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Hello Episode 98 of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast – brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick sits round the virtual round table episode with the usual suspects – Club Chairman John Griffiths, Management Team members Kirsty Hodson and David Faithful and Club Manager Nick Wright – to talk about all - OK, most - of the things you can look forward to at National Alfa Day on Sunday the 18th of August at Bicester Heritage. We’re very much looking forward to seeing you all there.

For the last two months we’ve been promising you an interview with Jamie Porter about becoming a racing driver. Last month he was bumped in favour of Alfa Romeo Managing Director Jules Tilstone. This month… well, this month we’re unable to bring the interview to you for technical reasons. Honestly, we lost it. We looked for it – for days – but it’s not there. We will re-record it, but unfortunately, Jamie is now on holiday.

But we promised you Jamie, so Jamie you shall have. Here’s another chance to listen to Episode 24 – from way back in January 2021. If you’ve only started to listen to the podcast recently and haven’t listened to everything in the archive, this is a cracker. And, if you have listened to it before, it’s definitely worth another listen. If nothing else, it illustrates how much better our production techniques have got!

In Episode 87 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast, brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club, Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with AROC management team member David Faithful to talk about some of the improvements to the Club's online experience behind the scenes - and some of the cool new member benefits that technology will enable.

Some early examples of the new functionality are shown below.

Member login screen

My AROC

A list of a member's cars

A sample AROC Guardian page

2023 marks the 100th anniversary of the famous Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio emblem and we're celebrating with our 4th episode of No Such Thing as a Brera Quadrifoglio. In this episode of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick is joined by Club Chairman John Griffiths, Club Manager Nick Wright and Alfa Female and Club Director Kirsty Hodson to share their favourite facts about the Quadrifgolio. Some you may have heard before, some you hopefully won't - and many you may find hard to believe!

Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with Club Chairman John Griffiths, Manager Nick Wright and Section Development Supremo Jonathan Griffin to discuss National Alfa Day, a busy Summer of events, Midlands Italian Car Day, the Classic Motor Show and the forthcoming Section Secretaries and Registrars meeting.

In Episode 84 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast, brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club, Guy Swarbrick talks to Club member, GTAm owner and friend of the podcast Alan Greenhalgh - and the Club’s Giulia registrar Andrew Celi – about their recent trip to Le Mans as part of Alfa Romeo's second European-wide Tribe Days event.

In this Episode, Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with AROC Chairman John Griffiths, Club Manager Nick Wright and Alfa Female's Allie Taylor to talk about the upcoming National Alfa Day. There are lots of new things going on - as well as lots of the things you've all grown to love at Bicster Heritage.

Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with AROC Racing Leagues commentator and Sim Racing columnist Reeve Taylor, Club Manager Nick Wright and MiTo Registrar David Faithful to discuss 15 years of the MiTo, its importance to the Club, the recent 15th Anniversary track day, their current cars and their dream MiTos.

In Episode 81 of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast – brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club, Editor Guy Swarbrick drives the Tonale Q4 – the 280 horsepower, four-wheel drive, plug-in hybrid version of Alfa’s C segment SUV – along with some of its potential rivals at the SMMT test day at Millbrook.

The video of a lap (or two) of Millbrook in the Tonale Q4 is now available on the Club's YouTube Channel at https://youtu.be/w7pQQeEIBPQ

The week's episode sees Chiara Shearn talking to AROC Ragazzi Chairman Sam Butler and Ragazzi and Hereford & Worcester Section Secretary Sophie King about their Alfa history, the formation of the AROC Ragazzi Section and their plans for the future of the group.

In this Episode of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with Club Chairman John Griffiths, board member Kirsty Hodson, Club Manager Nick Wright and cinqueportephobic David Faithful to talk about a record-breaking Spring Alfa Day, rapid unscheduled carton disassembly events and a busy few months of events to come.

In Episode 78 of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast, brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club, Editor Guy Swarbrick discusses the upcoming Alfa Romeo Championship season – and looks back at last year – with Championship Coordinator and friend of the Podcast Andy Robinson.

