My European Roadtrip - Picture Heavy, Text Light

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shinny
Posts: 2345
Joined: Mon Nov 27, 2006 4:59 pm
Location: Reading, UK

My European Roadtrip - Picture Heavy, Text Light

Post by shinny »

A number of you might have seen I bought Dan (Flamby's) tubby in July... I bought it just in time to replace my Cosmos Blue rev5 for a long planned european roadtrip! Therefore, I thought I'd share my experiences over the last couple of weeks \:D/

The vital statistics are:

3400 miles
22 border crossings
11 countries
4 racing circuits
3 cars
2 mountain ranges

The cars, as photographed at 5am in Dover:

1994 MR2 TBar Turbo - 281bhp:
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1995 S14 Nismo 270R - 270bhp:
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2008 Ford Focus ST2 - 221bhp:
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I took about 2000 photos on the trip, so here are the photos I posted on facebook, with all the stuff personal to the group edited out (hence some days are light on pictures).

Enjoy! :thumleft:

Day 1:
Dover to Dunkerque, drive to the Nurburgring through France, Belgium, Holland and Germany

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After the first fast run down the Autobahn, the ST's front undertray came away... luckily I packed a socket set so we could properly remove it.

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Eventually we carried on to Adenau...

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Day 2:
Nurburgring and DTM

At the North Loop:

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The other cars at the 'ring:

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DTM...

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Day 3:
Michael Schumacher's Karting and drive to the Black Forest

Adenau:

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Karting:

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Autobahn:

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Hockenheimring:

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Later that evening my tubby made 235kph / 146mph entirely legally on a derestricted stretch :clap:

Day 4:
Europa Park

The Stig outside the Silver Star?

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Day 5:
Black Forest to Lichtenstein

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Day 6:
Lichtenstein to Milan, via the Stelvio Pass

Schloss Werdenburg, with an odd art exhibition inside...

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Heading towards Stelvio.

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More droplink issues :sad:

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Stelvio

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I lost a wheel nut on the pass - looks like the garage who replaced a CV boot for me 13 days previously didn't torque up the lugs correctly, as the remaining four were all finger loose! Name and shame will follow if they don't make amends :mad:

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Day 7:
Milan to Chamonix

Day 8:
Chamonix to Verdon

Monkey at Mont Blanc

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Day 9:
Climbing in Verdon, drive to Nice

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Day 10:
Monte Carlo

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Eze Castle

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Day 11:
Nice to Montpellier

Day 12:
Montpellier to Andorra, via Carcasonne

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Day 13:
Day trip to the Spanish Pyrenees

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Day 14:
Andorra to Celmont Ferrand, via the Millau Viaduct

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Day 15:
Celmont Ferrand to Caen, via Le Mans

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Quigonjay
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Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2005 8:43 pm
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Re: My European Roadtrip - Picture Heavy, Text Light

Post by Quigonjay »

some great pics there mate, looks like it was an epic trip
thanks for sharing :thumleft:
Jay
bill
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Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:19 pm

Re: My European Roadtrip - Picture Heavy, Text Light

Post by bill »

quality pics, and i can only imagine how good the trip was!

how does the mr2 and 200sx compare as they are similar in power, nice tubby btw :thumleft:
shinny
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Joined: Mon Nov 27, 2006 4:59 pm
Location: Reading, UK

Re: My European Roadtrip - Picture Heavy, Text Light

Post by shinny »

bill wrote:quality pics, and i can only imagine how good the trip was!

how does the mr2 and 200sx compare as they are similar in power, nice tubby btw :thumleft:


Thanks Bill :D

TBH I'm not sure exactly how the 200SX feels... I know my tubby's faster than it though! The Nismo has an oversized IC at the front, giving it much more lag than it should have, while Dan had an ST205CC fitted to the MR2, so in terms of driveability I'd expect the SW20 wins. I've not driven the S14 much on boost so can't tell you what the butt-dyno says tho :|
craig
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Re: My European Roadtrip - Picture Heavy, Text Light

Post by craig »

Fantastic pics matey :thumleft: :thumleft:
Blacklightning66
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Re: My European Roadtrip - Picture Heavy, Text Light

Post by Blacklightning66 »

EPIC! Stevlio Pass was amazing, I did it in a Banger rally in 2007 - beautiful!
pistol pete
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Re: My European Roadtrip - Picture Heavy, Text Light

Post by pistol pete »

look epic.. would love to do that.. family trip when lil d is a little older i think...
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tonigmr2
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Re: My European Roadtrip - Picture Heavy, Text Light

Post by tonigmr2 »

That looks a fantastic trip! Feel quite jealous, I so want to do a trip like this. :D
matt_mr2t
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Location: Essex

Re: My European Roadtrip - Picture Heavy, Text Light

Post by matt_mr2t »

Did you have to take a mortgage out for the fuel costs :shock:

How did the Focus compare? It's got way less power, but I've been in a couple of those, they have lovely midrange throttle response and are supremely comfortable and quiet to drive.

Was it just his splitter and your drop link or did any of you encounter any further problems?

My old tubby didnt break down in the 5 years I owned it, but I would have still be cautious about such a long trip going so far away!
raptor95GTS
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Re: My European Roadtrip - Picture Heavy, Text Light

Post by raptor95GTS »

that looks like a stunning drive away :clap: Must have been a fantastic trip
Martin F
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Re: My European Roadtrip - Picture Heavy, Text Light

Post by Martin F »

Looks like you had a cracking trip, cheers for sharing :thumleft:
redmr89
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Re: My European Roadtrip - Picture Heavy, Text Light

Post by redmr89 »

great pics. thanks for sharing.
steve b
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Re: My European Roadtrip - Picture Heavy, Text Light

Post by steve b »

Looks a great trip.

Nice Speedster, got me thinking maybe I should remove my vauxhall V fro the front bumper :-k The splitter looks cool as well...


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'02 VX220 2.2 n/a Daily driver - Exige Size TD 1.2 - TAT shorty Diffuser - HardTop - Chris Tullet 4-1 Manifold.

'97 mk1 Mazda Eunos Turbo track car with 260bhp/ton - soon more as Chris Wilsons going to build me an engine over the winter :o) .
jimGTS
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Re: My European Roadtrip - Picture Heavy, Text Light

Post by jimGTS »

one day ill do this i swear!

bet you had an awsome time....
:thumleft:
HighwayStar
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Re: My European Roadtrip - Picture Heavy, Text Light

Post by HighwayStar »

Looks like good times there fella and nice images. That's what our cars are for. :thumleft:

R.
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