Team 96 Italian Job 2017

Up before the birds, and departed at 4.15 am on a cold very dark Wednesday morning. All went well - car behaved superbly and arrived in good time for ferry, which departed slightly early, and we disembarked at Calais at 9.55am local time. Everything went downhill from there !! We had wrongly programmed the Sat Nav, which was determined to avoid any Motorways, and we saw areas of France which not many people are unfortunate enough to experience. You must make allowance for our age - we eventually realised our error and finally began to eat up the miles UNTIL, after about 100 miles, we were caught up in a massive traffic jam. The car began to seriously overheat and conked out after being forced to crawl along for about 40 minutes. We pulled off into the coned off roadworks, waited about 30 minutes for the car to cool down, and then bravely resumed the journey. Everything went smoothly for the next couple of hours until our LPG ran out and we switched to petrol, only to discover that the petrol pump had seized up !! Good boys - high viz jackets on, warning triangle set up, hid behind the barrier, and called Breakdown Recovery Service, because it was too dangerous to work on the car with lorries flashing by at great speed. Breakdown Company refused to undertake recovery from a Motorway and insisted that we involve the emergency services - we did explain that we were two elderly men in serious danger, but to no avail. Eventually the Police arranged for a service vehicle and breakdown recovery truck to come to our aid and they agreed to block and cone off the road to protect us while we fitted a new petrol pump. The breakdown recovery guy was very impressed with the speed and dexterity with which we completed a satisfactory repair - fortunately he was unaware that we were well practiced at this procedure and this was the third petrol pump we had fitted in the previous 24 hours!! We finally arrived in Metz at about 9pm, booked into our Hotel and went out for a well earned meal. Tomorrow is a new day !!

We survived – 10 days covering 2,649 miles – to our almighty relief. It may have been a faltering (and extremely stressful) start, but David’s beloved Jaguar XJS subsequently performed with grace, power, and extreme comfort. The magnificent Awards Dinner was attended by over 100 people, including many people who had completed the Rally in previous years, and some of the major corporate sponsors. The room was bedecked with photographs of all the cars, and a running video of the events of the week was playing. The Dinner was excellent and was accompanied by a range of wines donated by Tenuta Santome, the Venice Vinyard we had visited.  Organisers Freddie St George and his mother Giulia, made presentations and highlighted several funny and poignant moments relating to the week, and the formalities ended with a line of Chefs coming out from the Kitchen to receive our applause - only to suddenly and unexpectedly launch into a fabulous singing and dancing routine to get the party going - the more elderly of us retired shortly afterwards. 

Our own fundraising presently stands at £3,545, though we are not aware of the final figure for the Rally as donations are still coming in. WE WOULD LIKE TO SAY A BIG THANKYOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE SO GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED US WITH DONATIONS – it has so increased our own pleasure in taking part in the Rally.

Surprise, surprise - we won an Award – for the best comic photo from the Rally – Bob in the Stocks for having been caught drinking some alcohol at lunch – strictly prohibited (see pic on Day 4). I can be forgiven – on the first full day of the Rally we arrived at a Restaurant with a plentiful supply of wine bottles on all the tables, so I quickly poured a glass. Within seconds, a waiter pounced on all the tables to remove all the wine on the orders of Giulia – no alcohol at lunchtime - but I hung onto mine.

Driving back on Sunday we were close to the London to Brighton Vintage Car Rally, so we switched our route home to include the A23 and stopped to watch an amazing array of vintage cars on their way down to Brighton. If we’d had to travel at the same speed as those cars we would still be in Italy until way past Christmas !

Thankyou again – we have both had a really exhausting, but thoroughly enjoyable 10 days – now home to rest.

