New trip through Europe...... | Page 2 | FerrariChat

New trip through Europe......

Discussion in '456/550/575' started by F456M, Sep 8, 2020.

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  1. F456M

    F456M F1 Rookie

    Jan 8, 2010
    3,665
    Oslo
    Full Name:
    Erik
    And now the story of day five!!

    No cattles approaching today, but wow! This was the Grand Finale of V12-across-the-continent....... Started as mentioned in Bregenz in West-Austria, with the visit to Daniel, then back into Switzerland, passing Fürstentum Liechtenstain which is a very small and rich country, and the GPS said 6 houres to Monaco. After looking a bit closer at the map, I found out that this is the «main road» when going to Italy/France and I have done it several times before. So, instead, I took off the Swiss autobahn which is a typical 120 kph. transport type of highway with no speeding, and got up in some very cool mountain roads. The twisty roads went at the edge of a 90% vertical mountain and in and out of small tunnels. It was the Solis-pass that went over a quite easy mountain and then down to beautiful St. Moritz which was the host of the first Winter Olympics if I remember correctly. A very nice place which I want to see during mid winter with lots of snow. Found a pretty posh mansion in the «dorf» (German for village) and decided the car needed some more pictures of itself beside it...

    Then a new route was chosen to later arrive Lago di Como. It was a very fun quite steep decline where the bus in front of me had to play a «fanfare» before every turn as it took up the whole road as there were very sharp turns there. I noticed that the fuel gauge started to get seriously low, and of course this trip did not have spare gas..., even if I use to have it. But there it was, a mini gas station with an Italian speaking guy behind the cashier. In this part of Switzerland they speak Italian. Full tank again, and the Maranello was ready for more... Then down to the top of the Lake Como. On the way, a red 512 BB met me in the middle of a sharp turn. Both at decent speed, so none of us got even the time to wave and say hi. I took the eastern side which seemed to have the best and biggest road. Bad decition. Here it is only tunnels and you can’t see much at all. So next time the western/northern and smaller road has to be chosen. I noticed that Monza was on the way to Milano, and I tried to call and see if the race place was open. Not possible to find out via internet or Instagram. And they did not answer the phone at all. But I went there and there was a running marathon there and for us car guys everything was closed because of covid-19.... So 1/2 houre lost. But I gave the car a wash at least even if it didn’t really needed it. It have to be perfectly clean at all times to be the best Maranello. So still worth it. Then the Autostradas of Italy down to Genoa. These are not very interesting, but are of good standards. Just a pity that there are so many speed cameras... But from Genoa to the French border, I can assure you, Italy has the coolest autostrada of them all! Along the cliffs of the Liguria county, with long straight aways and long turns, in and out of about fifty tunnels where the V12 got to roar well into «inspiring» speeds. A Bentley Superfast and some other cars came at over 200... Especially Swiss luxury cars use this road as their race track. As the sun went down and the dawn was over, I pulled off A8 and down and into Monaco which I have got to know very well over the last year. Always a big pleasure to see all the cars cruising around and just enjoy the standard of everything else. I had a dinner at Cafe Milano which is a great 100% Italian restaurant in the corner of the port and the F1 race track is passing straight by. In an houre I believe I saw a 355, 812, several Californias, various types of Aston Martins and a bunch of Bentleys and Rollses. The temperature is unbelievable. 26 degrees at 11 PM in the evening.

    The toll road system in Italy is brilliant and you only pay one time when you get off If the Autostrada, depending on how far you have driven. I went from Monza to Ventimiglia (French border) and that was 38 euro. While not taking the world’s longest tunnel under the San Bernardino, I also saved 65 euro there. :)

    Old Blue Boy have been very kind this time and not had one single problem! It doesn’t seem to use oil either. I felt the AC is not good enough even though I refilled it a year ago. I might have to do it again. The alignment needs to be checked and adjusted and I also need to do some paint work as the four year old paint job is not good enough in certain areas after a few years. New fans are on its way from Florida and I have to put on the new 550 Barchetta smaller diameter pulley on the water pump to improve the cooling down here in Nice crazy stop and go traffic...

    I wish there could be some more who enjoy driving long trips like this and that we sometime could do a trip with several cars together. That would be really fun!

    With all kinds of driving, I use to get about 650-700 kms. on a full tank of gas which use to be about 85-95 liters on every fill up. So the truth is that the Maranello is thirsty, but not at all bad if driven in a way where you dob’t need to use the brakes a lot. When you do a trip like this, the most important thing is to actually manage to arrive and that means even with fast driving, extreme driving is not something I even considder. I had 330 kph. when I drove it up in April, and I did not need to do that again.

    Wish you all a great time! Please feel free to comment and ask any question you like.

    Erik
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  2. DZ-96

    DZ-96 Formula 3
    Silver Subscribed

    Mar 7, 2010
    1,775
    South Germany
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    Daniel
    Eric

    South Germany to Liguria could be one of the most beautiful trips in the world, especially with a 550 (or another Ferrari).


    Daniel
     
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  3. F456M

    F456M F1 Rookie

    Jan 8, 2010
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    Yes for sure!! But next time I want to do it in a cabriolet. And a more silent one. The 550 is more of a sports car that like to be driven. Would be fun to do it in the Biturbl Spyder. But I dob’t know if I can trust it for a long trip like that haha...
     
