Abarth 595 Competizione - European Grand Tour 2019
Discussion
Hopefully some of you enjoyed reading about my road trip last year in my Abarth 595 - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Got back yesterday from this year's trip, so though I'd write this one up as well...
Let's start with the car. I bought it new in October 2017, to be used exclusively as a fun car alongside my daily driver. There seems to be a lot of affection for the 595 on PH, and with good reason - they are brilliant, brilliant fun. Sure, a Fiesta ST is a much better hot hatch in many ways, but for me it is totally lacking in character – no thanks.
The Abarth looks special inside and out, with the solid aluminium badging, Brembo calipers and 17" wheels on the outside, and Sabelt hard shell seats, alcantara, carbon fibre and aluminium trim parts on the inside. It also has the 'Record Monza' exhaust, which really defines the car's character - it is noisy. Very noisy. Cold starts are hilarious, and it makes so much more noise than anyone expects. Proper backfires and crackling on the overrun as well.
Prep for the trip really consisted of filling the tank with fuel, the boot with a few spares and some clothes, and the windscreen with so many stickers and bits of equipment that I wondered whether I’d be able to see out:
- Dashcam, just in case
- French Toll Tag – saves a load of time if there are queues, as you can just drive through the péage without stopping
- French Crit’Air emissions sticker – needed in quite a few areas now, and worth the €5 for peace of mind
- German Umwelt Plakette emissions sticker – Again, needed in a lot of cities. I bought mine online from the Berlin Tourist Office, which was much cheaper than any other website, and it arrived in less than a week, for just €6. Strangely, whilst my car is an EU6, the French Sticker shows ‘1’ and the German one shows ‘4’ – why on earth the EU doesn’t just create a European wide scheme with numbering matching the emissions level is beyond me…
- Swiss Motorway Vignette – The 2019 one joined the 2018 sticker that I’ve left on the car. These are obligatory for Swiss motorways, and cost CHF40 at the border crossing, or are available widely in German petrol stations etc. near the border. I paid €39.50 for mine in Achern, and whilst a little more expensive, it saved a lot of time over stopping at the border.
- GoPro suction mount
- Dash mounted phone holder – Really impressed with this Amazon cheapie – rock solid the whole time, and allowed me to use the phone for video as well as Waze
Also took walkie talkies (Motorola TLKR T60) which are brilliant for keeping in touch with the group, allowing you to warn others of cyclists, pedestrians and mad locals on the mountain passes!
DAY 1 – HOME TO THE BLACK FOREST
I left home as quietly as I could on Wednesday at 02:57, heading to M40 J11, and from there to Eurotunnel, arriving in just under two hours - if only the roads were always that quiet!
I was offered the 05:45 crossing, but was meeting another car so waited for the 06:50 we had agreed on beforehand. The car park was deserted – I think there were three cars there when I arrived. It’s always a good place to spot interesting cars, and I saw a couple of Opel Kadetts off to an Opel show near Berlin, a perfect F355 GTS manual (the last pretty Ferrari in my view), a 458 Italia with a Lambo Huracan and a perfect Lister XJS.
Eventually my friend arrived with his son in their F-TYPE and we were off. I love the Tunnel – why do people still use the Ferry from Dover? This is so much quicker and easier. The car in frontt of me was an RS6, with the plate RS6 4 FUN - Nice....
We took the Autoroute to Reims, where we stopped for lunch, and then a quick detour to Reims-Gueux for the obligatory photos at the old circuit.
From there, continued on the Autoroute and Routes Nationales towards Germany. This included the Maurice Lemaire road tunnel (6,950 m). Speed limit in the tunnel is 70kmh, and we both got flashed by a speed camera. My car speedo showed 77kmh, so probably 74-75kmh in reality, so hopefully we were within the allowable margin – no doubt we’ll find out over the coming days!
Just after the tunnel, we came off the N-road, onto the D416, as we thought it would be nice to drive through the vineyards on the Alsace Wine Route. We were aiming for Ribeauvillé, and the road was a brilliant climb with lots of hairpins through the forest. Ribeauvillé is a gorgeous old town with cobbled streets and some lovely cafes and shops. We ate apple cake in the market square and all was good with the world.
From there, we followed the Wine Route through beautiful villages and vineyards, before crossing the Rhine into Germany and then onto the Autobahn. I pushed the Abarth up to a Waze-indicated 129mph (top speed is 140mph), before we hit traffic. Lots of traffic, coming to a standstill… They were making a ‘Rettungsgasse’, or rescue lane in English, which entails making Lane 2 (of 3) as wide and empty as possible, with traffic moving onto hard shoulder, lane 1 and as far towards the central reservation on Land 3 as possible. It’s a great idea, and they are very observant of it.
