Racer rebuild: Alfasud Sprint Veloce
Night races are on the menu for Geoff Gordon next season. His Alfa’s dashboard is now in place – but the lights?
Things have moved on apace since last I wrote about the Alfasud’s progress. The car was due to fire up for the first time in mid-December, but first the guys at Raceworks Motorsport had to fit a few vital bits – not least the wiring loom, throttle linkage and dashboard.
That all went as planned and Dave Ashford came over from Brunswick Motorsport to check that everything lined up as it should and make sure there were no leaks. There was a small glitch with the dry-sump pump, but that was swiftly resolved. The team has done a lovely job and the ’Sud is starting to look more and more like a functioning racer.
There are still a few small details that need to be resolved – and at times like this you begin to appreciate the nuances of preparing a racing car that’s almost 40 years old. It’s the ancillary stuff, such as body seals – Mike Purse at Raceworks did finally manage to source some, in Germany, but the lead-time on those is about six weeks.
And then there’s the small matter of the night-time races on Peter Auto’s Heritage Touring Cup calendar in 2018. We obviously need decent headlights, but trying to find some to the correct size and specification – preferably with plastic bodies, to save weight – is not the work of a moment. We have looked at various alternatives, but it’s important to get the details right and we’ll press on until we find what we need. It will be out there, somewhere.
It was a source of great satisfaction that the car fired up on the button, first time, in the workshop. It was then taken to Brunswick’s dyno in Ely, on which I’ll be reporting next month. I reckon a shakedown track test might be feasible before January is out, but we might need a helping hand from the weather.
Next month: Sonic boon – 8000rpm… and counting
Thanks to: Geoff Gordon, Raceworks Motorsport, Brunswick Motorsport