Well, sipping some Sambucca it's time to write a little report and post some pics... here we are!
The Mrs and I set off on June 1st and as we just happened to pass by the Ring
we stopped to chat with Steve (this time testing an Alfa, see below).
Over to a place slightly south of the cars' home town Munich to spend the night, ready to hop over the Austrian border to enjoy the mountains in the morning! So Alps it was the next day and as the Passo del Rombo wasn't open yet we decided to take the Grossglockner which was quite busy but what a great view!
Down south in the direction of Venice and not Venice Beach this time
even though we found a nice hotel right at the beach.
When in Rome ehr Venice time for some sightseeing as well...
After that we took a whole bunch of narrow roads and small mountain passes to get to Lake Garda...
Now after that it was time for the serious work
Used a bunch of passes like the Passo di Tonale to get to the real thing. First the Passo di Gavia which I had 'conquered' last a few years ago when it was closed
. Found out they finally replaced the 50 years old asphalt at the southern half which takes away a bit of the charm of the pass but ok, makes it easier to drive even though the south side still is very, very narrow (a bike might have a lot of trouble passing a car, or the other way around).
After going up and down the Gavia I was wondering why the hell I didn't drive the Passo di Stelvio before but it must have had something to do with driving over a closed and icey Gavia before so as it had already gotten dark I gave it a pass, but this time Stelvio was mine!
We were in good company, too. A bunch of brits doing an Alps detour before heading for the Le Mans 24 hours...
So, after my first time here I can only agree with Jeremy Clarkson, this must be the most beautiful road in the world!
As there are always special encounters, yes we had a nice one this time as well as a E60 M5 with a familiar antenna drew my attention at the foot of the Stelvio. It was a BMW test driver that told us that he was testing an upgraded brake setup on the M5. A lot of talk about their ways of testing and why this pass was his favourite. Mind you, to avoid traffic they test drive at night... have to try that myself one day but the thought is somewhat scary!
After having done a 3000+ kms in little over one week I can only kiss my car to thank it for being a great ride again. The car behaved perfectly and out there the car is so much more fun to drive than on the roads here with a police officer with a lasergun on every corner of the street. Nothing went wrong and even after revving her as much as possible at all times there was no excess fuel consumption and no noticeable oil consumption. And wowww after a trip the engine is burnt clean and she revs so easily... did a 100-200 kph with a 996 and it went aside quite hastily... lucky me as above 220 kph most of the grunt is gone haha
Anyway, these were my notes in a nutshell. Signing off in an appropriate way now
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