Davos, Stelvio, San Bernardino, Col du Turini in a 430 Coupe
Discussion
New poster to this section but very excited having just got back yesterday from my euro blast, and wanted to share the experience with you, took out Ecurie25’s 430 Coupe (no affiliation, beyond being a customer, just pointing out it’s not my car) and what a blast that was! Inspired by that Top Gear episode with the GT3RS, Superleggera and the Aston “Race Car” I did the route in reverse.
Photos follow link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/martynj/sets/72157606...
Day 1 - Started with an Autoroute blast down the East of France into Switzerland first destination Davos. Now a tip for all budding travellers, Switzerland is a right faff to get into in a nice car. Border guards took one look at the 430, pulled me to one side and started questioning me about my intentions, finding it seemingly incredible that a man should travel from London to their country on holiday, without smuggling large steaming great piles of cash to deposit in their banking system under the radar of the authorities. My wallet of 200 Euro’s seemed to disappointment them immensely, so after a further 20 mins of car inspection, “yes the tyres are fine”, I was finally on my way with a smile from the cute female border guard. Nice
Started at 6am, arrived Davos 7.15pm local time, and was a great journey, pretty relaxed.
Day 2 - Woke up super early to jump on the Fluelastrasse (28) to head to Stelvio. What a road! It even had banked hairpins! Smooth as a billiard table, that was my road of the week. Stelvio Pass next and it was fun, but not all the show made it out to be, preferred the previous bit as it flowed more and you could get a real rhythm going. This is where the F1 box comes into its own, just allows you to play with the gearbox as you need it, very impressed, better than any of the others I have tried.
Down from Stelvio to Bormio, Italy, that was fun, nice spacing on the hairpins, and headed south to Tirano to pick up the 29 north to Saint Moritz, now I only did this as I had overshot and got stuck in the world’s longest tunnel with no way to U Turn, but the 29 turned out to be a superb road! BUT, another Swiss border post and same routine… by this point it had become amusing and I was in no rush. Off I went and the hills were alive with the sound of a barking V8
Focus here was to get across to the San Bernardino Pass, thru a rather amusingly named town called C#nter which had to be a photo opportunity. Now by the time I hit San Bernardino it was around 3pm, it had started to rain, was cloudy, and with my years of snowboarding I knew it would be sketchy up there, but as I was on a schedule I decided to press on up regardless, and the fact is when on these passes when you start you are kind of committed as there are not many places to reverse your decision, well, from the top down on the South Side was about 5m visibility and I was using the Sat Nav to give me a clue as to when the next corner was, so a first gear crawl down didn’t leave me yearning for more. Must go back some day in sunnier weather!
Day 3 - Overnight in Lake Como, left me waking up to a crawl through Milanese traffic chaos heading South to Genoa and ultimately Monaco, what a blast those tunnels are though! BWAAARRPPP! I was 10 again… now one note on Italy, for the country that has created Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini, finding 98 Octane juice on the Italian Riviera is an exercise in patience and frequent stops, but can be found eventually. Before I headed into my Monaco overnight briefly drove up to Sospel via the Menton exit, to reccie the next days blast up the Col du Turini. Great road again, so back down to top up the tank and take an overnight in Monaco. At this point I would like to say that I have NO IDEA why anyone wants to drive a car like that thru the streets of Monaco, it’s an exercise in needle threading, and the Columbus Hotel was an arse to find. But great place to stay and the Casino provided some light entertainment for the evening, even came out in profit to deal with the small 3rd World Debt level of petrol I had been feeding the car on my travels.
Day 4 – Col du Turini to the Haute Tarentaise. Having been upto Sospel the day before I was a bit disappointed that when you get beyond the Sospel town the road surface was pretty poor so the car got quite skittish, not as much fun as the Swiss roads, but the views are magnificent, and it is SO quiet up there. At this point I had 2 options, 1, head back down and use the Autoroutes to Turin or continue along the Route des Grandes Alpes. I went for the Autoroute option as I was tired and just wanted to nail the miles, but if I was to do it again would have pressed on as the road to Turin was REALLY boring. Had to meet some friends in Tignes that night so time was pressing.
Note, Italians LOVE their tolls, every road had a charge, and the Tunnel de Frejus cost 35 Euro which was a bit steep I felt, but I was on a mission to get to the Col D’Iseran.
I have been a snowboarder for nearly 20 years and having ridden the road by board I had been itching for years to ride the road by car. Now this road is different, much less traffic’d and this is apparent in that the only guard rail is some rather wafty grass growing at the edge, so speeds came down and focusing on not looking to your right or left as the drops were enormous, the road is only a car and half wide and of course the ubiquitous fast moving small French car is always just around the corner so care is required, but the views! Stunning.
