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Euro
BLAST 2007 the Write Up!!
Totally throttle-lagged can be the only way to describe how I felt after
returning at near midnight from 3000miles of the most intensely
challenging, dramatic and picturesque driving I and most have
experienced up and over the cliff-edged Alpine routes of 3 countries and
across the hearts of no less than 4 others. I was also missing the
people, the new friends, and the laughter.
Photos from left to right:Walking the walk in Karlovy Vary -- Some of the many at the end of an Amazing trip -- Enjoying the Pistenklause
This
epic trip titled the Euro Blast ran late in September. 16 cars
carrying 26 brave souls set off to explore and conquer the elements. Of
those adventurers were
four Evo’s, an excellent range of nine Subaru’s from a mint Classic
turbo to the latest Sti’s. There was also one Jaguar S-Type diesel, the
substitution for one of the drivers broken Evo, an MR2 and an LPG fuelled
Mercedes 600SL.
We set
off on Day1 before dawn to thrash our way through the quiet winding and
scenic autoroutes across the belly of France heading for the border of
Switzerland near Basel. The skies were blue and the sun showed us the
way as it rose in the East arcing towards the South. When we reached our
first nights destination of Interlaken, Switzerland we were greeted with
incredible views from the Hotel car park across and up to the Eiger and
Jung Frau mountain ranges. Snow capped peaks spearing out of the green
valley immediately erased the long drive and made the heart pump just a
little harder in anticipation of the fun that was to befall us all
driving up and over these breathtaking natural works of art. As we stood
in awe someone from our four car convoy shouted “Beer”, so we sat out on
the veranda under a huge olive tree looking out at the view and laughing
about the days trip and what to expect over the next 7.
Photos from left to right:First arrivals in
Interlaken, who said Beer? -- Just arrived and oh so happy -- View from Interlaken Hotel
carpark
The
second day was planned to relive some of the Swiss passes from the 2005
Stelvio Blast. So we set off warmed by the sun and headed for the narrow
twisting pine tree lined ascent up the Sustenpass. Once up and out of
the pine trees the view opened to allow you to eye the whole stunning
valley. Immediately either side of the pass became infertile due to a
shear rocky descent to one side with only a low stone wall to stop you
going over and a jagged cliff face on the other. This did not have the
effect of slowing us as this is why we were hear to revel in the
adrenaline fuelled driving challenge that is climbing the back of a
hair-pinned pass but we wound the windows down and submersed our being
to the waves of sound from our exhausts reverberating off the rocky
walls. Through the many short tunnels that had been hand carved out with
chisels and dynamite from the mountain we were climbing our cars sung,
roared so sweetly, words cannot describe the aural pleasure. Driving
cars like these on this type of road with its precise and loaded steering full
of feel about the tarmac below, the seat of your pants zinging with
additional information makes carving your way through a mountain pass
electric. My spine is rushing with a wave of tingles as I reminisce and
type
about theses passes and the scenery.
Once
on top at 2224m we stopped to take in the sun and the views at a slower
pace before heading down the other side and over to the infamous
Klausenpass. Home to many historic rally’s from the past it was
welcoming us as we slid through the narrow turns and along barbed wire
edged cliff topped tarmac with nothing below for a thousand feet. The
views jaw dropping the drive intense, one slip and silence as you and
your car plummet. You cannot get it better, and this was only the
beginning of the hundreds of miles of passes our variety of cars would
relish in.
Photos from left to right:
Convoy leaving Hotel in Interlaken - View of the road up the Sustenpass - Even the petrol stations are stunningOn the summit of the Sustenpass
-- Awesome view of the Sustenpass peaks -- Enjoying a sunny coffee at the top
We had
lunch atop in a restaurant inside the apex of one the Klausenpasses many
many hairpins. The view from the terraced table was of a green carpeted
valley scattered with houses as seemingly small as those from a monopoly
game, then its sides violently rose upwards in the distance to support
its mountain peaks.
 Lunch on the Klausenpass
It wasn’t all plain sailing though, as we reached the village at the base
of the Klausenpass on our way back to Interlaken we got stopped by the
Police. Luckily for me I was at the back of the convoy as my girlfriend
was suffering from the extremes of the pass, and the Officer waved me
past. Why I am not sure but we think it was to do with my small front
plate that resembles the locals and the distance to me from where he was
standing. Lucky me, I just drove on as the last thing you do in this
kind of situation is stop out of sympathy for the others. Someone would
have to bail them out after all. The officer was acting on a single
report of us racing? This was so far from the truth, and we can only
assume it was due to the nature of our progress through some traffic on
the pass as we use a very safe and well refined method of getting a
convoy through dawdling traffic. This to the ignorant may seem reckless
as they clearly would not have perceived the signals from each car head
to toe along the length of the convoy for it to be safe to overtake.
