From Finland to Italy in a classic Alfa - Route plan

[Finlandese]

Cheers!

I am planning a summer trip from Helsinki to Tuscany. Start of the trip will be late june, by taking a boat from Helsinki to Lubeck. Arrival to Germany friday evening a bit after 9 pm. Driving about 100 km inland just past Hamburg. Saturday is for getting to Baden-Baden (640 km). Real fun starts at sunday morning: Baden-Badenvia Black forrest to Mulhouse for a Sclumpf collection visit and continuing to Switzerland (Glarus) in prepatration for the Andermatt passes (394 km)

https://goo.gl/maps/kQks9RgkDHt

Monday is for the Andermatt passes (323 km):

http://mapq.st/2GpsYmj

Tuesday is from Roveredo to Bormio via San Bernandino, Nufenen, Abula and Stevlio passes (256 km)

https://goo.gl/maps/JKY97weoVmt

Wednesday is for Bormio to Gargano (197 km)

https://goo.gl/maps/WtVCFLBVD6v

Thursday morning is for Torri del Benancio to Modena (228 km) afternoon is for Museums

https://goo.gl/maps/GunehLFQ6v82

Friday is for more Modena museums (Panini, Zagato, Lambroghini are on the must see list). An evening arrival to Bologna where I will change my friend as a co-driver for my girlfriend.

Saturday morning we leave Bologna for Arezzo via Futa and Raticossa passes (188) km

https://goo.gl/maps/pTKD555cfFJ2

After that the focus chages from driving to other things in Tuscany, ending a week later to Brescia.

Oh, the noble steed for this trip is my 1974 Alfa Spider and the plan is to keep the cameras rolling as we go along. Here´s a video of a previous excursion at the French alps:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ywOJgWJfKY

I am a bit worried about leaving too little time for the Andermatt area. As I want to capture the morning and the evening light on camera, it will slow us down a bit. Any advice and critique is welcome.

Edited by Finlandese on Thursday 17th May 21:31

Edited by Finlandese on Thursday 17th May 21:47

[irocfan]

you magnificent lunatic!

Sub'd

[Finlandese]

irocfan said:

you magnificent lunatic!

Sub'd

:-D

Well, I might be guilty as charged, but very few things in life are exciting if there are not a bit crazy. If you are planning to do a trip to finally fulfill your childhood dreams, why not make it a Great Dream?

Edited by Finlandese on Friday 18th May 07:54

[Finlandese]

An alternative schedule:

https://goo.gl/maps/C1FKSBJz7Bx
104 km Friday evevning

https://goo.gl/maps/gNMDD5FeYs52
718 km saturday

https://goo.gl/maps/wbrsctqAw8z
111 km sunday morning

https://goo.gl/maps/b78U9LosgHR2
287 km sunday evening

http://mapq.st/2k56j5N
257 km monday

https://goo.gl/maps/np1mg1XQPk82

280 km tuesday

https://goo.gl/maps/Zd78oCEjnSK2
223 km wednesday

https://goo.gl/maps/MupqFnkqrsS2
167 km thursday morning

https://goo.gl/maps/5fZpxwrk3PA2
44km friday afternoon

https://goo.gl/maps/Nv7bUb6aJGG2
178 km saturday morning

Minimum total of 2370 km for the long week from friday evening to saturday noon

Edited by Finlandese on Friday 18th May 12:19

[mr pg]

That's a stunning trip. Lots of miles in short time. The Monday on your second list around Andermatt would be epic. I'm skipping those roads this year, but will be back in the future.

[Lotobear]

I will follow this with great interest as I bought a S2 Spider a couple of years ago to do such a trip but aiming to get as far as Amalfi! (to do that fabulous drive)

Even my wife is on board with it. I just need to go through the car and make her reliable. I won't be painting it until I get back

It sounds like wonderful trip - make sure you post a blog!

Jon

[Finlandese]

Lotobear said:

I will follow this with great interest as I bought a S2 Spider a couple of years ago to do such a trip but aiming to get as far as Amalfi! (to do that fabulous drive)

Even my wife is on board with it. I just need to go through the car and make her reliable. I won't be painting it until I get back

It sounds like wonderful trip - make sure you post a blog!

