2007 route

[Raider]

Planning has already started for 10CR2007 but I would welcome any thoughts or suggestions for the route.

I will try and refrain from commenting after this first post so as not to influence the dabate.

All suggestions will receive due consideration  ;)

[jonathan binnington]

tough this, but could the pyreneese mountains be included as well as the alps?

perhaps portsmouth to cherbourg, dordogne, pyreneese, med coast through the carmarge, french riviera, alps maritime, alps proper then nothwards takinging in the stelvio and the col d'iseran (perhaps in daylight...) tyrol, nurburg thence out of europe via calais and home

also timing, perhaps earlier in the year (june/july) to maximise daylight hours

j

not saying yes yet though...  my hearing hasn't fully returned...

[Tim Bancroft]

Keep it at the same time of the year- old cars always = problems with temps!

[James]

Martin - don't we need to do the proper post mortem before route planning? How we decide to steer the event dictates what the route is. If anything the route follows the event - rather than the event following the route...

[GTRoger]

I know some very interesting roads in the Italian Dolomites...........  ;D

Martin, there's only one thing I would suggest: Don't be bothered about actually entering 10 countries in favour of more enjoyable roads!!!

[GTRoger]

James, just seen your post, totally agree.

[Raider]

No harm in getting opinions James - more input for the "post mortem"


Damn, I wasn't going to comment ::)

[Andy Flexney]

Raider,
Perhaps driving the anticlockwise next time could be fun and we do not have to drive all the way to the Med. but we should keep one or two principle ideas alive:
At least 10 countries
Maximum of 5 days
Minimum of 2200 miles
A few mountain passes
Food in Lesa
Petrol stop in Feldkirken
Stopover on the way back before taking the boat from Calais

Cheers
AndyF

[Deleted User]

How about a more northerly route that doesnt actually get down to the Med.

England
France
Belgium
Holland
Germany
Czech Republic (Budvar Brewery ?)
Austria, (Eastern end to get in the A1 ring)
Italy (including Stelvio to get into Switzerland)
Switzerland
(Germany again for Nurburgring)
Luxembourg
(Belgium again)
(France again)
(England again)

10 "real" countries, rather than 8 + 2 principalities !

[don cook1]

Or...GB, France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, overnight ferry to Poland, Czech, Austria, Lichetenstein...

Seriously, there are lots of routes one could consider.

I think the principles need setting in stone. This year was fine BUT I think I would choose the longest day of the year for maximum daylight, as Jonathan suggested, also that it is manageable for all, not everyone could/didn't want to travel at 90mph all the time. Hand on heart, how many of us saw the Med this time, I didn't. So we should do the Med thing properly. Also, cut out a lot of the passes to ensure that we are all able to meet up at the first overnight stop, early enough for all to enjoy the evening. Keep in Nurburgring (inspired idea Raider), keep the last night party.

I would also give details of the route well in advance and have the ferry crossing time as the ferry crossing time, I felt pretty bad as we sailed out seeing a load of Triumphs left behind on the dock (they weren't late we were all early!). Is the sarting point at Enfield really required, couldn't local CT members find something down Dover way?

Don't know about the food at Lesa as there were no Triumphs there when we passed it, however, just up the road at some town on the banks of Lake Magiori (James can you rember what it was called) there was a superb square by the lake with plenty of restaurants and what's more a couple of car clubs had there cars parked there! Could our Italian contact find somewhere a bit more...lavish for a halt?

Well, the permutations are considerable but as long as the principles get sorted then this will continue to be a wonderful few days on the continent.

[James]

Don - it was Cannobio... I had an excellent carbonara...



You can see the cars on the lake front in this pic...

Don has some good points - however longest day of the year - that's June - which = hot - and it clashes with other stuff going on. September is nice I think - decent weather still. We've got to face facts that we'll be driving through the night at some point - a few hours either way doesnt make much difference to me. As long as choice scenic locations are chosen for travelling through the day it's ok - we didn't miss much at night this time - rural France, which has something spooky about it during the night so it's ok - and German motorway... personally I'd like to see less night time driving anyway...

Agree with Andy - we need to set the parameters - 5 days and 2000 miles of driving - everything needs to be adaptable after that - so crews can choose how to have fun rather than be dictated to. As long as I have a good meal every evening and enough sleep I am happy! Others may be more relaxed or more fussy...

Enough ramble...

[jonathan binnington]

the other advantage of high summer trip is it's less likey to bung it down

those storms in germany were bloody wet in an open car...

boy did we get wet!

j

[Charlie]

The storms where also wet in a spitfire with the roof up, says something about the cars we're driving i suppose.

I agree with keeping in lesa, nurburgring and overnight stop on the sunday.
Maybe skip out the splugenpass, to give more time for the stelvio pass, and maybe skip out the montblanc tunnel, 30 euro's just to pass through a mountain, and it was on fire when we went through.

I personally thought that the 2005 route was fine, just the timings need fettling a bit, as on the saturday we thought were well behind time looking at the timings, so we ended up just bombing it through germany, and skipping the stelvio pass to make up time. Though we then ended up wasting 3 hours at the nurburgring at the Toyo tuning show, which was an interesting experience in itself.

Charlie

[Tim Bancroft]

Simple really, loose some of the passes, thats it.