Anyway it adds to the adventure and they were all let on there way
shortly after a very friendly chat.
Evo's on song
in tunnels & views, heaven -- A glacier on the Sustenpass
Everyone arose early on Day 3 to the rain and thick cloud blocking out
the view of the Jungfrau. Reports of snow were circulating around at
breakfast and I was the first car out onto the black top with my 5 car
convoy in formation behind. We were heading to the first pass of many
and Lake Garda, Italy. It was planned as a tough day where progress is
the key, but alpine fun the incentive. The Grimsellpass met us not
before long and in the early morning wet light we climbed hard up its
side. It was great and we met two huge damns with lakes stopping
millions of gallons of Swiss mineral water from escaping all over the valley below.
The pass was so smooth and wide, but it wasn’t long before the weather
got worse and we drove through the lower layer of cloud and out. There
was no traffic and we were loving this adventure, the driving rain the
scary descents into the blanket of cloud below and the grippy pass, then
as we rounded another hairpin I began to apply power to be greeted with
snow, yes snow was falling from the grey sky. I eased back slowing
momentarily to wonder at the conditions and laugh that we were driving
through a snow cloud at only 1800m in September! We then forged on. What
were we to expect on the other higher passes? As we ploughed on, not
literally thankfully, I was impressed with the grip my semi-slicks were
giving me, I initially thought I may have made the wrong choice of tyre
but I seemed to have more grip than the Goodyear Eagle shod STi behind
and the snow wasn’t settling on the road, until that is on the next pass
the impressively fast Furkapass.
Photos from left to right:
Grimsell Pass, alot of snow & a tunnel -- Furkapass, looking behind at Marv
in the snow -- Relaxing & enjoying the snow
The
Furkapass summits at 2431m and as we drove over the peak the large
Christmas style snow flakes that had been delightfully falling and
filling our view for a few miles now were driving even harder down and
had to my horror settled on the road ahead which was just starting to
ease downward and out of sight. My heart thumped hard once into my chest
at the panic of what might happen now. The car slid and began a long
slow series of events starting with its speed increasing as it careered
out of control towards a left-handed hairpin bend 50m below, the car
spun serenely around and we went off backwards on the outside of this
totally unprotected hairpin, I looked down as silence filled the cabin
as the commotion of compacting snow left, all I could see for a split
second was what resembled a soft feathered duvet of cloud, and then
nothing as we entered it. I shook my head and shuddered at that
momentary thought and moved on slowly. Thankfully for us the snow had
only settled on the road for mere meters and as I rounded that
left-handed hairpin I didn’t look down but powered on.
Photos from left to right: Enjoying the descent on Albulapass -- Fog in the valley of Albulapass - Pine tress & some of many Albulapass twists
After
the Furkapass we played on a few more intensely demanding passes before
riding along the long and fast Passo Del Bernia (recently featured on
Top Gear) which took us to the Italian border and lunch. While at lunch
over my antipasti I received a call from Stormy saying that they and the
same group bar me had been stopped again and that the Swiss Police had viewed
some of the video footage that had been made that morning and were
generally very impressed with the way they were driving. So the Police
gave the convoy a high speed escort to the Italian border. Stormy said
the Police car was flying and that it was fun trying to keep up on the
Pass.
Euro Blasters with Swiss Police
The
route from here on in post lunch was going to be tougher as we aimed for
Lake Garda; at least the sun was beating its way through the cloud. And
as we drove up and through many Italian ski resorts the connecting
passes did not falter for an instance. It was not us that were wilting
either but Rogers diesel Jag. Not able to bring his Evo and not choosing to
fill up at the last fuel stop bragging that he had 250miles of range
left his economy was severely suffering with the twisting climbs. He
said he was doing 75mpg down hill and about 14mpg up, which shockingly
resulted in an average of just 24mpg and that range reduced to a little
over a hundred miles. So we had to go easy for a while to find a fuel
stop for the red faced Roger. The funny thing I wasn’t recording much
less than 18mpg. Just goes to show what type of engine is in its element
up there. We found a remote fuel station and as Roger pulled alongside
the diesel pump the gaggle of performance cars stopped away and we all
jumped out to rub salt in his wounds.