In Episode 96 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owner’s Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with Jules Tilstone - managing director of Alfa Romeo UK - to talk about his background, his plans for the UK retail network and the new Alfa Romeo Junior. If you were expecting Jamie Porter, talking about becoming a racing driver, that episode will now be released in July.

For Episode 77 of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick sat down with Jack and Rosie Hodson for the first of our new series of profiles of AROC families.

In Episode 76 of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast, brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club, Kirsty Hodson sat down to celebrate International Women’s Day with the new Managing Director of Alfa Romeo UK – Julie David. They talked about her life, career and plans for the future of the marque.

From four undisclosed locations around the UK, Editor Guy Swarbrick sat down with Kirsty Hodson, John Griffiths and Nick Wright to discuss their four favourite facts from the world of Alfa Romeo, in the third episode of No Such Thing as a Brera Quadrifoglio - celebrating the 75th episode of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast, brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club.

In Episode 74 of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with the Club’s 159 Registrar Jim Rastall and talks about his car history and his plans for the Register.

To celebrate our 75th episode, we’re recording the third edition of No Such Thing as a Brera Quadrifoglio. If you have any humorous or obscure – or, better still, humorous and obscure – facts from the world of Alfa Romeo that you’d like us to talk about, email me at editor@aroc-uk.com before next Wednesday – the 15th.

In this Episode Guy Swarbrick sat down with AROC virtual racer and ARCA 4C racer Mike Hilton and Andrew Bergbaum, his partner in a project to bring a very special racing Alfa back to the track. In its heyday, it was an Autodelta car running in Jolly Club livery, taking fourth in the 1966 Monza Four Hours in the hands of Alfa legend Rob Slotemaker. What's happened to it in the 57 years that followed?    

Editor Guy Swarbrick is joined by Club Chairman John Griffiths, Club Manager Nick Wright, MiTo Registrar David Faithful and Thames Valley Section Secretary Kirsty Hodson to talk about our highlights from 2022 and the things we’re looking forward to in 2023. 

In Episode 71 of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with AROC Modified Register coordinator Alen Thomas to answer all of life's important questions: What is a modified car? What's the Register for? When does a sticker become a wrap? Who's Jacky? What would Alen do to a Giulia Quadrifoglio, given the chance? And many, many more.

Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with AutoItalia road and track test driver Roberto Gordanelli to talk about his life and career, the Alfa Romeos he's owned and driven, the future of the automobile and motorsport - and his new book Confessions of a Test Driver.

 

 

Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with AROC management team member David Faithful to talk about the Club's new website, which launched this week. Behind the clean, modern feel is a completely new website, built with an emphasis on making it easier for Club officials and members to share content. David talks through the features available from day one - and about some of the plans for future enhancements.

In this week's episode, Editor Guy Swarbrick looks back at the NEC Classic Motor Show where he sat down with Alfasud Registrar Ian Brookfield to talk about the cars on this year's AROC stand, Jonathan Trinder to learn more about his 47 year old Alfasud ti and Club Chairman John Griffiths to get an insight into what's involved in planning and preparing for one of the biggest classic motor shows in the world.

In Episode 95 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owner’s Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick and Management Team Member David Faithful and I witter on for the best part of an hour about the state of the UK charging network, domestic electricity prices, the economics of operating a motorway service station, whether or not driving enjoyment declines with age and – when we remember – the new Alfa Romeo Junior. To be fair, it’s mostly about the Junior.

In Episode 67 of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast, brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club, Editor Guy Swarbrick and Kirsty Hodson – Club management team member, Thames Valley Section Secretary bring you their Top 30 Christmas Gift Ideas for the Alfisti in your life (or your car...). Ranging for £6 to £1,200, there should be something for everyone!

