DONE IT! 1000 miles in a single day and a 185 mph max
Discussion
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Monday 1st March 2010 - a day to remember for me, certainly.
05:30 Berkshire in the F355.
07:20 departing Folkestone on the Eurotunnel
13:00 on the Autobahn-4 outside Köln - hitting a surprisingly easy (indicated) 185 mph.
23:00 entering Vienna via France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and finally Vienna, in the F355.
950 miles.
Will hope to do a more fuller write-up very soon, but needless to say, an utterly enjoyable drive.
Said car does need a wash and polish again, however.
And the fuel economy was not too shabby either!
Monday 1st March 2010 - a day to remember for me, certainly.
05:30 Berkshire in the F355.
07:20 departing Folkestone on the Eurotunnel
13:00 on the Autobahn-4 outside Köln - hitting a surprisingly easy (indicated) 185 mph.
23:00 entering Vienna via France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and finally Vienna, in the F355.
950 miles.
Will hope to do a more fuller write-up very soon, but needless to say, an utterly enjoyable drive.
Said car does need a wash and polish again, however.
And the fuel economy was not too shabby either!
Edited by DrYazz on Wednesday 3rd March 19:34
NEFOC said:
Didn't hit the top speed but did a similar run in my 355 back in 2002. Amsterdam port (Newcastle Ferry) to Imola for the GP. Ten hours, so averaged 100.
Diverging a little from the OP, but what's clearance like getting onto the ferry at Newcastle? Thinking of taking my gallardo (no lifting gear) to europe from northumberland this summer, but always worry about getting onto the ferry...hy789 said:
Diverging a little from the OP, but what's clearance like getting onto the ferry at Newcastle? Thinking of taking my gallardo (no lifting gear) to europe from northumberland this summer, but always worry about getting onto the ferry...
Just using the usual speed bump trick of traveling across the ramp joins diagonally (one wheel at a time) as I'm sure you have become quite good at with the Lambo.
Tris,
p.s. If you are ever stuck for a meet I run the Ferrari Owners club in the North East. As a Countach owner I'd be happy to welcome you along.
Monthly meet tends to be first Sunday of the month at the Dyvels in Corbridge.
You will be made more than welcome.
NEFOC said:
hy789 said:
Diverging a little from the OP, but what's clearance like getting onto the ferry at Newcastle? Thinking of taking my gallardo (no lifting gear) to europe from northumberland this summer, but always worry about getting onto the ferry...
Just using the usual speed bump trick of traveling across the ramp joins diagonally (one wheel at a time) as I'm sure you have become quite good at with the Lambo.
Tris,
p.s. If you are ever stuck for a meet I run the Ferrari Owners club in the North East. As a Countach owner I'd be happy to welcome you along.
Monthly meet tends to be first Sunday of the month at the Dyvels in Corbridge.
You will be made more than welcome.
been talking to David @ the Dyvels, I'm going to get a spot up at the fastlane show in May
Time is nearly up on my 3 month adventure in Europe. I drive back to Berkshire from Vienna on the 28th May.
On the 1st May I took this route: Berkshire-Folkestone-Calais (Eurotunnel)-Bruxelles-Liege-Cologne-Frankfurt-Nurenburg-Vienna.
On the 28th May it will be Vienna-Salzburg-Munich-Stuttgart-Karlsruhe-Metz-Luxembourg-Bruxelles-Calais then Ferry to Dover.
Arrived in Calais at 9am in the morning still with 800 miles still to go and an anticipated arrival time of 9pm. A further 12hours of driving. The journey had started at 5am! I had no real expectations of the journey. I was on unfamiliar roads in a car that had not exceeded 200 miles in a day, let alone 1000!
The journey did not start great as the slow down flashing light continued for the first 3 hours. Thereafter it behaved.
The passenger window refused to function. A right hand drive car, on mainland Europe. That was highly inconvenient, or not as it happened, as we never say any toll roads. Not sure why. It remains temperamental.
I was pleasantly surprised by the mpg. 60-65 litres was resulting in 280-300 miles from a tank. Maybe the cold weather and constant speed helped with that figure. Air con was not required (was 0 to 5 degrees outside mostly). That is 20mpg. Which I was happy with.
We got a little lost on the Autoroute around Liege. We approached on the A3 and wanted to stay on the A3 and head to Cologne but somehow drove around Liege and ended up in a beautiful hilly village called Tillf. Lost probably 30-45 minutes there.
