Road Trip

[hollowpockets]

i am thinking of taking the last week of october off work and grit my teeth and head across to the continent for 7-8 days, drive down to monaco then work my way up through the alps and up to the nurburgring then home, first and foremost i'll make sure i have my europe-wide breakdown cover sorted, but other than that and i remember people on here talking about a road tax for switzerland, i really could use some advise from what others have learned from doing these long trips.

will just be me and a friend, going in my T350. i know the alps are full of stunning scenery as i have been there 5 times cycling but are there any roads in particular which are breathtaking( on top of the world type views) that i should aim to include in my trip.

i would like to get to do a few laps of the 'ring' in aswell so what is the proceedure for booking onto the track for an afternoon for a blast.

like i said this is new to me and any advise is appreciated

thanks

graham

[ncs]

Hi

Ive just done a 2500 mile round trip - we stayed near Chamonix in France & drove through Switzerland for a couple of days at Lake Magiorie (sp?) in Italy.

Three TVR's & a Lotus caused a bit of a stir

We had no problem crossing Switzerland, we had been told to expext to pay a tax as we crossed the border but this didnt happen. Even if you do have to pay its not a lot of money so dont panic.

The Simplon pass between Italy & Switzerland is superb, but can get a bit busy with lorries.

I cant wait to go back, the mountain roads are superb & made for hooning.

Nick

[k595]

I think the tax is for swiss motorways so if you stay off them presumably you would be OK

But don't quote me !!!!!!

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

k595 said:

I think the tax is for swiss motorways so if you stay off them presumably you would be OK

But don't quote me !!!!!!

I think the carnet is road tax, and for any road

(but again, don't quote me )

[rpa.janwell]

Graham, for Nurburgring info, drop by some time. Starting new appointment on 23rd, so damn it, can't follow you around!!!

[sideways mostly]

Sounds like a great plan-I envy you.Have a great time and take loads of photos!

[maddog-uk]

Yes you are meant to display a little swiss badge that you buy from here https://www.swisstravelsystem.com/uk/vigne dont risk not having one.

[icb]

I have just done TVR Power Swiss trip and you deffo need a good AA /RAC cover. The Vignette for Swiss motorways was about £20. Take as many spares as you can. We also took advantage of TVR power's pre tour inspection which is a good idea. Otherwise it was all brilliant, roads were fantastic tho a lot of radar traps in switzerland.

[J_S_G]

1. You should need a carnet for Swiss motorways
2. You should check with your insurance company that you're covered for driving the 'ring - a lot of companies have specific exclusions.
3. All the famous passes should be covered if possible (Stelvio, etc)
4. Doing down to Monaco + up to the 'Ring is quite a trek in a week. That could well involve a lot of dull Peage/Autobahn, etc. Possibly better to do a few less miles and a few more interesting (mountain) roads, especially if you're on the beers on a night. Megahoon last month was to Monaco and back in 8 days, and there wasn't really any "rest" time in there (one day playing in the mountains on top of there + back via great roads).
5. Take full European GPS - if you find it's getting late in the middle of nowhere, the quickest route to a hotel (or petrol station!) can be a BIG help
6. Get a power inverter for charging camera batteries, etc. on the road

[honahonT350]

The Nürburgring is not 'officially' a race track, it's actually a road so you don’t need to tell your insurance company - unless it's specifically excluded in the insurance doc.
I did a similar trip in the T350, drove to Italy and back….. the tunnels are just amaaaaaaaaaaazing!!!!!!!!!!!! Car didn’t miss a beat in 3.5 thousand miles.

[rpa.janwell]

honahonT350 said:

The Nürburgring is not 'officially' a race track, it's actually a road so you don’t need to tell your insurance company - unless it's specifically excluded in the insurance doc.
I did a similar trip in the T350, drove to Italy and back….. the tunnels are just amaaaaaaaaaaazing!!!!!!!!!!!! Car didn’t miss a beat in 3.5 thousand miles.

Careful there: some of the insurance company "weasel clauses" are very well disguised in the small print.

[rpa.janwell]

5. Take full European GPS - if you find it's getting late in the middle of nowhere, the quickest route to a hotel (or petrol station!) can be a BIG help

Re above, just had the AVIC BT unit installed in the 'Gris. Excellent. It was done for the 'Ring trip that fell through.

[hollowpockets]

cheers guys, notes taken, im gonna try get the rosyth ferry down to france to save putting the extra 800 (boring) uk motorway miles under my belt, and i do plan on going through chamonix and upto lake geneva before heading for some of the pass's for a couple days up in the mountains, can't wait.

just gonna do it staying in B&B's to save on some cash, i imagine petrol being the major expense, putting together a small toolkit and buy some spare sensors,fuses,bulbs and anything thats practicle in terms of size to take with me. in the last 6 months iv got a new steering rack, new brakes, my rad is only a couple months old, new fans and iv replaced almost all major fuses and sensors so think ill be able to just enjoy driving the beasty.

i just couldnt wait till next spring as i'll be taking the car off the road next month so a good end to my first summer of tvr ownership.

this winter going to get some work done on the car, and next summer hope to join in one or two of the big trips with the rest of the gang.

graham

[madbadger]

At the end of October you need to watch out for snow. Some of the high passes could well be shut and you will have to find a way around. Stelvio is fabulous, but at 9000' high it normally shuts in October.

I did a similar trip last summer and while we were looking forward to the acoustics of the long 'Autoroute' tunnels they have all got 70kmh limits on them and are full of cameras. And they cost 30euros. Mounts up if you need to go through a few in a day.

Have a good trip.