Rudiger Wicke
Member
I very much like the photos, testrider !
Rudiger
Rudiger
A P6 in the Alps
- Thread starter testrider
- Start date
testrider
Active Member
V8P6B, I don't mind lots of questions if you don't mind long replies!
There were 29 cars on the trip and we had a little convoy off the ferry from Calais but it broke up after a while depending on the cars' fuel range etc. With such a large group it's impractical to all travel in convoy. We tended to have a leisurely breakfast and set off later than most so we drove mainly on our own and tended to bump into the others along the way either at tricky direction waypoints or fuel stops.
The others tended to drive in little groups of 3 or 4 cars as their friendships grew over the holiday but Jane and I were mostly content to please ourselves. We mostly had picnic lunches rather than stopping at restaurants or cafes like most others which then meant we'd overtake quite a few cars to arrive at the destination in time to have a look around and take some pictures.
The route guide and itinerary was fairly loose which some found frustrating but I thought it was fun and as long as you get to the right hotel in the evening without using main roads it doesn't really matter if you deviated from the route or missed a turn. On day 2 arriving into Fussen in Germany, and only a mile from the hotel, the route instructions said turn right at the first roundabout but the first roundabout we came to didn't have a right turn so we then thought we were in the wrong place and spent about 10 minutes retracing our tracks to find where we went wrong. We eventually figured out it was a new roundabout as it had fresh tarmac and kerbstones and it wasn't on the instructions so we ignored it an went straight on to pick up the route proper further in to the town. It was unlucky that the route was printed before the road was changed but you need to be on the ball to spot mistakes like that and be confident that you know where you are.
Mileage wise, the first two days were on motorways and about 300 miles each but from then on it was more like 150 to 200miles depending on the severity on the terrain. Day 5 was a 210 miles and took in a lot of passes. It was also when I had problems with the fuel vapourising so, an hour with the bonnet up coupled with a late start due to looking around St. Moritz in the morning meant we arrived at the hotel at 5 minutes to 8 (dinner!) which took the shine off the day a bit. Jane said she would have liked 50 miles off each day in order to stop more en route at interesting places but then it is marketed as more of a driving holiday than a touring holiday so I think the balance was about right.
There were a few breakdowns and mishaps and ultimately you are on your own to sort it out but there was great cameraderie within the group so people stopped to help where they could. Breakdown cover and tow trucks must all be arranged yourself and a couple of cars need towing to the nearest town but both got running again and caught up within two days. A chap in an Allard had his alternator rebuilt by Bosch inside 24 hours and the pair on the MGA got new seals in their clutch mastercylinder within 36hours including being recovered from the top of the Stelvio Pass.
There were 29 cars on the trip and we had a little convoy off the ferry from Calais but it broke up after a while depending on the cars' fuel range etc. With such a large group it's impractical to all travel in convoy. We tended to have a leisurely breakfast and set off later than most so we drove mainly on our own and tended to bump into the others along the way either at tricky direction waypoints or fuel stops.
The others tended to drive in little groups of 3 or 4 cars as their friendships grew over the holiday but Jane and I were mostly content to please ourselves. We mostly had picnic lunches rather than stopping at restaurants or cafes like most others which then meant we'd overtake quite a few cars to arrive at the destination in time to have a look around and take some pictures.
The route guide and itinerary was fairly loose which some found frustrating but I thought it was fun and as long as you get to the right hotel in the evening without using main roads it doesn't really matter if you deviated from the route or missed a turn. On day 2 arriving into Fussen in Germany, and only a mile from the hotel, the route instructions said turn right at the first roundabout but the first roundabout we came to didn't have a right turn so we then thought we were in the wrong place and spent about 10 minutes retracing our tracks to find where we went wrong. We eventually figured out it was a new roundabout as it had fresh tarmac and kerbstones and it wasn't on the instructions so we ignored it an went straight on to pick up the route proper further in to the town. It was unlucky that the route was printed before the road was changed but you need to be on the ball to spot mistakes like that and be confident that you know where you are.
Mileage wise, the first two days were on motorways and about 300 miles each but from then on it was more like 150 to 200miles depending on the severity on the terrain. Day 5 was a 210 miles and took in a lot of passes. It was also when I had problems with the fuel vapourising so, an hour with the bonnet up coupled with a late start due to looking around St. Moritz in the morning meant we arrived at the hotel at 5 minutes to 8 (dinner!) which took the shine off the day a bit. Jane said she would have liked 50 miles off each day in order to stop more en route at interesting places but then it is marketed as more of a driving holiday than a touring holiday so I think the balance was about right.
There were a few breakdowns and mishaps and ultimately you are on your own to sort it out but there was great cameraderie within the group so people stopped to help where they could. Breakdown cover and tow trucks must all be arranged yourself and a couple of cars need towing to the nearest town but both got running again and caught up within two days. A chap in an Allard had his alternator rebuilt by Bosch inside 24 hours and the pair on the MGA got new seals in their clutch mastercylinder within 36hours including being recovered from the top of the Stelvio Pass.
Cheers for the reply testrider, that's exactly the kind of info I was after. I'm even more convinced to go for it now! Thanks for an absolutely brilliant thread, I've really enjoyed reading it, and the pics are excellent too! I dunno if you're up for it next year, but I'm hoping to do it. Maybe we can make 2 P6's... 8)
