9th September 2003

"Dear Enrico,

Last Sunday, for the third year running the Alfieri Maserati Club 1914 and the Biturbo Club Italia attended a track meeting at the Autodromo Lombardore near Turin. The Autodromo Lombardore is a small track, around 1.1 km in length, where one only uses second and third gears. However, our enjoyment is guaranteed! Unfortunately, this year it lacked a little support with only 13 teams competing; five teams pulling out during the previous week.

Next year we are trying to book a bigger faster circuit like Barberino, owned by FIAT. After all taking drivers who have never driven at high speed on a race circuit before is DANGEROUS! Last year they placed cones to mark out the braking points, this year they did the same, every year they make improvements!

Naturally, we must also keep an eye on our costs. For example, to hire the exclusive use of the Muggello circuit for 5 hours on a Sunday morning they wanted €35,000 (around £25,000)!

For this year's rally, our Maseratis had exclusive use of the Lombardorecircuit for four hours. Initially we had a twenty minute free session to allow all drivers to familiarise themselves with the track and to put 'some heat into the tyres'. Then on a free track, each driver, in turn, did four quick laps during which time they had to put in their fastest lap, starting with the 18-valve class, then the 24-valve and finally the 8-cyl cars. Then after the timed session, the track was made available to each class in turn for another ten laps, (bearing in mind that after 10 laps the brake fluid in the Biturbos was overheating) theiturbo dopo 10 giri avevano l'olio dei freni surriscaldato), leaving at 10 second intervals. After that the track was free to any driver, regardless of class, wishing to continue enjoying themselves! After a fine lunch, prizes were later awarded to the driver posting the fastest lap time in each of the three classes.

Only 3 cars participated in the 18-valve class, of which one was carburatted. In the 24-valve class there were 7 cars and in the 8-cylinder class there were two 4200GTs and a 3200GT. With my 18-valve Biturbo Si, I managed a time of 51.30 secs, faster than the 24-valve cars bettered only by the 8 cylinder cars.

If you want to join us next year you would be most welcome, after all you have already met some of the other participants namely Antonio Scarpetta and Claudio Ivaldi.

Here are some photos of the event. Regards,

Rossano."