Audi-Sport Road trip in August - Switzerland/Italy

mitch78 said:

We can buy the Swiss vignette before we go.

Order them online from here.

Like Dave said earlier, it's £21 +£5 booking fee and is valid until Jan 31st 2009. If we all bought them in advance it would be one less thing to worry about and would save us a bit of time and hassle over there.

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£21???

blimey, I only paid £18 last year

£5 booking fee is a **** take too - some doris sticking them into an envelope isn't an hour's work

if you club together and some one works in Covent Garden it could work out far cheaper

sleep envy said:

£21???

blimey, I only paid £18 last year

£5 booking fee is a **** take too - some doris sticking them into an envelope isn't an hour's work

if you club together and some one works in Covent Garden it could work out far cheaper

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The actual cost is CHF 40.00 so the price you will pay in the UK will depend on exchange rate. The best way is just to purchase one as you cross the border into Switzerland. If you cross on a motorway as I do at Basle someone comes up to your car looks for Vignette. If one is not in the windscreen they sell you one. No need to even get out of the car. with the current exchange rate of 2.056 that would cost you £19.45. If you don't cross on a motorway petrol stations on either side of the border tend to sell them.

well guys... windsurf, the sun and girls in bikini made me decide... I won't go with you this time...

But I will read all about it when you do the report here! Enjoy yourselves!!

Pedro

h5djr said:

The actual cost is CHF 40.00 so the price you will pay in the UK will depend on exchange rate. The best way is just to purchase one as you cross the border into Switzerland. If you cross on a motorway as I do at Basle someone comes up to your car looks for Vignette. If one is not in the windscreen they sell you one. No need to even get out of the car. with the current exchange rate of 2.056 that would cost you £19.45. If you don't cross on a motorway petrol stations on either side of the border tend to sell them.

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I've done that too - I always cross in Basle/Bale

you give them € and the ******* give you change in CHF

Route and plan look great, are we just booking any hotel on list or are there 1,2,3 etc?

:thumbsup:

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I said I would add my notes from my own trip in September 2006 in case they help you at all with planning yours. Just writing it makes me want to go again! Better get yourselves a cup of tea as I seem to have written quite a lot. I hope it is helpful.

Overall it was a fantastic drive. 5 days, 4 nights, Almost 2000 miles on the other side of the channel plus a bit from north Kent and back. Great scenery for 3 of the days, many amazing roads and Alpine passes that you have to drive to believe and being able to enjoy driving my car almost non-stop for the whole trip. Two of us in two cars (my 3.2 and an RX8). And it all was inspired by an article in Car magazine from the year before showing the writer standing near his car looking down the Stelvio pass in the sunshine. The article was called "As Good As It Gets". Pretty spot on I reckon!

It cost me about £900 for the trip, so you could almost halve this if you share cars. This gave us a good twin room, decent food, and covered all other motoing expenses, plus the odd beer before crashing exhausted each night! Hotels listed below.

Day 1 - 18th September 2006

Ferry Dover Calais (was much cheaper than Eurotunnel for our trip - about £80 each instead of at least £130)
Motorway down to overnight stop in Mulhouse, France (Ibis)
Arrive very late as a bit slower than we thought.

Day 2

Very long drive today, compounded by our desire to stop all the time to take in the scenery and do a few bits again!
From Mulhouse down through Lucerne and Altdorf then round the Susten, Grimsel and Furka pass triangle. They are still quite main roads, but they are a long way up and are perfect for some fast-ish driving, with some decent hairpins on the way - amazing scenery too.
Through Andermatt and onto 19 heading east over Oberalppass towards Chur, then north on the 3 and east on the 28 towards Klosters and onto Davos. Combination of fast A roads and some decent twisty bits.
Stay on the 28 across the Fluelapass to Susch, then south east and across the Ofenpass and into Italy.
Right onto SS40 heading south to Spondigna and then south west onto SS38 over Stelvio Pass (going up the steep walled side with the 49 hairpins - all numbered for your convenience!). The whole climb in 1st, 2nd and sometimes into 3rd gear. The 3.2 was perfect with its 2nd gear pull round the hairpins. We did it in the dark at about 10pm and didn't meet a soul on the entire trip up the the pass - highly unlikely to repeat this! Just wish my video camera battery had not expired shortly before!
Much needed beer and overnight stay in Bormio (Hotel Rezia - very nice hotel and top breakfast, with secure underground parking)