Jon]

Hi Jon!

I bought this Spider specifically for this trip. I´ve had five Spiders and they are mechanically very reliable cars. In addition to that almost everything in the car can be fixed with a screwdriver and a 10 or 13mm wrench. They have a great soft top, enough space for comfortable travelling and good lockable boot. As far as the driving goes, discs at all corners, five speed transmission, and cooling that is made for hard driving (6,5 litre oil capacity!). Twin cam and twin Webers for the soundtrack! Enough performance and long legs for keeping up with (or past) the modern traffic (8,8 sec. 0-60 top 200 km/h), but not too fast to get in to trouble while enjoying the performance (we are going to Switzerland..).

On top of all that. Perfect parts availability within 48 hrs to anywhere in europe. I´ve gone through the car replacing all hoses, ignition parts, cleaned the carburetors and installed new calipers and pads. As a safety addition I also installed 3-point inertia seat belts. I will also do a proper shake down before the trip.

Edited by Finlandese on Friday 18th May 15:17

Edited by Finlandese on Friday 18th May 15:18

[Lotobear]

Great stuff!

I'm a sucker for a twincam and DHLA 40's - here's my other car

The Lotus is totally different to the Alfa but I love both of them for different reasons. Both cars very much ahead of their time in terms of engineering!


Jon

[Finlandese]

:-D

Funnily enough, I have a Lotus too! An Esprit S2 that is currently undergoing RHD to LHD conversion (hopefully finished this summer. Here´s an old video featuring my car:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emOP0m9Af98&li...

[Lotobear]

Lovely, what a great looking car the S1 Esprit is.

I should have bought one when they were cheap!

Jon

[groovyjay]

Sounds like a fun trip. We do similar ones every summer with our old classics too. We’ve done Italy twice with our group and will be heading back in couple of years time. This summer we’re heading back to LeMans for the race. Car’s still in a pile of bits, but it’ll get done. Pitäkää lystiä ja laita reportaasia tulemaan!

[Finlandese]

Testing mic placements/mixing for the trip. One mic By the exhaust, one in the cabin. The car has sports exhaust, so the exhaust dominates in real life too. Have to figure out a way to record the intake too..

https://youtu.be/kX4GgcZ_xEk

[Finlandese]

On the boat. Charging cameras...

[Finlandese]

[Finlandese]

So far almost everything is going to plan. Arrived to Wolfach at 1815. Departure was ar 0840, and we kept the speeds comfortable and made sure we had enough breakd for both our and the cars sake. Black Forest roads were flowing and a great way to end the day.

[irocfan]

[Finlandese]

Klausen, Susten, Grimsel And Nufenen done. Amazing view! Bit issues with backfire during decents, so tunings carbs and ignition, as we go...

[DamnKraut]

Finlandese said:

Klausen, Susten, Grimsel And Nufenen done. Amazing view! Bit issues with backfire during decents, so tunings carbs and ignition, as we go...

Stunning view. I am sure the Italians will welcome you with open arms. An Alfa on a Finnish plate coming all the way to its birthplace. Enjoy!

[sunbeam alpine]

Just found this thread - did very similar 5 years back in my Spider - took in Florence, Pompeii & the Amalfi coast, across and up to Venice & back through the Alps. 5.500km in 24 days

[sunbeam alpine]

Lotobear said:

I will follow this with great interest as I bought a S2 Spider a couple of years ago to do such a trip but aiming to get as far as Amalfi! (to do that fabulous drive)

If you're referring to the Top Gear film with the 2 Alfa Spiders, they cheated. The bit they filmed on was a stretch of the coast road more to the north (we found it eventually) heading from Sorrento up toward Naples if I remember correctly. Well worth the trip - it's more sweeping than the Amalfi stretch and easier to enjoy.

The Amalfi coast is breathtakingly beautiful, but the only way to have a driving experience on it is to get up at about 5 am - then yu'll have the road pretty much to yourself. During the day it's rammed and stop-start traffic.