Alps to the Ring Tour - Epilogue

 Well, we're back home to dreary work - but what a trip!!

Let's start with some stats (for me):

Mileage: 1,866 miles
MPG: 23.5

Fuel: £514 (mix of 98 and 95)
Food: £497
Hotels: £320 (7 nights)
Tolls: £33

Weather

The one factor you have absolutely no control over - we did have 3 days of rain at the start, which made the Swiss Alp passes a little less exciting than they could have been but they were still impressive. After that, it was dry and warm, turning to hot and sweltering for the last 2 days.

I have been spoilt by my 2 previous Euro trips that were wall-to-wall sunshine, so I guess I'm owed something lesser this time around - can't complain.

The Roads

The main reason for going - our crowded little island (especially in the SE) is a real struggle to enjoy if you are an enthusiastic driver.

France is, in my experience, the best country for roads-to-traffic ratio. You can drive for miles in France without seeing a roundabout, a traffic light, any signs of humanity and only the occasional car. The only downside is that when you do get into a town, they do like their speed bumps.

Switzerland has the best quality roads, no speed bumps and low traffic density as well. The scenery is awesome but the food is very expensive - pretty much double UK prices. And Swiss people are not very friendly - sorry if any are reading this.

Germany has great roads but there is a lot of traffic UNLESS you stick to the L and K roads - no-one on those and they are lovely. However, being such a populated country, there are little towns every 5 miles or so even on the fun roads, so you don't get long stretches of hooliganism before you have to slow for a town.

Luxembourg is beautiful, roads as good as Switzerland but we literally took about 45 minutes to get across the whole country.

Belgium is much like England - bad surfaces and busy traffic on main roads but we did find some smaller roads that were clear and fun.

The Cars

My son's C63 was the star and the villain of the trip. He started blowing blue smoke early on, which we thought was an over-filled oil level but we now believe was a blocked breather pipe. This increased crankcase pressure and forced oil up into the cylinders to be burned off. A specialist assured my son it wasn't going to do any harm but he did get a crack in his oil cap, possibly due to the higher pressure. Another large bill for him - and he has to buy a new under tray after it broke on the autobahn speed trials.

But his C63 also did 200mph (!!!) on the autobahn, did an 8.20 around the Ring AND overtook a Ring taxi in the process - amazing achievements for an almost stock car.

Barry did actually have a CEL twice on the trip. We checked it with a scanner and it showed a 'warm catalyst efficiency' issue, whatever the heck that means, Possibly a new leak in the front section of my exhaust? Whatever, it seemed to have no ill-effects, went away by itself and Barry was faultless otherwise.

The Myths

Whenever you tell anyone that you're going on a trip like this, you ALWAYS get the same comments;

"watch out for trucks pulling out on you on the autobahn"
"you will die"
"watch out for Ring taxis, they're crazy"
"you will die"
"watch out for crazy Poles in knackered out Golfs on the Ring"
"you will die"
"watch out for the police - they're everywhere"
"you will die"
"when you crash on the Ring, you'll need to sell a kidney to pay for it",
"you will die" etc, etc.

I can only assume that very few people have actually been on a Euro trip - we saw maybe 5 police cars on the entire trip, even in supposedly car-hating Switzerland. One drove past me as I was parked illegally (in a bus lane) trying to get a photo of the Nurburgring sign - didn't bat an eyelid. I got a £65 fine for stopping for 30 seconds in a bus lane in London once!

The Ring was scary just because of the speed of other cars but if you've done a track day before and have done your research (YT, simulators) on the track layout, it was just great fun. The majority of the people you see crashing in all those YT videos are numpties who don't have the first clue of what a racing line is.

While I'm on the subject, to go on the Ring, you pay 35 euros and drive on; no booking, no safety briefing, no signing forms, no helmet needed. Despite this casual attitude, there are only 2 or 3 deaths a year on the Ring and no-one complains because we all know the risks and accept that responsibility. Compare that to H&S-mad UK, where you have to do all of those things just to go on a frigging go-kart track!

Finally...

This was my 3rd Euro trip and arguably the best because of something I hadn't expected to be that good - the Nurburgring. Like many urban legends, I was always worried that it would be a disappointment but nothing could be further from the truth; it was awesome. Not just the track itself but the whole aura around the area. Everyone you  see there is a dedicated petrol-head, loud rumbling cars patrol endlessly, the shops and cafe's are all car-themed - it is just a car lovers heaven.

Overall, it was yet another sublime road trip and just makes me want to emigrate to France or Switzerland - it's such a great driving experience out there.

Barry performed swimmingly and my son's car was a monster in every area. Best of all, he absolutely loved the trip, loved the thrill of the autobahn and especially the Ring and is already thinking about next year. To me, that is priceless.

