July Monthly Meeting

On Tuesday July 13th we met at the Sagebrush and despite the rain we had a Maserati of Richard Hipwood, a Healey of John Hauser, an Alfa Romeo of Bill and Janice Craig, a z car of Blake Frazier, a 1974 BMW 3.0 CS of Jim Clarkson in the car park. Attending were Don Ferree (MAARC), Jim Clarkson(MAARC), John Hauser (MAARC), Thor Mirchandani (MAARC), Viktor Mirchandani, Amy Kudla, Blake Frazier, Piers Clarkson, Bill and Jan Craig (MAARC), Tom Jones, Jack O’Brien, Richard Hipwood, Steven Jones, John G Harrill (MAARC), Tim and Susan Simmons (MAARC).

Don Ferree shared his photographs from the National Alfa Romeo Convention. It appears there were in excess of 50 cars in attendance and that they represented the entire range from vintage to current and were in excellent condition. Don had a good trip out and back and is planning to share his 1985 convention slides with us.

Richard Hipwood took some very interesting pictures of the 75 odd car BCDS rally in June and shared them with us. They were printed off a laser printer and looked great. Blake Frazier and Thor Mirchandani shared their Atlanta pictures from the Ferrari meet. Jim Clarkson gave a summary of the trip he, Piers Clarkson, Blake Frazier, and Adam Berusch made to the Montreal Formula One race in Canada on June 13th and shared their panaramic photographs.

A special thanks goes out to Steve Barney for having us over on Sunday for the French Gran Prix at Foreign Cars Italia. We had a great time and enjoyed ourselves emensely with the exception of Michael Schumachers crash into the barrier wall which resulted in a broken leg. David Coulthard one for McLaren and Eddie Irvine came in Second for Ferrari after Mika Hakkinen’s wheel came off. Many thanks to Steve, Norma and Fefee Barney for hosting the wonderful Sunday morning get together.

In August Steve Karapetian is organizing our annual trip to the Ferrari Challenge Series in Georgia at Road Atlanta the weekend of August 6th . Please call Steve Karapetian at 336 766 1785 if you are interested in the 355 Challenge series and the Vintage Ferrari races that weekend. We had a blast last year and look forward to another great weekend of fellowship and good racing. Thor and I are working on a tour for after the show and would like your input as to whether you would prefer a rally or a tour and for what amount of time.

The European Car Festival is soon upon us. Please fill out your registration form and send it in. Remember the proceeds go to the childrens art programs at Reynolda House.
Ciao John Hauser

August meeting

Tim and Susan Simmons in two weeks will be heading to California for the Monterey Historics! On Friday August 27th they will attend the Italian concours in Carmel Valley coupled with an Italian festival featuring Italian food, music, cars, and other vendors. That evening they will attend the Rick Cole auction. Saturday they will attend the historic races at Laguna Seca featuring cars of the 1930s - 1950s and attend a party hosted by Phil Hill that night. we sent Phil Hill a t shirt. (Some think he will be wearing it.) Sunday they will attend the Pebble Beach concours and then the Christie’s Auction. The next week they will explore central California.

We are trying to organize another fall overnighter through the mountains similar to the Balsam Mountain Inn trip last October. If you are interested please call John Hauser at 336 777 0688.

Jim Clarkson, John Hauser, and Steve Karapetian each reported on various aspects of the preparations for our European Festival October 9th. Gary Brierton is setting up a wonderful 1 to 1 1/2 hour tour which will end up at an Italian eatery in Walnut Cove just outside of Winston Salem. The tour will take us through the mountains and allow us to enjoy some of this state’s wonderful winding roads between Hanging Rock to the North, Pilot Mountain to the West and Sauratown Mountain to the East. The tour will last from 4/4:30pm to approximately 5:30/6pm and will leave from Reynolda Village straight up Reynolda Road.

The show will run from 10am to 4pm with the awards being presented in front of Reynolda House at 3pm. Mark Godfrey and Brown Fox books have donated 22 copies of Phil Hill: Yankee Champion for the prizes in the 22 classes which have arrived. We will have the books also available for sale at $39.50 each at the show. The Phil Hill display include the book and Louis Klemantaski and GrahamTurner photographs and pictures depicting Phil Hill’s career. We will also offer a T shirt for sale with his Championship winning Formula one Ferrari 156. Steve Karapetian will display his extensive Ferrari Formula One model collection.

The registration forms have been printed and are going out to the various sports car clubs. The Rally plaques are being prepared by rally productions and we have ordered 250. The Tshirts have been ordered by Steve Karapetian. Please send your registrations in so we will have a better idea on how to organize our classes and where to place them.

At the August Stamtisch were John Hauser in an Austin Healey, Jack O’Brien in an MGA, Jim Clarkson in a Ferrari, Steve and Kate Karapetian in a Ferrari, Tim and Susan Simmons in an Alfa Romeo, Jon Saylor in an Austin Healey as well as John Harrill (Guiletta under restoration), Bob King(his Alfa Romeo was totalled by an SUV and his wife is okay), Blake Frazier in his z car and Steven Jones with his Eclipse. We watched Jim Clarkson’ Video of the Corsa Rossa boys at the Montreal Gran Prix and then the Derrick Bell Video of him driving a Porsche 956 at the Nurburg Ring and the Lemans circuits.
Ciao John Hauser

Montreal Delights as the Tradition Begins

Formula One racing is unique. The combination of speed, handling, personalities, technology, international flavor and history drew me in at a young age. Montreal is also unique with its mix of French and American speaking citizens, history and location geographically. The two create a great pair and made for a great experience with the guidance of Jim Clarkson (his eighth time) and Grand Prix Tours.

