Turin & Lingotto

Up early again for our umpteenth hangover morning to head to Turin. The drive up the hill out of Stresa was mental. Switchback after tire squeal after switchback.

We had been well warned about the crazy driving in Turin and it didn't disappoint. Italian drivers are nuts - especially those on mopeds and motorbikes. We gathered in the middle of Turin in a square to meet the local police for an escorted tour around Turin. This was hilarious - the police closed off all the streets and allowed us through all the red lights. 50 odd minis with horns constantly blaring. Most of the locals took it fairly well, although some were not happy as we blocked people off in an effort to keep all the minis in the one line.

The escorted ended at the old Fiat factory where we were allowed up on the stunning Lingotto rooftop test track. We didn't have too long up there and half the track was closed but EVERYONE left with a massive smile on their faces. If we can work out how to post videos you might get a insight into this!

Gotta dash for dinner - not black tie - thankfully.....

Stresa

Dinner at the Monza racetrack meant no drinking, so our early departure towards the beautiful lakeside town of Stresa was unfamiliar - No Hangovers! We belted along the autostrada to arrive in Stresa late morning. A quick boat trip to mangy cat island on the lake (not sure on the italian name but it was something about cats...), was followed by a spot of lunch, then a bit more driving to the stunning art deco hotel.






Our third black tie dinner in three days meant we were firmly back on the sauce with the evening ending with a roadblock garage party in the basement of the hotel. Guess whose stereo was providing the chunes?

Monza - track 2

We packed up and left Venice on Monday and started to head west(ish). We managed to persuade the service van team to carry our new exhaust since we haven't bothered fitting it yet - if it ain't broke....

A bit of a drive to Monza around Milan. Aparently Milan is a complete nightmare to get in and out of so we didn't bother heading in at all. Lunches so far have pretty much consisted of ham, pasta with a tomato / mushroom based sauce followed by risotto. The food has all been generally excellent however we were all pretty pleased to get a plate of veggies to start off with today followed by the inevitable risotto.

Monza race circuit is totally different from Adria - its massive in comparison. Its dark unfortunetely so not the same opportunity to rally the car so much however its still an amazing experience. Not many people have driven round a grand prix circuit - let alone in black tie. WHY? Yep we had the same question....

first track

Another magic day. We headed to Adria race circuit for our first bit of totally crazy driving. For obvious safety reasons we were basically following a safety car around the track, however, we still got to rally the car just about as quick as we could around the corners. Its a pretty small track, but excellent fun. Plus since there was some touring car action also going on we got to see some pretty serious eye candy both cars and girls!

Day 2

Friday involved registration, car checks and briefings before driving off on our first course to a local vineyard for lunch. There's a good mix of old and new (fake) minis, i.e. more old, which will be terrorising the roads on italy for the next few days. After a spot of lunch and a couple of daft tasks involving driving the cars round in circles we head back to the hotel for a wee bottle of Prosecco - when in Rome....



Today has been an amazing day driving though little towns like Asolo. Great views, wicked switch backs and good driving. Absolutely knackered after the small drink last night so secretly we are quite pleased that the runs in the afternoon were cancelled! Thankfully the sun was shining on us today which sadly was not the case yesterday - although we managed to keep the rain out of the stereo this time!

A few more pics posted on http://picasaweb.google.com/g.a.jamieson/ItalianJob2

end of stage 1

Well me made it to Venice without further car incidents. Well i say Venice, but its actually Quarto D'Atlino which is a small town about 20kms from Venice. This is a good thing since there are loads of minis turning up and there ain't many roads in Venice!

Since the Italian job officially starts on Friday and there are no official plans to go into Venice we have to head straight into Venice on thursday night.

Its difficult to decide which our favourite city is so far, but Venice has to be up there. We're just gutted that we are unlikely to make it into Venice during daylight hours...

So we are well over the 2000 mile mark - the route so far: Brugge (Belgium), Luxembourg (Luxembourg), Munich (Germany), Vienna (Austria), Bratislava (Slovakia), Budapest (Hungary), Zagreb (Croatia), Ljubljana (Slovenia) and now Venice (Italy).

Ljubljana was a surprise - an excellent wee city which appears to be buzzing with students - the kind that laze about all afternoon in the riverside cafes and bars - hmm did we do this in Glasgow - well not quite the riverside cafes - but not too far off the mark. We wish we had not stopped overnight in Zagreb and continued onto Ljubljana for the night. Hey ho.

Favourite: Vienna, Budapest, Luxembourg, Ljubljana are all hustling for the top spot - but all for different reasons. Vienna has jaw dropping buildings all over the place - definitely need to spend more time here. Budapest is massive, also has many jaw dropping buildings, its quite a 'real' place with lots going on, clearly an 'eastern block' influence - we'd definitely go back here for at least a weekend. Luxembourg is ridiculously clean with fantastic bars and restaurants. Its also a small place where you can walk everywhere with lots of variety of different squares and stunning views over the older parts of town. We didn't get to see much of Ljubljana but what we did we liked. The furnicular railway to the castle was a little uninspiring - we're sure the view from the tower in the castle would have been worth it but we didn't really have the time nor the inclination to pay for it. The people in general appeared pretty well 'groomed' - quite trendy, well dressed, lots of posers - some good eye candy!

One final thing before we head off on our first navigational rally: Pay toilets in service stations and restaurants in most european places - WHY!!

A few pics to see on http://picasaweb.google.com/g.a.jamieson/italianjob1

the worst road in Europe?

