Alfa Romeo enthusiasts
in Thailand got together over the weekend for a first
track day organised by the recently-formed club, Alfa
Romeo Thailand, with a good mix of historic-to-modern
road-and-racing cars taking part. The event, which was
spearheaded by BK Auto Tech, was held at the new Kaeng
Krachan Circuit which is located 200 kms south of the
capital, Bangkok.
The rainy season has just ended here and the weather has
become slightly cooler in recent days meaning that the
climate was pleasant for the day of track actions while
ambient temperatures, although nudging up, were almost
ideal. Most owners made the trip to Kaeng
Krachan Circuit (KKC) from either Bangkok or Pattaya,
the new circuit being tucked away in a rural hilly area
just past the city of Petchaburi, about 20 km up into
the lush green hills away from the main highway south.
The KCC complex is
unusual and interesting, and still has that "brand new"
feel to it; it is in fact little over a year old. The
track is shoehorned into quite a narrow rectangular
section of land, a long oval outer of asphalt that
sweeps tightly in on itself to make full use of all the
available land, winding in a series of sharp curves and
several short straight sections. It's situated in a
small "valley" that rises equally to either end of the
track. From the start-finish line the circuit
immediately drops sharply down (including a steep
descent for pit-out) before ascending through a
left-hand kink and powering back up hill into fast
right- and then left-hand kinks and then doubling back
down on itself through a constant radius curve and then
sweeping round as it hugs the perimeter. That brings it
back up to the second straight, parallel to the
start-line, via a series of fast flicks climbing to a
tight 180-degree hairpin which leads to pit-in and
doubles the track back onto the quite-wide start-finish
line. The pit lane is a generous width but there are no
garages yet, just a full pit road length of covered bays
while there is one structure with offices, toilets,
viewing platform and control tower. The full-length
track is 2.9 km, while there is the option of a
medium-length track, which is 2.39 km long, and a short
track that comes in at dead on 1 km. The whole scene is
quite picturesque: the haphazardly scattered surrounding
hills are tightly covered in dense green 'jungle'
vegetation, there is plenty of lush undergrowth around
the track and the exposed ground is a light dusty-dry
brown while a trio of tall palm trees stand to attention
in the bowl of the track. As well as becoming a rapid
fixture on the track day calendar, KKC this year also
hosted two rounds of the Pro Racing Series.
Last weekend saw the gaggle of
thoroughbred Alfa Romeos
sharing track time with a group of Subaru Impreza owners as well as a smattering of other
high-performance machines including a brace of Lotus', one matte-black finished
machine driven by famous Thai artist "Kwang", as well as more
Italian metal in the shape of a duo from Maserati: a black Ghibli and a maroon
second-generation Coupé.
Numerically the Alfa 156 made up most of the numbers of the sporty Italian cars
lined up in the sun-shielded pitlane bays. For a couple of years from 2002
onwards the 156 was assembled locally from CKD kits by the Fiat Group's then
partner and minority shareholder, General Motors, at its factory in Rayong. The
D-segment sedan arrived in first series 2.0 TwinSpark Selespeed format and these
cars can be sporadically seen on the streets of Bangkok and other cities. It
means that this dynamic sporty sedan is a great choice for track day use and
many of the examples in action at Kaeng Krachan sported an array performance and
aerodynamic modifications.
Complementing the slippery Giugiaro-penned lines of the numerically-dominant 156s
and further down the century-long Alfa Romeo
timeline were two of the
brand's most noted models, both of which are accomplished and distinctive
racers on the Thai historic scene. Leading the line was the pretty Giulia Super
1300 TI of Tenn Xoomsai Na Ayudhya which
now boasts a later incarnation of the classic Alfa Romeo
'Twin Cam' in the shape of a 2.0 litre TwinSpark which
gleams in an already pristine engine bay. This car,
which deliciously features a period "Martini Racing
Brabham" decal on the onboard fire extinguisher, is
quite capable of holding it's own on the Thai historic
racing scene against plenty of tough opposition and at
the KKC track day it was placed in the runs for more
powerful cars taking to the circuit in the company of
representation from the likes of Maserati, Porsche and
Lotus.
This
particular Giulia Super has
recently undergone some upgrades as well as obtaining a
'quadrifoglio verde' coloured front end. "The car has
made a huge improvement from last time it was raced as
we have reworked the front and suspension," says Tenn
after turning in many smooth, consistent laps. "We have
spot welded the engine bay and set up the rear to be
stiffer. The car now handles much better and is more
predictable at the limit." The final item on Tenn's list
is to fit a race LSD.
"This season," he says, "I have not raced much as I have
had too much work. Historic racing in Thailand still
have a long way to go as cars such as the BMW E30 are
classified as historic....so they really need to open up
an older class to lure in the older cars. The scene is
good though, the races are great and it's lots of fun.
KKC is a fun and technical track and since we set up the
Giulia suspension better, I have a lot more confidence
here than before," he adds.
Another familiar machine on the local historic racing
calendar is a potent-looking GTAm replica finished in
"racing red" and bearing obligatory serpent decals to
complement bulging pop-rivet applied wheel arch
sections, meaning it looks - and sounds - the
part. Owner "Fy"
Tangjaitong painstakingly built the racer out of a 1971
GT1300 Junior; it is now fitted with a 2.0-litre engine
and many of the mechanical components, including the
suspension, have been imported and upgraded.
The third historic
runner on track, also immaculately finished, is the
sleek white 2000 Berlina of Longlom Bunnag which turns
in neat and tidy laps all day. Two more 105 series
coupés turned up in the paddock: Ong Chong Soo, a avid
collector of a string of Alfa Romeos, drove down from
Pattaya in a 1750 GTV along with Japanese enthusiast
Mamaru whose 2000 GTV is all set for a body restoration.
Apart from the engine issues for the GTAm the day goes
very well, the weather is pleasant and crashes are
avoided. Alfa Romeo is very much a niche brand in
Thailand but the sporty Italian cars have a very loyal
following here and the cars are maintained to the
highest standards by caring owners. Half way across the
world from Alfa Romeo's home, Italy, and on centenary
year, the flame and passion in Thailand burns strongly.
The event at KKC was a welcome opportunity for owners to
get together in a relaxed environment and use their cars
where they were bred to run: on the racetrack.
by
Edd Ellison
