Top Gear Style Challenge...but which vehicle!

[Mark.]

So, purely for the hell of it and something to do one weekend the wife and I are going to 'race' my daughter and her friend from the centre of Amsterdam to home.

Plan is the standard TG fayre. We all leave the location at the same time, the kids use public transport and the flights they have, to fly back to Gatwick then public transport home to Hayling Island. We hop in the car and go for it - via the tunnel.
Google Maps says 6 hours 34 mins, now I think this is going to be quite a tight call, as the possibility of delay take off/landing might add in, and they only have hand luggage so no queue at the arrivals belt. But the joker up my sleeve is the last leg, public transport from the station down the Island in notoriously poor and unreliable so I think it might not be too clear cut.

Dilema; which vehicle to take. 400 or so miles that it is would be a breeze in the boring car and we wouldn't even need to stop for fuel, or we could take something a little more spirited to drive, press on when possible to make up time but would need to stop probably twice to refuel. I reckon we can make the 4 hours or so from Amsterdam to the tunnel without needing a wee!

So what do you say? Which car?

And while we are at it - who will win? PH Virtual prize for correct answer with closest time difference.

[Mark.]

RedWhiteMonkey said:

... and you wouldn't speed anyway would you.

Me? No!

[Mark.]

BoRED S2upid said:

Hire a little fiat 500.

More detail please.

[Mark.]

RobM77 said:

Not sure about the car, but definitely choose a Sunday. Around here ew have buses instead of trains every other Sunday because of 'engineering works' - it takes bloody hours to get anywhere Your kids could spend all day just getting two hours drive away from Dover.

What part of Hants is that? They will be coming back on the train from Gatwick via Brighton - cos one of them needs to get off there.

Oh - and it'll just happen to be a Sunday too

[Mark.]

davepoth said:

Fun car, obviously. Especially if it's the one on your profile.

It'd be the Cerbera rather than the Chimaera - not that warm for roof down yet and the Cerb just has better GT legs.

[Mark.]

SimonV8ster said:

MX5 of course !!

[Mark.]

V8LM said:

durbster said:

Quality parenting

And you take the fun car, of course.

True. His daughter is seven.

But they grow so quick these days!

[Mark.]

tenohfive said:

Sounds like a bit of a naff idea of 'fun.'

You: sit on motorways for 7 hours.
Kids: sit on public transport for 7 hours.

Perhaps for Christmas your kids will get you a racing experience day with Scania.

Have you ever witness truck racing? If my daughter bought me that experience for Christmas I'd be well made up.

She will have been in Amsterdam for the week and I fancy going somewhere different for dinner one evening.

I'm sorry you find it naff.

[Mark.]

CDP said:

If you're going to have a pointless race for the fun of it why would you want to do it in anything less than a car that's pointless but for the fun of it?

Man logic I like

There is a minor point and that is the losers pay for the previous nights dinner - I will make sure I dine like a king!

[Mark.]

miln0039 said:

Brilliant. When's the big day (just give us a month if you don't want to be too specific!!)?

Also - route planning back from the tunnel is very important...can be a nightmare using the coastal route, especially on a Sunday when every Doris is out!!

Definitely the Cerb though A fast German exec would do the job just as easily, but it would feel like a bit of a non-event!

I think they are out there in April, so it'll happen in the next few weeks if I've not had an naff-attack and decided not to bother.

I did the coast route from the tunnel to Hayling once, I'll never do it again. would rather the extended tedium of motorways than negotiate that route again.

[Mark.]

tenohfive said:

unless a Maccy D's in the M3 services whilst you wait for the AA to arrive ... I'd say comfort and reliability wins.

Long shot here but I guess this refers to my choice of fun vehicle? If it's proper haute cusine I'm after I'd take a KFC any day.

I will confess to not feeling overtly smug last weekend as I passed a Porsche being recovered on a flatbed for fear of the inevitable happening and the Cerbra self destructing in an attempt to get on the back of the same flatbed and giving the 99x one up the twin exhaust.

[Mark.]

Well for those who care...

The car won, by almost an hour.

However, different set of circumstances it could all have been different. Our train left early, the flight was delayed etc.
If everything ran to time table I think there would genuinely be 5 mins in it - either way.

[Mark.]

Afraid not. Decided to take the tin top as it meant no need to stop for fuel. Also weather was really rough Friday morning and driving the TVR in that would have been plain madness - it was bad enough it the Audi.

[Mark.]

SimonMaidenhead said:

Good job your daughter played by the rules, I'd have changed flights and flown into Southampton

I don't let her go there unaccompanied.

[Mark.]

DJRC said:

From Hayling??????????Every time I crossed Langstone Bridge it felt a bit bridge of Doomy Still I do miss a summer's evening at The Ship out by bridge. Good pub.

Royal Oak is better still.

Not sure how long since you visited, but Hayling is very quiet, they even closed the police station.