Solo Euro Hoon. Car, Guitar, Drone!!!

Solo Euro Hoon. Car, Guitar, Drone!!!

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br d

Original Poster:

8,388 posts

225 months

Friday 25th May 2018
quotequote all
Another solo trip into Europe!
I'll post up anything of interest as I go, I'll drop it if it runs out of steam and gets boring.
Bit of a technology theme to this years, got some new stuff!

Firstly the car, I'm going in this barking mad thing:





Now I know the 720S is roundly despised by most PH's on account of it being as ugly as a Warthog with a neck tattoo but for me it's USP is the handling and performance, It's always being described as "explosive" and "supremely sure footed" etc etc etc so it's that side of things I'm about to explore.
It's supposed to be comfortably quicker than my previous 650S which frankly was pretty insane so it should be fun.

I'm meticulous about running cars in and this only has 600 miles on it so far so I haven't played rough with it at all yet!
I'm in a hotel room in Folkestone now and will be crossing at 4am, it's a long drive through to my first stop in France so it will be nicely settled in for the start of the trip.

Couple of days in Beaune, then on to the French Alps at Chamonix and the wonderful Mont Blanc, across to Italy and Lake Como, over to Lichenstien and somewhere I can't remember, then up into Bavaria at a beautiful hotel I've stayed at before near Hammelberg. After that it's somewhere near the German border (I have this all written down somewhere but the places escape me), then into Belgium for a couple of days winding down before coming back. Seventeen days in total.

The guitar is the same little Telecaster I took last year but the tech has moved on and I can now velcro my phone and a little box of tricks to the front of the guitar and have pretty much any sound I like. Stick a pair of ultra-light headphones on and while on the outside the guitar makes a tiny plinking noise which won't disturb anyone in my head I sound like the bloke from Metallica playing at the O2!
I can also stream anything from Spotify and play along to it, no leads to plug in either so I can stumble about in the hotel rooms having hours of fun.

Now yesterday I bought this:



It's a DJI Air with all the extra batteries and propellers and stuff.

I have absolutely no clue about using it, I've just charged it, done the updates and bundled it all away again. Blokes at work think I'll put it at the bottom of a river in no time, my best guess would be wedging at the top of a tree.

Apparently it can do all kinds of clever stuff and ultimately I'd like to get some footage of it panning down the Alps and over the car or something equally dramatic. I can't see it coming off though but it should be fun sodding about with it anyway. I'd really appreciate some advice from those on here who have droned before when the time comes.
I need to buy a micro SD card for it, what sort of capacity for recording footage? Would 32 Gig be enough? I'm taking a laptop with me so I can download anything that comes out alright onto that so the card doesn't have to last 2 weeks of filming.

Everything loaded into the car surprising well. Started with 6 inches of rags in the boot for cleaning duties:



Followed by all the bags and gubbins:



Guitar goes in the passenger seat nicely:



And I'm ready to go!



So, as I say, if it gets tedious I'll shelve it but I've had some good ones in the past and adding the drone in should keep it interesting.

Edited by br d on Friday 25th May 16:08

Prizam

2,335 posts

140 months

Friday 25th May 2018
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Well, I think its a lovely car!

just don't stack it whilst racing the drone.

Tickle

4,879 posts

203 months

Friday 25th May 2018
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Love this annual thread!

The 720's looks are great to me. Look forward to your updates.

Big E 118

2,408 posts

168 months

Friday 25th May 2018
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Enjoy, we've just driven down to Beaune today, 27C and sunny!

Insurancejon

4,054 posts

245 months

Friday 25th May 2018
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can I have a link to the old thread please? will give me something to read during the night feed

Heaveho

5,279 posts

173 months

Friday 25th May 2018
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Be very careful around Beaune, the traffic police in the area are known to be particularly keen to nick UK registered cars, whether it's justified or not. I was escorted to a Gendarmerie by two bike coppers who falsely told the desk clerk I had been doing more than a ton. I had in fact been sitting at about 90 mph in the middle of a cluster of French registered cars, all of whom were ignored. As you know, above a ton is supposedly an instant ban in France, and I spent the best part of an hour there talking my way out of it.