 

1 Italian supercar experience DRIVE AN ALFA GIULIA QUADRIFOGLIO ON ARESE CIRCUIT - RSE Italia 2 Spider car hire Alfa Romeo Spider - 24 hr Mid Week | Great Driving Days 3 Displate metal posters 'Alfa Romeo' Poster by shreyas rao | Displate 4 105 Series books - Patrick Dasse Amazon.co.uk 5 Alfa Romeo after shave Red Collection After Shave Lotion by Alfa Romeo | parfumdreams 6 Curves magazine Curves: Northern Italy: Lombardy, South Tyrol, Veneto : Stefan Bogner: Amazon.co.uk: Books 7 Best driving roads books Epic Drives of the World: Explore the Planet's Most Thrilling Road Trips : Planet, Lonely: Amazon.co.uk: Books 8 Puddle lights MOPAR Store Courtesy lights for front door (puddle lights) for Alfa Romeo Giulia 9 Luxury wax kit Kits | [Wx] Wax Kit - Complete Wax Set | REVIVE – NOWREVIVE 10 The 8C Story Continues mailto:gpalfabook@gmail.com 11 Framed adverts Alfa Romeo Car Print 1970 Advertising Wall Art - Etsy UK 12 Alfa Romeo F1 American football shirt American Football Jersey XL | Valtteri Bottas | CODE-ZERO (codezeroracing.com) 13 Hot Wheels & Matchbox cars Amazon.co.uk : hot wheels alfa romeo 14 NEC tickets Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show Tickets | Friday 11 - Sunday 13 November 2022 (seetickets.com) 15 Italeri 8C 2300 kit Buy Alfa Romeo Model Kits Online - Kent Models 16 Chipex Pro Kit Registration Lookup | Chipex UK 17 Alfa female polo shirt NEW 2022 Alfa Female Ladies Polo - Black – Alfa Romeo Owners Club Shop (aroc-uk.com) 18 Alfasud t-shirt New 2022 AROC Alfasud T-Shirt - Grey – Alfa Romeo Owners Club Shop (aroc-uk.com) 19 Cloverleaf badges https://www.partsworld-uk.com/products/cloverleaf-badges-giulietta 20 Leather-look Alfa Romeo air freshener yeSJRL Car Pendant Aromatherapy Room Deodorant Sachet, Air Freshener Fragrance Ornaments Hanging, For Alfa Romeo Stelvio Brera 147 156 159 Giulietta Giulia,Black : Amazon.co.uk: Automotive 21 AROC Umbrella AROC Umbrella ORDER VIA EMAIL ONLY £25 + £10 P&P – Alfa Romeo Owners Club Shop (aroc-uk.com) 22 New AROC jacket New 2022 AROC Jacket - Black/Grey – Alfa Romeo Owners Club Shop (aroc-uk.com) 23 Stile Italia 939 front lip/splitter 808ARBRE04 ALFA ROMEO BRERA/SPIDER 939 FRONT LIP CARBON FIBRE (alfashop.co.uk) 24 Alfa Romeo espresso cups Alfa Romeo Espresso Cup Set – TMC Motorsport 25 Genuine floormats https://www.alfaaccessories.com/giulietta-tailored-fitted-black-carpet-mats-black-logo-12171  26 Car covers Car Covers for Indoor & Outdoor use | Classic Additions 27 1993 DTM season German Touring Car Championship 1993 Duke Archive DVD : Duke Video 28 1994 BTCC season BTCC 1994 Review Download : Duke Video 29 Alfa Romeo - Designing Dream Cars Watch Alfa Romeo - Designing Dream Cars | Prime Video (amazon.co.uk) 30 October Alfa Romeo Driver with all the pages in the right order Email to follow!   Christmas card Alfa Romeo Christmas Card | Zazzle

In Episode 66 of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast, brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club, Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with Ian Willis - the head of personal lines at the Club’s insurance scheme provider CKI – better know to most of us as Chris Knott Insurance - to talk about the company's relationship with the Club, the role of brokers, what determines your premiums, what to do if you're unhappy with your renewal, why you should declare modifications, how classic car policies work and much, much more.

Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick is joined at the round table by Club Chairman and East Midlands Section Secretary John Griffiths, Alfa Female supremo, GT Registrar and Thames Valley Section Secretary Kirsty Hodson, and management team member and MiTo Registrar David Faithful. They look back at some of the events over the Summer - particularly National Alfa Day - and the events still to come - MITCAR and The Classic Motor Show at the NEC. Kirsty reflects on the launch of Alfa Female and David talks about the relaunch of the AROC parts service, while John and Guy look back at some recent events to commemorate the loss, two years ago, of AROC founder, Chairman, Alfa Romeo Driver Editor - and British Saloon Car Champion - Jon Dooley.