The traffic came to a stop, and it wasn’t long before a stream of Police cars and fire trucks came past. Then a helicopter landed just ahead, and we knew we were in for a long wait… Over 90 minutes as it turned out. There were three separate accidents, but the bad one was the nearest to us, and involved a Pug 308CC being squashed into a ball. The local news said the driver had survived, but it looked bloody horrible.
Once we got moving, it was a very short distance to the hotel - We stayed at the same place as last year, ‘Im Spinnerhof’ ( https://spinnerhof.de/ ) just outside Sasbachwalden. It’s a great place and well recommended.
A well deserved beer or two, followed by a glass of red, some lovely cheese and meats and a schnapps (distilled in the restaurant about 10 feet from where we ate) rounded off the first day....
Got back yesterday from this year's trip, so though I'd write this one up as well...
Let's start with the car. I bought it new in October 2017, to be used exclusively as a fun car alongside my daily driver. There seems to be a lot of affection for the 595 on PH, and with good reason - they are brilliant, brilliant fun. Sure, a Fiesta ST is a much better hot hatch in many ways, but for me it is totally lacking in character – no thanks.
The Abarth looks special inside and out, with the solid aluminium badging, Brembo calipers and 17" wheels on the outside, and Sabelt hard shell seats, alcantara, carbon fibre and aluminium trim parts on the inside. It also has the 'Record Monza' exhaust, which really defines the car's character - it is noisy. Very noisy. Cold starts are hilarious, and it makes so much more noise than anyone expects. Proper backfires and crackling on the overrun as well.
Prep for the trip really consisted of filling the tank with fuel, the boot with a few spares and some clothes, and the windscreen with so many stickers and bits of equipment that I wondered whether I’d be able to see out:
- Dashcam, just in case
- French Toll Tag – saves a load of time if there are queues, as you can just drive through the péage without stopping
- French Crit’Air emissions sticker – needed in quite a few areas now, and worth the €5 for peace of mind
- German Umwelt Plakette emissions sticker – Again, needed in a lot of cities. I bought mine online from the Berlin Tourist Office, which was much cheaper than any other website, and it arrived in less than a week, for just €6. Strangely, whilst my car is an EU6, the French Sticker shows ‘1’ and the German one shows ‘4’ – why on earth the EU doesn’t just create a European wide scheme with numbering matching the emissions level is beyond me…
- Swiss Motorway Vignette – The 2019 one joined the 2018 sticker that I’ve left on the car. These are obligatory for Swiss motorways, and cost CHF40 at the border crossing, or are available widely in German petrol stations etc. near the border. I paid €39.50 for mine in Achern, and whilst a little more expensive, it saved a lot of time over stopping at the border.
- GoPro suction mount
- Dash mounted phone holder – Really impressed with this Amazon cheapie – rock solid the whole time, and allowed me to use the phone for video as well as Waze
Also took walkie talkies (Motorola TLKR T60) which are brilliant for keeping in touch with the group, allowing you to warn others of cyclists, pedestrians and mad locals on the mountain passes!
DAY 1 – HOME TO THE BLACK FOREST
I left home as quietly as I could on Wednesday at 02:57, heading to M40 J11, and from there to Eurotunnel, arriving in just under two hours - if only the roads were always that quiet!
I was offered the 05:45 crossing, but was meeting another car so waited for the 06:50 we had agreed on beforehand. The car park was deserted – I think there were three cars there when I arrived. It’s always a good place to spot interesting cars, and I saw a couple of Opel Kadetts off to an Opel show near Berlin, a perfect F355 GTS manual (the last pretty Ferrari in my view), a 458 Italia with a Lambo Huracan and a perfect Lister XJS.
Eventually my friend arrived with his son in their F-TYPE and we were off. I love the Tunnel – why do people still use the Ferry from Dover? This is so much quicker and easier. The car in frontt of me was an RS6, with the plate RS6 4 FUN - Nice....
We took the Autoroute to Reims, where we stopped for lunch, and then a quick detour to Reims-Gueux for the obligatory photos at the old circuit.
From there, continued on the Autoroute and Routes Nationales towards Germany. This included the Maurice Lemaire road tunnel (6,950 m). Speed limit in the tunnel is 70kmh, and we both got flashed by a speed camera. My car speedo showed 77kmh, so probably 74-75kmh in reality, so hopefully we were within the allowable margin – no doubt we’ll find out over the coming days!
Just after the tunnel, we came off the N-road, onto the D416, as we thought it would be nice to drive through the vineyards on the Alsace Wine Route. We were aiming for Ribeauvillé, and the road was a brilliant climb with lots of hairpins through the forest. Ribeauvillé is a gorgeous old town with cobbled streets and some lovely cafes and shops. We ate apple cake in the market square and all was good with the world.
