Calais to Monza

[Four Litre]

Got a few friends going to the Italian F1 in september and were planning on driving down there, leaving on a Friday to arrive Sunday.

Were looking to get through France ASAP and into the alps, has anyone done this and if so what roads are worth doing, also can anyone reccomend any places to stay??

[Ali2202]

That's quite a big trip in a short time! I'd recommend you take an extra day to do it. Amongst other routes, we've done Calais-Reims-Colmar-Varenna (1 hour North of Monza). All really special (apart from Calais obviously!) although it was more a mileage-munching exercise vs a hoonfest. If you're going to go seeking great driving roads then you need longer again I think.

Have fun!

[XJ Flyer]

It's mainly a choice of using the French autoroutes at least to Reims and Strasbourg then cross into Germany at Kehl and follow the autobahn to Basel then through Switzerland to Vevey then use either the St Bernard or Simplon.Or go through Belgium to Aachen and then either to Karlsruhe then Basel etc,or Kempten and use either the Brenner or Timmelsjoch into Italy.The Austrian route is a bit further but saves the French autoroute tolls and/or Swiss motorway vignette.Most of that is best done overnight with an evening crossing from Dover.In which case it's not difficult to do it in one hit crossing the alps early in the morning which is the best time before the traffic clogs up the passes.Unless you want to make a longer tour of it it's not really worth getting involved with all the traffic of daytime running and breaking it into two by stopping overnight.There are plenty of the usual modern chain hotels on the outskirts of Milan for staying near the circuit.

Edited by XJ Flyer on Tuesday 15th July 18:25

[s70rmp]

We did this last year, left the UK on Thursday morning and arrived on Saturday afternoon after doing a few Alp passes
I'd recommend you give yourselves an extra day it a long way and see a few sights

There's an Aldi just around the corner from the main entrance to Monza and we found parking around there great.

Once race is over I'd suggest you get the hell out of there ! We got out no issues but heard other people say it was a nightmare.

[dcb]

XJ Flyer said:

It's mainly a choice of using the French autoroutes at least to Reims and Strasbourg then cross into Germany at Kehl and follow the autobahn to Basel then through Switzerland to Vevey then use either the St Bernard or Simplon.Or go through Belgium to Aachen and then either to Karlsruhe then Basel etc,or Kempten and use either the Brenner or Timmelsjoch into Italy. The Austrian route is a bit further but saves the French autoroute tolls and/or Swiss motorway vignette.

It seems you fancy the long way around, since *none* of the routes
offered by Google use either Germany or Austria.

For example, Kempten detour at least 120 miles further.
It's a nice place, but not worth that detour ;->

XJ Flyer said:

Most of that is best done overnight with an evening crossing from Dover.In which case it's not difficult to do it in one hit

Crikey.

Google has it as 710 miles and that's the short way across France and Switzerland, not
including any of the scenic detours to Germany and Austria you suggest.

Unless the drivers are particularly masochistic *and* travelling on their own,
I'd suggest 710 miles minimum as two longish days.

Body chemistry suggests we are less alert during the night and so the risk of accident
much much higher, so driving overnite to be avoided by anyone taking a careful approach.

Just a few ideas, and indeed, each to their own.

[Four Litre]

Are there any particular "special" roads that we can travel on, know there are quite a few mountain passes etc but not sure which ones are better than others.

[s70rmp]

depends on how much time you are giving yourselves.

that why we went on the Thursday am so we could have a play on the Alp passes.

[don logan]

You want to arrive on race day?

I find a day out at Monza quite knackering, I wouldn`t really want to arrive and then spend the day on my feet.

Sticking to your plan I would do Calais to Chamonix in a day (7.5hrs) next day drive north heading for Martigny using the Col De Forclaz then head for the Grande Bernard which will drop you down into the Aoste valley where the driving fun will end and motorway will begin, you could then drive all the way to Monza and save the aggro on Sunday morning!

OR

Head through the tunnel from Chamonix into Italy, turn right for the Petite St Bernard (and through the famous Italian Job tunnel) when you arrive in Seez turn left for the Col De Iseran, then left through the Frejus tunnel (or the Col De Mon Cenis) then head back upwards via Susa / Torino and knacker yourselves and spend about £80 on the 2 big tunnels!

[MC Bodge]

I have always found that I can cover ground more quickly in Eastern France than I can in Germany, despite the autobahn. Driving on an unlimited autobahn is an experience though.

[dcb]

MC Bodge said:

I have always found that I can cover ground more quickly in Eastern France than I can in Germany, despite the autobahn. Driving on an unlimited autobahn is an experience though.