 

And if you'd like to follow the travels of Alfa Female bear Aria, who we talk about in this episode, you can go to https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085231119957 

In this week's episode of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with Peter Smart - owner of the eponymous Peter Smart Classic Alfas to talk car histories, restorations and motorsport preparation.

Episode 63 of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club - is the one delayed by Covid, but we think it was worth the wait!

In this episode, Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick talks to Tom Brooks about his 147 GTA restoration project - featured in the upcoming October issue of Alfa Romeo Driver magazine and in an 8-part YouTube video series (link below) - and about his career as a motorsport commentator and voice over artist for, among other things, Gran Turismo on the PlayStation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9TzZHR1n6g 

Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick sat down with Club Manager Nick Wright, and board members Kirsty Hodson and David Faithful to talk about next weekend’s National Alfa Day and the events for the rest of the year – from Sussex through to Yorkshire.

Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick got the keys to a new Alfa Romeo Tonale - at very short notice. A plan was hatched to produce the magazine's most ambitious test report to date - some of which sort of worked. Eventually. This is not that test report- but it is the story behind the test report.

Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick was at the Goodwood Festival of Speed where he managed to sit down with Alfa Romeo UK's Damien Dally and board members John Timms and Kirsty Hodson to talk about the highlights from this year's event.

In Episode 59 of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast, Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with Leicester-based petrolheads Sat Flora and Haris Ahmad, who set out to buy a cheap car and drive it to and from Amsterdam to raise money for charity. Can you even buy a used car for £500 at the moment? And, if you can, will £250 be enough to prepare it for a 1,000 mile round-trip? The pair will be raising money for Leicester Children's charity Menphys and Dementia UK and donations can be made at their JustGiving page. The QR code here and on the podcast label should take you straight to the donations page. And the build-up to the trip - which will take place between the 20th and the 25th of July - as well as the trip itself will all be on the team's Instagram - @thefourontour2022.

As the 2022 events season kicks off in earnest, Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with Club Chairman and Events Director to look back on a successful Spring Alfa Day and look forward to the events planned for the rest of the year - as well as a couple of exciting initiatives being run in conjunction with Alfa Romeo. Are you part of a three (or more!) generation family of Alfisti? If so, please get in touch with as at editor@aroc-uk.com

In Episode 93 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owner’s Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick was joined by the Club’s longest serving member Ron Smith. No longer based in the UK – and, as we’ll see, he wasn’t when he joined, either - but still an active and enthusiastic member, as he has been for most of the Club's 60 year history.

To celebrate our second anniversary, we thought we'd revisit our fact-based QI-elf-tribute, No Such Thing as a Brera Quadrifoglio - so Editor and Model Registrar Guy Swarbrick, Section Secretary and Model Registrar Kirsty Hodson, Model Registrar and Board Member David Faithful and Section Secretary Jade Pidgley have hit the books and the interwebs to find some - hopefully - quite interesting facts about Alfa Romeo. So whether you're an Alfa nerd or have just been co-opted to produce your Section's quiz this year, hopefully we have some interesting, obscure and amusing facts to keep you entertained.

Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with the boss of Maidenhead Alfa specialist Alfa Aid and SZ Registrar Adrian Jardine to talk about his Alfa history, his business and his passion for Il Mostro. 

In this week's episode, Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick talks to two friends of the podcast - Alfa Romeo Championship Series Coordinator Andy Robinson and Bianco Motosports Supremo Paul Plant - about the forthcoming 2022 season, the new V6 class and gets an update on the development of the forthcoming 1.4 MultiAir MiTo and Giulietta spec.

This week Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with one of the Club’s newest members – but a man with a long Alfa pedigree - Alan Greenhalgh. Alan was fortunate enough to be one of the 500 owners of an Alfa Romeo GTA/GTAm.

On International Women's Day, AROC Board member, GT Registrar and Thames Valley Section Secretary Kirsty Hodson sat down to talk with 156 GTA and 916 Spider and GTV owner Susan Fuller and MiTo owners Jade Pidgely and Sophie King to talk about Alfa Romeos, AROC and the experience of being an Alfa Female.