From there, we followed the Wine Route through beautiful villages and vineyards, before crossing the Rhine into Germany and then onto the Autobahn. I pushed the Abarth up to a Waze-indicated 129mph (top speed is 140mph), before we hit traffic. Lots of traffic, coming to a standstill… They were making a ‘Rettungsgasse’, or rescue lane in English, which entails making Lane 2 (of 3) as wide and empty as possible, with traffic moving onto hard shoulder, lane 1 and as far towards the central reservation on Land 3 as possible. It’s a great idea, and they are very observant of it.
The traffic came to a stop, and it wasn’t long before a stream of Police cars and fire trucks came past. Then a helicopter landed just ahead, and we knew we were in for a long wait… Over 90 minutes as it turned out. There were three separate accidents, but the bad one was the nearest to us, and involved a Pug 308CC being squashed into a ball. The local news said the driver had survived, but it looked bloody horrible.
Once we got moving, it was a very short distance to the hotel - We stayed at the same place as last year, ‘Im Spinnerhof’ ( https://spinnerhof.de/ ) just outside Sasbachwalden. It’s a great place and well recommended.
A well deserved beer or two, followed by a glass of red, some lovely cheese and meats and a schnapps (distilled in the restaurant about 10 feet from where we ate) rounded off the first day....
Edited by 595Heaven on Tuesday 28th May 14:31
Before I start, I forgot to mention that one of the other members of our group had arrived at the hotel earlier in the day, as he had ridden over the night before on his new (to him) BMW R1200GS bike. I’m not a bike fan (you can’t fall off a car), but this is a lovely bit of kit, purpose made for munching miles.
DAY 2 – BLACK FOREST
As always, I was up first, so decided to go for a quick walk to see the Gaishöll Wasserfälle which was just over the road form the hotel. It’s a series of small waterfalls and was full of snow melt – the greenery that had sprung up in the path of the water got a nasty surprise! Very pretty and looked like it could have been in England.
The plan for the day was to have an early start and head for the Porsche and Mercedes Museums in Stuttgart, about 90 mins away. We took both cars, and our motorcyclist joined me in the Abarth. We decided we’d take the route through the Black Forest, rather than the boring Autobahn route, but the nav kept trying to route us back to it. In the end, we just set a route for a village en route, and once we got there, set a route to the Museum. Thinking it was bound to take us cross country, we didn’t pay much attention to the route, and blindly followed the map, whilst chatting on the walkie talkies and enjoying the amazing roads and views. Big mistake. After almost an hour, we got to… the Autobahn! Bo11ocks. We were literally one junction from the junction for our hotel, and still well over an hour from Stuttgart. We decided we’d accept defeat and got back to the hotel. Not long afterwards, the main group arrived, as well as a couple of independent travellers from various start locations in the UK and Netherlands – an XE, a Velar, a new Evoque (actually my car, which I’d lent to a friend for the trip), Lotus Esprit, Golf GTi, 987.2 Cayman, Alfa GT 3.2 and an Alfa GTV. Made quite an impression on the other guests!
After lunch, another quick drive around the Black Forest before returning for beers. Whilst we were sitting in the sun, the bargirl came over and asked if we were the owners of the ‘noisy cars’. Those of us that had been previously knew what was coming next, but the newbies were expecting a rebuke for shattering the peace when she said the owner wanted to see us in the restaurant. Instead, he greeted us all and invited us to try his schnapps in the stone ‘cavern’ where the completed, and ultra strong ‘raw’ schnapps is kept. This stuff burns your throat and windpipe.
It also burns with a lovely blue flame, as he demonstrated by setting fire to half a glass full on top of the storage tank. The other half he blew onto the flame, which creates an amazing fireball in the cavern. Most impressive…
Our meal was accompanied by more wine, beer and schnapps, with the still next to our table. Perfect.
DAY 2 – BLACK FOREST
As always, I was up first, so decided to go for a quick walk to see the Gaishöll Wasserfälle which was just over the road form the hotel. It’s a series of small waterfalls and was full of snow melt – the greenery that had sprung up in the path of the water got a nasty surprise! Very pretty and looked like it could have been in England.
The plan for the day was to have an early start and head for the Porsche and Mercedes Museums in Stuttgart, about 90 mins away. We took both cars, and our motorcyclist joined me in the Abarth. We decided we’d take the route through the Black Forest, rather than the boring Autobahn route, but the nav kept trying to route us back to it. In the end, we just set a route for a village en route, and once we got there, set a route to the Museum. Thinking it was bound to take us cross country, we didn’t pay much attention to the route, and blindly followed the map, whilst chatting on the walkie talkies and enjoying the amazing roads and views. Big mistake. After almost an hour, we got to… the Autobahn! Bo11ocks. We were literally one junction from the junction for our hotel, and still well over an hour from Stuttgart. We decided we’d accept defeat and got back to the hotel. Not long afterwards, the main group arrived, as well as a couple of independent travellers from various start locations in the UK and Netherlands – an XE, a Velar, a new Evoque (actually my car, which I’d lent to a friend for the trip), Lotus Esprit, Golf GTi, 987.2 Cayman, Alfa GT 3.2 and an Alfa GTV. Made quite an impression on the other guests!
