Jay Laifman
Donation Time
Here's the story. My son is 11 and loves Alpines (among other cars). He and I have been taking racing lessons at Jim Hall Kart School (Jim is the son of Jim Hall of Chaparral fame). We've gone to various historic races over the years.
My sister has a Series II Alpines and wants to sell it and says she will sell it to him for $500. I think it's worth more than $500. It runs, is complete, and seems straight with no major rust readily apparent. But, it doesn't have the original paint or interior, and the interior needs work. The hardtop is complete and sound, but without the rear window. The wire wheels and hubs are there, but I expect worn out. Its last owner was a mechanic and his touches are apparent. Other than that, I don't know its history.
He wants to buy it and one day get into racing. First, I'm sure to race the thing, it needs to have a full redo, from brakes up. And, he certainly doesn't have the money for that, or even money to store it until he can even think about driving. But, it's a decent car for a great price. But, he's only 11.
Now aside from the age issue and storage issue, what's the world like for racing Alpines these days? I've told him to go to the web sites of Buttonwillow and Willow Springs and see what groups race there and when, and see what they would do with an Alpine.
It seems to me that aside from the faded glory days where there were some shining moments in Alpine racing history, it's really not the car to be out there racing. First, if the racing organization is strict about modifications available when the car was new, there really weren't any, and the Alpine will not be remotely competitive with any other car out there, like MGs, Triumphs. And, that's assuming that there are actually realistic classes, or if there are so few cars from that era that the class is so wide the Alpine is up against much faster cars. Not that he has to win, but being at the back of the pack every time with no chance of anything else is not good.
And, if there are stock classes, well, it probably wouldn't do much good either. And, then I assume that even if there are groups and classes with Alpines, they are probably very few times a year they actually get out there.
So, my question here is what is the reality of someone who wants to race an Alpine?
Thanks,
Jay
My sister has a Series II Alpines and wants to sell it and says she will sell it to him for $500. I think it's worth more than $500. It runs, is complete, and seems straight with no major rust readily apparent. But, it doesn't have the original paint or interior, and the interior needs work. The hardtop is complete and sound, but without the rear window. The wire wheels and hubs are there, but I expect worn out. Its last owner was a mechanic and his touches are apparent. Other than that, I don't know its history.
He wants to buy it and one day get into racing. First, I'm sure to race the thing, it needs to have a full redo, from brakes up. And, he certainly doesn't have the money for that, or even money to store it until he can even think about driving. But, it's a decent car for a great price. But, he's only 11.
Now aside from the age issue and storage issue, what's the world like for racing Alpines these days? I've told him to go to the web sites of Buttonwillow and Willow Springs and see what groups race there and when, and see what they would do with an Alpine.
It seems to me that aside from the faded glory days where there were some shining moments in Alpine racing history, it's really not the car to be out there racing. First, if the racing organization is strict about modifications available when the car was new, there really weren't any, and the Alpine will not be remotely competitive with any other car out there, like MGs, Triumphs. And, that's assuming that there are actually realistic classes, or if there are so few cars from that era that the class is so wide the Alpine is up against much faster cars. Not that he has to win, but being at the back of the pack every time with no chance of anything else is not good.
And, if there are stock classes, well, it probably wouldn't do much good either. And, then I assume that even if there are groups and classes with Alpines, they are probably very few times a year they actually get out there.
So, my question here is what is the reality of someone who wants to race an Alpine?
Thanks,
Jay
