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Quite a few Alfa folks were on hand at the Newton Marriott on March 26th for an evening of stories and camaraderie with Le Mans and vintage racer, TV personality, and host of the terrific Victory by Design series, Alain de Cadenet. The Alfisti included Andy Kress, Jim Scutti, Jonathan Kirshtein, Kevin Redden, John DeWaele, Tom Letourneau, Michael & Debra Leccese, and Richard Askin. (Sorry if you were there and we missed you!) The event was presented by our friends at Motorsports Marketing Resources. We have two reports for you, the first written by Andy and the second by Jim: Alain started out talking about the Victory by Design series. It was interesting to hear how they put that whole thing together — it sort of came about by accident. Alain didn’t have any speaking or film experience, but producer Tony Maylam was impressed by Alain's spontaneous and knowledgeable discourse over various cars (plus his really good connections). They thought they could make it happen and pushed Alain to do it in a nothing-ventured, nothing-gained sort of way. The thing was funded on a shoestring — in fact, they ran out of money on the Ferrari video, and there was a five-year hiatus between start and finish. In spite of all that, they developed a formula and some technique that stood them in good stead, and did successfully finish the series. He talked a little about "cars I have owned (and wish I had them to sell now)" — deals good and deals gone bad. For me, the most moving sections were when he talked about the racing in the good old days. Plenty of throwaway vignettes, insights, and stories about really iconic figures in motorsport from those days — Ickx, Redmond, Ecclestone, Brabham, Murray, Elford … and some Steve McQueen stories , such as this one: Alain had a Porsche 908 he was trying to sell. He got a call out of the blue from Steve McQueen asking about the 908. At first, he thought it was some friends winding him up. Once he was convinced it was indeed McQueen, he got all excited and invited him to his shop to look at the car. It turned out that McQueen was starting up his LeMans movie and wanted to see if he could adapt the 908 to be a camera car. No sale! Then McQueen saw some vintage motorcycles that were for sale as well and asked if he could take the Triumph Bonneville out for a ride. "Oh, sure," said Alain, hoping for a sale. McQueen disappeared for the day. Not a word. Finally, figuring the bike was gone for good, Alain went home. The next morning, he found the bike leaning up against the shop — with no gas in it. Then Alain talked about racing in the olden days. At his first race, he just showed up — a total newbie with his car, his paper mâché helmet, and string backed gloves. He was surprised when they asked him for his license! A little hemming and hawing, and he was waved in. He learned how to drive on the fly — watching the real racers and doing his best to imitate them. Over the summer, he got to be pretty good. In those days, with a little luck, once you got in, you could make the thing self-funding (which is not to say, comfortable). Teams were given appearance money by the promoters, and with any sort of placement there’d be cash payouts and rewards from the various motorsport players (tire, brake, fuel, oil makers). It is so different from here — racing was/is such a big thing. These guys were household names. Successful as he was, he talked with some awe about the other racers he competed against. For instance, someone asked him what it was like the first time he raced in the rain at LeMans. As he thought about it, he almost blanched on the stage, it was such a terrifying experience. We have to remember that, in those days, guys were already going over 200 on the Mulsanne Straight. His answer is that you see others dealing with it and you just make the leap of faith that you can too; get used to it, and you move on to the business at hand. In the same context, he described (with considerable awe in his voice) the time he was racing and it was pouring buckets. He was on rain tires and doing about 180, holding on for dear life, when he was passed by Jacky Ickx in a factory Porsche 930 (a 600hp turbo car) — on slicks. Alain said, “To this day, I do not know how that is possible. But Jacky is one of those special people with the magic touch. They can successfully do things that normal people cannot imagine doing at all.” He talked about the camaraderie and the terrible loss when friends died. He talked some about the moment when you realize it’s time to get out (both his moment and other racers’) before something really bad happens. He was very frank and open. Basically, he built a career in motorsports out of pure drive and chutzpah — just because he wanted it so badly. All in all, he came across as a really good guy, someone you'd love to have a beer with … and he would be happy to have one with you. Very charming.
Greeting us when we arrived at the Marriott was a gorgeous white GTC parked out front. This should get us in the spirit for awakening our own sleeping beauties (well, maybe not 100-point beauties, but cuties, anyway) in the coming days! (The GTC is for sale — click here to take a look.) In addition to hearing a very entertaining and interesting talk by de Cadenet, Andy won the big raffle — an autographed set of all six of de Cadenet's Victory by Design DVDs! Andy had all but tossed his raffle tickets at me just before they called his winning number. In his inimitable, humble style, he didn't even want to go up to accept the prize! Alain de Cadenet is a trip! He recounted story after colorful story of the interesting stuff that made him the celebrity that he is. Like helping, in a most personal way, a head-to-toe bandaged Brian Redman relieve himself into a wash basin in a hospital room as he himself was recovering from a terrible crash. Or that Steve McQueen story. Or how he got thrown out of and banned from ever competing in the Mille Miglia because he passed the Polizia while driving an Alfa Stradale during the race. When chased by the Polizia, he proceeded to put his foot in it and elude his pursuer all the way to Rome, where finally the chief of police issued his reprimand. When asked what his favorite car of all time is, he did not hesitate and named a car that he owns — a 1931 8C 2300 Mille Miglia!
And, as you’ll see in the photos, Alain had the good taste to wear
an Alfa Romeo sweater for the evening! As Andy says, “We call him Al
now.”
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(Click on the thumbnails below for a larger view, and then
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