More photos

Photos as well

Riding round nurburgring

This year's run on the nurburgring on the bike

Lady duck and I attacking the ring

Sp203 driving out of caprile

Sp347 agordo

Sr48 pocol

Little bit of rain but the roof still down

Day eleven

Well the last day of our trip so we set off again roof down as it been every day with the sun shining. The whole trip has been 3100 miles and some really great roads, I think some of the best roads have been south of grenoble, roads around stelvio, the pass it self is not great driving. Route 27,28, 3,19, 13 416, and the pass coming out of splugen 567 are stand out roads Switzerland but there are some many to speak of forget the lakes in Northern Italy, just to much traffic and not great roads. The dolomites are stunning and again so many different great roads and passes with stunning views round every corner. Where we stayed in the dolomites I think was ideal your right in the middle and ideal for exploring

Day ten

What a great day started with the b500 this time early start and we had the road to are self. Stunning Road great sweeping bends lovely 3rd 4th gear bends so it was traction control off and went for it, we'll let's say it warmed the tyres up, in fact it was so good we had to turn round and do it again.
Then it was on to the nurburgring, when we arrived it was just before lunch, so with the passes bought,  suspension turned up by 3 notches it was time to attack the ring. The car was awesome, the tyres and brakes with the suspension made the car stick like glue and post some really fast times, even lady duck enjoyed every minute of it especially towards the end when we were overtaking alot of cars on track, highlights were overtaking two Lamborghinis and a Aston Martin on the last lap lol

Day nine

Again the sun was up, so roof down today was mainly motorway to get to the b500 a legendary Road in Germany running south from Baden-Baden, I was happy to get 138 mph out of her on a nice stretch of autobahn with the roof down, poor lady ducks hair, lol. We hit the b500, looks a stunning bit of road wide open bend which you can see round, sadly all I could see were groups of bikes and slow cars, we did manage to muscle are way through and find some lovely high speed bends, it would be good to be on the bike you could really get your knee down and have some fun.
Today finish the other half of the 500 the the nuburgring about midmorning, for a few laps and perhaps lady duck may take the wheel

Driving up on sp203

Day eight

Another great day plenty more passes or just great roads to many to list ss243 to arabba then sp48, sp203  to agordo the left on the sp347 then the 251 and the lots more all great roads,  but today's the last day in the dolomites so it's a fond farewell, but will  stay here again at some point great hotel and an even better position for exploring the dolomites

Video of stelvio Pass

Not all fun and games

Had to wash the car down

Day seven

So was to be a bit of fun with the sun shining again and roof down, so left the hotel headed up the pass ss242, ss243 ss244 to arabba and then the 48 out, great roads no traffic to speak of, but it didn't matter which roads or passes we took today they were all great the best for me was the 244 coming up and out of arabba coming back to the hotel, it was side ways action on every bend, Bang goes my new tyres on the rear, 2nd and 3rd gear all the way up, and loving the new suspension and setup.

Classic view from the top of the pass

Day six

Today wasn't a big driving day to canazei in the dolomites,  so back out on the glorious route 28 which again did not disappoint, which then turned into ss40 ss38 major roads with no overtaking, truck and heavy traffic, at bolzano we took the ss241 and things got better, so with the roof down,and the sun shining, great roads it was foot down and some fun

After a hard day's drive

Lady ducks and I's accommodation for a couple of nights

A little video coming down stelvio

Bit of tunnel fun

Driving up huez

Day 5

Today we left Como for the drive to the next hotel in livigno, so we thought we would drive up the other side of Como perhaps it would be better than the side we were on so headed for lecco then went north waste of time, the sat nav said 19 miles to next turn off I think 15 miles of that was tunnel after tunnel so you can't even see the lake.
So we came out on ss36 then the 3 into Switzerland that when the roads became fun so did a few passes then lunch, then took the 27 followed by the 28 two really great roads really fast and I mean fast, great sweeping bends one after the other, some of the best roads yet, and great views.
Then the main reason for coming here,  passo stevlio, we came in off the 28 which was great because it was one pass that lead to the stelvio and little to no traffic even when we went up the stelvio part of the pass

Thoughts on Como

Forget it.... Drive here has lunch on the lake take a few photos just to say you've been and stay somewhere else... Over priced and to much traffic...

Now some more photos of great views

Day four

The driving didn't start good roads and traffic crap and the same at the end of the day, but the driving in the middle was great found some great roads. Took the back roads out of Como going up past lake lugano heading north forget it 2 1/2 hours of get stuck behind slow car trucks no overtaking small villages but once out of all of this head for the 416 at biasca the follow that to the 19.  At Muster turn left and follow 19 to Andermatt. The way back we followed the 19 up to Reicheaneu then took the 13 down to splugen the left onto the 567 great little pass and stunning views the other side of the pass back to the hotel was again traffic with no overtaking.

zoom in closely on second photo and you can see the road and tunnels stunning 

Day three

Day three was to pick up lady duck from Milan airport then up to Como, so the sun was up roof down and hit the road early, today was motorway or toll road to Milan, the first part was great big sweeping bends cutting through the snow capped mountains which you could take well over 100 mph again no traffic, but there was a price to pay for this driving nirvana, the tolls, ouch, and a 43euro tunnel toll, just over £60.00 just to drive a bit of motorway.
Arrive in Milan for 11.00 to pick up lady duck a choice of two terminals to go to...So 50 / 50 on this one let's just say I'm not going to make a good betting man.... Yes I picked 2 and lady duck arrived in 1, ok a phone call later,  it was chiao bella. Then off for lunch at Lake Como

Day two huez

So day two was the 211 up to hear, so out of grenoble again on to the d5 to vizlle then take the d1091 wow what a road again no traffic a super fast sweeping bends and great road surface some great fast straights.  Then arrived at the bottom of the 211 not a long pass but great fun as you will see in the video.  As for the michelin pilot super sports, with the suspension the car sticks like glue to the road

Driving down col de la bonette

first day route napoleon

Great roads down to col de la bonette out of grenoble on to the d5 then n85 d944 d14 n94 d944 taking d900 to jausiers then turn right onto the pass all the had little or no traffic great fast bends a real great route. The pass was quiet, very little car so could have some fun on the hairpin. As you can see by the photo I didn't quite make the top of 2860 m blocked by snow, so only managed 2700 m

on hols again

Lady duck and I are hols again, so left the boys and the bikes aback in uk,  weapon of choice is the mx5 of course me being me she not standard, full race spec gaz coilovers stiffer ultra racing front and rear antiroll bars again front and rear brace struts, ebc yellow stuff pads with black diamond vented discs all round, also trying michelin pilot super sport sticky tyres all round, there is also lots of tuning done to the engine.
This time we're heading south I'm on my own for the first few days in grenoble, find some great roads then up to Milan to pick up lady duck, then to Como, Switzerland, dolomites, Germany, and to top it all off aday at the nurburgring

on holiday with lady duck back in January

This is the last video of lady duck and I chapmans peak south Africa when the weapon of choice was a v8 cobra

chapmans peak

full chat on German autobahn

Not bad for the old girl k7 hayabusa

more from Luxembourg 2014