 

This will be a short Report – we are both exhausted. For the first time since we left the UK we had a leisurely breakfast, because the Schlumpf Motor Museum in Mulhouse does not open until 10 am. The Schlumpf’s were two Swiss Brothers who were very wealthy following the establishment in1935 of their Textile business - they acquired extensive factories and textile production and processing plants in the Alsace region of France. One brother, Fritz, became a motor racing fanatic after buying and racing one of the early French Bugatti racing cars and, between 1961 and 63, he accumulated a massive collection of cars and racing cars which were housed in one of his unused factories and restored and maintained by a team of skilled workers. They were predominantly European cars, mostly French, and incorporated the world’s largest collection of Bugattis. In 1966 the private Museum was opened to the public, though 10 years later the Schlumpf business empire collapsed (due to the collapse in textile industries and to all the funds siphoned off to build and stock the car Museum), their textile workers went on strike and occupied the Museum, and the Schlumpfs fled to Basel and never returned to France. After many legal wrangles, the Museum and its collection of cars were taken over by the State, and it is now operated as the National Motor Museum, and was re-opened in 1982. There are now over 500 cars on display in a format of avenues that reflect the streets of Paris (the Schlumpfs had street lamps manufactured to match the ornate street lamps of Paris) and the collection has been supplemented to include a wide range of more recent competition and racing cars. For any Petrolheads, it is a must see collection. See pics in Picture Gallery.

Yes, we did reach Rheims after another cross country drive of 260 miles avoiding all the motorways, and it was a delight. Home tomorrow and the Awards Dinner at Ashford – we are not expecting to be receiving any prizes – unless it is associated with the nature of our geriatric endeavours !!

 

We had intended a pleasant 320 mile drive through the Alps to Mulhouse for a visit to the fabulous Schlumpf Motor Museum – as usual, things didn’t quite go to plan !! We left Turin at 8.15 and spent almost an hour travelling 10 miles to get out of the City. Our journey to the foothills of the Alps, and Domodossola, went well, and then we faced the challenging Simplon Pass, taking us to over 6,000 feet. The weather was warm, and the sun was shining, and our engine again began to overheat with the long and difficult climb over the Alps, and we had to take a lengthy rest for the XJS to recuperate. The air was a bit thin, but the views were stunning, and we were soon facing the downhill stretch where the only components that overheat are the brakes. When we arrived in Brig, both us and the SatNav were totally confused, and I was worried that David had succumbed to rigor mortis – his hands were frozen rigid on the steering wheel and we circumnavigated a roundabout 5 times looking for the right way to go before he finally decided to take the wrong turning. We stopped a local to ask for directions to Andermatt, and were told to drive 40km to Furka (which we couldn’t even find on the map), and then take the car on a train that would take us under the Alps – David was convinced he was having us on, though we did as we were told and had a fabulous drive through some wonderful Alpine Villages and stunning scenery. The narrow guage railway takes only cars and vans through a small 15km tunnel and the noise in an open top car on an open sided car transporter was deafening. We lunched on pumpkin soup in the tiny station buffet when we left the train, and the whole experience was fantastic. We arrived in Colmar at 6pm, too late for the Motor Museum, though our fantastic drive for most of the day through amazing alpine scenery was worth it. We enjoyed an evening meal in the beautiful Old Town Area in Colmar (very “Alsace” in architectural character). The Schlumpf Museum will be visited early on Friday, then onwards to Rheims.

Just how many departures before dawn can be suffered by two old geezers on an Italian Job? 6.15am today as the sun rose in our rear mirror as we headed west from Venice towards Turin. 270 miles, and we arrived a few minutes before the 11.30am allotted time as we all assembled on the famous Fiat Lingotto roof test track. What an amazing place on the top of the five story impressive 1930’s Fiat factory, with steep banking at either end. More driving tests ensued prior to driving round the banking – quite scary without a roll bar – for the group photo. Although it was the 1st of November, the sun shone out of a clear sky raising the temperature from 5 degrees in early morning to a comfortable, perfect autumn day at 17 degrees.

