Looking for a group in uk to drive to alps

[dimmy]

HI All

Im hoping to do a road trip to swiss alps from uk with a group but have no idea where to start looking. there is a wealth of info on the web for planning routes but didnt find much on people wanting to travel together. I specifically bought the car so i can do this drive so really hoping i can find some like minded people to drive with.

Any tips would be appreciated, otherwise the wife will want to tag along and ill end up driving to Bicester village!

thanks!

[Watchman]

I think you need to start with an intro - what car and what type of driving are you looking for? How big a group do you want? What sort of distance or time in the driving seat each day? What do you want to see along the way and when you get there? Are you planning to come back the same way or do a loop?

When I did tours in a Caterham with people I met through the internet, the "kit car" thing kind of answered most of the intro questions. It would be similarly clear who you wanted to attract if you had a Land Rover.

Your profile indicates you have a Mitsu Evo so, without trying to stereotype you, does this imply you're after a spirited/fast drive? Would you prefer motorways or A-roads?

I think to attract people, you have to do some planning and issue a proposal. You can fairly easily use Google maps to plan routes. The timings might be conservative if you expect to drive hard and fast, but at least you'll have an idea.

[dimmy]

thanks for the reply! honestly this is my first time trying to plan so i thought it might be easier to find a group of people who do these road trips and tag along. so few points:

- Wish i still had the evo as that was a fun car, but now i have a ferrari california T, so maybe people who like GT type of driving?
- The main thing i wanted to see what the Stelvio pass, so driving to there from UK was the plan/hope
- id hope i can do this all within 5-7 days max


Cheers

Dimmy

[Kateg28]

I have driven to the Stelvio a couple of times (with my dad as a family road trip) and we always see a group of British Supercars (Ferrari/Lambo/ Aston etc) when we go. Not the same group necessarily but we always see a group in the general area so some groups must do it.

[psi310398]

dimmy said:

HI All

Im hoping to do a road trip to swiss alps from uk with a group but have no idea where to start looking. there is a wealth of info on the web for planning routes but didnt find much on people wanting to travel together. I specifically bought the car so i can do this drive so really hoping i can find some like minded people to drive with.

Any tips would be appreciated, otherwise the wife will want to tag along and ill end up driving to Bicester village!

thanks!

If it helps get the wife on board for a tour, I can point you to a Bicester village type affair between Milan and Turin (i.e. you'd have to cross the Alps to get to it) and a similar one in a very pretty part of Alsace (near unrestricted autobahn too) for the way back...

[coldel]

Stelvio pass is a bit of a let down, much busier than other passes to be honest which are also spectacular.

I did one a couple of years back, mix of cars (Boxster, Celica GT4, C63, BRZ, 911) we had to spend time on the motorways but they are boring. We drove down through France Switz then into northern Italy and set up in a villa on Lake Como venturing out each day. We took in Modena to see the museums (Ferrari, Lambo, Pagani - book Pagani factory tour in advance) and drove a few passes such as San Bernardino, Gotthards to name a few and went to Interlaken on the way back. Just driving around the edge of Como in 30 degrees of bathing sun was amazing. We drove through places like Davos stopping off for lunch up in the mountains and the like, the whole thing is just brilliant.

[Watchman]

dimmy said:

thanks for the reply! honestly this is my first time trying to plan so i thought it might be easier to find a group of people who do these road trips and tag along. so few points:

- Wish i still had the evo as that was a fun car, but now i have a ferrari california T, so maybe people who like GT type of driving?
- The main thing i wanted to see what the Stelvio pass, so driving to there from UK was the plan/hope
- id hope i can do this all within 5-7 days max


Cheers

Dimmy

Oh man, if you've a California then you shouldn't find it hard to interest like-minded people.

Is there a forum for similar cars - GTs or something similar? I haven't even checked if there's one here but I guess you're going to want to appeal to other Ferrari owners, Bentley owners, Jag owners, maybe TVR Cerbera owners. All front engined GT cars.

As nice as it'd be to travel with a dozen same cars, traveling with a dozen mixed-but-similar-concept cars adds such a lot of "colour" to your travels. It also widens the pool of candidates.

If you have no luck with forums, sometimes YouTube throws up suitable suggestions... or at least shows others that have done similar.

[Watchman]

I wish I was in a position to come with you.

I've been to Stelvio in the Caterham, and still have occasional nightmares of when, after having parked for lunch at the top, I drove away a little too spirited on cold tyres and slid towards an edge where there was no Armco. I was braking hard and sliding in the wet (you're in the clouds up there) until my front tyre had actually drawn level with the edge when I released the brake and the tyre bit, turning me away from the edge.

Regardless, it's not a great drive - a bit stop start as the corners are so tight - but it is somewhere you should go to.


