2016 has been the most exciting year ever in my car life. I finally got around to do some actual motor racing and I drove up and down the Alps and criss-crossed the spectacular island of Sicily. But it has also been ridiculously expensive. This craziness has to stop!
As you might know, I like honesty. I just show it as it is, and in my videos I don't mind showing how difficult I find it, to get things right. So, here's to honesty: Let me show some numbers. I write down all expenses in a spreadsheet during the year, and I have done so since I purchased the Giulietta in february 2013. Back then the value of the car consisted of the 15.800€ I paid for it. I have bought components for 17.100€ over the the 4 seasons an now, I have 53.400€ invested in the car. During 2016 I spent 9.200€ on improvements on the car, and luckily the prices for Giulietta Sprints out there are going up. But the car is getting awfully valuable; I don't owe any money - but it sure would be a shame to see it burn behind the armco of some boring danish race track.
Running the Ultimostile Experience has cost me a total of 11.500€ this year, and that is just crazy! I spent more or less the same amount on racing as last year, 2.400€, but this time I actually went to three races, whereas in 2015 it was all spent on license and race gear. I had a wonderful outing at Padborg Park for the long-distance night race with the Sixtyfivers, and I raced at the Munkebjerg Hillclimb and in the season-closer at Ring Knutstorp in the south of Sweden. In the two latter events I even got on the podium (for what it is worth).
Part of the Ultimostile Experience is my internet activity. I am a sucker for the attention, and I actually love when people get what I am doing. It all cost me 265€, but I got a 190€ refund from advertisements on my Youtube videos. So 75€ for all that? That's okay, I think.
I am paying 490€ for Tax and Insurance and Club Memberships cost me 100€. This leaves 8.400€ spent on the three journeys I went on in the Giulietta during 2016. Okay they were epic! I will never forget the early spring drives in the Alpine Dolomites and the fantastic places we stayed - and the wonderful company. And obviously I enjoyed the Sicilian trip in late autumn - with my wife, even! And in summer I went to a full-day track event at Spa Francorchamps, where I sadly had to leave the car behind at the Nürburgring. But that was also an epic experience. In early spring I went to the Bremen Auto Klassik and in late summer I visited the Auto e Moto d'Epoca in Padova, Italy. Tremendous fun with charming people and good friends; gentlemen trips.
Anyway: This has gotten out of hand. Right now the car is sitting, gutted, in Steffen Madsen's workshop. He is refurbishing the worn (abused?) three-shoe drum brakes and he is building a race engine. This will probably add another 8.000€ to my expenses. Terrible!
But the car will be so delicious and I can hardly wait to take part in the final tuning. It is so much fun to be part of the restauration/rebuild, where Steffen and I spent several minutes on the phone every day. I love that.
The question is: "Do I even dare take this precious little car on the track in 2017?" I am not exactly poor, but I don't have the kind of money it takes to run such a circus. Maybe the Ultimostile Experience has eclipsed, and the rest will only be legends and anecdotes?!
Last year the Munkebjerg Hillclimb coincided with the Old Timer Grand Prix organized by the German Automobile Club (AvD) at the Nürburgring, and I chose to attend the latter in stead of competing in the former. This year I had promised everybody that I wouldn't return to Nürburg during the OGP weekend without racing in one of the actual races.
So I decided to go to Munkebjerg - and Donna U joined me for a wonderful weekend.
Wherever I go, I seem to run into wonderful people also; the Munkebjerg charisma.
Donna U did the filming (see above) and the local news caught the Giulietta SV in action.
I was satisfied by the little red bug both in the dry and in the wet.
This blog is about dreams; my dreams. Some of them come through and many of them just remain speculations. I'm not afraid of setting high goals - and although some of them are ridiculous, you have to admit that when the season is over I have actually been around. My new objectives in racing are obviously totally unfounded and bordering on raven lunatic, and I may very well be at laugh before this season is over. Anyway; this is the long-list of things I would like to do - if I could afford it:
2014 has been a very exciting year for the "Scuderia Ultimostile - Berlinetta Alfa Romeo"; I have dedicated most of the year to just enjoying my cars, the experiences they gave and the company of the many friends I have gained by just belonging to this wonderful community.
Waiting in the pit-lane for a rough round of Spa-Francorchamps.
Valve-job on the 2-litre Bertone engine; and then i sold it!
Summer evenings with the other car-nuts.
A whole year of crazy trials in the garage.
Catching it all on video for the Youtube channel.
I have compiled more than 8 hours of video on youtube, my subscribers have exceeded 1,200 and at new-year's the daily viewing rate was at a steady 1,100. All helping me to round the 1,000,000 views corner earlier this year. Not bad for such a narrow field of interest - fantasticly important as it may be for alfisti!