Down to Bourg St Maurice so I could drive back upto Tignes, the number of times I have driven this road in various rental cars is beyond my memory, but that road was a new experience in the 430, what a blast, flowing, fast, lots of visibility so you can drive it like a track, heaven.
Then finally Day 5 – The blast home, resisting the temptation to stop in the small town of Pussy just off the N90 for another childish photo, it rained for nearly 300 miles, and those Autoroutes are not best at spray prevention so some circumspect speed was required, finally being released from the rain just north of Reims, to make up time. As usual the Gendarme where in force just outside of last toll before Calais, I just saw them at the last minute, and I wasn’t going too fast but was glad of the lorry shielding my car from their radar.
So 5 days, 2500 miles, and a lot of smiles. What a car, what a journey, what an experience. As a friend of mine put it, I just lived a lot of people’s dreams, my own included, and I feel like a very lucky man today. There’s only one problem, now I want a Ferrari 430 of my own, and giving it back today, fly splattered and grubby, was painful! Maybe next year I can take a Lambo
Photos follow link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/martynj/sets/72157606...
Day 1 - Started with an Autoroute blast down the East of France into Switzerland first destination Davos. Now a tip for all budding travellers, Switzerland is a right faff to get into in a nice car. Border guards took one look at the 430, pulled me to one side and started questioning me about my intentions, finding it seemingly incredible that a man should travel from London to their country on holiday, without smuggling large steaming great piles of cash to deposit in their banking system under the radar of the authorities. My wallet of 200 Euro’s seemed to disappointment them immensely, so after a further 20 mins of car inspection, “yes the tyres are fine”, I was finally on my way with a smile from the cute female border guard. Nice
Started at 6am, arrived Davos 7.15pm local time, and was a great journey, pretty relaxed. Day 2 - Woke up super early to jump on the Fluelastrasse (28) to head to Stelvio. What a road! It even had banked hairpins! Smooth as a billiard table, that was my road of the week. Stelvio Pass next and it was fun, but not all the show made it out to be, preferred the previous bit as it flowed more and you could get a real rhythm going. This is where the F1 box comes into its own, just allows you to play with the gearbox as you need it, very impressed, better than any of the others I have tried.
Down from Stelvio to Bormio, Italy, that was fun, nice spacing on the hairpins, and headed south to Tirano to pick up the 29 north to Saint Moritz, now I only did this as I had overshot and got stuck in the world’s longest tunnel with no way to U Turn, but the 29 turned out to be a superb road! BUT, another Swiss border post and same routine… by this point it had become amusing and I was in no rush. Off I went and the hills were alive with the sound of a barking V8
Focus here was to get across to the San Bernardino Pass, thru a rather amusingly named town called C#nter which had to be a photo opportunity. Now by the time I hit San Bernardino it was around 3pm, it had started to rain, was cloudy, and with my years of snowboarding I knew it would be sketchy up there, but as I was on a schedule I decided to press on up regardless, and the fact is when on these passes when you start you are kind of committed as there are not many places to reverse your decision, well, from the top down on the South Side was about 5m visibility and I was using the Sat Nav to give me a clue as to when the next corner was, so a first gear crawl down didn’t leave me yearning for more. Must go back some day in sunnier weather!
Day 3 - Overnight in Lake Como, left me waking up to a crawl through Milanese traffic chaos heading South to Genoa and ultimately Monaco, what a blast those tunnels are though! BWAAARRPPP!
I was 10 again… now one note on Italy, for the country that has created Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini, finding 98 Octane juice on the Italian Riviera is an exercise in patience and frequent stops, but can be found eventually. Before I headed into my Monaco overnight briefly drove up to Sospel via the Menton exit, to reccie the next days blast up the Col du Turini. Great road again, so back down to top up the tank and take an overnight in Monaco. At this point I would like to say that I have NO IDEA why anyone wants to drive a car like that thru the streets of Monaco, it’s an exercise in needle threading, and the Columbus Hotel was an arse to find. But great place to stay and the Casino provided some light entertainment for the evening, even came out in profit to deal with the small 3rd World Debt level of petrol I had been feeding the car on my travels.Day 4 – Col du Turini to the Haute Tarentaise. Having been upto Sospel the day before I was a bit disappointed that when you get beyond the Sospel town the road surface was pretty poor so the car got quite skittish, not as much fun as the Swiss roads, but the views are magnificent, and it is SO quiet up there. At this point I had 2 options, 1, head back down and use the Autoroutes to Turin or continue along the Route des Grandes Alpes. I went for the Autoroute option as I was tired and just wanted to nail the miles, but if I was to do it again would have pressed on as the road to Turin was REALLY boring. Had to meet some friends in Tignes that night so time was pressing.