I was only 10km short of my overnight destination in Beaune when this happened, we were regulars there at the time, and the French hotel owners said themselves that the police were known locally to be corrupt.

Sorry for all the doom and gloom! Love the car, the trip sounds great, hope you have a great time. I miss the days when you could just blast through countries and be largely ignored! Not much chance of that in your chosen vehicle though! biggrin

Pericoloso

44,044 posts

162 months

Friday 25th May 2018
quotequote all
Tickle said:
Love this annual thread!

The 720's looks are great to me. Look forward to your updates.
This ,this and more of this.

Road trips are the BEST !

Checkout Chateau Savigny les Beaune,went in April,cars,planes wine.

What's not to like ?

dibblecorse

6,872 posts

191 months

Friday 25th May 2018
quotequote all
What a brilliant post to start a thread, great car and great colour ..... look forward to updates ...

oceanview

1,511 posts

130 months

Friday 25th May 2018
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Awesome!!

Hope you have a great time!

Thats What She Said

1,151 posts

87 months

Friday 25th May 2018
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Have fun!

The Dangerous Elk

4,642 posts

76 months

Friday 25th May 2018
quotequote all
Heaveho said:
Be very careful around Beaune, the traffic police in the area are known to be particularly keen to nick UK registered cars, whether it's justified or not. I was escorted to a Gendarmerie by two bike coppers who falsely told the desk clerk I had been doing more than a ton. I had in fact been sitting at about 90 mph in the middle of a cluster of French registered cars, all of whom were ignored. As you know, above a ton is supposedly an instant ban in France, and I spent the best part of an hour there talking my way out of it.

I was only 10km short of my overnight destination in Beaune when this happened, we were regulars there at the time, and the French hotel owners said themselves that the police were known locally to be corrupt.

Sorry for all the doom and gloom! Love the car, the trip sounds great, hope you have a great time. I miss the days when you could just blast through countries and be largely ignored! Not much chance of that in your chosen vehicle though! biggrin
= Dash Cam with "speed/gps" activated. They go quite silent then.

Tickle

4,879 posts

203 months

Friday 25th May 2018
quotequote all
Insurancejon said:
can I have a link to the old thread please? will give me something to read during the night feed
Here is last years: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...



br d

Original Poster:

8,388 posts

225 months

Friday 25th May 2018
quotequote all
Tickle said:
Insurancejon said:
can I have a link to the old thread please? will give me something to read during the night feed
Here is last years: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
This was my favourite one in the Lambo.

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23...

Cheers for the heads up about the Beaune police. I've stayed there many times and not encountered it before but I'll take it on-board.

Beaune is a lovely town and a great jumping off point for driving in Europe. It's far enough down to get you near the action but not so far that it knackers you getting there.
I will be there Saturday afternoon in time to find a decent bar to watch the game in.

br d

Original Poster:

8,388 posts

225 months

Friday 25th May 2018
quotequote all
Pericoloso said:
This ,this and more of this.

Road trips are the BEST !

Checkout Chateau Savigny les Beaune,went in April,cars,planes wine.

What's not to like ?
Visited that Chateau a couple of times and it is fantastic!

The Selfish Gene

5,470 posts

209 months

Friday 25th May 2018
quotequote all
watching with loads of interest - beautiful car - thanks for posting!

KP328

1,806 posts

194 months

Friday 25th May 2018
quotequote all
I followed all your other trips and will be checking this one out smile enjoy the journey and the car looks great in that colour.

br d

Original Poster:

8,388 posts

225 months

Friday 25th May 2018
quotequote all
Mods.
I do these every year and it's always left in GG. It'll just die off in here.

Can you put it back please?

spikeyhead

17,224 posts

196 months

Friday 25th May 2018
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Looking forwards to lots of updates

snake_oil

2,039 posts

74 months

Friday 25th May 2018
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I'm not sure if it's just me, but is there any chance you could take pics with something other than a potato smeared in Vaseline... wobble

rasto

2,188 posts

236 months

Friday 25th May 2018
quotequote all
Great, I really enjoyed reading your previous tales and was wondering if you would do one for the 720. Looking forward to following your exploits - try not to drop your wallet in the bin this time wink