993 - Roadtrip - France/Germany/Austria

993 - Roadtrip - France/Germany/Austria

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ch3tman

Original Poster:

115 posts

185 months

Wednesday 19th September 2018
quotequote all
Not a frequent poster; instead tend to read these forums from a distance coffee.

However, in a bid to address recent sentiment and heavy focus on values/market conditions/bubbles/etc. - as found in the spoiler below - thought I'd demonstrate there are still enthusiast owners out there who drive their classic Porsche, because they have been bought to be driven and enjoyed, rather than worry about the market! irked


Robbo66 said:
Steve Rance said:
<snip>
This forum really is becoming an increasingly boring place to be.

Is anyone actually interested in driving their cars anymore rather than sitting in their counting houses adding up thier values or polishing them

Moderators, can we please have a separate ‘Values’ section within the Porsche forum?
<snip>
Unfortunately, if a 'values' thread were placed in a separate area, I would suggest it would be a far more active area, than the odd driving thread we see pop up on here.
The 'driving threads' tend to be consigned to far smaller private forums like PGT or S9, Facebook or Whatsapp groups now. Sign of the times I'm afraid.


Roadtrip covered the final week of May, returning first week June, and the general order of the route was as follows:

  • >>> Eurotunnel UK>FR
  • >>> Metz, FR
  • >>> Baden Baden, DE
  • >>> Lake Constance, DE (via B500 Black Forest High Road, DE)
  • >>> Innsbruck, AT (via Hahntennjoch Pass, AT)
  • >>> Grossglockner High Alpine Road, AT
  • >>> Karlsruhe, DE
  • >>> Reims, FR
  • >>> Eurotunnel FR>UK
We really wanted to cover Silvretta High Alpine Road on the way into Innsbruck, however it was still shut from the winter, so we headed to Hahntennjoch instead. The aim was to cover no more than 400-450km a day. A previous trip in the pre-911 days had seen us cover up to ~725km in one hit sleep, we knew that was just too much to make an enjoyable trip for us both.

All in all a manageable ~1,805 miles or ~2,905 kilometers were covered over 9 days, with 2 nights in Reims (champagne tour of course drunk) and 3 nights in Innsbruck (small city with a cool vibe).

On to some photos ...starting with the almost obligatory one?





Not too many photos along the B500 - it was so enjoyable - free flowing, fast moving roads with sweeping bends... we covered most of it without stopping biggrin. Certainly lived up to expectations and it definitely won't be the last time we visit the Black Forest cool.

On our way into Lake Constance, we came across a pleasant surprise. We'd earlier seen a blacked out Porsche '992 test mule' absolutely flying - I'd not seen a vehicle move so quick 'in the wild' for a long time. Turns out we were heading into the same town, so after we caught him up and swapped a headlight flash/hazard light exchange, stopped at a petrol station:





He was indeed a test driver for Porsche and a very friendly one at that. They have felt coverings which they have to apply across the whole of the dash, centre console, door cards, etc. whenever parked up to prevent uninvited photos. The 992 has an interesting dash/gauge wink - as since reported on PH.

A quick comparison...





I preferred mine...banditlick.

Onto the Lake, a nice buzz at the waterfront and a perfect place to eat/drink/relax after the B500...smile.









Heading into Austria, the scenary became rather spectacular...yikes









Hahntennjoch Pass definitely lived up to it's dangerous roads tag; at times the pass can get quite narrow and often without any barriers nuts, pretty intricate, and not too many overtaking opportunities (unlike the B500). This technical nature of the road, with its very tight back to back hairpins coupled with a steep ascent at pace, meant I worried about grounding out a few times! It was a thrilling drive with some breathtaking views along the way yes.







In fact the route we took leading into the Hahntennjoch Pass was just as enjoyable & memorable - catch the 200 from Müselbach and follow it into the 198 around Warth all the way until Elmen for the pass thumbup.

Innsbruck:



Next up, the Grossglockner High Alpine Road. Not much more to say other than it lived up to the billing of one of the best driving roads in Europe bow. Definitely allow more time than you think; you'll be stopping more often than you expect to take in the phenomenal landscape...yes .
The change in weather from bottom to top was also quite dramatic!







We headed back into Germany via the Autobahn where the 993 managed to stretched it's legs smokin - satisfying to know that despite it's age, performed well and remained pretty stable at high speed. I think the car feels better for it! laugh

Finally, we stopped at Reims-Gueux on the way back to Calais...





Finishing with 2 of my favoured images from the trip:



Difficult not to be impressed with the 993's curves from above cloud9 :



The tone of the trip was set from the outbound Eurotunnel; a gentleman from the next carriage up came over to check out 993 during the journey. Lots of appreciating nods of the head or waves were exchanged across France/Germany/Austria which was quite cool too .

Along the way, we saw a handful of pre-'89 911s, maybe 8 to 10 964s out and about, and maybe 20+ 997s (by far the most friendliest, always offering a wave! byebye) ...but only ONE 993 - a stunning French plated C2S in Arctic Silver. Where are the others all hiding? confused

We're so glad we did the trip, we came back buzzing rotate - whilst it wasn't a relaxing break there was a real sense of adventure. Massively relieved the car behaved, too (I carry a spare DME relay in the car, but other than that... scratchchin ).