Heading towards Cologne, on the Autobahn 4 we noticed something strange. We were doing around 80mph in 6th gear in the Ferrari and we were being passed by lots of vehicles who were doing at least 130mph+. There seemed to be no problems for these vehicles at these speeds. Slower vehicles in front could clearly see the faster vehicles approaching, they signalled their intentions to move out of the way, and did so. Lane discipline, at a level never seen before in the UK.
So, the conditions looked OK, it was not too busy, and the locals had good lane discipline. So I just put my foot down in 6th gear. I do not recall the F355 having much low-down torque, but there was something swelling up as the revs rose in top gear past 3000rpm and onto 4000. Soon, the 130mph BMWs, Mercs and Audis were doing their bit of lane discipline and the outer lanes looked clear. 140 came and went 150. I remember seeing 165mph on the speedo, it all looked 'safe' and so we ploughed on and saw an indicatedd 185mph on the speedo thereafter. Vmax for the vehicle. I do not have much recollection of the noise. It did not seem excessive. Nor the scenery. Was not brave or stupid enough to test brakes or handling at those speeds. It just felt undramatic, stable, like the car was in its element. No fuss. I am hoping to repeat this again, in a few days. Hopefully, this time I will get a better gauge of what I feel like and it feels like.
Next problem was on the A3 heading towards Frankfurt. The motorway was closed. Not sure why. Probably a big accident somewhere. We lost an hour, sat doing nothing. Admiring the snow-clad German hills.
After filling up for petrol near Aschaffenburg, the car refused to start. My German was not too good at this stage (it isn't alot better now). But the key refused to immobilise the car. No signal going through. Called the AA, but the car started 20 minutes later. 30 minutes lost, but now hopes of a 9pm arrival in Vienna were fading. It was going to get dark pretty soon and feelings that the Ferrari was not going to make it were discussed.
We continued, until we were stopped in the dark by German police on the Autobahn 3 just before Passau, not far from the Austrian border. Was a routine stop, they wanted to see all my documents, then we were off again. 15 minutes lost. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get any paperwork in return. Would have loved to have shown that to work colleagues.
The strangest and most frustrating episode occured at around 8pm in Austria. It was our final petrol stop at a place called Meggenhoffen on the Autobahn 8. Still to this day, I cannot figure out what happened. Motorways usually have rigid structures/ barriers separating traffic from opposite directions. To do a U-Turn at a junction or service station would require either driving over a bridge over the motorway or going on a road under the motorway. I do not recall doing either after filling up for petrol, but somehow we ended up driving away from Vienna on the A8 rather than towards it. Bloody annoying, and an hour lost at least.
Last problem was driving across Vienna at 11pm. Having entirely used the underground in the 4 months previously, I had no idea how to get home. That took 1 hour! I was not shy in shoving a map into the faces of bemused Viennese.
Anwyay, comments welcome. And looking forward to another 1000 miles pretty soon.
On the 1st May I took this route: Berkshire-Folkestone-Calais (Eurotunnel)-Bruxelles-Liege-Cologne-Frankfurt-Nurenburg-Vienna.
On the 28th May it will be Vienna-Salzburg-Munich-Stuttgart-Karlsruhe-Metz-Luxembourg-Bruxelles-Calais then Ferry to Dover.
Arrived in Calais at 9am in the morning still with 800 miles still to go and an anticipated arrival time of 9pm. A further 12hours of driving. The journey had started at 5am! I had no real expectations of the journey. I was on unfamiliar roads in a car that had not exceeded 200 miles in a day, let alone 1000!
The journey did not start great as the slow down flashing light continued for the first 3 hours. Thereafter it behaved.
The passenger window refused to function. A right hand drive car, on mainland Europe. That was highly inconvenient, or not as it happened, as we never say any toll roads. Not sure why. It remains temperamental.
I was pleasantly surprised by the mpg. 60-65 litres was resulting in 280-300 miles from a tank. Maybe the cold weather and constant speed helped with that figure. Air con was not required (was 0 to 5 degrees outside mostly). That is 20mpg. Which I was happy with.
We got a little lost on the Autoroute around Liege. We approached on the A3 and wanted to stay on the A3 and head to Cologne but somehow drove around Liege and ended up in a beautiful hilly village called Tillf. Lost probably 30-45 minutes there.
Heading towards Cologne, on the Autobahn 4 we noticed something strange. We were doing around 80mph in 6th gear in the Ferrari and we were being passed by lots of vehicles who were doing at least 130mph+. There seemed to be no problems for these vehicles at these speeds. Slower vehicles in front could clearly see the faster vehicles approaching, they signalled their intentions to move out of the way, and did so. Lane discipline, at a level never seen before in the UK.
