Re: alfa-digest V9 #66

[George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided>]

I wouldn't pay a whole lot of attention to this sort of idle 
speculation were I you, Luca. This one, especially makes little sense. 
The Corvette chassis is a heavy, hydro-formed (and very sophisticated) 
tubular chassis designed for a fiberglass skin and a big OHV V-8. What 
on earth would Alfa do with such a thing? And more importantly, why 
would GM allow their flagship chassis to be used by Alfa Romeo? They 
don't own the marque (yet) and if  Lucca di Montizemolo has his way, 
they never will (he wants Alfa under the Ferrari/Maserati group which 
is not part of the Fiat/GM stock 'deal.'). I've seen so many rumors 
about Alfa's immediate future that I tend to discount them all until I 
see a press release from Fiat.

OTOH, the Modern Corvette might not handle all that well, but it does 
have world-class road-holding. For those who don't know that the terms 
"handling" and "road-holding" are not interchangeable (and from the way 
I see them being bandied about, even in the automotive press, many 
don't), I'll explain. Road-holding is the numbers: Skidpad G's, slalom 
times, lap times, etc. Handling is subjective: Turn-in, steering feel, 
road feel, toss-ability. A car can handle poorly, and have race-winning 
road-holding. A car can actually handle so well that it puts a smile on 
the face of everyone who drives it, yet have abysmal road-holding. A 
1954 Alfa Romeo Ti1900 Touring is a perfect example. The average family 
sedan can easily out perform it in the road-holding category and yet be 
so boring to drive that after one climbs out from behind the steering 
wheel, the experience is instantly forgotten. However if you were ever 
lucky enough to drive a Ti1900, you'd NEVER forget it.

This is my take on the C5 Corvette. It has near state-of-the-art 
road-holding for a consumer car, but its not that much fun to drive. 
The best sports cars manage both (Ferrari 360 Modena). For the open 
road, I'll take handling over road-holding any day (after all the 
purpose of a consumer sports car is to ENTERTAIN the driver, not win 
races) and both if I can get (read that afford) them.

George Graves
'86 GTV-6



On Monday, November 25, 2002, at 09:11  AM, alfa-digest wrote:


> Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 09:58:09 +0100
> From: Luca <nodoubt@domain.elided>
> Subject: Alfa's future
>
> I read in a magazine lotsa things about alfa.
> The upcoming Sprint, the new GTV & spider that will be
> out by 2005 and be sold in USA too.... up to a scary
> thing:  There will be a sport car, called SPORTIVITA' EVOLUTA,
> with a 3.5 liter engine... based upon the Chevy CORVETTE frame.
> This scary idea comes out the business agreement with GM.
> Now we all know that Alfa was known to be one of the best
> handling cars. We already lost this with newer 156 GTA and 147 GTA
> (they are powerful, but handling 250hp FWD is hard and in racetrack
> the diesel 3.0 by BMW beats our beloved GTA 3.2V6, and beats it
> hard!).  We already lost the famous handling... but what's up
> when the next sporty alfa will be based upon the sport car
> with worst handling in the world?????????
>
> You better keep your 75 and Alfettas top shape, even those ruty
> ones spread over your backyard. They will be all we can enjoy
> in the future, unless we can buy a brand new M3.
>
> Luca
>
> nodoubt,
> "With dreams to be a king first one should be a man" Joey DeMaio
> 937, 75 Turbo, RM250
>
>
> http://nvr2fst.supereva.it
George Graves
'86 GTV-6
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