I wouldn't consider it prudent to encourage inexperienced and
mostly untrained British drivers onto the German autobahn.

Let's not forget that the Brits still don't have motorway training
as standard on their driving tests in their 70 mph country. Almost all
the rest of Europe does have that training as standard, however.

According to the German Government, the 85th percentile speed on the German
autobahn is currently around 170 kph, so about 15% of the traffic is doing over 105 mph.

[MC Bodge]

dcb said:

I wouldn't consider it prudent to encourage inexperienced and
mostly untrained British drivers onto the German autobahn.

Let's not forget that the Brits still don't have motorway training
as standard on their driving tests in their 70 mph country. Almost all
the rest of Europe does have that training as standard, however.

According to the German Government, the 85th percentile speed on the German
autobahn is currently around 170 kph, so about 15% of the traffic is doing over 105 mph.

Er, whatever.

It's really not a big deal to drive on it.

[Muzzer79]

dcb said:

I wouldn't consider it prudent to encourage inexperienced and
mostly untrained British drivers onto the German autobahn.

Let's not forget that the Brits still don't have motorway training
as standard on their driving tests in their 70 mph country. Almost all
the rest of Europe does have that training as standard, however.

According to the German Government, the 85th percentile speed on the German
autobahn is currently around 170 kph, so about 15% of the traffic is doing over 105 mph.

WTF? Are you for real?

[dcb]

Muzzer79 said:

WTF? Are you for real?

15 % of the traffic doing more than 50% more than the UK limit ?
Sure there are safety concerns.

Even if the Brit driver isn't doing 110 + mph, those around
them will be *and* expecting them to cope, heavy traffic or not.

Some attention to the driving is required on the German autobahn,
unlike many Brit motorways, where a light doze seems to be
the primary activity of most drivers.

[MC Bodge]

dcb said:

Muzzer79 said:

WTF? Are you for real?

15 % of the traffic doing more than 50% more than the UK limit ?
Sure there are safety concerns.

Even if the Brit driver isn't doing 110 + mph, those around
them will be *and* expecting them to cope, heavy traffic or not.

Some attention to the driving is required on the German autobahn,
unlike many Brit motorways, where a light doze seems to be
the primary activity of most drivers.

Let's assume that the person asking isn't a complete idiot shall we?

You don't need to be some sort of Übermensch to drive on the autobahn and it's not frightening or dodgy, (other than the Belgians...)

Let's get back on topic.

[XJ Flyer]

dcb said:

MC Bodge said:

I have always found that I can cover ground more quickly in Eastern France than I can in Germany, despite the autobahn. Driving on an unlimited autobahn is an experience though.

I wouldn't consider it prudent to encourage inexperienced and
mostly untrained British drivers onto the German autobahn.

Let's not forget that the Brits still don't have motorway training
as standard on their driving tests in their 70 mph country. Almost all
the rest of Europe does have that training as standard, however.

According to the German Government, the 85th percentile speed on the German
autobahn is currently around 170 kph, so about 15% of the traffic is doing over 105 mph.

I was wondering how long it would be before the PH anti speed lobby started calling for Brit drivers to be speed limited or banned from German autobahns because it doesn't suit their ideology.The fact is how are those who don't agree with such communist type ideas going to get the experience if they don't make that first flat out run when the opportunity arises.Although as I said those opportunities won't arise very often unless it's an overnight run at least for the German part of the route.As for 105 mph not really that's still in good acceleration in 4th territory before shifting up to fifth at around 5,500 rpm which equates to 125 mph in my case.The Germans were just lying to keep their brake supporters happy.

Edited by XJ Flyer on Saturday 26th July 18:04

[XJ Flyer]

MC Bodge said:

I have always found that I can cover ground more quickly in Eastern France than I can in Germany, despite the autobahn. Driving on an unlimited autobahn is an experience though.

I think it's safe to assume that part of the 'fun' of a quick long distance trip to a race meeting is to drive a quick car as quick as possible if/when the opportunity arises.France obviously being not much better than here in that regard compared to Germany at the right time in the right place.

[Four Litre]

dcb said:

MC Bodge said:

I have always found that I can cover ground more quickly in Eastern France than I can in Germany, despite the autobahn. Driving on an unlimited autobahn is an experience though.

I wouldn't consider it prudent to encourage inexperienced and
mostly untrained British drivers onto the German autobahn.

Let's not forget that the Brits still don't have motorway training
as standard on their driving tests in their 70 mph country. Almost all
the rest of Europe does have that training as standard, however.

According to the German Government, the 85th percentile speed on the German
autobahn is currently around 170 kph, so about 15% of the traffic is doing over 105 mph.

Thanks buddy, but I am a few years past 17!