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The Alfa
Klub Croatia kicks off its busy annual programme in
the early spring when it organises its big first meeting
of the year; and this year was the eighteenth such
official meeting and the location was Zagreb.
The official
program was spread out over two days, but the first
Alfisti started to gather already on Friday and the warm
up to the central part of meeting got underway. Saturday
evening was to see a sumptuous dinner which was excellent an
introduction to the main part of the gathering of Alfa Romeo
owners' and their cars on Sunday. At dinner there were a
huge number of Alfisti and after the excellent food
and a couple of drinks the air started to boil and the most
enthusiastic members continued partying until dawn in a
nearby club. After a night's clubbing like this it wasn’t so
easy to continue on Sunday morning for a few people but
Alfisti are special kind of people and early on Sunday
morning everyone was in action again.
A smaller group
of owners gathered early in the morning at "Zagreb Velesajam",
the central point of of the meeting, to prepare to welcome a
large number of Alfa Romeo cars and their occupants. All the
other Alfisti met up in front of the Arena Zagreb
where before 10.00. a.m. and soon the numbers were swelled
as cars started to arrive from all parts of Croatia and
bordering Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. More than a
hundred Alfa Romeos were soon shining under the pleasant
spring sunshine and it was beautiful scene that it's not
common to see. Everyone got red t-shirts for the memory and
the big red crowd started to drive towards central meeting
point on Zagreb Velesajam. More than one hundred Alfa Romeos
drove through centre of the capital city with a police
escort and soon many surprised onlookers were waiving and
taking pictures of this unusual scene.
Around 13.00
hours everyone came together at the central meeting point
and with the number of Alfa Romeos above the one hundred and
thirty mark it made for a very special scene and the day to
remember for everyone. All the owners were excited by the
wonderful city tour and the excellent police escort and at
the beginning of the main meeting they exchange impressions
about meeting so far, supping soft drinks and mingling in
Alfisti 'corner'.
After a short
interval the 'skill drive' got underway and 30 owners tried
out their driving skills. This was a very attractive part of
the meeting and the audience was thrilled to watch the
drivers showing what they could do. To win it was more
important to be precise and be a very good driver rather
than relying on their engine power. The five most
competitive drivers entered the finals and the eventual
winner was Marin Rimbaldo from Krk driving Alfa 147 JTD. The
runner-up slot was occupied by Goran Jasenko from Zagreb in
an Alfa 156 1.9 JTD TI while third place went to Tomislav
Markalaus from Kutina in an Alfa 146 1.7 16v Boxer who
excited the audience not only with his impressive driving
skills but also by excellent sound of his exhaust.
After the skill
drive there was a raffle with many prizes donated by the
sponsors while at the end there was a presentation of motor
additives. There was also mobile car technical check-up
operated by HAK Siget and all the Alfisti present could get
50 percent discount on HAK membership and as well as having
the main parts of their cars checked out. Many sponsors
helped out so that the meeting could take place, such as "Autocommerce
Croatia" the key Alfa Romeo dealership, and "Karic Cars" who
provided an Alfa Romeo 147 GTA for the tests which was
driven by Matija Lovrec a famous Alfisti, TV
presenter and car magazine contributor. His efforts at the
wheel of the Alfa 147 GTA in skill drive drew attention and
the whole meeting was taped by Croatian television's "KS
Auto Magazine Team" and the whole broadcast was shown on
HTV2.
It was a weekend
to remember and many thanks must go to all our sponsors, the
police, the HTV film crew, and all the Alfisti and
visitors and the Croatian Alfa Club hopes to see
everyone next time and in even greater numbers. Our next
meeting on this year's calendar is scheduled to be held at
the Grobnik race track in June. For information on the
Alfa Klub Croatia please visit
www.alfisti.hr
by Neven Đurović
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