How my daily view rate has risen since the first video in 2008.
Since I posted Mille Miglia videos in 2012 the two last years (2013 and 2014) have had a significant hump of interest during the month of May - followed by a steady growth, catching up over summer and autumn.
In 2013 that took me from 450 to 750 views; and this year it took me from 750 to 1,100 daily view. Let's see what next year will bring. I will try to improve both video quality - and quality of the experience!
Analytics graph from youtube; accumulated views almost at the million.
The 2014 season is drawing to an end, and I have had a fantastic experience this year, despite not having a ready race car yet. The Giulietta SV got a big overhaul during winter and early spring, because I had the foresight to drive to Skallebølle Automester already last autumn. The brakes were changed over to three-shoe drums and the transmission also got readied for HTP. I started a collaboration with ViaRETRO in Denmark, where they allowed me to publish my videos on their website - if I would help them generate some traffic on their international site viaretro.de - and it was all very interesting and gave me some new contacts.
Joining ViaRETRO at the Copenhagen Historic Grand Prix.
I had a splendid trip to the Nürburgring and Spa Francorchamps. And that whole journey, via Goslar in convoy with two other Alfa Romeos, gave birth to almost two hours of video for my youtube channel. Since new years' I have gained 1-2 subscribers for the Ultimostile youtube channel every day - I am almost at a thousand now - and the daily rate of views has touched 1000 showings per day. I am very satisfied.
Trying to deliver a personal message - without getting private.
Relaxing among fuzz and friends at the Nürburgring.
Because the Giulietta SV hasn't earned an HTP yet, I haven't been at any race outings; other than the Munkebjerg Hillclimb, where I repeated last years succes by taking P2 in my class. But I am patient; I have heard that these things always take longer than anticipated anyway?!
Star-struck at Munkebjerg.
Now I have decided to sell the Bertone. I need the money to pursue my ambitions with the Giulietta SV, and although I really love the blue bastard, it will probably be enough with just one Berlinetta Alfa Romeo; namely the red noise-pot.
It seems Hill-climbing is the only competition sport I am allowed to take part in. Here, scrutineers don't interpret the rules as literally as the FIA track-guys do. As long as the car is safe and complies with their age- and modification groups, I am granted participation. And on top of that; it's big fun.
Posing Il Duce style with my new trophy.
Last year was my first Hillclimb in the Giulietta Spint; I tried it 10 years ago in the Bertone GT, but now it has a whole other purpose: I want to get used to the 'competition fever'. And any chance that presents itself, I take it. Last year I scored 2nd place in the 1956-1965 class and was quite surprised at that, because I had major gear-change problems. My clutch operation was very irregular and the gearbox synchronizers were all messed up.
Scrutineering in the rain; Severin Skallerup off to test drive.
As shown in my last post, I stopped over at Skallebølle Automester to have Steffen Madsen fix my exhaust. It had cracked right on the the inlet to silencer number two (I think because of running over some very high bumps at the Copenhagen Historic Grand Prix?). I removed it alltogether and had it inside the car on my early morning drive to the island of Funen, where I would later meet with the missus and her youngest son; for the first time they would come to a classic race event - and Munkebjerg Hillclimb is not a bad place to start.
Waiting for the off down by the water-front; Jens Byskov in the Sebring MGB.
The car sailed through scrutineering, because this time I had remembered a first-aid kit and my fire-extinguisher was all new. Those were the only things that 'failed' last year ... They loved the car and the idea that I would go track racing as soon as I got a 1.3 engine. As they said: " We don't see many of these old Alfas". The car likes the attention - and so do I.
Arne Bruus Jakobsen won our class (1m10s).
Hans Geschwendtner came third in our class (1m19s)
I met Jens Byskov last year; he has kitted his MGB Sebring style.
Severin Skallerup now has a 1.6 engine in the dark blue Bertone GT.
Ole Wichman in the green MGB GT.
After an early driver's briefing the first 10 cars lined up and was taken down to the starting line by a pace-car. I was quite nervous, but knew from last year that the track has a couple of tough corners, and from my recent Nurby-Spa trip I knew that the car ran well. But anyway - it is rather frightening to sit there before the first run. The timing apparatus failed for the first 20 cars, but it was only practice and I can see from my video footage that I did a 1m17s first run. That was about the same as I could manage last year, but I used 3rd gear both in the second hairpin and in the 90-degrees righthander just before the hill goes even steeper. Both choices meant that I lost time because of too low power.
Explainig how it should be done.
