It’s been just over year since I’ve taken a car to a race track, and we all know how that ended!

BUT……

I bought the Alfa with the idea of doing some more track work in mind. It’s supposed to save my current Saab from the same fate as my last one and be my inexpensive track car that won’t stress me too much if it gets compromised in some way. Of course, if it does get damaged or fall to bits, I’ll be devastated, but that’s another thing all together.

This Sunday there’s a track day being held by the Mini and MG car clubs of Tasmania. It’s going to be at Baskerville Raceway here in Hobart, which is where my last incident occurred. You can bet I’ll be taking the corner into the straight very carefully.

It’s a track day rather than a training day, which means there’ll be stopwatches in action and no limits (aside from those imposed by the need to get home at the end of the day). I’ve got to install a fire extinguisher this weekend and it’ll be my first time driving in a helmet.

The car’s now running as follows:

* Koni red shocks at rear
* K&N Air Filter with cold air intake
* ECU chip from Alfa tuner, Squadra
* 2.25 inch exhaust with hi-flow cat
* Continental rubber

The breathing changes and the Squadra chip have made a fantastic difference to the car. It’s quite a bit more responsive now and sounds like a mad Italian symphony when the revs get up there.

* not my actual car, but close enough

It’s running very nicely right now, and I’m getting a service done this week with the brakes getting looked at and replaced if necessary. I’ll do a cooling system flush on Saturday and all should be right to go on Sunday.

It should be a bucketload of fun. Hopefully there’ll be some video and it won’t be anywhere near as embarassing as the last one

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