If one takes a car without a roof, I would have thought you would expect to get wet. I admire the idea of doing an event like taht in a car without a roof, but it is not for me.

[don cook1]

Can this debate rage on throughout the next 18 months as its like putting on an old friendly slipper...all cosy and nostalgic!

So what about Andy Pearce's suggestion of belting down to the Med leaving the interesting stuff for daylight. I'd be happy to do that but I'd really like a detour to take in Hunt's Curve outside Dijon! Could even book a cheap Formule 1 for a few hours! James' photo shows how we might increase the impact of the trip, imagine all the Triumphs parked up in that square, glasses chinking, the lake lapping...then there's the Market Square at Brugges as well.

Am I the only one that can't remember driving through Germany in the dark?? Oh hang on I met the White Tornado at a filling station bang on time for the rest stop, an immaculate TR250 turned up and the German guy had a piddle and drove off, not before telling me he was a local lad, and then Raider turned up...flooding back...or did I dream that bit?

[Charlie]

It would be nice to have some more time to get some proper food at some nice restaurantsl, but it all depends on what sort of event the 10CR should be, an all out blast down to the med and back going through some nice roads, and stopping over at places like the nurburgring, or a 4 day tour of europe, doing some nice roads, but not under the time pressure, and being able to stop off for some decent food.

Charlie

[Burnerboy]

To echo some of the above, I would definately have a stop at Lesa or at least get your man involved in a stop nearby, I like the idea of giving an Italian car club some friendly competition ;D I don't think it imperative that we actually reach the Med and go swimming. It was a nice idea (the idea that started the whole 10CR thing off??) and while we did it in '03 I don't think it was particularly missed this time around. Staying further North in Italy still "bags" the country but frees up a lot of driving time that would have been taken up going South to Ventimiglia and then back North again the following morning.
All that presumes that we follow the same route as this year, i.e with a stop in Ventimiglia. I personally did miss the drive down the Route Napoleon which was one of the highlights of the '03 run (for me anyway).
How about alternate routes? One route in '07, '11, etc and a different one for '09, '13? We really need more discussion here and then a pub based reunion (a la '03) to go over it all again!

[Charlie]

If the point of the run is to do the 10 countries, rather than swim in the med, then you could skip monaco and visit holland instead to keep it 10 countries. Would mean there would be plenty more time to do things. Though i did love doing the monaco grand prix circuit, including 'that' tunnel, and if only my lights were working properly it would of been nice to have a couple of drinks there, but we had to rush to ventimiglia before it got dark.

Not sure how many cents worth i'm going to have in this discussion but its got to be about 6 cents so far.

Charlie

[don cook1]

Charlie, 6 cents..."I see dead people!"

[thescrapman]

Did we not go so far south to squeeze in Monte Carlo??

Food at Lesa was excellent, please try at all costs to include that again.

Those that dipped out  and went sitting on the sides of lakes shouldn't be allowed to voice an opinion on Lesa!!  (Only Kidding Don... :-) )

Should not 2007 be an 11CR?? to keep up the pattern of making it bigger and better everytime???

Colin

[don cook1]

Oi! Colin, we'll have Lesa that!!!!

Well, I got to taste the food at Lesa on the 2003 10CR! Have to say sitting by the lake eating three pizzas between the two of us ...and a couple of beers...was bloody great!

Hey! How about this then. We get an overnight ferry from Harwich to Hook Van Holland and start nice and fresh early the next morning. The start could be the previous evening.

[v8dean]

[quote by=GT6_Don link=Blah.pl?b=10CR,m=1131902691,s=18 date=1131997376]Charlie, 6 cents..."I see dead people!"[/quote]

nice, Don.


[quote by=thescrapman link=Blah.pl?b=10CR,m=1131902691,s=19 date=1132167474]
Should not 2007 be an 11CR?? to keep up the pattern of making it bigger and better everytime???

Colin


[/quote]


Wouldn't you have a "Round Britain Twice Run" then , by now!

Dean.

[thescrapman]

Can't have any on this girly sounding RBTR....I'm awaiting the announcement of the RBTRR (Round Britain Thrice Reliability Run), the one for real men who don't need to ever sleep...

[curtis]

As someone who is already in France (South West nr. Cognac) the event does sound interesting.However, I don't find it so attractive to be pressing on all the time to cover the most distance at the expense of good food and a decent place to stay.Perhaps I have become too used to our events here that don't lack for competitiveness but we do eat well.
Could be I have missed the point of the event and fall outside  of Scrapman's category "real men who don't need to ever sleep" !!

Curtis

[jonathan binnington]

Curtis, depending on the point of view in question you have either missed it entirely (real men not needing sleep and pressing on) or hit the nail squarely on the head (enjoy the countries, the food and the hospitality)

It's a bloody long way to go to have it all blur into one, sleep deprived experience, but for some people that is indeed the WHOLE POINT.

Other people, however are put off by the idea of 2x48hrs straight in the motorcar.

I find myself comparing the 10CR to the european gumball run which covers a greater distance but has overnight halts for regrouping and socialising - now I am NOT suggesting we stop in hotels but would like to suggest overnight halts at campsites for food, drink and sleep.

The final decision will likely rest in the hands of the organisers, unless they can be pursuaded of the error of their ways...

jonathan