Mille Miglia 2009 – Day 5 Push to Rome

arly start again and drive south to Rome.  The roads are appalling plus we must follow the slowest Ford Focus in the world (ever) for mile after mile. The road is too narrow to overtake and the surface is potholed. Eventually the Ford turns off just as the road surface changes to billiard table smooth and off we go.  The road is fabulous, lots of switchback corners and terrific views.

End up in Sansepulcro where the whole team is wriggly and giggly after the drive. Full of success we find an amazing looking coffee shop and order odd coffees. Most of us asked for a Cappuchino Shakerata, which was a cold latte with banana according to the menu. However, on arrival it was nearly, but not quite, almost entirely unlike a cold latte with banana as is possible. Mmmm.

Drive on past Assisi (amazing buildings but not our cup of tea) and on to Reita for ham & cheese sandwich and excellent local ice cream. No chips (no, really).

Another hilly, switch back road section follows.  Paul drives the Tiv and chases the Ferrari all the way up the mountain. A stream of very tight corners and short blast straights. Mid way he says,in a very serious tone ‘hang on’. Wise words. Paul gets out at summit of pass (near Terminillo in Lazio) and says it was his best drive ever.

I take over Tiv (mildly peeved) and drive down towards Rome.

We are going to arrive mid rush hour so plan to whizz past Colleseum for pics and the on to the hotel. No major traumas and both objectives accomplished.

Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss!

Our hotel is an ex-monastery and very old (just a good 3 wood from The Vatican says Ralph). Several well earned ice-cold beers were drunk.  Well earned because at Euro10 per pint it’s posh stuff.

NOTD? Well, it took Dom all day to ruminate and award Dan (Radio Five Live) as NOTD.

Tomorrow? Nominations are yet to be heard.

Walk to Pantheon for pizza dinner. I bought a CD……      

Eat top nosh (pizza) and then have coffee (helps me with the blog) at best coffee shop in the world (ever).                             

Tomorrow we aim north to Mananello and the home of Maserati, Ferrari and Lamborghini.

Cheers

Peter

San Marino to Rome

What a day of driving. Wow. We did a fantastic section today of about 70 miles of winding mountain roads between Assisi and Reiti. Roads were clear and the views fantastic. The car is going great and for the fist time i have found out what driving a Ferrari is all about. Absolutely fantastic. Try as i might i could not make the tyres squeal.

We stopped in the Colosseum for a celebration of 50 % of our journey complete and attracted quite a crowd. Dirving in Rome was as manic as expected! We are staying in a hotel just outside St. Peters square. Bit of an old monastery if you ask me but i suppose some people might find it nice.

Will get round to posting some more pick when possible.

Mille Miglia Start of Route - Day 4

This is it, the day we have looked forward to for quite some time.

Up nice and early and drive through quiet Sunday morning Bresica (making quite a bit of throaty/roaring noise) to the Mille Miglia start/finish line.

An elderly chap walks past and we press him into action to take a ‘start line picture’. ‘Prego’ he says, ‘We’ll be back’ is the reply and off we roar.

2 mins later the sign ‘Route Barre’ spoils the moment, but we quickly re-group and set off to Lake Guarda which is awesome.

10 mins later a cycle race forces a radical re-think of our route. GPS suggests a rocky path that has pain and suffering written all over it. A long detour follows. Did Stirling Moss have this problem?

Off to Verona.

Verona is a 100% top quality destination. Superb, quaint Italian walking streets where the gentle hustle and bustle of daily life was shattered by a few noisy inconsiderate motor cars. Don’t know how we managed it but we drove down the main walking streets, through crowds of newly adoring fans.

Any young lady reading this blog should consider herself extremely fortunate should her Beau suggest a weekend away in Verona. Such a chap will almost certainly reap the rewards fit for the very mightiest of Kings.

Onwards through bits of Italy where the road surface is not TVR friendly.

Watch F1 start in an odd bar where bread is considered fresh if less than 1 yr old. I won't say we were hungry but it reminded me of a poem by my favourite wordsmith.

'A thousand hairy savages sitting down to lunch. Gobble, gobble, glup, glup, munch, munch, munch.' Who knows the author?

Leo gets flashed by roadside camera.  ‘It was the other guy’ he claims….. In his defence (mi-lud) The speed limit is 30mph everywhere.

We are all overtaken by a top chap in a very old Lancia Fulva. The car was very well restored but he overtook over a hill on a blind bend. He has no plan B!

Arrive in San Marino. Significant other halfs: If Verona doesn’t work then San Marino will.

A few beers and tiredness kicks in. All in bed by 11:30.

We are 1,100+ driving miles from home. 

Rome tomorrow!