We sat just past the Senna Curve where the view is incredible. We could see almost to the starting line all the way to just past two. Formula One is different in person. The speed is not distorted like on television where they use cameras with zoom lenses . We watched the cars coming around the dogleg before one, seemingly going way too fast, only to slow and make the turn uneventfully (except for Diniz, who went straight into the tire wall during practice). We also saw the cars grabbing for elusive traction out of turn two before blasting down the straight towards three.

Montreal during the Grand Prix is abuzz with cars and people. There is some great scenery, even downtown, and the weather is warm even at 4am. We spent most of our time at Ziggys on Crescent Street. This has become home base for many of the regulars who know more about the subject of F1 than I could ever hope to learn. It was refreshing to have a roomful of people talking about the subject. Some of the pictures from Monaco were incredible.

We met one gentleman named Mike, who attends about three or four races per year. His last comment to us was "See you in 360 days". If there was a doubt in any of our minds about next year, it ended there. The Montreal Grand Prix isn't as much a race as an experience. That is why everyone who has been is already planning next year. If you are interested in going, call someone from Corsa Rossa or just meet us at Ziggys any night between Thursday and Sunday during the race weekend.
Blake Frazier

Phil Hill, the Yankee Champion

We spoke with Phil Hill, the first of only two American's to win the driver's World Grand Prix Champion title. (The other being Mario Andretti in 1978, my brother informs me.) Mr. Hill regrets that he cannot attend Corsa Rossa's European Car Festival this fall, as desired. Unfortunately, the event coincides with a trip to Europe.
Kavita Baeck-Mirchandani

Corsa Rossa’s European Car Festival Update!

Our annual European Car Festival which began as an Italian Festival for the Italian olympic team in July of 1996 with 60 Italian cars on display evolved into a European Car Festival in October of 1998 with 120 cars. Given the pleasant response to last year’s festival we have the Southeast Region of the Ferrari Club holding their fall concours at the show. Also in response to our choosing this year to honor Phil Hill one of the United States’ most famous racing drivers this year, Brown Fox Books has donated 22 copies of Phil Hill: Yankee Champion to the awards for the 22 classes.

For those of you who do not have a copy of the book you can order one from Mark Godfrey at Brown Fox books at 1 800 450 7949. The book traces Phil hill’s career from his early midget racing days in California, to the Carera Panamerican Road Race to LeMans and his 1961 Gran Prix championship win with Ferrari. This 6X9 inch hardback has an extensive index and 114 beautiful and exciting images. The cost is $39.50 and $4.50 for shipping. We will have John Hauser’s current and Jack O’Brien’s 1961 edition on display at our May 11th meeting. At the Festival there will be several copies available for sale.

Furthermore, the Louis Klemantaski collection has made available several black and white original photographs of the Champion, and the cars he drove so successfully. The prints will be displayed at the festival. Louis Klemantaski is known as the most significant motor sports photographer to date, and Corsa Rossa is proud to be able to show his work to the public. Our thanks go out to the Klemantaski collection for this unique opportunity.

The Reynolda Village a unique setting for the festival in that it offers beautiful and historic Reynolda House, the Art Museum, and Reynolda Gardens. Reynolda Village, the former support buildings and Dairy for the Reynolda Estate, is set up in the traditional layout of an English country village. The village offers restaurants such as the Blackhorse Cafe, Reynolda Village Soda Shop, the Village Tavern and the Vineyards, all with outdoor seating. The shops contain everything from clothes, sportswear, antiques, books, music, toys, gourmet cookware and fine foods to jewelry and much more. Verily, the village has something for everyone!

We are contemplating a tour instead of a rally after the show this year and would like your input. We had 26 cars drive the rally and many more request a driving tour encompassing the mountains around Hanging Rock and pilot Mountain State Parks outside of town coupled with a drive through of historic Bethania, Bethabra and old Salem. If you are new to the area and Corsa Rossa, for more information on last years show including registration, awards and photographs Click Here!

The show is open to all European cars including Ferraris, Maseratis and Lancias from Italy to BMW, Porsche and Mercedes of Germany, to Aston Martin, Jaguar, MG and Lotus from Britain, and many, many others. There will be both competition and road cars on display.

Registration will begin at 10am and end at 12 noon. All European cars are invited to participate and will be parked according to their manufacturer. There are twentytwo manufacturer classes and those cars not fitting into one of these twenty classes will be placed in the special interest class. Additional classes may be added prior to the show depending on preregistration. Registration is $10 per car and there will be special commemorative T-shirts on sale. A dash plaque will be given to each registered car. Awards will be presented to a car in each marque, which will be selected by that marque’s sponsor. There is no Festival admission to the public. Admission to Reynolda House will be free to registrants and children under 12 . Admission will be half price to all others.

Corsa Rossa would like to thank Messrs. Steve Barney and Troy Winkelman of Foreign Cars Italia in Greensboro, NC for their enthusiastic support of our European Car Festival.

For information on the Festival call either Steve Karapetian at 336 766 1785 or Thor Mirchandani at 336 773 1008. Or fill out a registration form.

Mid Atlantic Alfa Romeo Club Tour of Italy

The tour includes visiting Monte Catini near Florence, Rimini, San Morino to visit the San Marino Car museum with its collection of Racing Alfas, Ferraris, Maseratis, Lancias, Fiats, Oscas, etc. Then on to Milan via Maranello for lunch at the Cavellino ristorante and a Ferrari factory tour which has not yet been confirmed. In Milan there will be a tour of the Alfa Romeo Museum and reserved seats for the Italian Gran prix. The cost is $2,550 per person plus air fair estimated at $1,100 from Newark to Rome and back. The trip is planned for 32 people. Call Barry Ward at 1-800-333-8016.