Here's my video of the trip - not much cop because I screwed up the audio settings on my camera, so most of my footage had no sound and I've added lots of music, which you may not like. But, hey, it's a laugh...

Until next time...au revoir!

Goodwood Good

 The amazing summer-like weather we are having continued, just in time for Barry's first track day at Goodwood.

I'd only booked half a day because Goodwood is expensive and the afternoon sold out very quickly, so we had the morning booked. There were a few of us going from the Surrey Porkers group and we met up at 7am in Petworth centre:

Arriving at the circuit, an iconic shot of us all in the famous (are they?) Goodwood paddocks:

 Registration and noise tests done ok, out for the first 15 minute session:

I had a passenger, one of the group who was not there to go on track and was taking pictures and videos. The first session was fairly slow as I got used to the track. I had done a few hours on the simulator where I crashed a lot - fortunately, it is much easier in real life. Each session only had 10 cars at a time on track and with such a short session, we rarely caught or were caught by anyone else, so you just had time to sort out your lines - my best time was 1:56.

In between sessions, had a look at the competition - a beautiful sounding Aston was quick as hell:

There were a couple of Atoms and Beemers that were quick but nothing else too excessive:

My 2nd session was much of the same and much quicker - a best of 1:49, so a good 7 seconds improvement.

Session 3 was my best - a reasonable 1:46 being my best time of the day and I was actually a second slower in session 4, the final session before lunch (which was very nice, as you might expect from Goodwood).

I was glad I hadn't paid for a full day - my brakes were starting to feel a bit soft and I felt I had 'done' the track. I didn't want to risk pushing harder just to gain another second on my lap time.

Below is some video of the last session:

Overall, it was huge fun - 120mph down the back straight and the lovely flat 6 wail past the pits which sounded awesome to me - I hope others noticed and appreciated it.

Barry did incredibly well - brakes were starting to go off in the last session and were not really up to a track (I was braking much earlier than a couple of the more track-oriented cars, as you'd expect) but it was perfect for just having fun. Suspension was really good for a road car - a little bit of roll but not bad at all. Nothing broke or fell off - great result, great day.

Having said that, on the drive home, there was a new noise from the rear brakes which sounds like maybe a warped brake pad/disc or maybe just a build-up of brake dust - I'll see if it is still there next time.

I had a great day BUT I'm not in a desperate rush to do more track days - they're fun but ultimately, you're driving round and round in a circle on the same 2 mile stretch of road. I much prefer a road trip with 100+ miles of unknown road ahead of me.

Brooklands Mayhem

 Brooklands museum held it's annual German car day and it was excellent...

The Surrey Porkers met up at a car park just outside Brooklands:

We drove over and queued up for a few minutes:

....and we had a very prominent position set aside for us (not quite sure how we managed that):

About 14 of us in total had a very enjoyable day. There was a Porsche-only event here a few weeks ago but I personally prefer a bit of variety, although, for some reason, I didn't take any pics - sorry about that. Suffice to say, huge numbers of Beemers, Audi's, Porsches, VWs - even an Audi A2 club (anyone remember that box from the early 00s?).

My son also came along in his C63 and the highlight of the day was his run up the Brooklands hill - while there were other C63s and similarly-powered cars there, nothing beats a C63 with a yobbo driving it. My son spun his wheels up the length of the hill, leaving an awesome tyre mark, lots of smoke and a cheering crowd. He had his 15 minutes of fame as numerous people came over to thank him, including the head of the MB sales team who personally owns a C63 and was heard to say to a potential customer, "this is the new C63 - but its not really" (the new C63 has a 4 litre V8, not the full-fat 6.3 litre). Video below:

I do wish I'd had a go in my car but it just didn't occur to me - next year.

My new exhaust is settling in nicely and sounds great, really enjoying the bass roar.

Wales, 2024

 And so to Barry's first proper road trip - and what a corker it was...

I've said it before but NEVER change a trip just because of a weather forecast. One week ago, the forecast was predicting monsoon rains across Wales - the reality couldn't have been more different and roof's stayed down for the entire trip.

However, the trip up to Gloucester on Thursday evening after work was worrying - the monsoon did happen and I've rarely driven in rain that hard - a very good test of Barry's drains. We arrived around 9pm to a pretty nice hotel with a brand new and almost empty bar - we even had to go find the barman to get us a drink.

There were to be 4 of us on this trip; me in my 987, my son in his BMW M2, Vic in his 981 and Tony (joining us in the morning as he only lived 40 mins away) in his lovely, blue 981.

