Part 2. A story of breakdowns
Part 2. A story of breakdowns
So, a sunny and pleasantly cool morning broke in Andermatt. I got up at 8 to take in the views that were partly faded to darkness when we arrived last night. As is typical only joker and lip were up already and I had some time to hear about jokers roadtrip adventures he had so far as well as get to know our newest meet participant better, also warning him that this kind of schedule would be normal.
Shad also got up soon to take on his exam studies. After a breakfast and a shower I packed up my stuff and went for a refuel before joining the group of people bored of waiting. Most of the group was up by 10, taking on the morning activities in typically leisurely manner. By 11 the camp was mostly packed up and some more people went for a refuel, as the fuel station was less than 100m away. And after everything and everyone was ready to go some more people still went for refuel.
At this point lip got bored enough to leave us behind.
Reinforcements to our group
Acceptable view..
Few on the road shots by matt2000, as I gave my camera to him so he could test out my wide angle lens
So our day began with a drive back up the excellent, if a bit bumpy Furkapass. We had just blasted past the top the previous night as it was getting dark already, so a small scenic stop was in place. I also filled up the cooler box with snow so we'd have some nice and cool drinks for the day. As is typical the get going again -bit took some time, so I set off in advance as I spotted a clear gap in traffic.
I also had the chance to stop and get some shots of our group driving past. After a bit of waiting rest of the crew followed, with adrian well in the lead. That turned out to be a mistake, as he was out of radio range and missed the turn to Nufenenpass. We drove to the top of the pass just to make sure he hadn't just drove there to wait for us before calling them, as it was stupidly expensive to make calls there.
Their location was a bit unclear, but they were too far to bother turning back, so at first it was suggested that we would meet up at Swiss/Italian border. At this point joker took off in advance, which was a bit troublesome, as no one had his number and vice versa. Rest of us eventually got down the pass and straight to the motorway for the 500km blast through Italy to our next camp site in France. Or that was the idea at least. I was near the back of the pack, and just as we were about to join the motorway I noticed that lip, who was keeping the back had gone missing. Some cars had made the turn already, but they were in radio range at least so we stopped at the first service station to wait. As lip traveled with very limited amount of communication devices all we could do was to monitor the radio for a while to see if he could hear us / we would hear him. That was not to be, so we just hoped that he had heard about the plan of stopping at the border. Some refueling and more cool drinks and we were on our way to the border, where we were supposed to possibly meet adrian again.
On top of Furkapass
Scenery on top of Nufenenpass
Temperature had climbed up nicely to 35C by now, so the motorway drive was warm enough ride for me, as I didn't dare to use AC because of the failing compressor. We stopped literally at the border after a bit of confusion (and refueling, since we stopped) about the supposed meet point. Neither lip, joker or adrian were there, so we retreated to the air conditioned border restaurant to eat some crappy pizza slices and to call up adrian, as we were back in EU territory and call prices were tolerable. Turned out he was already somewhere between Milan and Turin heading straight for the camp site, so that was that, 3 cars out of the pack.
At the border
The remaining 5 cars got split up immediately when we left the border stop. But at least that got sorted quickly, and we managed to stick together all the way to the French coast. Just a boring motorway drive if you exclude tunnel blasting, of which there were plenty of opportunities on the coast.
At the last leg of the trip I veered off to Nice to pick up Sn0wman from the airport. After 3 countries and some 550 kilometres later I arrived to the airport some 10 minutes after the plane had landed (it was ahead of schedule though), so nice(
) timing. Sygic didn't recognize the area where the camp site was supposed to be, so I was just randomly aiming for the general area (o7) where it was supposed to be. And sure enough nearing the place we came across some familiar looking cars. There was even a SloAudi in the mix. The camp site where we were supposed to go didn't want us, so we conquered a corner of an empty field near the village centre.
Tents were put up, and the most impatient immediately headed for a beer run. It was getting late (and dark), so we decided to go for restaurant dinner again. For such a small village it was a great place in all aspects. The place was just by the main road, and suddenly a red C3 appeared, so joker found us in his typical manner. At least I know remembered to ask for his number.
Tunneling
The rouge drifting camp site
A random engine photo
Well organized 8er
So, the start of the roadtrip!!
Some vinyls arrived, and the usual standing around doing nothing was replaced with standing around decorating cars with vinyls, with varying success. The SloAudi left early(er) to pick up the remaining participants, while rest of us kept on standing around, doing nothing.
The drive to Monaco went without issues, but nearing a town of that size we got separated to smaller groups, as you would expect. We tried to find bigger shops from the border town before Monaco, but that didn't work out and we gave up quite quickly. After a small detour all the way to Monaco border all of us found our way to the scenic meetup point Top gear used as well. At least the stop was short enough, as hotel staff evicted us. Just as we were about to take a group shot.
