Yesterday was the big day - 170+Dinos together on the track at Fiorano and afterwards inside the heart of the Ferrari factory - the first time most of them have been back home to where they were born in 45/50 years! I have posted my pictures on the Dino 50 thread, so shan't duplicate them here. I drove my Dino only a mile or so today - round to the Museo Ferrari and on to lunch at Ristorante Cavallino - not merely a piece of Ferrari history, but excellent food, too! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Finally, back home safely from the adventures 50 years Dino celebration event in Italy. Much kudos to Matthias for making this amazing arrangement happen. Perfection is an understatement! The sight of all the Dino's and the joy of being together with so many likeminded enthusiasts will forever be in our memory. It was great to meet and see fellow fchat members coming from all corners of Europe and some even from the states. We clocked 2900 Km in the Dino over the last 6 days and saved additional 850 km by loading the car on a train through most of Germany on the way back home (Wise decision as I was completely exhausted after the extensive program and the high temparature in the cabin). The car had no other issues than a corroded fuse affecting the charging circuit and a heat stroked driver.... who said these cars are not made for touring! By the way I can inform you that it is the first time I have driven around in Maranello guided by the Italian Police. They had barriered off the entire route from the museum to the test track and back to the factory. Really cool except for the pour local motorists that was held back for a considerable amount of time. Best Peter Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I called in to the Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari in Modena today (that's a whole story on its own!) and then headed for Asti and the comfort of the Villa Ferrari. Image Unavailable, Please Login If you are ever in Asti, I can wholeheartedly recommend a visit to the Osteria del Diavolo - great environment, wonderful food, excellent local wine, and ridiculously cheap - what more can one want? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
John - Thank you for posting about your adventure, and sharing your photos and tips about where to stay, and where to have lunch and dinner. I wish we had been able to go! Mark
Tuesday. From Asti, I headed back over / through the Alps to Macon, with a lunch stop at Lac d'Aiguebelette, near Chambery. Mostly motorway driving, the Dino was very happy cruising at just over 4,000 rpm in top (I am having misfire issues below that), but very small alongside the giant lorry convoys that I passed. They form into groups of half a dozen or more, slipstreaming each other, hanging on to the one inn front with almost negligible gaps in between - I dread to think of what mayhem might result if the lead vehicle were to suffer a blow-out, or some other issue! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Wednesday. I treated myself to a "no tolls" day - by setting my satnav (where would one be without one?) to avoid toll roads, I was able to spend an entire day driving the largely empty back roads of rural Burgundy: long gently undulating straights interspersed with sweeping curves and the occasional series of hairpins when climbing or dropping back down again - ideal Dino country. I stopped to visit the Chateau de Bazoches (a must if you are in the Morvan area, and worth a detour if you are not) and then briefly in the village of Vezelay, where, much to my surprise and his, I encountered a fellow Dino traveller on his way to the Le Mans Classic. I ended the day in a delightful little B&B near Chablis, my room being at the end of the garden overlooking the river, with a roof terrace on which to enjoy a cooling glass or two of the local wine, and where the proprietor turned out to have the same model of 911 as I do, just a year apart! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thursday. After a pleasant drive to Fontainebleau, where the Chateau is second only in magnificence to Versailles, so again an absolute must see if you are anywhere near it (just south of Paris), I had a rather tedious drive around the outskirts of Paris to Chantilly, where I am now staying for a few days with my wife (who flew out from the UK) and daughter (who is working at Sotheby's in Paris) in a charming hotel (Auberge de Jeu de Paume - highly recommended) overlooking the gardens of the Ch. de Chantilly, before I head back to England on Monday. Saturday. They have gone to the market just now, and then we are going to tour the Chateau this afternoon. Fontainebleau: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Chantilly: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login View from our bedroom Image Unavailable, Please Login
After a 3-day break with my family (my wife flew over and my daughter came out from Paris where she is living / working), I headed for home. I made a quick stop at the WW2 cemetery in Bayeux to pay my respects to some of those who died so that we can live in freedom, then headed for Cherbourg and the ferry to Poole and home to Exeter. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
It being the Monday after the Le Mans Classic weekend, the queue for the ferry was inn itself a classic car show! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Cool - a Lotus Elite, a DB4(?), a Triumph Spitfire or 250(?), an MGA, a Bug Eye (Frog Eye) Sprite, an E-Type Coupe (I wonder how hot that got inside on the road)!
DB Mark 3, a.k.a. DB 2/4 mark 3. Last of the Lagonda engined Astons, just prior to the DB4. And Triumph Stag. I expect the E-type was no hotter than in my Dino - at least in a E-type, you don't to all intents and purposes share the cabin with the engine!
Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Greetings All, Due to a glitch with his computer, Fred (2GT) asked me to post these three pictures of his Dino on a recent outing. He said: "These shots were taken as I left a local car show run by an MG club on Sunday, July 15. Photo credit Zach Travis." Cheers, Coop for Fred
Great looking Dino! I have a set of those wheels. It inspires me to try them on my Dino. What color blue is it? Metallic? Freeman
Freeman, it's Blu Sera Metallizzato. Matthias once e-mailed me that only 58 Dinos came from the factory in that color. Fred Coop, thanks so much for the assist! I wish we could get our Dinos together for a meet sometime! Fred
Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Freeman, I agree. We ran a set on one iteration of our car. Fred, Keep the faith. All, 'sorry for straying. Cheers, Coop
I always thought the early 308 5 spoke wheels in 14" worked well with the look of the Dino. That said the stock wheels with the stainless caps are still my favorite.
They’re “period-correct” and the best thing is they’re easy to bolt on/ bolt off! Like a Revell model kit, “Street, Strip or Track!”
I drove my car up to Beaulieu for a "supercar" event at the weekend. 250 miles or so round trip. It is back on form again after some fettling post the Maranello trip. Two cars celebrating 50th. anniversaries this year: Image Unavailable, Please Login
fabulous ride to the AVD Oldtimer Grand Prix at the Nürburgring (biggest classic car race event in germany / http://www.avd-ogp.de/en/) Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I was less lucky with the weather when I went to the South West Ferrari Cars and Coffee this morning: an hour's drive each way in almost non-stop rain there and back, with a bit of fog thrown into the mixture on the return journey! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login The Dino is positively dwarfed by a 430 and a 488 - small, but perfectly formed! Image Unavailable, Please Login