The Alfa Romeo Driver Podcast

For the last two months we’ve been promising you an interview with Jamie Porter about becoming a racing driver. Last month he was bumped in favour of Alfa Romeo Managing Director Jules Tilstone. This month… well, this month we’re unable to bring the interview to you for technical reasons. Honestly, we lost it. We looked for it – for days – but it’s not there. We will re-record it, but unfortunately, Jamie is now on holiday. But we promised you Jamie, so Jamie you shall have. Here’s another chance to listen to Episode 24 – from way back in January 2021. If you’ve only started to listen to the podcast recently and haven’t listened to everything in the archive, this is a cracker. And, if you have listened to it before, it’s definitely worth another listen. If nothing else, it illustrates how much better our production techniques have got!

In Episode 96 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owner’s Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with Jules Tilstone - managing director of Alfa Romeo UK - to talk about his background, his plans for the UK retail network and the new Alfa Romeo Junior. If you were expecting Jamie Porter, talking about becoming a racing driver, that episode will now be released in July.

In Episode 95 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owner’s Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick and Management Team Member David Faithful and I witter on for the best part of an hour about the state of the UK charging network, domestic electricity prices, the economics of operating a motorway service station, whether or not driving enjoyment declines with age and – when we remember – the new Alfa Romeo Junior. To be fair, it’s mostly about the Junior.

In Episode 93 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owner’s Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick was joined by the Club’s longest serving member Ron Smith. No longer based in the UK – and, as we’ll see, he wasn’t when he joined, either - but still an active and enthusiastic member, as he has been for most of the Club's 60 year history.

In Episode 92 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick sat down with arguably the Club’s most enthustiastic Model Registrar Nathan Mahoney, to talk about his cars and the work he's doing with the GT Register - and, in particular, the growing collaboration with other Model Registers.

Episode 91 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast – brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club is a little different to our usual format Editor Guy Swarbrick sat down with Club management team member and MiTo nerd David Faithful for a half hour chat about the new STLA Large platform that will underpin the replacements for the Giulia and Stelvio – and by the time we’d finished, we had over an hour of material. If you’ve already listened to Episode 90 then you’ll know that we’ve split it into two roughly half hour long episodes, which we’ve made available at the same time. If you’ve started here, you can listen to Episode 90 first, but they should make sense as a pair or separately – or, at least, they should make as much sense individually as they do together.. The first part was about the benefits of platform sharing – and the history of platform sharing at Alfa Romeo up to the Tonale – and here we’ll cover the upcoming Milano and the STLA large announcement.

Episode 90 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast – brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club - is a little different to our usual format. Editor Guy Swarbrick sat down with Club management team member and MiTo nerd David Faithful for a half hour chat about the new STLA Large platform that will underpin the replacements for the Giulia and Stelvio – and by the time we’d finished, we had over an hour of material. So we’ve split it into two roughly half hour long episodes, which we’ve made available at the same time – so if you listen on your drive to work or simply don’t want to listen to the two of us waffling on for an hour, you can listen to the two episodes separately – or, of you’re a glutton for punishment with nothing better to do, you can listen to them back-to-back. This first part is really about the benefits of platform sharing – and the history of platform sharing at Alfa Romeo up to the Tonale – and Episode 91 will cover the upcoming Milano and the STLA large announcement. They should make sense as a pair or separately – or, at least, they should make as much sense individually as they do together.

Editor Guy Swarbrick sat down with Club Chairman John Griffiths, Club Manager Nick Wright and Management Team member David Faithful to discuss some of the exciting events in store for the Club's 60th Anniversary in 2024 - those already confirmed and some still in the planning stages.

For those who missed our first livestream, here's a recording of Editor Guy Swarbrick and Club Chairman John Griffiths as they shamelessly filled dead time with speculation  waiting for Alfa Romeo to announce the name of the new, small Sport Urban Vehicle, codenamed Kid... The internet knew it was going to be called Brennero - we weren't so sure... We weren't expecting... well, you'll have to listen to find out!

In Episode 87 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast, brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club, Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with AROC management team member David Faithful to talk about some of the improvements to the Club's online experience behind the scenes - and some of the cool new member benefits that technology will enable. Some early examples of the new functionality are shown below. Member login screen My AROC A list of a member's cars A sample AROC Guardian page

2023 marks the 100th anniversary of the famous Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio emblem and we're celebrating with our 4th episode of No Such Thing as a Brera Quadrifoglio. In this episode of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast - brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club - Editor Guy Swarbrick is joined by Club Chairman John Griffiths, Club Manager Nick Wright and Alfa Female and Club Director Kirsty Hodson to share their favourite facts about the Quadrifgolio. Some you may have heard before, some you hopefully won't - and many you may find hard to believe!

Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with Club Chairman John Griffiths, Manager Nick Wright and Section Development Supremo Jonathan Griffin to discuss National Alfa Day, a busy Summer of events, Midlands Italian Car Day, the Classic Motor Show and the forthcoming Section Secretaries and Registrars meeting.

In Episode 84 of the Alfa Romeo Driver podcast, brought to you by the Alfa Romeo Owners Club, Guy Swarbrick talks to Club member, GTAm owner and friend of the podcast Alan Greenhalgh - and the Club’s Giulia registrar Andrew Celi – about their recent trip to Le Mans as part of Alfa Romeo's second European-wide Tribe Days event.

In this Episode, Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with AROC Chairman John Griffiths, Club Manager Nick Wright and Alfa Female's Allie Taylor to talk about the upcoming National Alfa Day. There are lots of new things going on - as well as lots of the things you've all grown to love at Bicster Heritage.

Alfa Romeo Driver Editor Guy Swarbrick sits down with AROC Racing Leagues commentator and Sim Racing columnist Reeve Taylor, Club Manager Nick Wright and MiTo Registrar David Faithful to discuss 15 years of the MiTo, its importance to the Club, the recent 15th Anniversary track day, their current cars and their dream MiTos.