After lunch, another quick drive around the Black Forest before returning for beers. Whilst we were sitting in the sun, the bargirl came over and asked if we were the owners of the ‘noisy cars’. Those of us that had been previously knew what was coming next, but the newbies were expecting a rebuke for shattering the peace when she said the owner wanted to see us in the restaurant. Instead, he greeted us all and invited us to try his schnapps in the stone ‘cavern’ where the completed, and ultra strong ‘raw’ schnapps is kept. This stuff burns your throat and windpipe.
It also burns with a lovely blue flame, as he demonstrated by setting fire to half a glass full on top of the storage tank. The other half he blew onto the flame, which creates an amazing fireball in the cavern. Most impressive…
Our meal was accompanied by more wine, beer and schnapps, with the still next to our table. Perfect.
Edited by 595Heaven on Tuesday 28th May 16:06
DAY 3 – BLACK FOREST TO LAKE COMO
A long day of driving today – almost 12 hours in the car all told. It’s a driving holiday, so not a problem!
We began with a fuel stop, then onto the Autobahn southbound, crossing into Switzerland in an underpass below Basel. What a dreary place it is!
From there, onwards towards Interlaken, with a detour to our lunch stop at Lauterbrunnen, not far from the Eiger. There were some breathtakingly beautiful sights on the way, as you approach the Alps and then wind your way around the Thunersee lake and under the mountains in tunnel after tunnel.
Lauterbrunnen is a lovely place in a valley with almost sheer mountain faces either side. As usual, we were in several smaller groups of cars, and our Italian driver who knows the area well had told us to ‘head for the waterfall – you can’t miss it’. As we drove through the town, which is a mecca for tourists, who come to jump off the mountains, out of helicopters or to ride their mountain bikes, we could see no sign of a waterfall. Until… until we rounded the last bend to be greeted by the Staubbachfall Wasserfall, which drops almost 300m from the top of the mountain. It must be quite a big stream at the top, but by the time it reaches the bottom, it is mostly spray, and the stream that carries it further downhill is tiny. Very, very pretty though, and the perfect place for our first group line-up photo.
From there, we headed back to the main motorway, towards the Gotthard Tunnel. This was opened in 1980, at which point it was the longest road tunnel in the world, at a little over 10 miles. An amazing feat of engineering, and cuts the trans-Alp journey time considerably. We avoided it.
Instead, we left the motorway at the Wassen junction prior to the tunnel, as we’d seen there were big queues on the approach, and followed a smaller road which runs alongside right up to the tunnel entrance. The tunnel traffic was at a standstill, but we made brisk progress to Andermatt where we re-grouped and the Alfa GTV boiled over. Whilst its driver waited for the coolant geyser to stop, some the group continued up the Oberalpstrasse, which delivers hairpin after hairpin, winding up the mountains until you hit the snowfields towards the top – stunning.
A quick stop to admire the view
We continued to the top of the Oberalppass, which still had huge walls of snow all around the Restaurant. Whilst we were there, another Abarth arrived – couple of lads from Finland were driving it, having rented it that morning at Milan Malpenso Airport. Turns out they were doing pretty much the same route as us in reverse. They were loving the car, which they had chosen in preference to the base Audi A4 they had hired – good choice…
From there, the roads are just amazing, with stunning scenery and so many places to stop to admire the view. We chose the Lai da Sontga Maria for a quick pitstop, and from there we slowly left the Alps behind as we made progress towards Lake Como.
By now, we were in multiple small groups, and the last few miles on the route I took passed by Lake Lugano, with the border crossing into Italy being on a very narrow lane next to the lake itself. We had the postcode of our Airbnb, but had to be talked in for the last few hundred meters - “Head for the old red Panda by some gates”.
Well, we found the Panda and the gates, which opened electrically as we approached. The drive went up a slope up to a parking area in front of the most beautiful villa, directly facing the lake. OMG.
Pizza at a restaurant just along the road, then schnapps back at the villa and we were done…
A long day of driving today – almost 12 hours in the car all told. It’s a driving holiday, so not a problem!
We began with a fuel stop, then onto the Autobahn southbound, crossing into Switzerland in an underpass below Basel. What a dreary place it is!
From there, onwards towards Interlaken, with a detour to our lunch stop at Lauterbrunnen, not far from the Eiger. There were some breathtakingly beautiful sights on the way, as you approach the Alps and then wind your way around the Thunersee lake and under the mountains in tunnel after tunnel.
