When it comes to promoting their vehicles, the Italians are the best. They always find a way to attract all the atention. Same with the UK division of Alfa Romeo, who celebrated the arrival of the new Giulia in UK dealerships by setting a lap record of the famed Silverstone circuit with an epic twist – the windows of the Quadrifoglio were completely blacked out.
Marking 65 years from Italian F1 World Champion Nino Farina registering a lap record at Silverstone while driving the legendary Alfa Romeo 159 which was adorned with the iconic Quadrifoglio badge, the 2016 range-topping Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio can now lay claim to another record-breaking accomplishment completing the lap on the National Circuit in 1:44.3secs, matching the 1:44secs set by Farina in 1951.
Despite the car windows being covered entirely in a black vinyl, the hotly-anticipated sports saloon, powered by an all-new aluminium 510hp, 600Nm Bi-Turbo V6 petrol engine, navigated the seven-turn, 1.64-mile course and reached speeds of more than 100mph.
With the Quadrifoglio driven by Ed Morris – the youngest ever British driver to compete at Le Mans 24 hour – and David Brise directing from a second Quadrifoglio behind, the drivers spent two days getting to grips with the challenge, first practising on the smaller Stowe Circuit, before moving onto the iconic National Circuit.
“I’ve driven hundreds of cars but never one with all the windows blacked out,” said professional driver Morris. “As a racing driver it’s in your nature to push yourself and the car to its limits and knowing the Alfa Romeo Giulia is packed with so many high-performance technologies really allowed us to have complete trust in it and focus on setting a record.”