Dom is keen to pass on NOTD, (awarded for checking water temp on air cooled car). Bob is nominated for ‘not knowing where he is ‘ (Team Porsche have no maps in the car!).  However, Dan steps up to the plate by asking Leo if they can listen to the F1 race on Five Live.  Dom has the chair………..

Apologies, camera cable in car deep in the bowels of our hotel. I will send a double set of pics tomorrow. We have some superb ‘Boy band’ snaps…Who needs Verona/San Marino with shots like these?

Cheers

Peter

Mille Miglia 2009 - Underway

The day started as planned with a short drive from the hotel to the start line. Nice quiet Sunday morning with few cars on the road. Perfect!

The first part of the route is a lap around the old tow on Brescia and then onto to Verona via the southern shore of Lake Garda. We travelled no more than 100 yards when we encountered our first problem – Road closed – X#!X!!#~ - no matter our navigating TVR team found an alternative and we continued towards Lake Garda – only to find another road closed there and another diversion. Another few miles further on in open country side we were stopped by yet another road closure due to a cycle race going past. So the first 40 miles of our 1000 mile journey had taken about 3 hours!!! Not a good sign.

We eventually found our way to Verona and went through the city centre which was spectacular – we crossed the river 4 time on our route through.

Lunch was timed to coincide with the Belgium Grand Prix which was good to see the first Ferrari win of the season. Ferrara was another scenic town we went through and the cars attracted a lot of attention as the streets were crowded in the centre.

Then onto Rimini and then out first night stop in San Marino at the Grand Hotel. The underground car park was a bit of a squeeze.

First leg complete

I can now reveal that Bob was crowned our first Nob of the Day for his car opening gaff. Apparently he had bought two new batteries for his key fob at the cost of £10 and was disappointed the car door would not open, however the bulb in the fob was very bright and cheery.

First car problems are starting to appear. TVR indicator bulb blown and Porsche under tray flapping and needs fixing. TVR bulb fixed, Bob’s gaffer tape solution needs refining.

James did not know where his bonnet release was. NOTD?

Drove south from Colmar through Basle and then Zurich and in to the Alps. Original plan was to do the Davos to Stevlio road dubbed by Top Gear as best road in the world ever. However, a bunch of cyclists had put their towels  down first and the road was closed to cars.

Team TVR, Porsche and Maserati re-route and climb the St Bernadino pass which was absolutely awesome. Lots of very tight first gear hairpin bends snaking up a mountain side.

 Bob was worried about the hot weather so he asked Dom to check the water temp, which he did. Our regular readers will know Bob’s car is air cooled so NOTD hat beckons.

Carry on down through Logano and into Brescia for ice cold beer. Long, hot day.

Meet up with Team Ferrari. The Mille Miliga gang is complete!!

Minor crisis at the hotel . Team TVR are allocated a matrimonial room (one big bed). Twin beds? - ‘Its impossible’ says the girly on reception. Is she referring to changing the bedding arrangements or Paul and me sharing a duvet? The crisis rumbles on.

Another amazing feature of the matrimonial room is that the bathroom is separated from the bedroom by a thinly glazed glass window enabling a view of the bathroom occupant. Must be a weird Italian cultural thing.  Not very popular for two British gents on tour.

Top quality night out in Brescia. Our catering manager (Ralph) find a great restaurant with a chef from Ipswich who knows a thing or two about Italian cooking.

Even better, Paul rectifies the sleeping arrangements and we now have two single beds. 

Zzzzzzzzzzzz

Cheers

Peter

The Stelvio Pass......or not!

Set of bright and early this morning to tackle the Stelvio. Passed hundreds of cyclists on the way there - must be nuts to want to cycle in these mountains, much easier with a V8! Police man stops us just before the pass starts - i wasn't speeding honest - and tells us that the pass is closed for the day due to a major cycling rally.

X!X@!X!#!##@!!XXX!!#!! was my first reaction

X!X@!X!#!##@!!XXX!!#!!X!X@!X!#!##@!!XXX!!#!! was my second reaction

Then i had a bright idea. Drive into Switzerland, over the top of the first half of the pass and then join it from the other end. Arrived there 45 mins later to find the road shut fromt he Swiss side as well X!X@!X!#!##@!!XXX!!#!!

The receive a text from the other teams to see that they are making good progress and they are going to do the Davos - Stelvio road.... I call to give them the bad news and they went via the St. Gotthard pass instead, a good second choice.  We then decided a route via the italian Sking village of Livigno was out best option. On the way there we went through a very long and very small tunnel - about 10 miles. The 3.2 V8 sounded good, very good at 7500rpm. This cheered me up a bit. We had to pay €10 to use the tunnel but it was worth every cent.

