The journey started by departing John_B HQ to meet up with my best mate & co-driver for the tour in Cambridge on Tuesday evening. Unfortunately it was not smooth sailing as I got an EML & limp-home mode as I passed some roadworks on the M1, the first time ever under my ownership, and bloody typical that it would happen 50 miles into a 2000+ journey. I didn't have my code reader, so decided to press on and if happened again, I'd turn back and substitute the Z3 for my 5-series. A quick restart cleared the code and all seemed well.
A couple of beers Tuesday evening in Cambridge helped me get an early night ready for a 4am start to head to Folkstone the next morning.
Despite my pleas to the weather gods, the clouds looked laden as we emerged into Calais, however knowing there was plenty of rain in store later in the journey, we risked it and started with the roof down. What I hadn't banked on was the increased wind noise and buffeting at 80-85 compared with the more sedate 70 in the UK. With the clouds darkening and us struggling to converse, we decided to put the roof back up and wait for better weather to make the extra noise worth it.
Our journey on Wednesday took us from Cambridge to our overnight stop in Mulhouse (approx 405 miles). I love French roads and motorways, but there wasn't really much to see apart from fields and drizzle. Unfortunately we had another EML, this time as we'd turned off the motorway and were running at slower speeds. Another quick restart cleared the issue and we continued. Dinner was an all-you-can eat Chinese buffet at Le Grand Aigle in Mulhouse, and it was bloody lovely! I'd recommend it to anyone lucky enough to find themselves in Mulhouse.
Thursday morning we awoke to more drizzle. After a quick continental brekki we were on our way! Today's destination was just outside San Lazzario, a small town between Bologna and Imola where our weekend hotel was situated. It was only about 375 miles and was supposed to be one of the shorter legs of the trip, however crossing the Alps and then minutes later burning along the pancake-flat Po valley promised to be interesting scenery. The weather had other plans though, and as we crossed Switzerland the most we could see was a few hundred feet above our heads.
We emerged from the Gotthard tunnel into slightly brighter weather. Whereas the north side was constant drizzle, the south side was more like (very) heavy showers between patches of sunshine.
It wasn't just the weather that changed south of the Alps - I had enjoyed the relatively calm and well-mannered French and Swiss drivers, but as we got closer to and into Italy, there was a noticeable change and the roads became much more frantic! We got down into the valley and around Milan fairly easily, however it was rush-hour on the last working day before the easter weekend, and the A1 between Milan and Bologna turned into a car park on a few occasions. We tried to follow various diversions to get us off the motorway and around the congestion, but if I am being honest, on a couple of occasions I am certain after the traffic was flowing again and we rejoined the motorway we were around some of the same cars and trucks as we passed before leaving! Hey ho, we saw a little more of Italy and drove on some fun roads. The weather had brightened up in Italy at least, we'd kept the roof up because it looked like there could be a shower at any point, however it stayed fairly dry.
In the end Thursday's "short" leg felt like an absolute marathon and had us on the road for 11 hours, most of which was in heavy traffic or trying to navigate rat-runs. Our hotel was nice though! No EMLs though!
Friday was the first day of track-action at Imola. We'd chosen our hotel as it looked like there was a train station a short walk away that would take us right to Imola town. Unfortunately it turns out the station closed since we booked the hotel. So we decided to use some time on Friday morning to go to a supermarket and buy some beers, water and snacks for the hotel room, and then figure out how we'd get to Imola. In the end, we discovered it was only that station that closed, rather than the whole line, and the next station was only a 10min drive away. Free parking and a 3.50 Euro ticket got us into Imola and about a 25 min walk from the station to the track.
The WEC action was good, they were supported this weekend by an Italian GT4 series and the German Porsche Carrera Cup so there was plenty of action across the weekend. Being more of an F1 fan, it surprised me how differently the various cars sound just within the WEC category, for example the Aston Martin hypercars are NA V12s and screamed like old F1 cars (sadly they didn't go quite as well as they sounded!), the Cadillacs were NA V8s and were just a loud but more grunty. Others were turbocharged and considerably quieter. If I was going to go to a WEC race again, I think I'd go to a longer one. Compared with F1, 6hrs is long! But for an endurance race it felt too short. Also I'd like to go to one where there is english commentary readily available. Because as a non-Italian speaker, the local commentary didn't give me anything to go by! Ferrari were overall hypercar class winners, which was a real treat to experience in Imola. There was a (planned) track invasion after the chequered flag, but it was so late in the day after a loooong weekend, we decided to watch it from a distance and then get heading back to the hotel.