Following an excellent buffet lunch in the hotel, we embarked en mass, with police escort to the Turin Childrens hospital where it was our pleasure to leave a number of soft toys brought with us. The Italian Job then presented a cheque for £2000 from monies raised during the event, to one of the hospital Directors. We then proceeded again under enthusiastic police escort clearing a path for us through congested Turin traffic, to the centre of Turin. On the way to the central city square, we passed many of the famous sights featured in the film – we had been joined by cars from the local Mini Club and we filled a corner of the main square and were admired by an ever increasing number of local residents enjoying their bank holiday in the autumn sunshine. With horns blazing and flags flying, the afternoon finished adjacent to the weir which featured in the Mini chase after the gold bullion heist - we made our escape - but not with quite the same splash and dash!

Our grateful thanks to the worldwide members of the Muscles for Charity Group, who have made a generous contribution to our Childrens Charity.

 

Hope you are looking at all our pics in Photo Gallery. Farewell to Imola - again up with the larks and on the road at 6.45am with no breakfast and a journey of 135 miles to Venice. We watched a beautiful sunrise as we travelled north east along a country route avoiding all motorways and large towns, and skirting huge lagoons along the Adriatic east coast. We made good time and managed a quick stop for coffee and croissants served by a very bountifull Italian waitress - we managed to extract ourselves without incident and arrived at 11am at the Tenuta Santome Vinyard in the Treviso Area. This is a family who are good friends of The Italian Job, who provided a plentiful supply of wine and Prosecco for our evening meal today. We had a tour of their new and very impressive facilities and were entertained to a sumptuous lunch (strictly no alcohol) with a viewing of The Italian Job Film available in their Theatre. Their wines are available from specialist Italian food and wine retailer in Maidenhead - details on request. A short drive to our super Hotel at Treviso, with a railway station next door and a 20 minute ride to the heart of Venice. Naturally, we are getting quite exhausted at the breakneck pace of this expedition, and walking is becoming just too much. We caught the Grand Canal River Taxi from Santa Lucia Station to Rialto Bridge and hobbled to St Mark's Square (no mean feat for gentlemen of our age in this maze of alleyways and bridges) - with our only priority a massive ice cream cornet. Back to the Hotel for our Campari's before Dinner and early to bed for a ridiculously early start on Wednesday - leave at 6am for a 260 miles drive to Turin to arrive by 11.30 am for the excitement of driving around the Lingotto Rooftop Track in Turin. Night Night ......

Last night we had the Charity Auction Dinner which comprised the usual excellent 3 course meal, lubricated with a plentiful supply of fine Italian Wine. The auction raised £4,000 with some very competitive bidding from the sufficiently inebriated audience, though we were paragons of sobriety and didn’t compete having donated a couple of items to the Auction – A model straight eight Bentley from the “Bentley Boys” era, which fetched £200, and a set of 4 Ferrari signed designer drawings, which fetched £250 – that takes our fundraising to nearly £3,500.

The aim of eating less today soon evaporated as we tucked into the scrambled egg and bacon. An early start again at 8.30 took us along the same stretch of Autostrada as yesterday, finishing in Modena at the Acetaia Malpighi. There followed an excellent presentation of the production of traditional Balsamic Vinegar, a far cry from the normal supermarket product. The delightful Monica, granddaughter of the 96 year old proprietor, proceeded to explain how the traditional product is made from both white and red grapes and is matured in barrels of various types of wood, for anything between 5 and 25 years. It can take up to 130 litres of grape juice to make half a litre, this of course being reflected in the quality and price.

There followed a tasting of several varieties and levels of maturity culminating in the 25 year old vintage. It was obvious from the initial taste, that this was something pleasurable that most of our taste buds had never experienced. An excellent and enjoyable morning in which we felt priviledged to have been invited.

A four course lunch at Ristorante la Quercia di Rosa in Modena did little to keep us on track for minimal calorie intake but was another excellent experience for the palate.