So, the conditions looked OK, it was not too busy, and the locals had good lane discipline. So I just put my foot down in 6th gear. I do not recall the F355 having much low-down torque, but there was something swelling up as the revs rose in top gear past 3000rpm and onto 4000. Soon, the 130mph BMWs, Mercs and Audis were doing their bit of lane discipline and the outer lanes looked clear. 140 came and went 150. I remember seeing 165mph on the speedo, it all looked 'safe' and so we ploughed on and saw an indicatedd 185mph on the speedo thereafter. Vmax for the vehicle. I do not have much recollection of the noise. It did not seem excessive. Nor the scenery. Was not brave or stupid enough to test brakes or handling at those speeds. It just felt undramatic, stable, like the car was in its element. No fuss. I am hoping to repeat this again, in a few days. Hopefully, this time I will get a better gauge of what I feel like and it feels like.
Next problem was on the A3 heading towards Frankfurt. The motorway was closed. Not sure why. Probably a big accident somewhere. We lost an hour, sat doing nothing. Admiring the snow-clad German hills.
After filling up for petrol near Aschaffenburg, the car refused to start. My German was not too good at this stage (it isn't alot better now). But the key refused to immobilise the car. No signal going through. Called the AA, but the car started 20 minutes later. 30 minutes lost, but now hopes of a 9pm arrival in Vienna were fading. It was going to get dark pretty soon and feelings that the Ferrari was not going to make it were discussed.
We continued, until we were stopped in the dark by German police on the Autobahn 3 just before Passau, not far from the Austrian border. Was a routine stop, they wanted to see all my documents, then we were off again. 15 minutes lost. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get any paperwork in return. Would have loved to have shown that to work colleagues.
The strangest and most frustrating episode occured at around 8pm in Austria. It was our final petrol stop at a place called Meggenhoffen on the Autobahn 8. Still to this day, I cannot figure out what happened. Motorways usually have rigid structures/ barriers separating traffic from opposite directions. To do a U-Turn at a junction or service station would require either driving over a bridge over the motorway or going on a road under the motorway. I do not recall doing either after filling up for petrol, but somehow we ended up driving away from Vienna on the A8 rather than towards it. Bloody annoying, and an hour lost at least.
Last problem was driving across Vienna at 11pm. Having entirely used the underground in the 4 months previously, I had no idea how to get home. That took 1 hour! I was not shy in shoving a map into the faces of bemused Viennese.
Anwyay, comments welcome. And looking forward to another 1000 miles pretty soon.
I used to do Sicily and back 4-5 times a year in the 90s.I hadnt discovered Ryan air then.Not sure they even existed.
Once.... I left Calais at 3am and was in Italy by 8am and arrived at my destination in Sicily at 10pm. 1600 miles.
Cant be done now as theyve been ripping up the autostrada in Calabria for the last 7-8 years and creating 30 mile contraflows.
It takes me 30 hours at least these days as I just cant do it anymore.I have to sleeeep.
Those were the days.
Once.... I left Calais at 3am and was in Italy by 8am and arrived at my destination in Sicily at 10pm. 1600 miles.
Cant be done now as theyve been ripping up the autostrada in Calabria for the last 7-8 years and creating 30 mile contraflows.
It takes me 30 hours at least these days as I just cant do it anymore.I have to sleeeep.
Those were the days.
andy c said:
I used to do Sicily and back 4-5 times a year in the 90s.I hadnt discovered Ryan air then.Not sure they even existed.
Once.... I left Calais at 3am and was in Italy by 8am and arrived at my destination in Sicily at 10pm. 1600 miles.
Cant be done now as theyve been ripping up the autostrada in Calabria for the last 7-8 years and creating 30 mile contraflows.
It takes me 30 hours at least these days as I just cant do it anymore.I have to sleeeep.
Those were the days.
Calais to the northern most tip of Italy is over 600 miles - and you did that in 5 hours? That's an average speed of 120mph? Is that correct?Once.... I left Calais at 3am and was in Italy by 8am and arrived at my destination in Sicily at 10pm. 1600 miles.
Cant be done now as theyve been ripping up the autostrada in Calabria for the last 7-8 years and creating 30 mile contraflows.
It takes me 30 hours at least these days as I just cant do it anymore.I have to sleeeep.
Those were the days.
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