This weekend marked the annual Spettacolo Sportivo Alfa Romeo, an event organised by SCARB (Stichting Club Alfa Romeo Bezitters), translated roughly as the Dutch Alfa Romeo owners club. Despite being hosted in Holland, the event attracted Alfa Romeo enthusiasts from all over Europe including, Belgium, Germany and England.

Enhanced this year by fabulous weather, the event represented a spectacular opportunity for all Alfa Romeo enthusiasts to enjoy their cars. Everything was covered from hand-built post-war rarities such as a highly original 6C 2500 Freccia d'Oro to the latest Alfa 159 which made its Dutch debut. Races and demonstrations kept the circuit alive throughout the weekend, whereas stalls selling parts and books made interesting browsing for all Alfa Romeo enthusiasts.

English tuning firm Autodelta were also present at the event, and displayed their three latest cars: the recently facelifted Autodelta 147 GTA AM Super and the mighty Autodelta 156 GTA AM Super along with their handsome GT Super. Autodelta also presented older models such as their J11 EVO and a supercharged Alfa 146 TI. All cars clearly attracted much attention from the public during the weekend.

On-track programmes included a Driver Style Improvement Course, whereby owners could improve their driving skills on the demanding Zandvoort circuit. Furthermore a skidpan gave owners the opportunity to get to grips with their Alfa Romeo's in extreme conditions.

The weekend included the well-known Alfa Romeo Challenge, with wonderful historic Alfa racing cars such as brutal IMSA Alfa 75's, Bertone GT's and GTA's, Alfa 33's and much more. This year a number of modern cars from the 156 Challenge and 147 Challenge ensured fast lap times and numerous thrilling moments.

Alongside the countless Alfa Romeo's, the weekend also included the German HTGT historic touring car challenge. In the field, a Giulia Sprint and a brace of Giulia GTA's mixed it up with Ford Mustangs, DKW Juniors and a swarm of classic Mini's.

Extreme cars that took to the circuit during the organisers' round included the high-revving single-seater silhouette 156 and a nimble Formula 3000 racing car powered by a 16-valve Alfa 33 engine.
 

Displays in the paddock, along with a ride on the circuit, proved a popular program for the numerous clubs present. Giulietta's, Giulia's, Alfasud's, Montreal's, Junior Zagato's, Spiders, Alfetta's, 75's, 33's and 155's were either sparkling in the magnificent sunshine or being thrashed around the circuit by their passionate owners.

The Concours d'Eleganza was also a great success, and was divided into different classes for Alfa's no longer in production. A Concorso di Corsa e Tuning was held for non-original cars, such as modified Giulia's with Twin Spark engines. The cars in this class were critically inspected for their engineering and beauty.

This year a record gathering of Alfa SZ's also took place. On Sunday 44 Alfa SZ's filled the paddock at Zandvoort, toppling the previous record of 35 examples. Over the entire weekend, no fewer than 48 SZ's and RZ's were present.

All-in all the event was a huge success, with the opportunity to slip and slide around the Zandvoort track certainly making it worthwhile and memorable for all Alfisti who took part.

By James Granger

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