Its annoying me so much I had to blog this. The no. 7 road heading south from Budapest towards Nagykanizsa is quite possibly the worst road I've ever been on. Its like driving down a rutted country lane, but for 60kms. The bumps are so bad that the steering wheel is almost ripped from your hands. I could go on but its bugging me too much.

exhaust heaven

It didn't take long for us to remember how rediculously alike Miles and I are: stubborn, impatient, childish and always right to name but a few!

Sharing such a long journey in such a small car its no great surprise that we started to get on each others nerves a bit!

Then the exhaust fell apart - its just what we needed to put our heads together and give us something to focus on. Miles did an excellent job of securing what was left of the centre pipe with a few intertwined clove hitches as I found space in the car for the back box.

We drove the rest of the way to Budapest in the loudest go kart in Europe. We arrived in Budapest around midnight to find that the next day was a national holiday and NOTHING would be open. They were right! The Hungarian equivalent of the AA turned up to help that night to inform us that our exhaust was broken - thanks for your insightfull help guys!

We got up early on Wednesday after a bit of a bender to find the garage that the AA had recommended. We spent about 2 hours searching for the invisible garage to find out there are 2 vaci streets, well one road and one street. We then arrived at the garage to find it was a BMW garage - aaarrgh - what an insult! They did point us in the direction of a motor factors. Heaven! A new exhaust clamp, some paste and a lot of rolling around on the floor of a multistory car park and we were back in business.


A bit more touring around Budapest, the best pizza in Hungary (finally some tasty sausage - thought that was Germanys job?) and we are now back on the road heading for Zagreb.

Happy days.

exhaust blues

Just as I was writing that last post our slightly noisy exhaust confirmed it was not just noisy it was bust, in fact it split apart just in front of the back box. Of course its the worst weather we've had so far so its absolutely lashing it down and we're in the middle of nowhere.

That's the last time we put gomez on the stereo - they are definetely jinxed - all problems so far are being blamed on them...

We hope there are mini exhaust parts in Budapest, assuming we get there. 111km to go...

on our way to Budapest

We are now well on our way to Budapest having stopped off in Bratislava, Slovakia for dinner after a wicked day in Vienna.

During yesterdays driving we had 2 potential disasters:

1 we had a small issue with a reasonable amount of water mixing with our shiny new stereo. This it did not like...

2 the right front brake seemed to stop working. Not the best.

Clearly we concentrated on sorting the stereo and left the brakes to fix themselves...

Munich via Dover, Calais, Brugge & Luxembourg

Finally i've managed to find somewhere to do some wireless internetting. Its now sunday morning and we woke in Munich to find its SNOWING!

We left London so ridiculously early we managed to catch an early ferry from Dover to Calais on friday morning. On route we decided on a couple of rules: Firstly no motorways, secondly no chips, no whistling (can you guess whose rule that is?), finally no rules... So far we've broken the lot!

This picture has a bit of animation in it - i can't get it to work in the blog, but if you click on it - it should work.....


On the way to Luxembourg we stopped off in Brugge, Belgium, bagging our 2nd country of the day. In our usual disorganised fashion we arrived in Luxembourg without having a hotel. Called one up and by the time we got there all rooms had gone. In the end we lucked out massively and ended up in a cheap hotel with free parking - result (ask Miles about the hotel incident - its official - we are never going to grow up). The rest of the day was pretty much spent in a bar called Ange. The smallest bar and the best music in town. Luxembourg is a beautiful city - well worth a visit.

Since our plan is to make it to Budapest before heading to Venice we decided to brave a long journey to Munich - made ever so slightly longer by a 60 km detour.... Arrived in Munich found another cheap hotel 2 stops on the train from the centre. After a magic dinner of roast pork, dumplings and the compulsory cabbage in a very German bar / food place we found a boozer to catch the 2nd half of the rugby - nae luck England....

Woke this morning to SNOW! Car is running like a dream so far - so lets see how well it copes in the snow.

And we're off

Well at least I am. I meet Miles in London tonight. Finally managed to leave the office at 6ish last night. Packed while watching a disappointing Scotland Georgia football match and started to head down south. Made it as far as Yorkshire where a couple of fine pints awaited....

Fourth Official Company Sponsor - Breaks Surf Shop

Or last, but by no means the least company sponsor is Breaks Surf Shop Campbeltown (http://www.breakssurfshop.com/)

Breaks Surf Shop is an awesome new venture by 4 friends living in the west of Scotland. Machrihanish (near Campbeltown) is world renowned for its excellent windsurfing and surfing beaches.


Goto Breaks for: Surf board sales and hire, wetsuit sales and hire, windsurfing equipment sales, mountain bike spares and hire. A wide variety of surf and beach clothing for all ages is also available.

Third Official Company Sponsor - Graffix Detail

Today is a good day for Italian Job Team 16. Graffix Detail (http://www.graffixdetail.com) also sponsored us today. In addition to sponsoring us they also very kindly provided the vinyls (stickers) for Breaks Surf Shop.

Graffix Detail is part of the Colin Hutton Group of companies (http://www.colinhutton.com/) who service all aspects of the Road Transport Industry.

I'm especially pleased about this sponsorship since the Colin Hutton Group were my first real employer after finishing university.

Second Official Company Sponsor - First Engineering

I'm very pleased that today First Engineering has become our 2nd official company sponsor.

First Engineering provides a complete range of rail infrastructure services and is one of the largest firms in the UK operating in its market sector.

First Official Company Sponsor! ION Geophysical

I'm very pleased to say that my parent company ION Geophysical has become our first offical corporate sponsor.



Please visit www.iongeo.com to find out more about what we do.

In addition to this Concept Systems ( www.iongeo.com/concept, acquired by ION a couple of years ago) matched ION's generous donation. This has significantly boosted our total raised and are now happy to say our target has increased from £3000 to £4000!