On my second practice run I stayed in 2nd gear through the two hairpins - left, then right. This, combined with a more aggressive drive gave a 1m14s time. And then I was ready! The family arrived and it was a whole new experience to have dedicated fans; it certainly helped that Mrs. U was there for moral support ... and she could also do some filming and photography. Very convenient!
Stairs from the paddock to the hairpin bend.
It's been some years since I went as a spectator, but I do remember the loooong staircase that takes you from the big terrasse behind the hotel and down to the hairpin bend. Now the family learned that you have to appreciate the descent - because it's hell to walk up again; they tried it two times. We had three timed runs, and I improved my time by shifting down to 2nd gear before the 90-degrees right-hander; 1m13 in first attempt, 1m13s in second attempt and 1m13.5s in third run. And that earned me a second place - just as last year. And I was quick after leaving the car in the paddock; I walked down through the forrest to see the remaing cars attack the hill.
Got some time as a spectator also - good move.
Driving home - satisfied after another splendid outing.
I was checking photos from last year's Munkebjerg Hillclimb, and stumbled on a shot of my own car that I had missed. You can see it here below and it shows the late turn-in at the first corner down by the waterfront. Last year I struggled with a bad gearbox and a terrible clutch - two items you really need in a hillclimb. They have both been repaired now, and I can't wait!
Down by the waterfront.
Busy staircase, steep hill, one kilometer trial.
I invite you all to come and watch the hillclimb; it's a lovely venue in the rich woods on the steep banks of Vejle Fjord, and if the weather is good it is exceptionally nice to enjoy the fantastic views of the firth, the paddock and the racing.
View from the Munkebjerg Hotel terrasse.
Entrance is free of charge, and there will be plenty of good food and beverage available in the bars and grill on the lawn in front of the paddock. Munkebjerg Hotel is owned by a guy who loves old motorcars, and his brother will take part in a Healey 3000 roadster (let's see if I can beat him this year also?). The hotel sponsors the event and it has been doing so for many-many years. It is in fact one of the most beatiful classic car meetings in the calendar - in my mind only Gavnø Classic is better, by a tiny bit, and being something entrirely different. This is a competition.
The weather forecast.
Hairpin just visible on left and finish line on top, behind gravel paddock.
The paddock wraps itself around the hotel, and I expect the oldest cars - mine included- will be on the backside of the tennis courts. Until today there's 93 cars on the starting list. I will go for scrutineering saturday and we will have two practice runs on sunday morning - and three timed runs after noon.
Today I am introducing something I call "The Ultimostile Experience". I suppose most of you readers are Alfa Romeo drivers yourself; or fans of the 104-years old marque. And I know that my blogging mostly centers around Alfa Romeo. But the Ultimostile Experience is for all marques; and it is exactly that: An experience. The idea is to invite you all to take part in what I do. What I am experiencing! It is for all kinds of classic sports cars - owned and used by all kinds of owners, who want to experience cool stuff.
It doesn't all have to be red!
There are already many ways to go out and meet people with your classic car; and I am not trying to compete with Car Clubs, or Concourse Venues or anything like that. I have just taken the testaments seriously - the testament I get from you - the readers, when you write me or come up to me in the paddock down in Nürburg or at a car meeting in Copenhagen. Why shouldn't we all be able to gather for classic trackdays, scenic sports car trips or stylish relaxation in classic settings.
Most important that all feel part of the experience.
Whenever I go to the Nürburgring with my Giulia GTV or Giulietta SV I am always one of a very few classic cars. Maybe there is another Alfa Romeo Giulia or a BMW 2002 or an Opel Kadett - and we always attract attention. That's because people love our old cars. But we have to struggle to keep up with traffic and our old sports cars are dwarfed by even the smallest modern Lotus or BMW. Now, think about it: If a larger contingency of classic sports cars arrive on an Ultimostile Experience, people would first of all LOVE it; but they would also leave us space in the parking areas and they would give us space out on the track. What a spectacle that would be! A true Ultimostile experience!
Best vantage point for an Ultimostile experience?
I know all the places at the Nürburgring; I know a lot of interesting people; I can take you all on guided walks for the best vantage points around the Green Hell. I can arrange instruction; we could even have a video instruction evening at our prefered Gasthaus.
Prost. How about that?
TESTAMENT 01: (Adam Othmann) I'm very appreciative of these videos. Not only are you passionate but you document your passion for us other petrol heads out there... good work and please keep it coming.
TESTAMENT 02: (TheCardPlayer) HAHAHAHAHAAHAA WHAT A DUMBFUCK ALFA DRIVER. YOU CRASHED ALONE YOU STUPID DUMBFUCK, GO DIE PLZ