Giulia Super musings

[Dana Loomis <dloomis@domain.elided>]

This past weekend, I instructed at a driving school put on by a club
devoted to a certain German marque with a round, blue and white badge.  I
was going to use the opportunity for a test & tune with my racing GTV, but
it poured rain all weekend, so instead I took my daily driver Giulia 1600
Super.  It was the oldest car there (only a couple of 2002s came close) and
had the least horsepower, but it certainly wasn't put to shame on the wet
track.  We were on the original 3.3 mile course at Virginia International
Raceway, where two long straights normally give high horsepower cars the
advantage.  The big cars still ran faster laps, but, in the heavy rain and
poor visibility, the little Giulia was able to run down BMWs and Porsches
with twice the horsepower and a third the age on the parts of the track
where momentum and smoothness rule the day (most dramatically on the tricky
climbing esses, for those who know VIR).  The fundamental goodness of
Alfa's family sedan shown through the adverse condions.  The car has no
evil handling characteristics; it will slide, but in a predictable,
controllable way that entertained the corner workers and kept the  students
amused when they came along for rides.  Every lap included a slide through
the infamous Oak Tree turn--a third-gear right-hander--that ended with the
Giulia's tail moving to the outside and a quick left-right flick of the
wheel to bring it back in line for the following straight.  (Another
instructor who was driving a GTV 6 didn't have it so easy: he hit a puddle
on the front straight and spun his car through 1020 degrees.  Having no
torque whatsoever is an advantage at times.)  I know the Giulia attracted
attention, because a long-time BMW racer commented that "that little 4 door
sedan gets around pretty good, whatever it is."

Monday morning I scrapted the numbers off the windows and drove the Giulia
to work.  The rain was over and, in my corner of the parking lot, there
were a new VW Beetle and a new BMW-built Mini Cooper S.  Real and retro.
One thing that was immediately obvious with the three cars together is that
the retromobiles are much bigger than the originals.  The modern iteration
of the VW is particularly bloated in comparison to both the Alfa and the
original Beetle.  The Mini is just a little longer and taller than the
Giulia, still on the small side for modern cars in the US, but about 30%
longer than its 1960s namesake.   The Mini owner, a stylish woman who I had
never seen before, happened to drive out at the same time I did and gave
the Alfa an approving wave.  The next day she came to my office and told me
my Fiat was "cute."  I didn't mind: at least she got the country right and
appreciated the Giulia's quirky looks.  It's a great car that every Alfista
should experience at least once.

Dana Loomis
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