A Day at the Track with Maserati and Alfa Romeo
Detroit’s dreary weather doesn’t stop these Italian luxury-sport machines from dazzling the crowd.
To give the American media the best possible chance to experience the current Maserati and Alfa Romeo lineup, FCA recently held an event at the M1 Concourse in Metro Detroit where I got to spend the day driving some of their hottest models on two different race tracks and on the street. Unfortunately, it was a gross, rainy day with nearly-constant rain and the occasional downpour, but I did get some dry track time and more importantly, I learned how well these Italian performance vehicles handle spirited driving on a wet surface.
Road Course
My day at the track with Maserati and Alfa Romeo began on the 1.5-mile road course at the M1 Concourse and with a light rain keeping the track very wet, I was concerned that we wouldn’t have much fun. I was very wrong.
The first car in which I hit the track was the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio. I have heard great things about this car from others who have spent time behind the wheel, so I was excited to experience the 505-horsepower sedan for myself. I began my schooling lap with trepidation under the steady light rain, but as I followed the lead car and gradually increased my speed as we splashed around the track, I quickly found that the Giulia handled quite well in the rain. In fact, I was shocked at how hard I was able to enter a corner while braking without much slip, and cutting through the corners went just as well.
Really, the only place where the Alfa struggled with the rain was on exit from the turns leading into long straights, where I wanted to use all 505 horsepower at once – but the wet track kept me in check. Fortunately, with careful throttle control, I was able to reach speeds up around 100 miles per hour on the straightaways while still being able to get down to comfortable turning speeds at each curve.
In the end, the wet track didn’t allow me the option to enjoy the Giulia as I would on a dry track, but I was blown away by how hard I was able to push this car in such poor conditions and the Alfa Romeo sedan handled it all wonderfully. The steering is sharp and the wheel provides a ton of feedback, allowing you to point the car where you want to go and really feel the surface as you work the wheel. The suspension does a great job of keeping the car pinned to the track as you move in and out of turns while eating up any roughness in the track – allowing you to maintain firm control under hard cornering.
Of course, that 505-horsepower engine makes the Giulia crazy-quick for a sedan of this size, affording the car awesome acceleration even on the damp track.
Once I returned to the pits with the Giulia, I moved into the Maserati Quattroporte GTS Gran Sport – a much larger luxury sedan with twin turbocharged V8 that delivers 523 horsepower and 524 lb-ft of torque. The rain had slowed a bit but the track was still very wet as I headed out in the $140,000 luxury sedan, so I was leery of the big, rear-drive machine’s ability to handle the damp surface.
Much to my surprise, the bigger, heavier sedan stuck to the wet track a bit better than the Giulia. The 523-horsepower V8 offered sharp throttle response and a surprising amount of grip in the rain, allowing me to reach similar straightaway speeds as I saw with the Alfa. The Quattroporte took a little more effort to get slowed down as we approached sharp turns, but for a large luxury sedan racing on a wet track, I was very impressed with how well it made its way through the turns.
As you might expect, the Maserati was a bit quieter and a bit more civilized than the Alfa, allowing less of the outside sounds into the cabin as we raced around the track. The Maserati also offered a bit smoother ride while compromising only a touch in the corners when compared to the smaller, lighter Giulia. However, when you consider the fact that the Quattroporte is a big, loaded luxury sedan, the fact that it gets around a road course this well speaks volumes of the engineering behind the brand.
After my time in the Quattroporte, we had to take a break for lunch and during that time, the rain stopped and the track dried a bit. This allowed me to test the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio and the Maserati Gran Turismo Convertible Sport on a track that was still a bit wet in places, but the majority of the racing line had dried out to the point that it was a different color than the rest of the track. It wasn’t the same as running on a nice, sunny day, but the track in the early afternoon of this event was as good as it got – and I spent that time in two very different vehicles.
My first afternoon track session was in the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio and honestly, I didn’t have great expectations for the roomy sport utility vehicle. Granted, it is based on the Giulia and it is one of the best-performing SUVs in the world, but it is still an SUV and after a morning in sport sedans, I expected the Stelvio to be very clunky.
I was dead wrong. The Stelvio Quadrifoglio was the most surprising vehicle that I drove during this entire event because while it looks like an SUV, it doesn’t feel like an SUV. The Stelvio features the same basic drivetrain as the Giulia except the SUV has all-wheel-drive. This allowed me to put the hammer down and use all 505 horsepower coming out of every turn without any concern of traction troubles, even in damp spots on the track. The bigger vehicle took a little longer to get down from high speeds and it had a bit more body roll in the corners than the closely-related Giulia, but for the most part, the SUV performed like a slightly heavier, all-wheel-drive sedan and I loved every second of my time behind the wheel.
The braking, suspension and throttle response all provided a similar feel to that of the Quadrifoglio sedan, so for someone who wants the space of an SUV with the performance of a world-class sedan – the Stelvio is one that you need to test drive. The only SUV that I have driven on a track that impressed me as much as this Alfa was the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk – the quickest, fastest and most powerful SUV in the world. The Stelvio is that good.
Finally, once we headed back to the pits with the Alfa Romeo Stelvio, I moved over to the Maserati Gran Turismo S Convertible. This curvy convertible is powered by a Ferrari F136 4.7-liter V8, packing 454 horsepower and 384 lb-ft of torque and honestly, I could not wait to drive this car. Sure, everything else I took around the road course had more power, but I love the look and sound of the Gran Turismo and I have long been looking forward to driving one.