In Episode 52 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast, brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club. Guy Swarbrick sat down with the Senior Product Manager for Alfa Romeo at Stellantis, Rob Lake to talk about the forthcoming Alfa Romeo Tonale, the marque's first foray into the ultra-competitive C-SUV market. They talk about why Alfa Romeo is building SUVs, what makes an Alfa an Alfa - and how those characteristics can be applied to help Alfa stand out from the crowd. They also talk about Rob's lifelong passion for Italian cars, which includes 30 years of AROC membership and an award-winning Alfasud. You can read more about the Alfasud at AROC Archive (aroc-uk.com)

Episode 51 of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast, brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club is a little different in two respects – first, we’re talking about a car which, strictly speaking, isn’t an Alfa – but was inspired by one of the greatest Alfas of all time and has some Alfa DNA in its history.

Second, the podcast is split into two parts. In Part 1 we talk to Darren Collins of Dowsetts Classic Cars who is responsible for engineering and developing the Tipo 184 – inspired by the legendary Alfa Romeo Tipo 158 Grand Prix Car.

Then, in Part 2, we sit down with TV’s Ant Anstead who built the first two iterations of the car – one of which featured on Discovery’s Ant Anstead, Master mechanic.

Episode 50 of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast – brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club - is a little different. Editor Guy Swarbrick talks to the usual round table team of Club Chairman John Griffiths, Club Manager Nick Wright and board members Kirsty Hodson and David Faithful about almost every post-war road-going Alfa, sort of ranked into a sort of Top 50! Numbers 11 to 50 are based on the weighted votes of the round table team and a selection of Model Registrars and Section Secretaries - and their top 10 was then put to the membership for a final ranking. So it's not the definitive top 50 - it's just 50 Alfas. In some sort of order. Where did your favorite come? What was number one? How could they have got it so wrong?!

At the end of the Episode we mention an upcoming livestream and promise some details, so here they are. Chris Rees from Auto Italia will be on a livestream from the Thames Valley Section monthly meeting on Tuesday, the 2nd of February from 7.45pm.

You can find the livestream (or the recording, if you're reading this after the event) at 

AROC UK YouTube Channel Official Alfa Romeo Owners Club UK Facebook Group

This week Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick talks to Ken Carrington about his 40 years with the Club which have included a spell as Club Chairman, a long career as a photographer, organising the legendary Andiamo a Milano trips to Italy and acting as the Club's liaison with the Alfa Romeo Archive and the DVLA.

In the first Episode of 2022, Editor Guy Swarbrick talks to Ashley Croft - one of the sales team at Chris Knott Insurance - about the why, what, where and how of buying his first Alfa, the benefits of Club membership, and some of the many options for modifying his new Giulietta.

In Episode 92 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick sat down with arguably the Club’s most enthustiastic Model Registrar Nathan Mahoney, to talk about his cars and the work he's doing with the GT Register - and, in particular, the growing collaboration with other Model Registers.

This week Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick talks to Mike Stark. Mike's 3.8 litre Busso-engined 156 GTA was a big hit among AROC members at National Alfa Day and on the Club's stand at the NEC Classic Motor Show. Mike talks about his history in motorsport, the history of the car, his record-breaking runs up Shelsley Walsh - and provides some useful hints and tips for anyone interested in getting involved in this uniquely British form of grass-roots motorsport.

Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick sat down with 105 registrar Stuart Taylor to talk about the register, the cars, the owners, modifications, celebrations and drag coefficients. Among other things!

Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick caught up with Alfa Romeo's GTA and GTAm Brand Ambassador James Browning about his role, the car and the process of building and buying the best sports saloon ever made.

Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with Club Chairman and East Midlands Section Secretary John Griffiths, Club Manager Nick Wright, Board Member, MiTo Registrar David Faithful and newly elected Board Member, Thames Valley Section Secretary and GT Registrar Kirsty Hodson to talk about the recent Section Secretaries and Model Registrars meeting, the Club's General Meeting, the upcoming NEC Classic Motor Show and another chance for a virtual - and physical - visit to Pirelli in Burton.