Lauterbrunnen is a lovely place in a valley with almost sheer mountain faces either side. As usual, we were in several smaller groups of cars, and our Italian driver who knows the area well had told us to ‘head for the waterfall – you can’t miss it’. As we drove through the town, which is a mecca for tourists, who come to jump off the mountains, out of helicopters or to ride their mountain bikes, we could see no sign of a waterfall. Until… until we rounded the last bend to be greeted by the Staubbachfall Wasserfall, which drops almost 300m from the top of the mountain. It must be quite a big stream at the top, but by the time it reaches the bottom, it is mostly spray, and the stream that carries it further downhill is tiny. Very, very pretty though, and the perfect place for our first group line-up photo.
From there, we headed back to the main motorway, towards the Gotthard Tunnel. This was opened in 1980, at which point it was the longest road tunnel in the world, at a little over 10 miles. An amazing feat of engineering, and cuts the trans-Alp journey time considerably. We avoided it.
Instead, we left the motorway at the Wassen junction prior to the tunnel, as we’d seen there were big queues on the approach, and followed a smaller road which runs alongside right up to the tunnel entrance. The tunnel traffic was at a standstill, but we made brisk progress to Andermatt where we re-grouped and the Alfa GTV boiled over. Whilst its driver waited for the coolant geyser to stop, some the group continued up the Oberalpstrasse, which delivers hairpin after hairpin, winding up the mountains until you hit the snowfields towards the top – stunning.
A quick stop to admire the view
We continued to the top of the Oberalppass, which still had huge walls of snow all around the Restaurant. Whilst we were there, another Abarth arrived – couple of lads from Finland were driving it, having rented it that morning at Milan Malpenso Airport. Turns out they were doing pretty much the same route as us in reverse. They were loving the car, which they had chosen in preference to the base Audi A4 they had hired – good choice…
From there, the roads are just amazing, with stunning scenery and so many places to stop to admire the view. We chose the Lai da Sontga Maria for a quick pitstop, and from there we slowly left the Alps behind as we made progress towards Lake Como.
By now, we were in multiple small groups, and the last few miles on the route I took passed by Lake Lugano, with the border crossing into Italy being on a very narrow lane next to the lake itself. We had the postcode of our Airbnb, but had to be talked in for the last few hundred meters - “Head for the old red Panda by some gates”.
Well, we found the Panda and the gates, which opened electrically as we approached. The drive went up a slope up to a parking area in front of the most beautiful villa, directly facing the lake. OMG.
Pizza at a restaurant just along the road, then schnapps back at the villa and we were done…
DAY 4 – TREMEZZO AND BELLAGIO
Bit of a day off from driving this one… [Memo to self: Don’t drink Schnapps again]
Woke up to a lovely view of Lake Como...
We all walked along the road to get breakfast. Our villa was nice, but our neighbour's was better:
We re-arranged the cars for yet another group photo
Without really planning it, we got a good grouping of hot hatches, Jaguar, Land Rovers and classics
Anyway, we walked along the lakeside road and caught the ferry over to Bellagio for lunch. The town is very, very pretty, but then it poured with rain and lost its appeal. We headed back to the villa and watched a couple of old Wheeler Dealers over-dubbed in Italian with a few beers – living the high life! The evening was spent at our Italian driver’s parents’ house nearby – amazing hosts that fed and watered 14 of us!
Bit of a day off from driving this one… [Memo to self: Don’t drink Schnapps again]
Woke up to a lovely view of Lake Como...
We all walked along the road to get breakfast. Our villa was nice, but our neighbour's was better:
We re-arranged the cars for yet another group photo
Without really planning it, we got a good grouping of hot hatches, Jaguar, Land Rovers and classics
Anyway, we walked along the lakeside road and caught the ferry over to Bellagio for lunch. The town is very, very pretty, but then it poured with rain and lost its appeal. We headed back to the villa and watched a couple of old Wheeler Dealers over-dubbed in Italian with a few beers – living the high life! The evening was spent at our Italian driver’s parents’ house nearby – amazing hosts that fed and watered 14 of us!
Edited by 595Heaven on Friday 31st May 17:58
Do you work at JLR? I guess you do given the 20MY XE, 20MY Evoque and Velar Autobiography all on the same trip? I've been there three approaching three years and not met all that many people who are into driving/European trips! Maybe I'm in the wrong office...
The trip looks awesome, have you got a Google maps route?
Summer before last I did Midlands - Heidelberg - Stuttgart - Munich - Zell am See - Ljubljana - Venice - Davos - Lucerne - Luxemburg - Valenciennes - Midlands. Highlights were the Porsche and Mercedes museums, Großglockner Pass, Stelvio and the Voseges national Park on France. I'd throughly recommend going there. Quiet roads, good sight lines and a great mix of slow and fast corner.
