TThriller's Profile
The date of the event is from Friday 9 May 2008 to Sunday 18 May 2008.
This places the tour between Easter and Whit week, thus avoiding half-term times, the Le Mans 24hrs and the TTOC national event. At that time of the year the possibility of snow in the high regions is reduced and the weather should be good for soft-tops.
I have found a hotel in the middle of The Alps that is brilliantly located for a series of day-long looping cruises around mountains and valleys of the region. There will be a stopover in Mid-France on the way out and one in Germany and one in Belgium on the way back. I expect the total cost for two people sharing in one car to be of the order of £700 to £800 for ferry and accommodation. Allow about £300 for fuel and tolls.
I have always wanted to throw a tight handling car around those endless hair-pin turns that the Alpine roads offer us. And to marvel at the endless stunningly beautiful Alpins scenery.
A view of the breathtaking Stelvio Pass from the opposite side of the valley:
A stunning view looking down Stelvio Pass. What fun that is going to be to drive! Both ways of course
The beautiful town of Innsbruck is the not far from the Tyrol hotel:
The amazing Neuschwanstein has got to be worth a look! I'll try and fit this into one of the circular tours:
To give added appeal you petrolheads out there, and to finish things off properly, there is an entirely optional mini-trackday on the way home at The Nurburgring. This will be good for spectators and drivers alike.
The confirmed itinerary for the trip is:
Day 0 – Fri 9th May – Evening rendezvous at a hotel near Dover
Day 1 – Sat 10th May - Catch mid-morning ferry from Dover to Dunkerque and travel to Kaysersberg near Colmar in the Alsace region of France, passing through France, Belgium, Luxemberg and back into France (640km, 6.5 hours travelling, 7.5hrs total with 2 No 1/2hr stops)
Day 2 – Sun 11th May - Travel from Colmar to Landeck, Austria (360km, 5 hrs travelling, 7 hrs total with 2 stops). Our first night at the Base Hotel in The Tyrol.
Day 3 to Day 6 – 12th May to 15th May - 4 days touring Alpine mountains, passes and hairpins, (about 250km per day: entirely optional).
Day 7 – 16th May - Travel from Landeck to Nurburg, Germany and stay at the hotel Zur Burg (625km, 6.5 hrs, 8hrs total with 2 stop [could be much less at Autobahn speeds
] )Day 8 – 17th May - morning is a free period. Then from 13:00hrs to 16:00hrs The Ring, 3 hours is more than enough time to use up a 4 circuit pass. Travel to hotel at Hasselt, Belgium (260km, 2.5 hours, no stops)
Day 9 - 18th May - Travel from Hasselt to Dunkerque (260km, 2.5 hours, no stops), catch ferry to Dover and then head for home.
Total distance about 3000km (2000 miles) plus your distance to and from Dover.
For an idea of the route (excluding the circular tours) ClickHERE
So there's the plan! I hope you all like it. I've tried to hit a good balance between a) travelling too far too fast to minimising trip duration, and b) travelling too slow and taking too long to get anywhere over-extending the trip time. The first day will be the toughest for newcomers to Continental touring. I've done that intentionally so that the next day we have a more leisurely tour through the mountains to Austria.
The hotel we intend to use as our base in The Tyrol is the Hotel Enzian located at Landeck, about 70km west of Innsbruck.
To visit the Hotel Enzian website click HERE
The owner of the Hotel Enzian has available for guests, a series of well proven circular day long tours of around 250km each. Each tour loops around the surrounding regions so there is no need to relocate hotels each day! The tours dip into France, Italy, Austria, Germany and Liechtenstein. The plan is to spend 5 nights at the hotel giving us 4 days for touring the most beautiful hairpin tours on offer. I shall tweak the route venturing onto Italy to include the Top Gear best road of all time: Davos to Stelvio Pass!!!
On the SpeedBall 2006 we stayed at the Dorint Hotel, which is actually located on the start finish straight of the GP circuit. It's briliant! Such atmosphere!
The hotel in Hasselt, in Belgium on the way back will to be the Holiday Inn. We stopped at Hasselt on the way back from The Ring when we were on the SpeedBall 2006. So the route from the Ring to Hasselt and to Dunkerque is a known elements for us.
_________________________________________________________
Just to you give a flavour of what Continental touring can be like, take a look at the following threads:
I went on the Speedball rally in 2006 to Prague and back via Amsterdam and the Nurburgring:
http://www.tt-forum.co.uk/ttforumbbs/vi ... =speedball
And here is a great diary of the SpeedBall 2006 by one of the SpeedBallers at:
http://speedball.eamped.com/topic42.html
Here's last year's trip to Le Mans:
http://www.tt-forum.co.uk/ttforumbbs/vi ... hp?t=79248
which preceded the Nurburgring Trip. Two of us travelled from Le Mans to The Ring:
http://www.tt-forum.co.uk/ttforumbbs/vi ... urburgring
_____________________________________________________________
The TTourists on this TTour are:
1) TThriller
2) VicTT
3) V6 SRS
4) KevtoTTy
5) 04DTT
6) W7 PMC - withdrawn
7) RockinRobin
8 ) Petesy
9) AndyG
10) phodge
11) StevieMac
12) nippo - withdrawn
13) blackers
_____________________________________________________________
All hotel and ferry bookings are now confirmed, with the exception of the hotel in France where some of us have still to find accomodation.
_____________________________________________________________
You can post questions and comments on here, or if you prefer, contact me by email or pm.
Cheers
Dave
![[smiley=thumbsup.gif]](./images/smilies/thumbsup.gif "thumbsup")
wallsendmag's Website
iCandi :: © TTForum Style designed & coded by