Day 1 - Gloucester to Llangynog - 163 miles

The day dawned sunny and bright and we drove 2 minutes from the hotel for breakfast in an excellent little cafe, who did a great bacon and egg roll and provided inspiration:

The route to our first coffee stop in Hay-on-Wye was a sign of things to come; twisty, pretty good surface (at least, compared to Surrey) but quite a lot of traffic. We managed to park right in the centre of Hay, with a cafe right next to the cars:

The route onwards continued to be excellent fun and we arrived at our lunch stop (we didn't go hungry on this trip) in the pretty town of Llandrindod Wells - a lovely cafe by the lake:

Parking was a squeeze but we all got in...

The A483 from Crossgates to Newtown was a beautifully smooth, curving run through stunning greenery, only let down by the 2 vans who drove just fast enough to prevent us over-taking on the very few straights.

A few narrow roads and some brilliant B-roads brought us to Lake Vyrnwy (yeah, try pronouncing that!) for our final stop of the day at the ice-cream shop there - very nice. We found a good spot further round the lake to get my drone up and I'll add some video at a later date:

The road around the lake is truly stunning; huge trees, moss-encrusted rocks and a sublime road that twists and turns, with no traffic - wonderful.

We arrived at the hotel for the night pretty knackered - and the hotel was a story in itself. Called the New Inn, it was 'new' in much the same way the 'New Forest' is new; probably first built in the 17th century and not been much updated since - well, certainly not this century. Our room had a large wet patch on the carpet, underneath a tear in the ceiling, where water had obviously leaked. I found out later that my bed was also wet - fortunately, there were 3 other beds in the room. However, the less said about the shower, the better...view from my room below:

The evening meal was pretty reasonable, the beer was cheap and the pool table was ours all evening - my son had a crash course and was surprisingly good. I slept very well that night...

Day 2 - Llangynog to Rhayader - 183 miles

The sun was out again in the morning as we headed off to Lake Bala; a narrow, single lane road along one side and the main A road on the other:

The A5 to Betws-y-Coed is a truly stunning road through lovely scenery but clogged with traffic at the best of times, more so on a hot, sunny day that we had. But perfect for a convertible and we stopped in Betws for coffee in the sun:

I'd always planned to skip the Llanberis Pass as, beautiful as it is, it's always rammed with coaches crawling down it and today was no exception - one turned off to the pass in front of us. The roads in the area were still quite busy but we had patches of excellent B-road mayhem, the 3 Porsches trying to keep up with my son's mental M2. Considering we had over 100bhp less, we did well.

Lunch was at the Ffestiniog railway station, a regular haunt for me on previous trips and a great location. My son learnt all about steam engines as the train thundered past during our meal:

The run down the coast, via Harlech and Barmouth was a fun cruise with a great view out to sea and my son's confusion at the Penmaenpool toll bridge when the man asked him for £1 was a giggle - he had never heard of the concept (kids, hey?).

Afternoon coffee stop was at another well-known place to me, the Two Hoots cafe in Devil's Bridge, where we experienced the only bit of rain on the trip (not enough to put the roof up) - nice cake:

The final leg of the day was arguably the best of the trip - the Elan Valley. This is always good because, despite the narrow roads, bumpy surface and blind crests, there is almost no traffic, long sight lines and the roads are like a go-kart track, which really test the car. Add in some sun and it is nigh-on perfection - we tore along it, the M2 leading and gradually pulling away from us, me giggling insanely at several points as Barry snicked from side to side. If cars could talk, I'm sure Barry would have been cackling as well...what a drive! We had planned to stop in the middle and take some pics but we were having way too much fun for that.

We pulled into The Bear, which was not a pub, as I had expected with a name like that but just a very luxurious (compared to the New Inn) B&B. We ate in a very nice local pub and had a few beers while the only serious rain of the trip thundered down outside. It only lasted an hour or 2 and the roads were almost dry by the time we stumbled out back to the B&B.

Day 3 - Rhayader to Hereford - 195 miles

After the rain on the previous night, all the water was obviously gone and there wasn't a cloud in the sky as we set off, back through the Elan Valley. We took a slightly different route past the lakes, which were really beautiful before joining the road we had taken yesterday, in the opposite direction. This time, we took it more leisurely....nah, nah, we didn't - we barreled down it at only slightly less of warp speed - damn, that is a truly great road. 

We were supposed to stop at the Two Hoots for morning coffee but it was decided it was too early, so we soldiered on. Being Sunday and Wales being a little more traditional, lots of places were shut, so lunch was sandwiches from a petrol station.

The roads continued to be glorious; smooth, flowing with bursts of lunacy possible; there is little better in the world than seeing your sat-nav telling you that the next turn is 20 miles away.