I took this on the other side of the Stelvio heading down the Umbrail pass to get to Davos.
Maybe a JLR Drivers' club needs to be set up on Yammer?
The trip looks awesome, have you got a Google maps route?
Summer before last I did Midlands - Heidelberg - Stuttgart - Munich - Zell am See - Ljubljana - Venice - Davos - Lucerne - Luxemburg - Valenciennes - Midlands. Highlights were the Porsche and Mercedes museums, Großglockner Pass, Stelvio and the Voseges national Park on France. I'd throughly recommend going there. Quiet roads, good sight lines and a great mix of slow and fast corner.
I took this on the other side of the Stelvio heading down the Umbrail pass to get to Davos.
Maybe a JLR Drivers' club needs to be set up on Yammer?
Gummi said:
Do you work at JLR? I guess you do given the 20MY XE, 20MY Evoque and Velar Autobiography all on the same trip? I've been there three approaching three years and not met all that many people who are into driving/European trips! Maybe I'm in the wrong office...
Indeed I do! All but one of the Grand Tourists are either current or past employees. There are some real product geeks around Gaydon and Whitley if you know where to look...Your trip sounds good - May need to compare notes!
Gummi said:
Maybe a JLR Drivers' club needs to be set up on Yammer?
My team move across to O365 next week, so that may well work!Edited by 595Heaven on Saturday 1st June 08:16
DAY 5 – CONCORSO D’ELEGANZA VILLA D’ESTE
We had our final Grand Tourist join us from Gothenburg yesterday evening – three flights and a journey to Volvo Italia to pick up a car and he arrived.
The Concorso d’Eleganza was the final destination of the trip, although the journey was as much part of the fun.
This is a car show for the ultra rich to show off their ultra rare cars, in an ultra beautiful setting on the shores of Lake Como. Three ‘ultras’ in one sentence, but seriously, it is good.
As we approached the town of Cernobbio through the narrow roads, we knew we were getting close as there were hundreds of people lining the streets with their cameras ready. Some of the entrants drive their car from their villas and hotels through the streets, and there were some amazing sights and sounds. We parked up a side street, and I happened to find a space next to another Abarth 595, which caused a chorus of ‘Oooh! Fwends’ from the others! We found a café and ate breakfast people and car watching until the show opened at 10am.
Admission is €16, which is well worth the money. There were some truly beautiful cars on show around the gardens of the villa, none of them roped off (except for the Sotheby’s Auction cars), most with their owner or representative nearby, keen to tell you more about the history of the car.
The first section we walked around was the concepts. We chatted with Stefan Winkelmann, head of Bugatti, who was proudly standing next to the La Voiture Noire1. Epic, as it should be for €16.7m, with some fantastic details – look at the wheel!
I thought the Peugeot E-Legend was très cool with it’s peacock blue velour seats.
The BMW Garmisch was fabulous – I’m not a BMW fan, but this was sehr cool. So much better than the new 7-Series and X7s which were being used to ferry VIPs to the event – the front grilles are laughably big and ugly.
Next were the classics, everything from a 959 to a couple of Muiras, Ferraris, Bizzarinis etc., and there wasn’t a single car that didn’t deliver.
One of my favourites was this perfect Abarth, owned for the last 55 years by it’s Japanese owner, who exported it from Italy when it was under a year old.
Then we came across a group of 60s and 70s mad cap concepts. The Ferrari Modulo is totally bats
t crazy, and we had a great chat with Jim Glickenhaus who now owns it and will be driving it to Monaco in a few weeks as part of the 100th year of the ACM. Molto, molto bello.
The Lamborghini Marzal concept was every bit as crazy, with an interior trimmed in silver leather. The owner’s wife (Madame Speiss) was dressed to match, and told me she loves to drive it.
There are also some extravagantly dressed people around – SniffPetrol summed it up as only he can do on his website https://sniffpetrol.com/2019/05/28/villa-deste-set...
I’ve got to admit we did nothing to dispel this, as we had agreed that we’d all wear yellow bow ties (yellow being the second Judo belt colour, signifying the second year of our Grand Tour).
As I needed to get home, I left the group at lunchtime, and started the journey home. This time, the queue for the Gotthard Tunnel was pretty short, so I went through it. It’s a bit boring TBH – low speed limit and I presume loads of cameras. Had a weird time in the queue – I would have bet my last €5 that the approach road sloped downhill, but every time I drew to a stop, the car rolled backwards. It was really strange. Ho hum.
The whole journey was just a bore-fest of Swiss Motorways and French Autoroutes – very effective way of getting from A to B though, and I was soon at my overnight stay in Chalons-en-Champagne. Stayed at a Campanile hotel – cheap and almost cheerful.