After a few more driving skill exercises we proceeded to the Pagani Factory and Showroom. The display of Pagani Zonda’s was an outstanding example of Supercars and one man’s imagination. (see photos). The new factory was also a magnificent tribute to the designer having been inspired by Leonard de Vinci. Unfortunately photography was not permitted in the factory but we were all impressed by the cleanliness and space in which 50 cars a year are currently being made.

With a three year waiting list for these 230 mph cars, and an asking price in the order of 2.5 million Euros, all Bob managed to come away with was a 1/18 scale model. Hey ho, on to another day…

 

Our Rally Stage today took us on a 45 mile drive to Maranello for a visit to the Ferrari Empire.  Clocks went back yesterday, so it was a cooler start though we have yet to drive with the roof up since we arrived in Imola. An Autumnal drive through lovely scenery with sweeping bends and a series of hairpins to get up into the hills and then down into Maranello.  We did have a rather major navigational error today though we recovered and arrived on schedule still talking to each other.  We first visited the Ferrari Museum, which is celebrating the 70th year of Ferrari production, and we saw a fabulous collection of cars and engines covering this period, together with a brilliant display of the trophies they have collected over the years.  It was interesting to note that Ferrari had won the Mille Miglia, the Le Mans 24 hour race, and Grand Prix wins within 3 years of the start of production in 1947.  This was followed by a bus tour around the huge area of their production facilities, including a huge Wind Tunnel Complex, and a look at the Fiorano Race Circuit which is used for testing their cars.  However they are restricted from testing their Formula 1 Cars after the imposition of new F1A restictions in recent years.  Unfortunately, being a Sunday, we were not allowedaccess into the production plants.

From Maranello we drove to the Valle de Samuggia for a wine tasting (minute portions !) at a local vinyard, followed by a superb lunch.  We had scheduled to visit a Permeggiano production centre, though this did not materialise - though we have seen enough Parmeggiano cheese in the last 3 days to last a lifetime.

The stress of the last few days caught up with us today - we didn’t wake until 8.40am and we were due off at 9.12am – we nearly ended up as DNQ. Another beautiful day of clear blue skies and bright sunshine as we travelled into the hills of Emiglia Romagna for a drive to Brisighella with a visit to a local Wine and Olive Oil Co-Operative. The plonk quality wine was on sale as if on a petrol forecourt, with pumps offering a variety of wines at Euro 1.50 a litre. We also had a talk on Olive Oil production and had tastings – Super quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil for Euro 22.00 for a 75cl bottle !! We then went into Brisighella for a super 3 course lunch. After lunch we headed to Faenza and their beautiful square in the Town Centre to visit a display of local Ceramics. We had an address from the Town Mayor, and a representative of the local Classic Car Club who had arranged for a number of his members to bring along their classic cars – ranging from a Ferrari Testarossa to an ancient 1920’s Fiat.

 

A really brilliant day with super driving and some delightful medieval Italian Towns. Inevitably we are visiting some very impressive Churches in these Towns so David can check out their Organs !!

 

The day dawned bright with the sun a red glow in the sky as we left the hotel in Milan at 7.45am. The 150 mile drive to Imola along the Autostrada went smoothly and found us in the Hotel Molino Rosso in time for the first briefing at 11.15. The car passed scrutineering and, after a buffet lunch, we set off for the Imola race circuit with the other 25 or so cars where we enjoyed a few laps of the circuit, some with Bob trying to hang out the rear of the XJS at high speed. An honoured visit to the Senna Memorial was undertaken to pay respects to the great driver who died here racing in 1994. (see Photo). There then followed two exercises of driving skills round a timed slalem of cones and crushing half a dozen paper cups neatly set out in a circle. We each had a go at this and we’ll find out later how we fared when the points are revealed over dinner. It was a glorious sunny afternoon where we had an opportunity to chat with some of the other entrants.

 

A short drive back to the the hotel and a couple of beers before dinner set us up for the evening.