  4. DZ-96

    DZ-96 Formula 3
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    Mar 7, 2010
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    In the 90's I used my 83 Maserati Biturbo S carburetor for a 14 days holiday trip to Laigueglia (Liguria) with tent, with wife and dog.
    No Problems.
    A good Maserati Biturbo is bullet proofed

    Daniel
     
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  5. DZ-96

    DZ-96 Formula 3
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    Mar 7, 2010
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    Eric

    You do the correct things.
    In 10 years, when we all drive electrical ****, we all wish to get back the old times, when you are able to drive with a 12 cylinder Ferrari from north Europe to the riviera.

    ;)

    Daniel
     
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  6. DZ-96

    DZ-96 Formula 3
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    unforgetable !!!





    Daniel
     
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  7. haroonok

    haroonok Formula 3

    Sep 5, 2007
    1,152
    england
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    haroon
    Thanks for the adventure Eric-very enjoyable
     
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  8. 21ATS

    21ATS Formula Junior

    Dec 10, 2016
    988
    Kent, UK
    Full Name:
    Alan
    Thanks Eric, a really enjoayable read on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
     
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  9. F456M

    F456M F1 Rookie

    Jan 8, 2010
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    Haha yes. Good to document it...
     
  10. F456M

    F456M F1 Rookie

    Jan 8, 2010
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    That’s exactly how I think too!! But it also makes me keep young. Life is an adventure in itself.
     
  11. DOWORKFCAR

    DOWORKFCAR Formula Junior

    Oct 15, 2016
    303
    Erik, what a wonderful trip! Fantastic documentation but more importantly, memories. Enjoy!
     
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  12. Bas

    Bas Four Time F1 World Champ

    Mar 24, 2008
    41,299
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    That's such good mileage...damn! A few months ago I got to talking to some EV enthusiast and he was adamant that very few cars where able to do more than 500km per tank...bla bla EV is so much better you know the nonsense they spout at every single opportunity. I used my own old BMW E34 525 as an example, getting around 600km a tank in an old car with 80 liter tank...a car which design is 30 years old! And definitely not driven at a ''hypermilers'' pace...I wish i'd known you get such good mileage out of the 550 as I'd rather have used that example!
     
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  13. F456M

    F456M F1 Rookie

    Jan 8, 2010
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    #38 F456M, Sep 14, 2020
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2020
    WA
    Hi Bas! Agree with you. Today I spent 20 minutes to go through all the Bills from the trip. I have driven about 2750 kms. on this trip from the top of Denmark, when not including the Norway leg to the port. I have fueled no less than six times, and when taken the fuel leftover into considderation, the total amount is quite exactly 400 liters. That means 400 liters / 275 «mil» as we say in Norway, which means an average consumption on the whole trip with both 250-300 kph., stop and go traffic, mountain climbing and decending, and everything in between is 1,45 l/mile (10 kms.). That translates to about 16,22 mpg. Not that bad in my opinion. As I do this not very often, it is well worth all the memories. But of course in Europe, it is (average) 1,4 euro / liter * 400 = 560 euro or about 665 USD in just fuel. + 70 euro for the ferry, four hotels for about 350 euro combined (stayed one night at a buddy in St. Gallen almost for free), and food. I addition comes 50 euro for road tax stickers «vignette» in Switzerland and Austria. Some good food along the way (which I might have done at home aswell, but is not strictly needed). So it is about as expencive as to ship it on a big truck. But so much more fun.

    That’s the way I look at it.
     
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  14. Bas

    Bas Four Time F1 World Champ

    Mar 24, 2008
    41,299
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    Bas
    It's not even about the money...the memories alone are worth 1000x that!

    I forget what the argument was about with the EV fan...either about fuel consumption monetary or eco wise. Always the same with that lot...for me it's very simple, especially with special cars such as Ferrari's, M BMW's and so on, they tend to never find a scrap yard unless they've been heavily crashed (and even then the parts that can be saved, will be re-used in other cars!). A standard car, EV or ICE, will simply be binned after 15 years. EV less eco friendly to scrap as well, and more expensive...Sadly this is an argument they refuse to see another side of! If people want to drive EV's, fine by me...but forcing specialist car makers to go the same route is not right, as I'm sure if you look at the total picture, Ferrari is far more eco friendly than say Tesla is...for every car produced. Including their racing!
     
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  15. F456M

    F456M F1 Rookie

    Jan 8, 2010
    3,665
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    Erik
    Agree 100%. For your information, more than 50 % of all new cars sold in my home country is now electric.. They are subsidized 100%. No tax or VAT.
     
  16. Themaven

    Themaven F1 Rookie

    Nov 2, 2014
    4,252
    Eastdown
    Full Name:
    Darius
    A great chronicle of a great adventure, thank you Erik. I was at the Socar in Silvaplana a couple of weeks ago...I hope many generations to come will have this type of adventure in this type of car. Thank you.

    It made me smile when you pointed out that half the new cars sold in Norway are electric and subsidised 100 per cent by the state. Because the Norwegian state wealth derives almost solely from a wise investment of revenues from oil and gas production in the North Sea.
     
  17. F456M

    F456M F1 Rookie

    Jan 8, 2010
    3,665
    Oslo
    Full Name:
    Erik
    It is pretty crazy. They sell oil for an exceptional amount of money, then the at the same time put 2-3x the price of a car in just tax (for «environmental» purposes) so people buy less powerful cars. In the 80-ies there were a huge tax on each and every luxury equipment like AC, electric seats and other un-neccesary stuff.... Totally sick politic!! They probably wanted Stalin to run the country. Not like that in MC. They survive without oil business. :)
     

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