Classic Alfa Forums

Here's a photo I was sent recently, nice bit of nostalgia! It's from Cadwell in 1988 and in track order:-

Nick Sismey - 1.7 Sud Ti - Nick is the son of John Sismey who still prepares the Alfa 33 that races in the ARCA series. John was an engineer at BRM and recently appeared on the Graham Hill program that was part of the Racing Legends series on BBC2.

Mark Riddle - 1.7 Sud Ti Supercharged, built by BLS. The supercharger was a Sprintex unit - and the 1.7 existed before Alfa had introduced the 1712 engine.

Roberto Giordanelli - Zagato 2.0 (very lightweight).

John Liddle - 33 1.6. John was the long time parts manager at Alfa dealer Cubleys of Ainsdale. His 33 was orange and was covered in 'Ricambo Originale' stickers so it resembled an Alfa parts box of that era! John was very tall and virtually sat where the back seat would have been!

David North - 1.6 Sud Ti.

cracking nostalgic pic bryan, chances are i was there spectating!
the year after that we started rallying so got my first on track action, we did 2 rallies a year back then as you will remember

bet i've got loads of pics of this era somewhere, probably in the loft with all the sud bits

Ooh that revs me up that does!

the Nick Sismey Sud is so similar to how mine is going to be, i get all hot under the collar!

Brilliant Picture Bryan.

I thought it may be well received in certain quarters

I have fond memories of Nick having a fantastic tussle with a Lancia Stratos around Mallory and couldn't get over the sound of his Sud's screaming engine. Lap after lap, closer and closer......... he got the place
Great photo. Thanks.

Similar for myself, first time watching the Alfa racing at Cadwell in 96 or 97, Modified Suds screaming down the main straight, it was addictive.

I plan to fit bryans ex 45 dellortos this year so hoping to emulate some of the same sounds!

I don't remember the Sismey Sud but it looks great.

I've got an old car and conversions magazine with 5 racers tested at mallory, the orange parts box 33 was one of them, with a GTV , gtv6 , and 2 Suds.

Veesix75 wrote:Similar for myself, first time watching the Alfa racing at Cadwell in 96 or 97, Modified Suds screaming down the main straight, it was addictive.

I plan to fit bryans ex 45 dellortos this year so hoping to emulate some of the same sounds!

I don't remember the Sismey Sud but it looks great.

I've got an old car and conversions magazine with 5 racers tested at mallory, the orange parts box 33 was one of them, with a GTV , gtv6 , and 2 Suds.

It was also how high it revved that I remember.
It must have been near five figures flat out. I stood next to it when it fired into life and I thought the throttle had jammed, then someone told me it didn't idle, and just went straight to about 3,000 rpm. Awesome !!

I think rev's are simply the Sisley way!

Chris Snowdons 33 with a john sismey motor is the same, phenominal noise and collosal revs.


The bls 33 can scream, really beautiful induction noise, but i think its fair to say Bryan uses the revs he needs to, whereas Chris sounds like he stole it! Lol!

It was fantastic to have them both on track together late last year, a real audible treat for noise nerds like me! Ha ha!

Boxer engines (8v or 16v) do sound great at speed!

John's engines have always been high revvers - they use 9400rpm on their 16v, but ours makes max power at 8300rpm. I suspect the majority of the difference between the 2 engines is camshafts (I know we use different profiles) - though the intake systems are also different (intake lengths and port angles), plus I run the airbox as opposed to open trumpets. Theirs has 100cc extra capacity on ours (2050 v 1950) - despite these differences they are very evenly matched on the circuit (I have in-car footage of me catching Chris in straight line).

The gearing is also very different - we use different ratios and they run 18" diameter wheels/tyres versus my 15".

When I've compared lap sector times from the two sets of in-car footage I've only been losing out under heavy braking zones..........AP Racing calipers and 315mm diameter AP discs are being trial fitted this week

Thanks for sharing the info Bryan, amazing how similar / competitive results can be achieved by different methods.
I need to attend some meetings this year.

Kegsti66 wrote:Thanks for sharing the info Bryan, amazing how similar / competitive results can be achieved by different methods.
I need to attend some meetings this year.

think we all do mate

how about a CAF meet at a race circuit somewhere?

how often has a collection of classic alfas turned out to spectate

Sounds like a great idea - I'll post the ARCA dates in the Racing section, the AROC thread has a link to their dates.