Has anyone taken their Chimaera on the Motorail?
Has anyone taken their Chimaera on the Motorail?
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Discussion

jacko500

Original Poster:

46 posts

290 months

Sunday 3rd March 2002
quotequote all
I am driving in France this summer and would like to use the Motorail for the return journey. Has anyone taken a Chimarea on the Motorail and is there enough ground clearance? I have left the front splitter off after a mishap with the drive.

trefor

14,685 posts

299 months

Sunday 3rd March 2002
quotequote all
Not done this, but we have considered it. We drive instead - doesn't take that long once you 'get going' with 2 drivers. The main things which put us off the motorail were whether some local lad puts the cars on the train for you - no thanks and the cost during the summertime when we wanted to travel. Oh, and the fact that you still have to get to Calais or wherever to load onto the train - or in your case get off at Calais or wherever and then ferry/chunnel home + the drive in the UK.

T/.

PetrolTed

34,457 posts

319 months

Sunday 3rd March 2002
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Don't waste the opportunity to drive on empty sunny roads! South to north can be done surprisingly quickly on their roads. Or just take an extra night. Would be a real waste of an opportunity to take the train.

zertec

499 posts

299 months

Monday 4th March 2002
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I used to take the Griffith on the train from Calais to Nice and back when I lived in Monaco. They will let you drive it on and off yourself without any hassle. There were no clearance problems with the Griffith. The only difficulty that can arise depends on your alarm. My Griffith originally had an alarm that locked the doors and set the alarm at the same time, it was not possible to only lock the doors. This meant that either you arrived at Nice with a flat battery or you left the doors unlocked. I modified the car so that I could activate the door locks from outside.

The last time I (with speed limiter - wife) drove to Monaco it took 10 hours from Calias. This was an average speed of 81 mph (just under the speed limit). Just as well that we had dinner, fuel and coffee stops to keep the average down.

Have fun.

>> Edited by zertec on Monday 4th March 01:36

jacko500

Original Poster:

46 posts

290 months

Monday 4th March 2002
quotequote all
quote:

Don't waste the opportunity to drive on empty sunny roads! South to north can be done surprisingly quickly on their roads. Or just take an extra night. Would be a real waste of an opportunity to take the train.



The idea of using the motorail to come back on is to reduce wear and tear on the car and give us more time to cruis around the Alps an the South coast. Don't worry I will not be missing any opportunities to put the roof down and blast the V8.

zertec

499 posts

299 months

Monday 4th March 2002
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Also, if I remember correctly, you can get some money back if the train is late arriving at the destination by more than a certain time (1.5hrs?)

andyr

440 posts

300 months

Monday 4th March 2002
quotequote all
A mate of mine put his 911 on there last summer, and had to have two new wheels and the side sorted out as it was bashed so bad. SNCF (is that who runs it?) paid for it tho.