In future we hope to experience either the Spanish Pyrenees or the Italian Dolomites. Hopefully both! thumbup ...and without worrying about the market biglaugh.

Look forward to seeing more content here of other 911's being enjoyed as intended driving.

ch3tman

Original Poster:

115 posts

185 months

Thursday 20th September 2018
quotequote all
Thanks all, for the generous comments. Pleasantly surprising given the 'marmite' paint plus wheel choice & ride height may not appeal to a traditional 993 connoisseur, who tends to prefer factory originality.

FerdiZ28 said:
Great pics, inspiring trip and that 993 is perfection. I’d bookmark a thread of it driving to get petrol/milk. Congrats.
Thank you! I actually aim to use the car for the office commute - on average - twice a week. It performs 'daily duties' without any issues and on those days, I often find the journey to the office and back is the highlight of my day thumbup. I spent many years saving up for a 993, and significantly more lusting after one, so it would be a real shame to not use it frequently and it enjoy whilst possible smile. It's a car I never intend on letting go...bow and instead plan to continue to personalise/improve.

justin220 said:
Fantastic!

Which camera are you using? Pics looks great
Nothing special I'm afraid - Lumix G3. It's a 7 year old m4/3 camera body (a true photography enthusiast will probably tell you a m4/3 camera is not a 'proper' camera) coupled with a single prime lens... not very flexible kit but this combination means it's easily portable which encourages me to take the camera with me in the first place! The 20mm f1.7 lens has it's limitations but I'm really fond of the sharpness it offers .



ch3tman

Original Poster:

115 posts

185 months

Friday 21st September 2018
quotequote all
MDL111 said:
MDL111 said:
did you by any chance go up the Großglockner on Thursday the (I think) 31st of May? Your number plate seems familiar and I had a 993 in front of me for a while I think (silver RS Clio, red Scuderia and brown FF all on German plates)
and a pic to go with the above

Definitely remember the two F cars, especially as I'd not seen one in the colour of the FF before - very smart. One of you were behind us as we were queuing at the toll/entry point, and the other to the left of us. You'll probably remember the club run of JCW's zipping up the pass that day, too. Nice photo, and great soundtrack provided for the rest of us cool.

ch3tman

Original Poster:

115 posts

185 months

Friday 21st September 2018
quotequote all
v8ksn said:
Your car is gorgeous lick Are those tramont wheels?

I love road trip threads, thank you for posting thumbup
Thanks for your kind comments - and good luck with your air-cooled hunt! Re: wheels - yes you are spot on... 18" Tramont Cup wheels - you'll find more info on them at these links: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Don't discount the factory 17" Cup II wheels which also look 'just right' and compliment the curves of the body suitably - below a comparison of both wheels in a cleaner state!










Edited by ch3tman on Friday 21st September 12:54

ch3tman

Original Poster:

115 posts

185 months

Sunday 23rd September 2018
quotequote all
MDL111 said:
ch3tman said:
MDL111 said:
MDL111 said:
did you by any chance go up the Großglockner on Thursday the (I think) 31st of May? Your number plate seems familiar and I had a 993 in front of me for a while I think (silver RS Clio, red Scuderia and brown FF all on German plates)
and a pic to go with the above

Definitely remember the two F cars, especially as I'd not seen one in the colour of the FF before - very smart. One of you were behind us as we were queuing at the toll/entry point, and the other to the left of us. You'll probably remember the club run of JCW's zipping up the pass that day, too. Nice photo, and great soundtrack provided for the rest of us cool.
Was a great day to go up. The JCWs were parked opposite in the photo above - they did sound quite nice.

The 993 looked lovely - need one of those in my life at some point.
That was the only time so far I have had all 3 cars together - good memories

We drove the Nockalmstrasse in the pouring rain on the way back - great road if you are ever in the area. Porsche museum in Gmünd is quite cool too.
Interestingly, this picture I posted on the previous page was taken from the other side of the single flag in the background of your photo laugh. I then walked over to where your cars were parked because someone from either your or the JWC group (think some of them had their bonnets opened to aid cooling?) started some drone filming which was amusing to watch.

Thanks for the tip re Nockalmstrasse! We routed our journey back to Innsbruck via Felbertauernstraße - which was fun - but as you mention, the rain really showed up early evening.

ch3tman

Original Poster:

115 posts

185 months

Sunday 23rd September 2018
quotequote all
v8ksn said:
Thank you so much for links, they look truly gorgeous!

Adventura green is such as great colour cloud9
No worries! Those links will tell you all you need to know about them, especially given you can configure your own spec from a wide range of widths and offsets, therefore suitable for both narrow and wide body cars.

Slight correction on the name bandit : there is no 'd'. Depending on region, it's called Aventurine (US), Aventura (ROW) or Aventura Grün (DE). As paua mentioned earlier in the thread, it's a complex colour, and has been mistaken for Green, Gray or Blue on several occasions. See below:



Glasurit forumla: