Alfa Romeo Spider Sim Picks the Winner

Throughout the year, a very special Alfa Romeo Spider has been trekking the UK, choosing to appear at key athletics events across the country. While at each of the events, the Spider allowed visitors to climb aboard and, with the use of some high-end technologies, gave them a taste of the Silverstone race track.

The idea was simple: all those interested were allowed to take a shot at beating the best time of the other competitors on a simulated Silverstone, which could be experienced from inside the specially modified Alfa.

As with any competition, this too (officially called Athletics Alfa Race Simulator competition) had a lucky winner. Gary Watson from Durham managed to complete the course aboard the sim in 3.33 minutes, or some good 4 seconds faster than the runner-up.

What did Watson get for his troubles? No, not an Alfa. He did however took full advantage of an IP break for two at the Goodwood Hotel and, of more interest to us, the opportunity to drive around for a few laps inside a real, not simulated, Alfa 8C Competizione.

"I had a fantastic time. The highlight for me was the driving experience in an Alfa 8C Competizione, travelling at such high speed round a motor circuit was an incredible adrenalin rush," said Watson, with a somewhat acute taste for the obvious.

The competition also saw some high profile entries, coming from the athletes from the events the sim was present at. For the athletes, the fastest lap in the sim was achieved by Chris Tomlinson, European Championship Bronze medallist long jumper. His time: 3:52 minutes.