[I was going to upload a pic of me at the top but the PH uploader seems to have broken]

[dimmy]

psi310398 said:

If it helps get the wife on board for a tour, I can point you to a Bicester village type affair between Milan and Turin (i.e. you'd have to cross the Alps to get to it) and a similar one in a very pretty part of Alsace (near unrestricted autobahn too) for the way back...

haha i totally want to avoid any shopping as boot space is limited ( as is the cc limit)

[dimmy]

Watchman said:

Oh man, if you've a California then you shouldn't find it hard to interest like-minded people.

Is there a forum for similar cars - GTs or something similar? I haven't even checked if there's one here but I guess you're going to want to appeal to other Ferrari owners, Bentley owners, Jag owners, maybe TVR Cerbera owners. All front engined GT cars.

As nice as it'd be to travel with a dozen same cars, traveling with a dozen mixed-but-similar-concept cars adds such a lot of "colour" to your travels. It also widens the pool of candidates.

If you have no luck with forums, sometimes YouTube throws up suitable suggestions... or at least shows others that have done similar.

good point, ill try to find som ferrari owners or any other GT groups and see if anyone is planning a trip this year.

[dimmy]

Watchman said:

I wish I was in a position to come with you.

I've been to Stelvio in the Caterham, and still have occasional nightmares of when, after having parked for lunch at the top, I drove away a little too spirited on cold tyres and slid towards an edge where there was no Armco. I was braking hard and sliding in the wet (you're in the clouds up there) until my front tyre had actually drawn level with the edge when I released the brake and the tyre bit, turning me away from the edge.

Regardless, it's not a great drive - a bit stop start as the corners are so tight - but it is somewhere you should go to.


[I was going to upload a pic of me at the top but the PH uploader seems to have broken]

haha i specifically removed the old P-Zeros and got some new Michelin ps4 soi dont slip of the mountain!

[Zed 44]

I have done many trips like this mostly on my own as my wife doesn’t enjoy them and my friends mostly have other interests. Group tours are too expensive and often miss some really great driving roads. Consequently I’ve always been interested to see if individuals like yourself would be interested in joining up. Like others, I think the Stelvio is overrated Car is a Nissan GTR. Pm me if interested.

[dimmy]

Zed 44 said:

I have done many trips like this mostly on my own as my wife doesn’t enjoy them and my friends mostly have other interests. Group tours are too expensive and often miss some really great driving roads. Consequently I’ve always been interested to see if individuals like yourself would be interested in joining up. Like others, I think the Stelvio is overrated Car is a Nissan GTR. Pm me if interested.

hi zed il PM you

[Watchman]

Pic uploads are working again.



And the car (the blue one):

[Centurion07]

As mentioned Stelvio is not the best. Worth doing so you can see for yourself but from an actual driving POV, not so much.

The Andermatt Loop is supposed to be fantastic but I haven't managed to plan it into a trip yet.

Grossglockner Pass, like Stelvio, is not much to write home about in terms of driving, but the scenery...





I've never done a specific driving holiday but rather tend to try and work out a route that involves some interesting roads en route to our destination which invariably is a MotoGP somewhere in europe.

I'd love to go take a look at Sweden and Norway but they're a wee bit far. We drove to Gothenburg a couple of years ago, 1000miles each way, but that was all motorway and boring as hell.

[mr pg]

The loop is fantastic and a must do. Ignore what many say about driving in Switzerland. The Grossglockner is one of my favs however, particularly when done at the right time of day.

[chilistrucker]

Centurion07 said:

As mentioned Stelvio is not the best. Worth doing so you can see for yourself but from an actual driving POV, not so much.

The Andermatt Loop is supposed to be fantastic but I haven't managed to plan it into a trip yet.

Grossglockner Pass, like Stelvio, is not much to write home about in terms of driving, but the scenery...





I've never done a specific driving holiday but rather tend to try and work out a route that involves some interesting roads en route to our destination which invariably is a MotoGP somewhere in europe.

I'd love to go take a look at Sweden and Norway but they're a wee bit far. We drove to Gothenburg a couple of years ago, 1000miles each way, but that was all motorway and boring as hell.

Did you do the Oresund tunnel/bridge? pretty impressive, but you're right on that route, that about it

Sweden and Norway do have some cracking roads and scenery, but as you say quite a trek to get to the good bits. If memory serves me right, there used to be a ferry that ran from Newcastle to Bergen, which is a beautiful place, beer not cheap though.
Had to do the drive to Bergen a couple of times for work, the long way round. Cardiff to Bergen once on a tight schedule, it was, dull, dull, dull, until, Oslo too Bergen.

Stunning and still 1 of my fave runs ever, even in a lorry.

[Tyre Tread]

Have a look at the trips offered by Scenic Car Tours.

They do everything from group tours to individual plans.

Done three of theirs and they were quite good.

[ESDavey]

I strongly recommend Drive Espania ( https://www.driveespana.com ) who do great tours of Spain. Jasper is the owner and does a variety of tours just including a Ferrari owners.

How about joining the Ferrari owners club & see where they go ?

[D7MMY]

thanks for all the replies, with whats happened over last few months not sure if they would even let me leave UK
Keeping close eye to see if in Aug/Sep the restrictions are lifted. Otherwise UK driving trips it is for now