We had our final Grand Tourist join us from Gothenburg yesterday evening – three flights and a journey to Volvo Italia to pick up a car and he arrived.
The Concorso d’Eleganza was the final destination of the trip, although the journey was as much part of the fun.
This is a car show for the ultra rich to show off their ultra rare cars, in an ultra beautiful setting on the shores of Lake Como. Three ‘ultras’ in one sentence, but seriously, it is good.
As we approached the town of Cernobbio through the narrow roads, we knew we were getting close as there were hundreds of people lining the streets with their cameras ready. Some of the entrants drive their car from their villas and hotels through the streets, and there were some amazing sights and sounds. We parked up a side street, and I happened to find a space next to another Abarth 595, which caused a chorus of ‘Oooh! Fwends’ from the others! We found a café and ate breakfast people and car watching until the show opened at 10am.
Admission is €16, which is well worth the money. There were some truly beautiful cars on show around the gardens of the villa, none of them roped off (except for the Sotheby’s Auction cars), most with their owner or representative nearby, keen to tell you more about the history of the car.
The first section we walked around was the concepts. We chatted with Stefan Winkelmann, head of Bugatti, who was proudly standing next to the La Voiture Noire1. Epic, as it should be for €16.7m, with some fantastic details – look at the wheel!
I thought the Peugeot E-Legend was très cool with it’s peacock blue velour seats.
The BMW Garmisch was fabulous – I’m not a BMW fan, but this was sehr cool. So much better than the new 7-Series and X7s which were being used to ferry VIPs to the event – the front grilles are laughably big and ugly.
Next were the classics, everything from a 959 to a couple of Muiras, Ferraris, Bizzarinis etc., and there wasn’t a single car that didn’t deliver.
One of my favourites was this perfect Abarth, owned for the last 55 years by it’s Japanese owner, who exported it from Italy when it was under a year old.
Then we came across a group of 60s and 70s mad cap concepts. The Ferrari Modulo is totally bats
t crazy, and we had a great chat with Jim Glickenhaus who now owns it and will be driving it to Monaco in a few weeks as part of the 100th year of the ACM. Molto, molto bello.The Lamborghini Marzal concept was every bit as crazy, with an interior trimmed in silver leather. The owner’s wife (Madame Speiss) was dressed to match, and told me she loves to drive it.
There are also some extravagantly dressed people around – SniffPetrol summed it up as only he can do on his website https://sniffpetrol.com/2019/05/28/villa-deste-set...
I’ve got to admit we did nothing to dispel this, as we had agreed that we’d all wear yellow bow ties (yellow being the second Judo belt colour, signifying the second year of our Grand Tour).
As I needed to get home, I left the group at lunchtime, and started the journey home. This time, the queue for the Gotthard Tunnel was pretty short, so I went through it. It’s a bit boring TBH – low speed limit and I presume loads of cameras. Had a weird time in the queue – I would have bet my last €5 that the approach road sloped downhill, but every time I drew to a stop, the car rolled backwards. It was really strange. Ho hum.
The whole journey was just a bore-fest of Swiss Motorways and French Autoroutes – very effective way of getting from A to B though, and I was soon at my overnight stay in Chalons-en-Champagne. Stayed at a Campanile hotel – cheap and almost cheerful.
Last one, I promise 
DAY 6 – HOMEWARD BOUND
Breakfast at the hotel was €10 and totally forgettable. A reasonable early start, and another obligatory stop at Reims-Gueux for a few photos.
After that, I turned on ‘Avoid Motorways’ on the nav, and had a couple of hours driving through the beautiful and deserted northern France countryside. Barely met another car, and made brisk progress. Made a few quick stops at interesting places. As you might imagine, there are far too many military graveyards and other relics of both wars, and I stopped at a British cemetery at La Ville Aux Boix, which was kept in immaculate order. I find these places so desperately sad, not helped by so many graves being for unknown soldiers. My son is almost 16, and many of those buried were not much older. This grave is of a soldier form our local Regiment, whose family never got him home, and never even knew where he fell – I don’t mind admitting I shed tears here, plenty of them. We Will Remember Them.
A sombre few kilometres, then it was back on the Autoroute Des Anglais towards Calais. I intended to go to Auchan, our normal supermarket of choice in Coquelles, which is much less busy than Cite Europe, but there were roadworks and diversions everywhere, so ended up going to Carrefour in the end. For reference, the passenger footwell easily holds 6 cases of wine, with the remainder and other buys piled up on top and behind the passenger seat.
The usual queues at Eurotunnel meant no time for a pitstop at the terminal - my train (letter H) had disappeared by the time I got through), so I was straight onto the train.
