The Grand Tour

Jeremy Clarkson Drives The Alfaholics GTA-R 290 And LOVES It

You’ve all heard of Singer and its whacky but exquisite Porsche restomods. Well, Alfaholics is similar but instead of focussing on iconic sports cars such as old air-cooled 911s, they look to Italy instead. As you may have guessed, Alfa Romeo in particular. The GTA-R 290 is probably the company’s most famous restomod, with Top Gear’s Chris Harris producing a spine-tingling video on it a few years back. Now, Jeremy Clarkson has had a go, and it’s safe to say he loves the thing.

“I drove this today and I’m now nursing a semi,” The Grand Tour presenter posted to his Instagram.

It’s no surprise that Clarkson loved driving the GTA-R after the shining review Harris gave it in his review. He called the car “driving at its very best”, and “essential driving”. It’s visceral. There are no driving aids, just a  2.3-litre four-cylinder engine producing 240hp, and that’s a lot of power when it’s pushing around a car that only weighs 830kg.

Based on a 1967 1300 GT Junior, it’s been stripped of its weight via carbon doors and bonnet and the general removing of interior trim, and with a Yokohama tyre, it’s able to grip up and turn like nothing else. Naturally, according to Harris, it understeers on corner entry until you hit the right pedal to induce a little oversteer. Then it rotates with a little lock from the driver.

We’d love to see a video of Clarkson behind the wheel of such a machine. Please Grand Tour? While we’re waiting, release a few videos of him pedalling this Italian beauty.

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