A route to the stelvio Pass
Discussion
Graham said:
but can we drop the bitching ...
Opps sorry, got a bit carried away. Couldn't resist!
Always suprises me these sort of comments on a site for petrolheads!
Oh and forgot you said 2 days. Thats not actually such a good idea. We travelled back from Italy in a day last year and its not so fun having a tight deadline. If you can take some extra time though well worth it.
If I had only 2 days I would go to the Nurburgring. Its amazing to drive and to see the cars and chat to the people.
The roads leading to it (just after the autobahn turn off) are a far better drive than Stelvio. Not as scenic but fantastic corners, all differnt types, cambers and gradients. The road surface is made from that piano wood and then polished for perfect smoothness, never seen such a perfect road.
In fact its almost as much fun as the ring itself!
You will tend to find modified Audi's etc up your arse though. If you are away for a long time you have the extra weight disadvantage of all the luggage in the boot to consider when pushing through corners.
>> Edited by DustyC on Tuesday 13th December 12:34
Graham said:
Infact I think we should all drive around in BMW 530i SE Auto's
I wouldnt fancy doing high speeds in an auto to unpredictable.
but can we drop the bitching and get back on topic
Good plan batman, I was getting a little sick of the bitching in another topic had one foot on the soap box...
PetrolTed said:
Don't be such a misery guts DCB.
Yessir !
PetrolTed said:
I had immense fun on the Autobahn in the Cerbera. It's got
great brakes and it was dry so I certainly felt no need
for traction control.
Fair enough. I've often wondered what an open top car
would be like over 120 mph.
Hurricane in the hair motoring ?
PetrolTed said:
Why the downer on TVRs? They're superb fun on the
continent. I certainly more fun driving our TVR abroad
than the BMW^h^h^hAlpina.
Different people like different things.
We can't all like TVRs.
Nice to have an alternative viewpoint from time to time,
otherwise we all agree.
Graham said:
Our timescale is fixed though to friday thru monday, and to be honest the distances involved and the timescale are part of what makes it interesting.
OK, I'm with you. But I have a differnt challenge for you.
A little while ago (maybe even a couple of years) Ted posted up an article about a bloke that drove to 12(or maybe more) European countires within 24 hours and lots of people took interest to it. When we then read he did it in a new BMW 750 the interest died and everyone said "whats the point in that? may as well have caught the train! Would have been more of an achievement in a sportscar like Caterham etc".
So I know its not really a caterham and I know you won't be breaking any records but it would be good tale to tell saying you did 20 odd countries in one weekend and never put the roof up!
On my last trip I did 7 countries and wasn't trying. Just a few miles (literally) extra would have made it 11.
I did:
France
Belgium
Germany
Austria
Italy
San Marino
Switzerland
and drove close to the borders of:
Luxembourg
Andora
Spain
Vatican City (yes, a seperate country!).
This wasn't my aim though as I drove to Italy to do the Mille Miglia, a fantastic scenic 1000 mile route. (As previously driven by many other British sport cars without ABS and Traction control up until the late 50's!).
We didnt try to race it though and rather than beat Stirling Moss's 10 hour record we took over a week to do it! Lots of good places to stop on route though.
DustyC said:
Bormio is a good town at the base of the pass with plenty of hotels, bars and resturaunts. If you ask around they will also tell you were to find the very good steam baths (really is worth a visit).
I went skiing there. Which means.. I've been up the Stelvio
but...
in a bus
DustyC said:
This wasn't my aim though as I drove to Italy to do the Mille Miglia, a fantastic scenic 1000 mile route. (As previously driven by many other British sport cars without ABS and Traction control up until the late 50's!).
We didnt try to race it though and rather than beat Stirling Moss's 10 hour record we took over a week to do it! Lots of good places to stop on route though.
Excellent stuff! We stumbled across a 20 mile stretch of the Mille Miglia and it was the most entertaining bit of road I think I've ever driven.
ROCCOSTRADA!
tonyhetherington said:
The best road of my life that - Roccastrada, part of the Mille Miglia. And, the best bit about it is that we drove it completely by chance. (look in my profile, there's a video of us doing it)
ahhhhh.
>> Edited by tonyhetherington on Tuesday 13th December 14:44
Good video that.
You should post it saying its in England and then dub on a loud car horn everytime another car passes just to see the reaction on here! (ie, driving on wrong side all the way!).