Lake
Garda arrived and it was warm and dry. The hotel had beautiful lake views and we
carried out our normal post Blast routine of drinking beer and rolling
in hysterics at the days adventures. Comradery in a group like this is
second to none, the joining of 26 like minded individuals from very
different backgrounds all sharing one aim of the best driving thrills is
fantastic and results in there never being a dull moment at beer o’clock
or dinner.
Photos from left to right:Heading into Lake Garda -- View from Hotel room over the Lake -- Driving by the Lake
The
next day was spent outside of the car drinking coffee and over a
relaxing mammoth lunch on the lakes edge, eating the finest Italian food
gazing hypnotised into the mineral lake ahead and drinking some
excellent local wines.
On Lake Garda's edge, shall we hire a boat? -- A stunning view of the Lake
The
Dolomite mountains were the peaks we needed to crest to get to Austria
on Day5, and boy were they a scare. The wet passes (yes it was raining
again) were so slippery almost as though the Italians had been out on
them drizzling their beloved Olive oil. Everybody said the same, our cars had no grip, no feel through
the wheel, all were relying on seat-of-the-pants signals to get us to
our goal. Still it did not stop anyone from totally enjoying the roads.
It was a shame that the scenery wasn’t there for the full enjoyment but
we did have our hands full. Snow appeared from time to time and we even
had a snowball fight on top of Passo Giau at 2236m. On its descent the
pine trees were layered with snow with several inches on the ground and
yet the roads were clear, it made for some mighty impressive sights.
Fabulous who needs sun, this was a once in a lifetime drive. All we
needed to complete this picture was to remove our rear spoilers strap
them
to our feet and use them to ride down the slopes.
Photos from left to right:
Enjoying the elements, Passo Giau 2236m - Convoy forming for 1st Italian Pass - Your organisers Mrk & Stormy
The convoy forming on Passo Giau -- A short break, a snowball fight -- 50more
miles of amazing roads to lunch
Lunch
was in a charming family run restaurant in the heart of historic Cortina
where most of us watched in animated disbelief as one of the Subaru’s in
our party rolled backwards down the hill outside the window towards a
waiting locals car. We were all half out of our seats screaming
“SSTTOOPP” when he did. Then for no reason with the relieved local now
four inches from his bumper Martin released the handbrake and moved
straight back and smack! The restaurant erupted in shouts and laughter.
Martin jumped out of his car glowing red. Dressed in jeans and a t-shirt
but still wearing his long length blue sparco gloves and with only the
language he knew tried to communicate "sorry" by flapping his arms about
to apologise to the stunned Italian. All was ok though as no damage was
done.
Shortly after lunch saw us drive down from Cortina into Austria and on
towards the second most popular tourist attraction the famous
Grossglockner pass. The drive up was picturesque to say the least with
the road perched up on the side of huge green valley and Austrian
villages beautifully painted to our left. The road was also long open
and sweeping making for exciting progress. We reached the gates of the
Grossglockner pass to be greeted by refusal to let us go any further.
They took one look at our tyres and said only snow tyres or chains
allowed today due to the heavy snowfall. A real shame as this 20+mile
pass would have been one of the best and most stimulating. Ironically on
the Recce our hire car was fitted with snow tyres and this was in June,
but no snow. It was certainly fun then. So we had to find our way around
it to get to our Hotel in Zell Am See and what we found was a long
sweeping deserted dual carriageway that just went on and on, and gave us
some thrilling high speed cruising. The sun came out and reflected off
the snowy peaks of the mountains surrounding the Grossglockner pass
which lead us to our hotel, stunning.
Some of Grossglockner's corners -- The Hoff under his Hotel sign
So
that’s four countries down, three more to go and Day6 would take us to
somewhere where you wouldn’t normally think or want to drive through. We
were heading to Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic.
Photos from left to right:Zell Am See Hotel, &
mountains -- Who says were having fun? Austrian pass -- Stunning Lake scenery, CzechRep next
Leaving on Day 6 from our traditional Austrian hotel where the staff
wore lederhosen’s we were greeted with drizzle again. Still it was clear
so blasting through the few passes that were in the belly of some
impressive gorges our exhausts walling and echoing up into the sky was
fantastic theatre, and as we emerged before hitting the Czech border the
sun was out and that distant memory of a once blue sky was there to
greet us. We were a little worried about getting into Czechoslovakia
with a convoy or noisy winged beasts but we shouldn’t have it was
getting out that proved troublesome.
