1986 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce Convertible 2-door 2.0l on 2040-cars

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Alfa Romeo Stelvio, Giulia Quadrifoglio NRING editions celebrate lap records

Alfa Romeo will bring no less than six star cars to its Geneva Motor Show booth. Since records are not only meant to be broken, but celebrated, the Giulia Quadrifoglio NRING and Stelvio Quadrifoglio NRING limited editions were created to address the latter task. In September 2016, the Giulia Quadrifoglio broke the Nurburgring lap record for standard production four-door sedans with a time of 7:32 — a feat since bettered by the Jaguar XE SV Project 8. Last September, the Stelvio Quadrifoglio set a lap record of 7:32, displacing the Range Rover Sport SVR from the top of the timesheets. The two NRING specials come drenched in exclusive Circuito Grey paint, accented with carbon mirror caps and a CF front badge, on top of carbon ceramic brakes. The cabin's so dark you'll need to let your eyes adjust before picking out the Sparco racing seats with carbon shells, carbon accents on the steering wheel and shift knob, and the red stitching. Both sedan and SUV come optioned with Alfa Connect with 3D Nav infotainment, Harman Kardon premium audio, active cruise control, and tinted windows. The Giulia gets a naked carbon roof. The Italian carmaker's only making 108 of each NRING model, in honor of how long the company's been in business. Throughout that time, Alfa Romeo has stamped its mark on The Green Hell, such as when Tazio Nuvolari won the 1932 German Grand Prix in an 8C 2300 Tipo Monza ahead of his German competition, or in 1966 when a Giulia Sprint GTA was the first GT road car to make it round the 'Ring in under 10 minutes. These Geneva-bound special editions will be reserved "for collectors and the most loyal Alfa Romeo customers." A numbered badge in a carbon fiber dashboard insert will identify the owner's place in line. Two more special editions, also held to 108 examples, come in the guises of a 4C Competizione and a 4C Spider Italia. The 4C Competizione comes in matte Vesuvio Grey with a carbon roof, plus extra carbon splashed around on the headlight molding, mirror caps, side air vents, and rear spoiler. Microfiber covers the steering wheel and seats, red stitching makes it pop, dark-finish wheels provide the stance. The 4C Spider Italia wears Misano Blue paint adorned with the Italian Tricolore, yellow brake calipers, yellow stitching in the cabin to match. If that isn't loud enough, the premium Alpine audio with subwoofer can get you turned up further.

These 'blind' automotive world record stunts have to stop

Drivers setting world records "blind" – wearing a blindfold or with something obscuring the windshield – is the new thing for some reason. First it was an Alfa Romeo Giulia setting a blind lap at Silverstone with help from a spotter trailing behind, and now this: a stunt man doing a J-turn within a narrow path with nothing but a Nissan Juke's cameras guiding him. He matched the "sighted" J-turn record, flipping the car around in a space about 7 inches longer than the car. I have two issues with these stunts. First, there are just too many world records. Yeah, I said it. Are these meaningful? Is someone else likely to ever attempt this feat? No, because it's just marketing, both for the manufacturer and whoever's still trying to sell those annual books. Stuff like the fastest production car is fine with me. Heck, I'll even take unofficial Nurburgring times – the kind where the drivers can actually see. Second, I'm all for stunts, but do something cool! And preferably something that could only be performed with that particular car, if you're going to make an ad out of it. Yes, the Juke has an Around View Monitor system, which stitches together feeds from four cameras to make it look like the car is being filmed by a drone hovering overhead. I happen to love 360-degree cameras – they let you see things that are just not visible from the driver's seat and make parking and low-speed maneuvering really easy. But the Juke isn't the first car to offer one, and the feature isn't even new to the car. Nissan was at least forthright enough to admit that this professional driver (on a closed course!) had a bunch of practice. But this really says more about his precision driving skills than about the car, or the camera. And just so we're clear, you really shouldn't try to park a car without looking out the windows, even if you have fancy cameras. So what's next? Pretty soon there will be a record for blindest blind stunt. Let me know when someone actually does something interesting. Related Video:

Alfaholics built an Alfa Romeo 105 Series entirely out of carbon fiber

Alfaholics has restored numerous 105 Series cars before. And Alfaholics has used carbon fiber parts before. But this is the first time Alfaholics has built a 105 Series with a body made entirely out of carbon fiber. The United Kingdom-based builder and parts supplier debuted the carbon shell this month and will make it available as an option for future projects. It's called the GTA-R 300. Alfaholics is a all-encompassing Alfa Romeo 105 Series (also known as the Giulia) parts supplier, customization shop and restoration specialist run by Alfa enthusiasts Richard, Max and Andrew Banks. The company has become known for its GTA-R builds, which are part of its R-Type program that Alfaholics says is "reserved for our most exclusive restorations which represent the ultimate evolution of the Alfa Romeo 105 Series." Human hands spend more than 3,000 hours building GTA-R coupes (or Ti-R sedans or Spider-R convertibles), and everything can be customized to the client's demands.  Customers are presented with a massive book of options, including choices of engines, gear ratios, suspension packages, damper valving, power steering, seat styles, upholstery, interior lighting, roll cages, dashboard styles, car audio and infotainment, and much more. Up until this point, clients did have the option for carbon fiber parts, but the choices were limited to the hood, the doors, and the rear deck lid. Now buyers can opt for a full carbon fiber kit. The GTA-R 300 gets its name due to its power-to-weight ratio. It's about 84 pounds lighter than the previously range-topping GTA-R 290 and about 154 pounds lighter than a GTA-R constructed entirely out of steel. All said, Alfaholics says the GTA-R 300 has a power-to-weight number of 300 bhp per ton, but it did not provide a specific weight number for the car, as it is not yet completed. Alfaholics does say this build will also include many other lightweight parts such as the Alfaholics GTA-R Ultraleggera billet titanium suspension package. For more information on other current and completed builds, visit Alfaholics.           View this post on Instagram                   Alfaholics GTA-R 300 Carbon Full carbonfibre body conversion, 70kg weight saving over a steel GTA-R.