Note, Italians LOVE their tolls, every road had a charge, and the Tunnel de Frejus cost 35 Euro which was a bit steep I felt, but I was on a mission to get to the Col D’Iseran.
I have been a snowboarder for nearly 20 years and having ridden the road by board I had been itching for years to ride the road by car. Now this road is different, much less traffic’d and this is apparent in that the only guard rail is some rather wafty grass growing at the edge, so speeds came down and focusing on not looking to your right or left as the drops were enormous, the road is only a car and half wide and of course the ubiquitous fast moving small French car is always just around the corner so care is required, but the views! Stunning.
Down to Bourg St Maurice so I could drive back upto Tignes, the number of times I have driven this road in various rental cars is beyond my memory, but that road was a new experience in the 430, what a blast, flowing, fast, lots of visibility so you can drive it like a track, heaven.
Then finally Day 5 – The blast home, resisting the temptation to stop in the small town of Pussy just off the N90 for another childish photo, it rained for nearly 300 miles, and those Autoroutes are not best at spray prevention so some circumspect speed was required, finally being released from the rain just north of Reims, to make up time. As usual the Gendarme where in force just outside of last toll before Calais, I just saw them at the last minute, and I wasn’t going too fast but was glad of the lorry shielding my car from their radar.
So 5 days, 2500 miles, and a lot of smiles. What a car, what a journey, what an experience. As a friend of mine put it, I just lived a lot of people’s dreams, my own included, and I feel like a very lucky man today. There’s only one problem, now I want a Ferrari 430 of my own, and giving it back today, fly splattered and grubby, was painful! Maybe next year I can take a Lambo
No, you get many more miles than that, to be honest I was struggling a bit to use them up, foolishly I didn't really plan my year properly with them and was using points but not doing the miles.
But what a way to do it! Honestly one of the best trips I have ever done. Unfortunately I have opened Pandoras Box so to speak and I am now already thinking about next year The Scuderia and GT3 (potentially an RS I am told) arrive shortly so I may have to dip into to buy some more points ...
But what a way to do it!
Honestly one of the best trips I have ever done. Unfortunately I have opened Pandoras Box so to speak and I am now already thinking about next year The Scuderia and GT3 (potentially an RS I am told) arrive shortly so I may have to dip into to buy some more points ... Great article. Off on Saturday, doing a similar trip.
Where was this photo taken?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martynj/sets/72157606...
Where was this photo taken?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/martynj/sets/72157606...
Fantastic - I was planing a similar trip in September to do the GP and visit the Ferrari factory - but the wife has just got a new job and can't take the time off... 
How did you find the steel brakes on the down hill sections?
Also did you notice if the front valance got spattered with stone chips?
cheers
G
How did you find the steel brakes on the down hill sections?
Also did you notice if the front valance got spattered with stone chips?
cheers
G
I think you've just talked me into going to Val D'Isere! I go skiing there most years, so going in the summer in a fezza would be ace! What was the slog back to Calais like? I think my Chunnel train arrives Calais at 10:30am, so doing 600miles to Val in 9hrs is what Googlemaps says. What was your experience? Do you get stuck in huge tailbacks behind slow moving coaches on the mountain roads?
Well, wasn't too bad on the stone chip front, no more when I returned it than were there before, but as I am sure you know, alot of that is just not exposing the car to it too much. As for brakes they work very well, all mountain driving requires sensible use of brakes and engine braking, it would be fair to say the brakes had seen better days by the time i got back but depends how you drive it.
As for the other tips none spring to mind, other than doing lots of stretching before you leave if you are on your own as leaning across to do a toll booth in a car like that is an exercise in yoga
You'll be fine on the slog back, roads were really clear and I was on the same time chunnel as yourself. Mountain roads is all about timing, at this time of years not many people "holiday" there, main thing will be cyclists as the Tour de France will be in that region very soon, you might want to check the schedules.
One other thing, spoke to one of my friends in Tignes today and it snowed 6 inchs on the Grande Motte yesterday!! In July! So I would defo check the forecast and road report as the Col D'Iseran is the highest pass in the Alps.
As for the other tips none spring to mind, other than doing lots of stretching before you leave if you are on your own as leaning across to do a toll booth in a car like that is an exercise in yoga
You'll be fine on the slog back, roads were really clear and I was on the same time chunnel as yourself. Mountain roads is all about timing, at this time of years not many people "holiday" there, main thing will be cyclists as the Tour de France will be in that region very soon, you might want to check the schedules.
One other thing, spoke to one of my friends in Tignes today and it snowed 6 inchs on the Grande Motte yesterday!! In July! So I would defo check the forecast and road report as the Col D'Iseran is the highest pass in the Alps.
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