However Imola as a venue was wonderful! So easy to navigate around, tons of places to sit or stand, lots of food and drink outlets, loads of toilets and also free water stations which was nice - when my 2 litre bottle of water was confiscated on entry, I presumed it was to make me buy theirs in the circuit, but clearly not. There was a wide variety of different foods and drinks available too. Pretty much everything was either 7 or 8 euros, so it was expensive, but I think if you are prepared and budget accordingly, it wasn't horrific. Also, wandering around the in-field, came across views these - not what I was expecting to find in the middle of a major race track, and a very strange experience while being deafened by 30+ fire-spitting race cars merely metres away!
And of course the memorial where we paid our respects to both Senna and Ratzenberger. Surprisingly, to me at least, was that this was on the inside of Tamburello, where I had assumed it would be on the outside closer to where Senna actually passed away. We did walk around the outside of Tamburello at one point and noticed a much lower key tribute off the beaten track, which I am glad to have witnessed.
My advice to anyone else planning a driving visit would be to park at a station and get the train in. Imola town is beautiful, but I would not fancy driving or trying to park around it during a race weekend.
EML update - one of the days, I think Saturday, we had the EML come on twice just on the 10min journey to the train station! This was really worrying since it could have meant limping all the way home at 50mph if it was going to be on permanently - or getting recovered. However it didn't come on for any of the other short journeys. Weird.
With the track action finished on Sunday evening, Monday morning we hit the road and started heading back north. Monday was a bank holiday in Italy too, an unexpected consequence of which was that HGVs are banned from the roads on bank holidays! That made the journey much easier, and apart from queuing for the Gotthard tunnel again, we made great time, getting all the way from our hotel to Saint-Dizier (550 miles) in a little over 9hrs, including the tunnel queue and a couple of stops! The weather was much better than the journey down and we got the roof down for a bit around Switzerland, mainly so we could take in the views! It got a bit rainy again in France though.
Tuesday was our last day on the road and we woke up to blue skies! 510 miles saw us back through France to Calais, across the channel on the train and then home via Cambridge. We had the roof down the whole way and made great progress, door-to-door in 11.5hrs. I had the EML two more times on the final leg of the journey, both happened when I had slowed down for roadworks or having left the motorway after prolonged periods of 60-70mph cruising, so I think it is somehow related to that - maybe a coked up sensor or something? I've put the reader in the car so I can get the code next time it happens.
2102 miles in total, filled up 8 times and averaged 29.5 MPG. Izzy needs a good wash and then she gets to do it all over again in 5 weeks when we go to Alicante! I only saw one other Z3 the entire journey, a black narrow body in France. I waved at the lady driver but I can't express enough how little of a sh*t she gave! I saw a handful of Z4s including a very well cared for maroon E85 on the A14 heading away from Cambridge on Tuesday afternoon, we exchanged a little wave
A couple of beers Tuesday evening in Cambridge helped me get an early night ready for a 4am start to head to Folkstone the next morning.
Despite my pleas to the weather gods, the clouds looked laden as we emerged into Calais, however knowing there was plenty of rain in store later in the journey, we risked it and started with the roof down. What I hadn't banked on was the increased wind noise and buffeting at 80-85 compared with the more sedate 70 in the UK. With the clouds darkening and us struggling to converse, we decided to put the roof back up and wait for better weather to make the extra noise worth it.
Our journey on Wednesday took us from Cambridge to our overnight stop in Mulhouse (approx 405 miles). I love French roads and motorways, but there wasn't really much to see apart from fields and drizzle. Unfortunately we had another EML, this time as we'd turned off the motorway and were running at slower speeds. Another quick restart cleared the issue and we continued. Dinner was an all-you-can eat Chinese buffet at Le Grand Aigle in Mulhouse, and it was bloody lovely! I'd recommend it to anyone lucky enough to find themselves in Mulhouse.
Thursday morning we awoke to more drizzle. After a quick continental brekki we were on our way! Today's destination was just outside San Lazzario, a small town between Bologna and Imola where our weekend hotel was situated. It was only about 375 miles and was supposed to be one of the shorter legs of the trip, however crossing the Alps and then minutes later burning along the pancake-flat Po valley promised to be interesting scenery. The weather had other plans though, and as we crossed Switzerland the most we could see was a few hundred feet above our heads.
We emerged from the Gotthard tunnel into slightly brighter weather. Whereas the north side was constant drizzle, the south side was more like (very) heavy showers between patches of sunshine.
It wasn't just the weather that changed south of the Alps - I had enjoyed the relatively calm and well-mannered French and Swiss drivers, but as we got closer to and into Italy, there was a noticeable change and the roads became much more frantic! We got down into the valley and around Milan fairly easily, however it was rush-hour on the last working day before the easter weekend, and the A1 between Milan and Bologna turned into a car park on a few occasions. We tried to follow various diversions to get us off the motorway and around the congestion, but if I am being honest, on a couple of occasions I am certain after the traffic was flowing again and we rejoined the motorway we were around some of the same cars and trucks as we passed before leaving! Hey ho, we saw a little more of Italy and drove on some fun roads. The weather had brightened up in Italy at least, we'd kept the roof up because it looked like there could be a shower at any point, however it stayed fairly dry.