The final highlight of the trip was the Black Mountain road through the Brecon Beacons, a short, twisty road that rises up to some splendid views. Sadly, this road has been somewhat tamed by average speed cameras that first appeared last year, so much so that this may be my last visit to this road - the rest of the Brecons are either tiny, single lanes or main, traffic-clogged A roads (unless I'm missing something). The view, however, is always breathtaking:

It may not look like it but the car park was packed, so we weren't able to park together for a better group shot, although my son made up for it by taking another 30 odd pics of his car, as he did at almost every place we stopped.

The last 30 miles or so were relatively tame on those busy but pretty A-roads, to an isolated pub outside Hereford. Vic left us at this point to get straight home that night, while we had to resort to ordering a Pizza Hut delivery - the pub stopped doing food at 4pm. From about 7pm, we had the pub and the pool table to ourselves - a fun night and we also taught my son a little about darts - every day is a school day for some...

Day 4 - Hereford to home - 178 miles

The last day of a road trip is always a bit depressing - saying goodbye, knowing you are returning to drudgery and work (well, for some). We said our goodbye's to Tony who had a nice route planned back through the Cotswolds and we set off in blazing sunshine again.

My son and I had originally planned to amble along to the M4 and shoot home but the weather was too beautiful to be wasted on a motorway, so we stuck to the long route. On any other day, it would have been huge fun but, compared to the previous 3 days, it was a little slow with too much traffic (although still MUCH better than the motorway slog). We got home around 4pm and another great trip was in the bag.

Epilogue

After 839 miles, zero car issues, no chats with plod and the best weather of the year so far in this country, I feel I can safely say the trip was a resounding success. It was always a risk going away with complete strangers but Vic and Tony proved to be kindred spirits in a desire to use these cars as the designers intended and not to get too upset by the ever-growing coats of dirt their cars accumulated - many thanks to you both. 

This is my 2nd road trip with my son and I love the fact we have this interest in common (I feel safe in writing this, he's a yoof and he won't read 'words') - I hope there will be more with him. Although I think he has enough photo's of his car now...please stop taking pics at EVERY stop!

I always leave my final words for the most important member of the trip - my car. This was Barry's first road trip and he performed flawlessly. Considering that he is 19 years old (the oldest car I have ever owned), it astounds me how comfortable, smooth and fast he is. In the full twisties, he was keeping up with a much younger, far more powerful BMW - only the straights saw him lag behind a little.

Roll on the next trip...

Video of the trip - apologies for all the music but I forgot I had my stereo on while filming, so I couldn't easily edit it unless I plastered music all over it...

Run to the River

 So a decent run out with the Surrey Porksters, from Fairoaks airfield in Chobham to Benson (yeah, never heard of it) in Oxfordshire...

The clocks had gone back so the 7am alarm call was actually 6am and I had a few drinks the night before with friends, so I was pretty knackered. But it was dry with the potential for sun later, so roof down and a fun 50 minute drive to the airfield to meet the others:

Just the 5 of us but it was Easter Sunday so lots of people had family commitments. The traffic was pretty light so we had some good blats along some nice roads (pics courtesy of Artur in the red Cayman):

The Waterfront cafe did a very nice omelette:

The others had to get back so took the motorway- I tried to use my newish Tomtom satnav to take me a more fun route home but failed miserably. It was set to 'thrilling' which basically meant the tiniest, single track lanes - not what I wanted. I changed it to 'short' and that was better, although the M4 corridor is not the greatest place for nice roads.

I happened to be driving past Blackbushe Airport and stopped to have a quick look as they had a car meet there that day but it was done by the time I got there at 12. However, a kit car friend invited me round (he'd been at Blackbushe earlier and lived down the road), so I popped over for a coffee and chat.

The sun was out for the rest of my drive home, which was lovely - can't beat a convertible in good weather.

For the first time, I used my camera to film the run. However, the mount, stuck to the wind deflector, vibrates far too much, so the video at speed wasn't good. However, a short video was produced:

In other news, my son has had more bad luck - the turbo on his Golf GTi let go. Its going to a garage to see how bad it is - if he is lucky, it's just the turbo and will cost him £1200 or so to fix (lucky he just got a bonus at work).

However, this setback had him thinking again and he came up with an idea; he'd buy Barry off me and that way I could still drive him occasionally AND keep Zedster. I'm not sure about that - I'm not really keen on part-ownership but he bought an insurance policy (same price as the Golf) and he's had a few drives over the weekend.

His verdict was that Barry was great to drive (especially with the roof down) but the manual gearbox will be wearing on his commutes to work, so thankfully, that idea is out.

Booked tickets for the Goodwoood revival in September- only been once before and I stupidly took the kids who wanted to come home after an hour. Just me this time...