16.06.2004 The Nurburgring 24 Hours is one of the toughest challenges in the racing world, and at the weekend, Alfa Romeo's powerful AND reliable JTD engines passed that sternest of examinations |
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The Nurburgring 24 Hours, held each year over the legendary but treacherous 24.358km-lap track, is the self-styled 'world's toughest race'. It is a tag that the endurance marathon certainly lives up to, with 73-corners, ultra-fast straights, wildly twisting steep downhill descents, and the famous 'Carousel' banked curve, along with the rain which is never being far away. At the weekend, this sternest test of machine, both of endurance and raw speed, was an examination that Alfa Romeo passed with flying colours as three current models, the 147, 156 and GTV, all took the challenge and made it safely to the flag. The German Alfa Romeo Division Sportiva, emphasising the importance of diesel power to the marque, lined up last year's 'Alternative Fuels' class winning 147 JTD, now with 2.4-litres available, alongside the stunning new GT Coupe, which was making its race debut in this cauldron of contests. After twenty four hours of gruelling racing, the JTD-powered 147 did it again, sweeping aside strong factory-backed opposition from BMW and VW to claim the 'Alternative Fuels' class after completing 122 laps in 24:07:32.362. Not only did the crew, Stefan Neuberger, Raimund Baumschlager and Herbert Schurg, finish three laps ahead of the chasing VW Bora R-TDI, they claimed a truly amazing 24th place overall, sandwiched between a Zakspeed V8 STAR Jaguar and a Porsche GT3-RS. They posted their fastest lap of 9:41.692 in the wet on lap seven. The brand new GT Coupe, also in JTD guise, acquitted itself well, comfortably in second place and constantly chasing the winning car, never more than a minute adrift, until just after half distance when it retired. The GT, which looks to have a promising track career in the offing, covered 65 laps in a total time of 13:27:51.543, its fastest lap, a 10:37.104, coming in the rain on the fourth tour. More Alfa Romeo diesel speed and reliability came from the Classic Driver-entered 147 1.9 JTD Cup, driven by Fred Feuerstein, Barney Gerollheimer, Mr Slate and Peter Heckman, which placed 74th overall and 5th in class after completing 112 laps, Finally making it four JTD powered cars at the chequered flag from four starters, Dietrich Hueck, Dale Dare, Werner Habermehl, Franz Schutte piloted the Altenburger Destillerie & Liquerfabrik-entered 147 to 122nd overall and 9th in class after notching up 101 laps. Regular German racing outfit, Engstler Motorsport, brought their GTV home 135th overall and 7th in class, after completing 96 laps in 24:01:23.430. The Alfa 156 saloon was represented by Brunswick Motorsport, the English team, comprising of Giles Groombridge, David Smith Dave Ashford and Steven Griffin, travelled to Germany in order to tackle the famous event. They finished 143rd overall, 25th in Class A3 for cars of 1600-2000cc, having completed 92 laps in 24:03:38.454.
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