Wow! Check Out This Alfa Romeo Breaking Necks In Nairobi (Photos)
A locally built replica of an early 1930s Alfa Romeo 1750 sports racing car will be one of the most eye catching of the eleven Alfas contesting at the CBA Africa Concours d’Elegance at the Nairobi Racecourse.
Ms. Silvia Cassini will be showing this unique car which was built by her late grandfather Vittorio who was a leading coach builder and restorer of rare vintage cars.
As a youngster in Italy, the late Vittorio Cassini was enthralled by the exploits of the Alfa Romeo 1750 sports cars in long distance races including the Mille Miglia and LeMans.Inspired by these successes in the 1930s, he longed to own such a car, but realized this was an impossible dream.
Long after establishing the coach building company of Cassini and Tonolo in Nairobi, he set about building a replica as a worthwhile alternative to owning one of the rare and extremely valuable original Alfa Romeo 1750 cars.Together with his staff he made the chassis and body.The car was completed by fitting the engine, gearbox and rear axle of a 1972 Alfa Romeo Giulia.
This locally built replica of an early 1930s Alfa Romeo 1750 sports racing car will be one of the most eye catching machines contesting at the CBA Africa Concours d’Elegance. Ms. Silvia Cassini will be showing this unique car which was built by her late grandfather Vittorio who was leading coach builder and restorer of rare vintage cars.
He completed the fine replica in 1990 by which time Cassini and Tonolo had branched into selling and servicing tractors and agricultural equipment.The firm is now the agent for Valtra tractors and JCB agricultural equipment.
The Alfa Romeo 1750 sports racing car replica has appeared at past Concours d’Elegance events and has won awards.After several years of absence, Silvia Cassini is bringing the car back to the Racecourse to contest the class for up to1,600 cc sports cars.She will be up against Magdi Riad’s 1962 Triumph Herald, Chandan Gidomal’s 1954 MG TF and the 1947 MG TC of Sati Gata Aura which is highly rated as a potential overall winner.
Ms. Silvia Cassini checks the engine of the locally built replica of the early 1930s Alfa Romeo sports racing car which will contest the CBA Africa Concours d’Elegance
There is a full field of 70 cars and 40 motorcycles for the Concours d’Elegance, but there are a few spaces available for the Classic Car and Motorcycle Sale.This caters for machine made in 1990, or earlier regardless of their condition.There are only three vacant plots in Auto Expo (the motor trade section) and all entries close at noon on Wednesday September 16th.
Crowd pulling Concours cars include the VW Karmann Ghia coupes of Paul Chemngorem and DJ Adrian Washika, the 1957 Mercedes 190 SL entered by DT Dobie and the 1937 Wolseley limousine which has been entered by Ugandan enthusiasts Kalvins Kagwa.
Impressive large cars are a strong feature of the entry list.Among the machines to watch are the 1965 Jaguar E-type of Alec Davis, Rajesh Lakhani’s Rolls Royce and Stuart Herd’s 1965 Jaguar Mark X which is the largest car ever made by Jaguar. The meticulously prepared 1951 Jaguar Mark V of Phoenix Aviation is a previous winner of the big car class and is likely to be ranked among the top ten on September 27th.
Spectators will be dividing their time between the assessment of the 70 cars in front of the Racecourse grandstands and the 40 motorcycles in the parade ring.The big bikes always capture the attention of spectators and there are 25 bikes with engines exceeding 900 cc.
One of these is the Yamaha VMax of Matthew Wilson who has brought his bike from Kigali to Nairobi for the Concours.His rivals include the 1946 Harley Davidson of Bevan Beckmannwho is one of the three competitors representing the Vintage Motorcycle Club of South Africa.
The Nairobi based Cruzin Kings Group has seven entries, but they are out numbered by the 15 members of the Uganda Association who will be riding from Kampala to Nairobi to be at the Racecourse on September 27th.The oldest motorcycles in the Concours are DKW of Sati Jabbal and the Triumph of Gerald Roelofs both of which were made in 1925.
