19.06.2007 The Autodelta Brera J5 3.2 C will make its Goodwood Festival of Speed debut this weekend

The Autodelta Brera J5 3.2 C will make its Goodwood Festival of Speed debut this weekend on Friday and Saturday (22nd & 23rd June) before appearing at National Alfa Day (24th June).

The Goodwood Festival of Speed has rapidly grown within a decade to become one of the world’s leading celebrations of modern and historic motor racing and high performance motoring. Evocative Italian machinery always takes centre stage at this glamorous sell-out gathering and this year will be no different: as well as the supercharged 341 bhp Autodelta Brera J5 3.2 C – which was commercialized in February and will be making its Festival of Speed debut – Alfa Romeo will be present, represented by the production Alfa 8C Competizione (which will also be making its Goodwood debut) whilst legendary Milanese classic cars in action up the famous “Goodwood Hill” is set to include the Alfa P2 Gran Premio and Alfa Tipo B, plus the Alfa 33 Daytona.

The second high profile appearance of the Autodelta Brera J5 3.2 C this coming weekend will be at ‘National Alfa Day’ (24th June) the showpiece event in the busy calendar of the UK Alfa Romeo Owners’ Club. Once a year Alfisti from across the United Kingdom and further afield gather to celebrate their deep passion for these cars; this year the extravaganza will be held at Great Weston Park, Staffordshire, for the first time.

The Brera J5’s weekend will have a neat twist though – as the supercharged car will be personally used by the Chairman of the Alfa Romeo Owners’ Club UK, Ed McDonough as he fits both high-profile events into what will be a very busy weekend.

Ed McDonough has been an AROC member since 1980, competed in the Club’s race series from 1987-1997, and was Chairman from 1992 to 2001 before reassuming the position last year. He has now been a full-time motoring journalist/writer for some years, and has contributed to Auto Italia, Autocollezioni, Porsche Post, Veloce Today, and is in his 9th year as European Editor of Vintage Racecar Journal, an international magazine based in the USA. He is co-editor of AlfaOwner, the American AROC’s magazine, committee member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and has been doing radio commentary at Goodwood and Monaco. He has six books to his credit, including Alfa Romeo 158/159, and Tipo 33 with Peter Collins.

Ed will collect the Brera J5 from Autodelta’s London HQ, ‘Forza House’, on Thursday and drive it to Goodwood where he is one of the commentating team for ‘Goodwood Radio’ and will be kept busy interviewing the many stars who will appear at the Festival, this year including F1’s newest sensation and winner of the weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton, as well as retired legends Sir Jackie Stewart and Sir Stirling Moss.

Having found himself doing Goodwood Radio broadcasts while piloting a 1943 Harvard Trainer aircraft at the Revival last September, Ed will be doing his duty this weekend at the Festival from behind the wheel. He will be driving the CanAm Lola T70, driven in the period by Dan Gurney, as well as an ex-A.J.Foyt Camaro, an F1 Honda and a 1910 Wolsit racer! With a great many Alfa Romeos set to be present at the Festival from the UK and Italy, Ed will be covering both the old and new cars; and as a special exclusive treat he will be doing a ‘live’ broadcast from the Autodelta Brera J5 3.2 C.

After the end of the Saturday activities, Ed will head northwards in the powerful Brera J5 for the annual National Alfa Day. The Alfa Romeo Owners Club has arranged a great day of events at the glorious Weston Park Estate. National Alfa Day will see over 1,000 Alfa Romeo cars gathered together with models ranging from beautiful pre-war tourers to the very latest Spider convertible. This Italian car maker is famous for its stylish, drivers’ cars, and for anyone in the UK with a passion for motoring this event is a must. The Concours d’Elegance will showcase the very best Alfa Romeos, old and new, that club members have to offer. Amongst the Giulias, Alfettas, Montreals, Zagatos and Spiders will be rare models including the Matta. There will be many stalls with Alfa Specialist suppliers, an ‘Auto Jumble’ and a ‘Cars for Sale’ area. Other programme highlights include driving tests, a vintage aircraft flypast and the Icarus Parachute Display Team who will descend into the arena. The Autodelta Brera J5 will be in a special display where Ed says that he “will be telling the enthusiasts just what a great car it is.”

Jano Djelalian, Managing Director of Autodelta, says: “We’re delighted to present the Autodelta Brera J5 3.2 C for its Goodwood Festival of Speed debut as this superb event has evolved to become one of the most important dates on the automotive calendar. We’re also very pleased that Ed McDonough has chosen to use the J5 for the weekend; a highly respected figure amongst car enthusiasts, I’m confident he will fully appreciate all our newest model’s virtues, its additional power and improved handling.”