Then it was off to Monaco, which was a mistake. Even a mid day traffic on a working day was just a constant traffic jam. 40C temperatures and slow crawl in queues was enough for me to not care about the condition of my AC compressor, and after a bit of crawling along the Monaco GP track route we decided to abandon that plan and just head out of town and meet there somewhere. Surprisingly most of us found each other, and after some refueling and more cool drinks we headed back towards the town we camped at. Having wasted around 3 hours we almost made it back there before MXMs 7 decided it had had enough. Some roadside diagnosis didn't help to find out why the engine refused to start and was making bad noises. Clock was ticking, so we headed downhill to next town that just happened to have a small Ford repair shop. Owner was already closing shop, but agreed to look at the engine enough to confirm that it was too broken for any quick fix. We then set out to wait for MXM to sort out how things would proceed with getting the car back to Finland. There was still plenty of kilometres left, even with the straightest route, so the group split again. Some headed for the shops and then to the campsite to prepare something to eat for the night. One car headed for a scouting trip around the area, as the 7 needed a place to stay until the transport to Finland would arrive. Few of us stayed with the 7, as it was just parked on the side of the road, sort of in the repair shop parking area.
Setting up for group photos
A group photo, now with added irritated hotel employee!
Spotting some interesting cars in the centre of Monaco.
Based on my camera timestamps we finally left the place that agreed to store the 7 at 18.50, but at least roads were nice and clear at that hour. We came to just one intersection from Col de Turini, but had to go the other way to make it to the camp site before dark.
While driving up the alternate route, on Col de Brouis I added something to the already tight schedule as well. My coolant system had emptied itself and some additional water and bleeding was needed. At this point that was still enough and there were no further cooling issues. The route led us to a one way tunnel on a French/Italian border. We just managed to miss our turn, so we got the full 15 minute wait. At least I secured the pole position, so some tunnel blasting might've happened during border crossing.. I had apparently picked a wrong camp site, so we weaved through
very narrow streets of the village to the wrong place, while trying to make out something out of the radio conversation with the people already on the site. Finally made it there just as darkness fell. No other campers there, so at least we didn't need to worry about upsetting anyone.
Now that we had finally stopped I noticed that joker had tried to reach me several times during the afternoon. As my phone was on duty as my navigator and I was the lead car I had missed all the calls and messages. He had already set up camp in the nearby town and he also had some of Ices camping gear in the car.
Leaving from the garage, without the 7
Random shots from along the route
An old Frenchie frowning at us
Waiting at the tunnel queue
Joker joined us the next morning, arriving before most people had woken up, as you would expect. After another slow paced morning we parked at the camp site building, where the owner was highly interested of our group. She didn't speak English though (afaik), so even if she took up the Finalgear site address I doubt she'll do much with it.
Just 12km later at the next fuel station my car decided it had had enough as well. Coolant system was almost empty again, even though I had just checked the coolant level before setting off. I took the thermostat off in the hope that it would be just jammed shut, but I was almost certain the cylinder head had cracked of warped already as it doesen't fare well without cooling. I was proven right soon, as even after thorough bleeding all coolant came flying out as soon as I closed the coolant cap. I was pondering about driving with the cap open for a while, but a) that wouldn't be healthy for the engine b) I would be constantly fearing for it to break down again c) I didn't want to cause more delays, as everyone had kindly stopped to wait for me.
Few calls later my insurance company confirmed that they will handle the transport back home, I could just leave the keys to the station. They would only cover about a third of the transport costs, but hey, it's better than nothing.
But now there was a problem with all the stuff that was in my car, as well as two extra passengers. I'm still amazed that there was space for everything, as my car was the main cargo hauler, filled almost up to front seats. I then jumped to the back seat of the next white BMW for rest of the day. I also didn't follow where we were going that much, but apparently as I was tinkering with the car it was decided that we would stick to the motorways so we'd make the camp site earlier. So another day of missing the best roads of the trip.
It also ended up costing quite a lot. In addition to the motorway tolls the border crossing tunnel cost 41e per car. When we entered the tunnel I was almost certain that it was the Mont Blanc tunnel, but the French side didn't seem familiar at all. Checking from streetview it seems it was in fact Fr?jus tunnel, so at least we weren't as badly off course as I thought.
After a short stop by the motorway we continued to the next camp site. A scenic place at over 1600 metres. Lip also joined us once again, having recovered from his breakdown. Unfortunately for us the site was a small place packed full of families, so it was difficult to not bother anyone in the evening. We tried our best, but still got some complaints. A group this big will always make some noise...
Joker has arrived! Again
Emptying the ix at the fuel station it was left to wait for a tow.
At the back of the other white BMW
Attempting some rolling shots. M3 has quite small rear windows..
Nope
Nope
There we go
On the French side of the Fr?jus tunnel
Standing around, doing nothing
Climbing towards the camp site
Views from the camp site
Lo0sE_uNiT proving he can't handle automatics
Unstable place to lay
Sitting around, doing nothing
Alcohol is served
Time for a break again. Hopefully I can get the next part finished a bit faster.
