By Peter Walker

THE FIRST WEEKEND OF JULY, 2022, Meg and I had the good luck to attend Le Mans Classic, a stellar event for classic cars that we highly recommend. A detailed report will have to await another opportunity. However, one of the highlights of the weekend involved the Alfa Club Classic of France (ACCF, to which two AONE members belong) and Alfa Romeo itself. ACCF had its own hospitality tent and parking area, and on the Saturday evening one of the guests at the ACCF cocktail was none other than Jean-Philippe Imperato, the chief executive of Alfa Romeo.

Imperato kindly returned the favor of the ACCF invitation by inviting members to another cocktail party, this time at the official Alfa Romeo tent, ostensibly for the inauguration of the new Tonale. While ACCF had served champagne, Alfa Romeo only served prosecco. But no one was complaining, for the cars exhibited in the company’s tent were alone worth seeing.

Added to that, Imperato organized a raffle for his ACCF guests, and the winner was ACCF member Stéphane Hurtado. And the prize? A ride in the passenger seat of a Giulia Quadrifoglio during a night-time lap of the Le Mans track (following a Stelvio). Stéphane had the foresight to video this high-speed lap (see below). Be sure to pay attention for the moment when his camera pans to the car’s speedometer in the middle of the Mulsanne straight (which the French call Les Hunaudières, Mulsanne being the name the French have assigned to the tight corner at the end of the famous straightaway).

The next week, ACCF was invited to display some of its cars at a fancy reception at the Neubauer Alfa Romeo dealership in the outskirts of Paris, also part of the inauguration of the new Tonale. The dealership’s welcome was warm, the spread was fantastic, and the prosecco flowed in abundance. Perhaps New England Alfa dealerships could take a page from the French example of how to work with an Alfa Romeo owners’ club?