The Alfa Club Thailand has just gathered for its year-end meeting in Bangkok which was topped off by a special novelty in the shape of the arrival of a convoy of Alfa Romeos taking part in the Quest for the Silk Road, a long-distance tour that kicked off in Singapore two days earlier and was busily trekking its way northwards to its final destination in Laos. The highlight of the day was the arrival immediately after lunch of the participants taking part in the Quest for the Silk Road, an adventure that is involving members of the AROC Singapore, AROC Malaysia and Alfa Club Thailand, along with support from the regional agents, namely - EuroAutomobile Pte Ltd (Singapore), Sime Darby Auto Connexion (Malaysia) and Thai Prestige Ltd (Thailand).
The tour started on December 18 with a long highway drive from Kuala Lumpur to Danok. Members from the AROC Singapore had a real crack of dawn start as they set off three hours earlier to rendezvous with the Malaysian owners in Kuala Lumpur for the official start. Sime Darby Auto Connexion hosted and sponsored this part of the event and the crews also took part in an Alfa Romeo Carnival Day that saw models from throughout the ages parading, while the convoy was flagged on its way northwards by the Italian Ambassador to Malaysia. The second day on the road saw the cars heading north through Thailand from Danok to the royal coastal resort of Hua Hin.
And so while the Alfa Club Thailand members were serenely rolling into the Bua Restaurant, the cars that made up the Quest for the Silk Road column were pounding northwards once more, this time from Hua Hin, on a day that would see them continue, after this short Bangkok lunch stop, onwards to the Thailand-Laos border town of Nong Kahi. At times driving through Bangkok can be as much of a challenge as any back road in Laos, but eventually the convoy rolled into sight.
Two-and-a-half days into the trip and the Alfa Romeos were in caked in a sea of grime that bore evidence to the arduous trip they are making. The Thailand, Singapore and Malaysian Alfa Romeo clubs are all closely linked and there was much enthusiasm all round. The enthusiasm of the tour members belied the long days of driving and short nights of sleep already under their belts and everyone was soon swapping stories, people from three Asian countries bound tightly together by a shared passion. The brightly decaled and mud-covered 17-car-strong convoy was made up of a swage of recent models, including the 159, 159 Sportwagon, Brera, 156, 164, GT Coupé and 155; and with a few problems that had been sorted out en route, the toughness of these Italian cars was really being put to the test, and so far it was all good.
Its been a wonderful trip, weve done two days, weve still got one more night [in Thailand] then on to Vientiane for two days then back to Bangkok, says Rashid Karyeo, the enthusiastic President of the Alfa Romeo Owners Club of Singapore, who is behind the wheel of a red Brera 3.2 V6 and is carrying diagnostic equipment with him; for sure this tour is well-prepared and highly organised. The AROC Malaysia President, Othman Zainal, is also on the tour hes driving a 166. With the lunch stop over, and with the ranks swelled by three members of the Alfa Club Thailand who were joining the tour, Ron Nathan, the capable and highly-organised tour leader, as well as being, by a considerably margin, the tallest man present, expertly marshaled everyone back to their cars and soon this dynamic adventure was rolling back onto the road, heading north out of Bangkok, and off to stretch sporty legs and put these Alfa Romeos over terrain that the designers at Alfa Romeo Centro Stile never envisioned.
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0:53AROC(Malaysia) Grand Tour 2009 - Slalom Raceby shanamu163 views
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