Episode 99 - Becoming a Racing Driver

In Episode 103 of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast, brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club, Editor Guy Swarbrick sat down with professional racing driver – and instructor – Steve Deeks to talk about his passion for Alfa Romeo. They talked for so long, we’ve turned it into two epsiodes - in Part 1 they talked Steve’s early racing career and his links to Alfa Romeo – and how that developed into the passion he has for the marque. Part 2 will cover his exploits in the Alfa Workshop 4C and the work he’s done with Jamie Porter to help develop the car and will be released in the New Year.

In this special bonus episode of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with Club Chairman John Griffiths and Club Manager Nick Wright - and a live audience - in the Podcast Lounge at the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show at the NEC to talk about the show, the Club, the year's events and the Club's Guardian microsite scheme.  If you'd like to see the team live in action - and we have no idea why you would - there's a webcam video version on the Club's YouTube Channel.

In Episode 101 of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club - sits down with Club Chairman John Griffiths and Club Manager Guy Swarbrick to look ahead to the upcoming Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show at the NEC. What's going to be on the AROC stand? What else is there to look at? What's a podcast lounge?

In the fifth episode of No Such Thing as a Brera Quadrifoglio - and the 100th episode of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club - Guy Swarbrick, Kirsty Hodson, Nick Wright and John Griffiths gathered around the microphones with our four favourite facts from the world of Alfa Romeo patents... As promised in the podcast, here are a couple of  links  Fiat Strada - Handbuilt by Robots https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fXV6KzhBbM BL Ambassador - Handbuilt by Roberts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU-tuY0Z7nQ And the one we didn't talk about... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNPTlT8HXjk  If you want to explore more Alfa Romeo patents (or find the ones we talked about) start https://patents.google.com/?assignee=alfa+romeo&oq=alfa+romeo And finally - and most importantly - the link to the Peter Collins book! https://www.veloce.co.uk/store/Alfa-Romeo-p455563040 And the discount code to get 30% off the cover price is... at 1:18 into the podcast. Or 3:45. Or 18:27. No - sorry, you're going to have to listen to the whole thing.  

In episode 99 of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast, brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club. Editor Guy Swarbrick is joined by two friends of the podcast – magazine regular and Alfa Workshop owner Jamie Porter and sim-to-real-life-racer Colin Cunniffe - to share their experiences on becoming a racing driver.

In Hello Episode 98 of the Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast – brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick sits round the virtual round table episode with the usual suspects – Club Chairman John Griffiths, Management Team members Kirsty Hodson and David Faithful and Club Manager Nick Wright – to talk about all - OK, most - of the things you can look forward to at National Alfa Day on Sunday the 18th of August at Bicester Heritage. We’re very much looking forward to seeing you all there.

For the last two months we’ve been promising you an interview with Jamie Porter about becoming a racing driver. Last month he was bumped in favour of Alfa Romeo Managing Director Jules Tilstone. This month… well, this month we’re unable to bring the interview to you for technical reasons. Honestly, we lost it. We looked for it – for days – but it’s not there. We will re-record it, but unfortunately, Jamie is now on holiday. But we promised you Jamie, so Jamie you shall have. Here’s another chance to listen to Episode 24 – from way back in January 2021. If you’ve only started to listen to the podcast recently and haven’t listened to everything in the archive, this is a cracker. And, if you have listened to it before, it’s definitely worth another listen. If nothing else, it illustrates how much better our production techniques have got!

In Episode 96 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owner’s Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with Jules Tilstone - managing director of Alfa Romeo UK - to talk about his background, his plans for the UK retail network and the new Alfa Romeo Junior. If you were expecting Jamie Porter, talking about becoming a racing driver, that episode will now be released in July.

In Episode 95 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owner’s Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick and Management Team Member David Faithful and I witter on for the best part of an hour about the state of the UK charging network, domestic electricity prices, the economics of operating a motorway service station, whether or not driving enjoyment declines with age and – when we remember – the new Alfa Romeo Junior. To be fair, it’s mostly about the Junior.

In Episode 93 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owner’s Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick was joined by the Club’s longest serving member Ron Smith. No longer based in the UK – and, as we’ll see, he wasn’t when he joined, either - but still an active and enthusiastic member, as he has been for most of the Club's 60 year history.