BTW: Nice smooth driving
Thanks - very kind of you to say 
The irony, of course, is that this was posted about that video! (don't go replying to that thread though, don't particularly want it re-born!)
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=209613
PS: to bring the thread slightly back on topic, if you want to know where this road is, give me a shout; as you can see from the video, it is worth it (and the village at the end of the road is beautiful!)
The irony, of course, is that this was posted about that video! (don't go replying to that thread though, don't particularly want it re-born!)
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=209613
PS: to bring the thread slightly back on topic, if you want to know where this road is, give me a shout; as you can see from the video, it is worth it (and the village at the end of the road is beautiful!)
PetrolTed said:
I was disappointed by the Stelvio. Overcrowded (nobody told me it would be full of cyclists and camper vans!), poor surface and actually too tight to be much fun. I had a reasonable blast up in the Cerbera (didn't get held up much, unlike many others in our group) but there's much more fun to be had in some of the other passes around there.
I agree with Ted. The Stelvio was such a disappointment. To really enjoy it I think you would have to visit it fairly early or late in the day as it is very conjested. The Passo Gavia was the most exciting stretch of road that I have ever been on and this is not too far from Stelvio. The section of the Mille Miglia, Roccastrada, that Ted and Tony Hetherington mentioned is equally enjoyable and thrilling, though less demanding and dangerous.
>> Edited by EmmaP on Tuesday 13th December 17:57
tonyhetherington said:
Thanks - very kind of you to say
The irony, of course, is that this was posted about that video! (don't go replying to that thread though, don't particularly want it re-born!)
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=209613
PS: to bring the thread slightly back on topic, if you want to know where this road is, give me a shout; as you can see from the video, it is worth it (and the village at the end of the road is beautiful!)
Haha! I honestly hadn't read that before! I shouldn't worry, the instigator of the other thread is not even old enough to drive!
Back on topic again...!
Alternately type the name of the road into Google and find out! (If you know the where abouts of certain Italian cities you'll work it out OK!).
Another great village is Narni. A tiny tight place, amazing that cars used to race through its narrow walls.
These places will be too far down for a 4 day break, unless there is an other challenge!
>> Edited by DustyC on Tuesday 13th December 19:06
PetrolTed said:
Incidentally the road on the banner ad at the top of the page is the road down the other side of the Stelvio. That was a great road.
Did you go down towards Bormio? I think that was the better side to drive.
The other side (with 51 hairpins or what ever it is) was good to see but not a drivers road.
Although if it was closed would be fun in a Slalom day set up Caterham or rally car!
I never had a problem with congestion (fnarr) because I left bormio as the sun was rising. The only thing that stopped me on the way up was one van (soon overtaken) and lots of big cows blocking the road!
>> Edited by DustyC on Tuesday 13th December 19:12
Not sure I need traction control on a motorway, but anyway:
I did an Alpine trip - the French Alps - last april in m'little MX5, and am posting just to say I recommend such a trip if you don't want to wait unitl June or so when the very high passes are open. Back in April I spent hours on wonerful and absolutely DESERTED french roads. I want to do it again next year, but unfortunately I have to go in March. I reckon I'll be ok though. Now I know how clear the main roads are down there, and if I stay below a 1000 metres, I reckon I'll have another good trip.
I did 2.5 k miles in a week. Trying to cover big mileages in the mountains can be tricky, and if you've got hotels booked at the end of the day, you might end up spending all day at the wheel, getting knackered and not really enjoying it. I certainly didn't stop much, apart from the Mazdas annoying fuel range of @250 miles.
I did find that the higher passes I wanted to do were closed. The first 2 passes I tried, I drove past the closed signs to see what you find. You find that the roads are full of rocks and branches left by the receding snows, then you come to the snow - all old and frozen and manky, so its a turn round and descend job.
I would say its not necesary to tick off the famous alpine names to have fun. Dig out a copy of the big yellow Michelin atlas of France, and check out the roads around Monte Carlo.
Also check out the roads in the Massif. You can motorway to Clermont Ferrand fairly easily, and then you have a vast area of great roads to play on. In the big yellow map, check out St Flour, square E2 page 135. Then check the roads due east to Valence via Le Puy en Velay. This is a famous Monte Carlo route of the 1950's. Then in March I'm going to Grenoble. There is a great road at F1 p139, the Chamrousse loop, another Monte stage. There is a similar road at Mont Revard at F2 p125. That was a bit snowy in april mind, but staggering views at the top. The road was clear apart from when leaving heading south but it was ok.