In the end Thursday's "short" leg felt like an absolute marathon and had us on the road for 11 hours, most of which was in heavy traffic or trying to navigate rat-runs. Our hotel was nice though! No EMLs though!
Friday was the first day of track-action at Imola. We'd chosen our hotel as it looked like there was a train station a short walk away that would take us right to Imola town. Unfortunately it turns out the station closed since we booked the hotel. So we decided to use some time on Friday morning to go to a supermarket and buy some beers, water and snacks for the hotel room, and then figure out how we'd get to Imola. In the end, we discovered it was only that station that closed, rather than the whole line, and the next station was only a 10min drive away. Free parking and a 3.50 Euro ticket got us into Imola and about a 25 min walk from the station to the track.
The WEC action was good, they were supported this weekend by an Italian GT4 series and the German Porsche Carrera Cup so there was plenty of action across the weekend. Being more of an F1 fan, it surprised me how differently the various cars sound just within the WEC category, for example the Aston Martin hypercars are NA V12s and screamed like old F1 cars (sadly they didn't go quite as well as they sounded!), the Cadillacs were NA V8s and were just a loud but more grunty. Others were turbocharged and considerably quieter. If I was going to go to a WEC race again, I think I'd go to a longer one. Compared with F1, 6hrs is long! But for an endurance race it felt too short. Also I'd like to go to one where there is english commentary readily available. Because as a non-Italian speaker, the local commentary didn't give me anything to go by! Ferrari were overall hypercar class winners, which was a real treat to experience in Imola. There was a (planned) track invasion after the chequered flag, but it was so late in the day after a loooong weekend, we decided to watch it from a distance and then get heading back to the hotel.
However Imola as a venue was wonderful! So easy to navigate around, tons of places to sit or stand, lots of food and drink outlets, loads of toilets and also free water stations which was nice - when my 2 litre bottle of water was confiscated on entry, I presumed it was to make me buy theirs in the circuit, but clearly not. There was a wide variety of different foods and drinks available too. Pretty much everything was either 7 or 8 euros, so it was expensive, but I think if you are prepared and budget accordingly, it wasn't horrific. Also, wandering around the in-field, came across views these - not what I was expecting to find in the middle of a major race track, and a very strange experience while being deafened by 30+ fire-spitting race cars merely metres away!
And of course the memorial where we paid our respects to both Senna and Ratzenberger. Surprisingly, to me at least, was that this was on the inside of Tamburello, where I had assumed it would be on the outside closer to where Senna actually passed away. We did walk around the outside of Tamburello at one point and noticed a much lower key tribute off the beaten track, which I am glad to have witnessed.
My advice to anyone else planning a driving visit would be to park at a station and get the train in. Imola town is beautiful, but I would not fancy driving or trying to park around it during a race weekend.
EML update - one of the days, I think Saturday, we had the EML come on twice just on the 10min journey to the train station! This was really worrying since it could have meant limping all the way home at 50mph if it was going to be on permanently - or getting recovered. However it didn't come on for any of the other short journeys. Weird.
With the track action finished on Sunday evening, Monday morning we hit the road and started heading back north. Monday was a bank holiday in Italy too, an unexpected consequence of which was that HGVs are banned from the roads on bank holidays! That made the journey much easier, and apart from queuing for the Gotthard tunnel again, we made great time, getting all the way from our hotel to Saint-Dizier (550 miles) in a little over 9hrs, including the tunnel queue and a couple of stops! The weather was much better than the journey down and we got the roof down for a bit around Switzerland, mainly so we could take in the views! It got a bit rainy again in France though.
Tuesday was our last day on the road and we woke up to blue skies! 510 miles saw us back through France to Calais, across the channel on the train and then home via Cambridge. We had the roof down the whole way and made great progress, door-to-door in 11.5hrs. I had the EML two more times on the final leg of the journey, both happened when I had slowed down for roadworks or having left the motorway after prolonged periods of 60-70mph cruising, so I think it is somehow related to that - maybe a coked up sensor or something? I've put the reader in the car so I can get the code next time it happens.
2102 miles in total, filled up 8 times and averaged 29.5 MPG. Izzy needs a good wash and then she gets to do it all over again in 5 weeks when we go to Alicante! I only saw one other Z3 the entire journey, a black narrow body in France. I waved at the lady driver but I can't express enough how little of a sh*t she gave! I saw a handful of Z4s including a very well cared for maroon E85 on the A14 heading away from Cambridge on Tuesday afternoon, we exchanged a little wave
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