By the time that I took to the track with the Gran Turismo Convertible, the track was at its driest point of the day, as you can see in the video above. This allowed me to run this Ferrari-powered Maserati nearly as hard as I would on a clear track, which meant the hardest acceleration, braking and cornering of the day and the Gran Turismo was up to the task. The Italian V8 offers a sweet roar under hard acceleration and the big brakes bring the sleek convertible down from high speeds in a hurry. The suspension felt like the most responsive of the vehicles that I took around the track, but part of that could have been due to the fact that the track was dry and I was feeling more confident or it could have been due to the fact that this Maserati was considerably lighter than the sedan I had driven earlier.
In any case, rocketing around the M1 Concourse road course in the Gran Turismo S Convertible was every bit as much fun as you would expect – with this Italian drop-top offering the type of feel on the track that you want from a luxury-sport machine.
Then Came the Rains
Shortly after I finished my time on the road course with the Maserati Gran Turismo S Convertible, it started to rain – and then it started to pour. During this time, I took the opportunity to partake of the on-road portion of the drive event, spending time in the standard Alfa Romeo Giulia Sport and the Maserati Levante S Gran Sport.
Our on-road drive route took us around beautiful Pontiac, Michigan when it was raining hard and traffic was heavier than the rain. As a result, our test drive was really just sitting in traffic for 25 minutes, occasionally getting up to speeds of 30-40 miles per hour before hitting the next stop light or traffic jam.
However, during my on-road drive in the Maserati Levante S Gran Sport, I noticed how comfortable and quiet the cabin was, even on bumpier Metro Detroit roads. We really didn’t get to experience any handling capabilities, but for a big luxury SUV, it offered the kind of ride quality that I would expect. While there werent any opportunities to test the handling, I did get a couple chances to hammer down on the throttle and the twin turbo V6 used all 424 horsepower to get the Levante up to speed in a hurry.
Basically, what I learned during the on-road drive of the Levante is that it is a big, comfortable and quiet SUV that offers solid acceleration when the chance arises. This might not be the kind of SUV that you would take racing on a road course, but my short test drive revealed this to be a great vehicle for daily driving in traffic and getting out some frustrations with the throttle.
My second on-road drive of the event came in the Alfa Romeo Giulia Sport and like my time in the Levante, driving the Giulia Sport was more or less just sitting in traffic and creeping along. I did have a few chances to let the little sedan stretch its legs on the road, but the combination of the weather and the dense traffic didn’t allow me to do much more than follow the slow-moving car in front of me for 25 minutes.
Fortunately, the Alfa Romeo people had set up an impromptu autocross-type course in a parking lot along the drive route, so the 25 minutes of sitting in traffic was interrupted by some hard driving through a pattern of closely-arranged cones. This exercise gave me a few minutes to push the Giulia Sport much harder than I could on the crowded streets, allowing me to feel how well the sporty sedan handled hard cornering maneuvers and hard braking on a tight, wet track.
The Giulia Sport didn’t stick to the track quite as well as the Quadrifoglio, but for a volume model – this 280-horsepower Alfa handled the course well. The steering response is nearly as sharp as it is with the performance model and while the cornering can’t match the 505-horsepower version – this Giulia was a ton of fun on the small autocross track. This made it clear that while most Giulia Sport buyers are looking for a solid daily driver, the middle-of-the-road “Sport” model makes good on its name.
Autocrossing in the Rain
When I returned to the M1 Concourse with the Giulia Sport, the event was nearing its end and I had yet to hit the autocross portion, so I headed down to the center of the racing facility where the Alfa Romeo team had a handful of 4Cs and much more typical autocross course, complete with a timing system. Earlier in the day, another driver had set the record on this track of 24.9 seconds under clear skies and one of the track instructors told me that he had made “20 or so runs”.
When I took my turn in the 4C, it was pouring down rain, so I didn’t have high hopes of beating the record time, but I wanted to see how quickly I could get the little Alfa Romeo roadster around the sloppy track. I made a few runs to get the feel for the track layout while also hoping that the rains would slow, but instead, it rained progressively harder as time went on. Even with the rains pounding down, I was able to shave a few tenths off of my time with each lap, first running in the 28-second range, then into the 27s and then into the 26s. My best time ended up being a 26.000, so in pouring rain, I was just over a second behind the quickest lap time of the day and I was pretty happy with that.
What made me even happier was the fact that the Alfa Romeo 4C Roadster handles almost as well in the rain as it does on a sunny day. I was able to push the 4C wide open and I never noticed any loss of traction. I was able to brake hard and throttle through corners remarkably hard, finding that the only danger was when I got into a turn too hard and had to jam on the brakes, at which point the car wanted to slide through the outside of the turn. However, once I got a feel for where I could really push the car hard on the wet track – it responded unbelievably well. For a lightweight, rear-wheel-drive car, the Alfa Romeo 4C handled the rain as well as any performance car that I have tested in such poor conditions.
I previously tested the 4C a few years back on a dry track and I fell in love with it. Experiencing this tiny Italian stallion in the rain made me love it even more, as if you are someone who lives in an area with lots of heavy rainfall – the 4C is nearly as much fun in the rain as it is on a bright, beautiful day.
While the weather could have made this day at the track with Alfa Romeo and Maserati even more enjoyable, I had a blast testing the cars and I came away with a whole new appreciation for both brands. The Maserati models offer premium luxury and impressive performance while the Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio offer incredible levels of performance in cabins that put more emphasis on sportiness than luxury – but there is still that distinct feel of Italian style throughout the Alfa sedan and SUV. As for the 4C, it is all about performance and nothing else, but having now pushed it hard in the rain, I still think that it is one of the most exciting vehicles with “only” 237 horsepower in the world, so if your main focus is driving excitement without frills, you want to drive – and probably buy – the 4C.