Just under three hours later, the first bottle was chilled and open…
So, in summary, I did 1,861.5 miles door to do, spending 39 hours and 14 minutes driving – that equates to just under 30% of the entire trip spend behind the wheel
My MPG for the trip was 38.9mpg, with an average speed of 47mph – I’m pretty happy with that!
Not had time to clean it yet, so it is covered in flies, brake dust and grime on the outside, and is a real mess on the inside. But... it literally didn’t miss a beat the whole trip – I always warm it up carefully before going for it, and let it cool for a few moments after a drive, but other than that, it is quite happy with whatever I throw at it, be it 250 miles on the autoroute in one hit, a blast up and down a mountain pass, or sat in traffic.
The only niggle is the poor range from the 35 litre tank, and the annoying range prediction, which moves from ‘62 km to empty’ to a ‘— km to empty’ in the range display without warning. Caused a couple of stressful searches for fuel…Other than that, I absolutely love it.
I was intending to sell it once I was home, but I’m really not sure what would replace it. 996? 987? SLK55?
I hope you've enjoyed reading about the trip. Grand Tour 2020 is already being planned...
TL;DR - Took my Abarth for a road trip through Europe. Had a great time
DAY 6 – HOMEWARD BOUND
Breakfast at the hotel was €10 and totally forgettable. A reasonable early start, and another obligatory stop at Reims-Gueux for a few photos.
After that, I turned on ‘Avoid Motorways’ on the nav, and had a couple of hours driving through the beautiful and deserted northern France countryside. Barely met another car, and made brisk progress. Made a few quick stops at interesting places. As you might imagine, there are far too many military graveyards and other relics of both wars, and I stopped at a British cemetery at La Ville Aux Boix, which was kept in immaculate order. I find these places so desperately sad, not helped by so many graves being for unknown soldiers. My son is almost 16, and many of those buried were not much older. This grave is of a soldier form our local Regiment, whose family never got him home, and never even knew where he fell – I don’t mind admitting I shed tears here, plenty of them. We Will Remember Them.
A sombre few kilometres, then it was back on the Autoroute Des Anglais towards Calais. I intended to go to Auchan, our normal supermarket of choice in Coquelles, which is much less busy than Cite Europe, but there were roadworks and diversions everywhere, so ended up going to Carrefour in the end. For reference, the passenger footwell easily holds 6 cases of wine, with the remainder and other buys piled up on top and behind the passenger seat.
The usual queues at Eurotunnel meant no time for a pitstop at the terminal - my train (letter H) had disappeared by the time I got through), so I was straight onto the train.
Just under three hours later, the first bottle was chilled and open…
So, in summary, I did 1,861.5 miles door to do, spending 39 hours and 14 minutes driving – that equates to just under 30% of the entire trip spend behind the wheel
My MPG for the trip was 38.9mpg, with an average speed of 47mph – I’m pretty happy with that!Not had time to clean it yet, so it is covered in flies, brake dust and grime on the outside, and is a real mess on the inside. But... it literally didn’t miss a beat the whole trip – I always warm it up carefully before going for it, and let it cool for a few moments after a drive, but other than that, it is quite happy with whatever I throw at it, be it 250 miles on the autoroute in one hit, a blast up and down a mountain pass, or sat in traffic.
The only niggle is the poor range from the 35 litre tank, and the annoying range prediction, which moves from ‘62 km to empty’ to a ‘— km to empty’ in the range display without warning. Caused a couple of stressful searches for fuel…Other than that, I absolutely love it.
I was intending to sell it once I was home, but I’m really not sure what would replace it. 996? 987? SLK55?
I hope you've enjoyed reading about the trip. Grand Tour 2020 is already being planned...
TL;DR - Took my Abarth for a road trip through Europe. Had a great time
Otispunkmeyer said:
This is great.
And as an ex-595 S3 comp owner...you get mad props from me because I could not envisage driving across Europe in one. Fun car, but supremely uncomfortable for my gangly 6ft 3 frame!
Cheers! Being 5ft 7 and a bit (the bit is important And as an ex-595 S3 comp owner...you get mad props from me because I could not envisage driving across Europe in one. Fun car, but supremely uncomfortable for my gangly 6ft 3 frame!
) I fit well. It’s no issue to do 600+ miles in a dayGreat write up, I’ve done 2 European trips in my comp and the Mrs has suggested we do a 3rd this summer. We had the fuel range drop very quickly when we got to the top of a mountain near como slightly concerning but just about managed to get to the fuel station the next day.
Otispunkmeyer said:
This is great.
And as an ex-595 S3 comp owner...you get mad props from me because I could not envisage driving across Europe in one. Fun car, but supremely uncomfortable for my gangly 6ft 3 frame!
I’m 6’3” an no issues. And as an ex-595 S3 comp owner...you get mad props from me because I could not envisage driving across Europe in one. Fun car, but supremely uncomfortable for my gangly 6ft 3 frame!
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