The
drive to Karlovy Vary was long and wet, but the roads were straight,
open, fast and ran along the tops of huge fields and forests.
Occasionally we would drop into a village which would be ruined or
falling down, shutters hanging, car wrecks on the side of the street and
they were the second-hand car dealerships. Plus most of local women all
had red hair. It must have been a fashion thing. It was a real insight
to the disadvantaged ex-USSR state.
We
arrived in Karlovy Vary which is a stunning town dating back hundreds of
years. Every building had a different colour each seemingly trying to
out do their neighbours for décor, colour and show, such a contrast to
the outer villages. For us dinner was in an Italian that had its very
own Czech/Italian Don sitting on the next table. The band savvy to their
esteemed guest or just plain scared played the songs He and his
entourage chose, which was unfortunately the same song over and over,
and louder and louder. The food was excellent and it settled the stomach
before we hit the Casino Royale, a feature of the last James Bond movie,
and a highlight on the trip. Everyone suited-and-booted was a sight to
behold and many played on its tables for a good few hours. Two came away
with bottles of champagne and a pocketful of money. Others like me came
away with less to spend on fuel for the remainder of the Euro Blast. It
was a great evening and in stark contrast to the other nights enjoyed so
far.
 
Photos from left to right:Hotel room view of Karlovy Vary centre -- More arrivals -- The street outside the Hotel
The
next morning with a heavy head and after the trips second lay-in we hit
the road mid morning, destination the Nurburgring. Day 7 didn’t start
off to well for most. I was in the lead of a ten car convoy and waved
through at the Czech border patrol, I was then stopped at the German
control. Passports were checked then the officer still talking to his
comrade shooed us on. I crawled up the road expecting the next car to be
about the same twenty seconds. They didn’t move. I then lost sight as I
crested a shallow hill, so I pulled over. I waited for five minutes
before I received a call from The Hoff to say everyone had been detained
by the Germans, and they were not happy. I immediately rang the others I
knew were not in my convoy to tell them to go via another border
crossing. Luckily I managed to get hold of a few who found another
control and luckily got through. I then remembered that due to a fatal
accident on this years Cannonball Run the Germans had closed their
borders to those types of events and they must have thought we were one
of them, we weren't. I waited for thirty minutes before proceeding on alone. The
Germans had the route book and were ringing through to the countries on
its route for any ‘instances’. It took them two hours for the group to
get the nod to proceed with apologies from the German Officers, pheww….
And luckily the Austrians clearly hadn’t processed The Hoffs speeding
ticket from the day before.
I must
say it was a lot of safe fun screaming along the derestricted Autobahns,
the car was rock solid cruising at 130mph and felt no different when
exploring the full potential of its 170mph top speed, my girlfriend even
took a nap. Unfortunately though one of the Evo’s would expire from all
this high speed cruising and at 150mph. That car being the Black Evo IV
of Jamsie. In general the Autobahn’s were clear but gone are the days of
the Germans superior driving standards. Everybody reported of lane
hogging, generally poor lane discipline and being pulled out on. A real
shame.
We
arrived at the Ring after a few short hours and with beer in hand we
waited for the others to roll in.
Day 8
had fantastic blue skies bright and warm sunshine, and importantly a dry
Nordschleife. I even had a ride in the legendary Ring Taxi, thank you
again Stuart Knight. I had some very good laps offering passenger laps
on the rollercoaster that the Green Hell is. What a perfect way to
finish off a truly amazing weeks hard charging. I have never been so
continually challenged by the roads we long to drive before, the
concentration required was monumental, but so were the rewards of
accomplishment and triumph of getting to your destination each
afternoon. Then being able to share each moment with a troop of
excellent individuals. Not to mention the feeling of pride towards your
car for doing what was asked, faultlessly.
Photos from left to right:
Beer anyone? An evening in the Pistenklause - Don coming off the Ring - Chris, James & Don in Ring carparkI'm going onto the Ring now, gulp -- Tony showing us his stuff -- Keith going onto the Ring for the first time
The
Euro Blast lived up to its mission of offering us the chance to drive
our incredible cars as they were designed to be driven, and I will never
forget this amazing adventure or the fantastic people on it.
A big THANK You to all that submitted photo's - Barry White, The Hoff,
Paul Allen, BigDW, and Mrk
Attention!!
Would you like to do this trip in your own car, with a group of
friends? Well we can arrange everything for you, all you have to do is
let us know when and how many. Contact us.
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