TEam TVR, Team Prosche & Team Maserati - Day 2

Off at the crack of dawn and away from the multifarious delights of Hythe.  820AM Chunnel and into France. Weather is top quality and we make great time. Lots of driving, and then some more.

Dom was thankful for every mile between him and ‘Mr Kashimr Mankini 2009’.

Team Maserati catch chunnel mid morning, after very early start, and commence the chase.

Lunch close to Laon which was odd.  An English Salad consisted of ham, lettuce, pate and some other undefined greasy meaty stuff which we all ignored. Plus chips. (noooooooo!)

Team Maserati (James and Ralph) catch up with us at Metz for coffee at a dodgy Buffalo Grill.

Carry on to Colmar which is very pretty and serves cold beer in hotel bar. Aaaaahhhh! Very Big Day!

Dom V. Happy as his special friend from Hythe is 400 miles away.

Top eve in Colmar, it’s a very pretty town also known as ‘The Venice of France’. We didn’t find many rivers or canals, just a small stream.  But hey, who’s counting?

Big decision this eve.  Dom and Bob will be navigating tomorrow (Saturday). The plan is to do the Davos to Stevlio pass. This is the Top Gear ‘best road in the world – ever’. No pressure.  

Nob of the Day is open. Two candidates; Bob has spent the last two years trying to open his car with a small light bulb and James who does not know whether his car has a turbo or not…….

Cheers

Peter

Italy at Last - Team Ferrari win first Leg

Team Ferrari are the first to cross the Italian border hence first round of drinks in Brescia are at the expense of the other teams.  Rules are rules even if i have just made them up....



Yes Dan and I made in to our hotel in the village of.... well actually i don't know what it is called... but it is near the Italian Swiss border and it is definitely in Italy, although nobody here actually speaks Italian, they speak a strange german dialect that nobody seems to be able to understand (you can look on this region as the Wales of Italy). Anyway we arrived and our first disappointment was that the hotel car park was virtually on the street with no security and a bunch of unsavoury characters were eyeballing our wares as we drove in. After inquiring at the reception desk i was politely told that there was no garage or alternative parking. Worried and disappointed I returned to the car. Next minute, seeing the Ferrari  the hotel manager rushes out, cries "Sacre Bleu" - or at least the strange German dialect version and gesticulates me to get in the car and drive across the road to another building with a large garage - on driving in i am told to park next to his own Ferrari which of course i do. Happy Leo!!! Turns out he is a bit of a fan (in spite of being German) and the hotel walls are adorned with prancing horse regalia.



In spite of this (and definitely not because of) the hotel itself is pretty grotty. The saving grace is its pool, sauna and steam rooms. After driving through the night for 960 miles that is exactly what the doctor ordered. As a matter of fact i think every home should have one. All except for the 95 year old naked german lady that Dan managed to walk in on - poor chap is going to need some counselling when he gets home. 


Now, beered and dined we are heading to bed as the ungodly hour of 8.30pm. Tomorrow the Stelvio pass awaits - photos and hopefully video awaits!


Leo

Pit Stop In Germany

TEam TVR & Team Porsche - Day 1

Team TVR and Porsche meet up at Holiday Inn in MK and drive down to Hythe (next to Chunnel). All uneventful! For our corporate readers departure time was just after 5PM, obviously.

The Swan Hotel in Hythe is a bit different in real life to its internet persona.  However, any hotel with a bar serving London Pride is going to be popular.

Wandered round the Hythe sprawling metropolis and managed to find an average curry house.

Found another bar selling Spitfire! Superb!

Posters saying ‘Rear gunners drink lager shandy’, ‘Don’t mention the Spitfire’, ‘4-2’, ‘Vots so funny about ze posters’ and ‘Have the sun beds, we’re going to the bar’ etc kept us giggling. Can you decode the Bletchley Park poster attached?

Back to The Swan and Dom makes a new friend. The gentleman in question was particularly concerned about Dom’s welfare. ‘Is that a bruise sir?’ The liaison was doomed to failure, primarily because Dom’s grasp of Kasmiri is too limited for even the most basic conversation, plus he was clearly not even slightly interested.

Early start on Friday and onto the chunnel.

All chaps and cars running top!

Germany 7am

You would not believe the traffic around Frankfurt at 5am. It was like the M25 on a Friday afternoon! The main difference is that this traffic jam was moving at 100 mph....

Still slogging through Germany as I write this. We have done 611 miles so far, only another 344 to go today. I would add a photo but the camera is in the boot....must remember to get it out at the next stop.

Channel Tunnel

Just arrived at Tunnel.  1 hour early!  Should have taken it easier down the M20!