From grenoble I'll do the route napolean, and stop at Menton. Then I'll nip into Italy and up and around to Sospel and all around there and the Col du Turini (squares D,E,F2 p 173. Absolutely fantastic roads round there and totally deserted in April so will be in March. Then it'll be the Gorges du Verdon C1 p170, Ventoux D3 p153, - anyone know if Ventoux is open in March? Then over to the Millau bridge E4 p149 and the terrific roads between Ventoux and Millau.
The Mazdas handling was terrific, not one iota of understeer, and it'll be better next year now I've got a blower on it.
But last April, my mountain bit finished in Grenoble and I autorouted it back to Calais in spring sunshine, I must say I'd have loved to have been in a TVR then, to cruise and pose amongst all the business cars
Can very much recomend the Logis de France website, they do good half board packages, specially if you travel alone as I like to.
This is the road up Revard:
>> Edited by heebeegeetee on Tuesday 13th December 21:23
I did an Alpine trip - the French Alps - last april in m'little MX5, and am posting just to say I recommend such a trip if you don't want to wait unitl June or so when the very high passes are open. Back in April I spent hours on wonerful and absolutely DESERTED french roads. I want to do it again next year, but unfortunately I have to go in March. I reckon I'll be ok though. Now I know how clear the main roads are down there, and if I stay below a 1000 metres, I reckon I'll have another good trip.
I did 2.5 k miles in a week. Trying to cover big mileages in the mountains can be tricky, and if you've got hotels booked at the end of the day, you might end up spending all day at the wheel, getting knackered and not really enjoying it. I certainly didn't stop much, apart from the Mazdas annoying fuel range of @250 miles.
I did find that the higher passes I wanted to do were closed. The first 2 passes I tried, I drove past the closed signs to see what you find. You find that the roads are full of rocks and branches left by the receding snows, then you come to the snow - all old and frozen and manky, so its a turn round and descend job.
I would say its not necesary to tick off the famous alpine names to have fun. Dig out a copy of the big yellow Michelin atlas of France, and check out the roads around Monte Carlo.
Also check out the roads in the Massif. You can motorway to Clermont Ferrand fairly easily, and then you have a vast area of great roads to play on. In the big yellow map, check out St Flour, square E2 page 135. Then check the roads due east to Valence via Le Puy en Velay. This is a famous Monte Carlo route of the 1950's. Then in March I'm going to Grenoble. There is a great road at F1 p139, the Chamrousse loop, another Monte stage. There is a similar road at Mont Revard at F2 p125. That was a bit snowy in april mind, but staggering views at the top. The road was clear apart from when leaving heading south but it was ok.
From grenoble I'll do the route napolean, and stop at Menton. Then I'll nip into Italy and up and around to Sospel and all around there and the Col du Turini (squares D,E,F2 p 173. Absolutely fantastic roads round there and totally deserted in April so will be in March. Then it'll be the Gorges du Verdon C1 p170, Ventoux D3 p153, - anyone know if Ventoux is open in March? Then over to the Millau bridge E4 p149 and the terrific roads between Ventoux and Millau.
The Mazdas handling was terrific, not one iota of understeer, and it'll be better next year now I've got a blower on it.
But last April, my mountain bit finished in Grenoble and I autorouted it back to Calais in spring sunshine, I must say I'd have loved to have been in a TVR then, to cruise and pose amongst all the business cars
Can very much recomend the Logis de France website, they do good half board packages, specially if you travel alone as I like to.
This is the road up Revard:
>> Edited by heebeegeetee on Tuesday 13th December 21:23
I'm really depressed now 
My recovery was going so well until you posted those pictures. dcb said:
I had immense fun on the Autobahn in the Cerbera. It's got
great brakes and it was dry so I certainly felt no need
for traction control.
Fair enough. I've often wondered what an open top car
would be like over 120 mph.
Hurricane in the hair motoring ?
A cerbera isn't an open top car. 120mph in an open top car is also great however, as is 150. These days cars have windscreens, so it isn't an issue
[quote=dcb]Nice to have an alternative viewpoint from time to time,
otherwise we all agree.
informed viewpoints, certainly!
I'm interested though as to why anyone would need traction control on an autobahn? Or even ABS if you're not tailgating and realise the brake pedal isn't simply an on/off switch
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