into cars like my husband is but it was a very nice day out at a lovely location and amazingly we didn't get rained on. And if someone offered me an Alfa Mito I definitely wouldn't say no!
For more information: http://www.aroc-uk.com/national-alfa-day/
Contributed by Maria Goddard
(Published 5th Nov 2013)