Day 3

Back over Stelvio. Lots of photos.
Turn right towards Meran on SS38 heading east and then left and north onto SS44 towards Racines, which takes you over the Jaufenpass (German) / Passo di Monte Giovo (Italian). Great, fast, flowing roads, enabling you to keep a steady speed in between some tight corners.
Turn right onto E45 / A22 heading south and then left onto the SS49 / E66, heading east towards Lienz (turns into E66 / 100), north east towards Winklern and then north towards the Grossglockner
Over Grossglockner Pass - highest pass in Austria I think (it's across a park called the National Park Hohe Tauern so we had to pay 18 Euros per car, but a long fab drive none the less). We hardly saw a soul in the park, which made for some pretty fast driving as you could see a very long way. This was the last major pass we drove as it is all north and then west from here and through the flat land back towards England (our route anyway).
Head north through Zell am See and then overnight in Salzburg (Hotel Neutor - ok hotel with bar - parking in nearby major underground secure car park)

Day 4

Am - Visit to Audi factory in Ingolstadt with A3 factory tour (4 Euros each booked in advance for an english tour), then A road drive through to overnight stay in Mainz (Ibis)

Day 5

Drive home on the Autobahn, through Belgium and France.

Other stuff :

I got nearly 29mpg in my 3.2 overall. Sounds like a drove like a wuss, but you'll be surprised how much of the travelling is at 50-60 cruising as you head along the A roads. I did only get 12mpg going up Stelvio though!
Stelvio best attempted out of hours if possible otherwise you could find yourself in a long slow queue up the steep side for 15 minutes with no possibility to overtake.
Re going in convoy, I have tried it before and got frustrated. Don't try to keep in one long line all the time. You end up focusing on each other rather than everything around you. Pick some reasonable stopping points to re-group, especially as some like to drive quicker than others.
Buy Swiss pass in advance to save faffing at the border. Essential and well worth the money as A roads are v slow unless you are on the passes having fun! Cost us £21 each incl admin fee.
Get some walkie talkies so you can all talk to each other without having to use mobiles (passengers of course) or stopping all the time. If you get lost, then much easier to find someone again!
Don't scream down French autoroutes - they "love" the english. As well as the new fixed cameras on the motorways, they seem to have a much bigger presence with mobile camera cars these days. My brother in law got stopped doing an admittedly slightly excessive 190kph (119mph) in his 911 recently, got a £600 fine, his licence taken away and banned from driving in France on the spot. Fortunately his girlfriend had her licence on her so was allowed to drive the car from there.
Take some screen cleaner with you. Within a few hours, it is surprising how much mess continental insects can make, especially in the summer.
When you start on the passes, you might want to stop every 200m for a scenic photo. You could spend hours doing this, but trust me, there will always be a much better view round the corner. The views at the top are usually the best and often there is a hotel or restaurant with car park etc at the top. This is where we wasted too much time.
France especially, petrol stations tend not to take English credit cards when they are only open via pre-payment machines 24 hours. This can be a nightmare on Sundays, so don't run low on fuel!
Don't forget a big bag of wine gums for essential snacking.
Remember your V5, insurance certificate, (including european extension), driving licence, GB sticker unless you have proper euro plates, some light deflectors, warning triangle, some bulbs. Basically, anything that will help you avoid running into trouble. Better to be safe than sorry in my opinion, even if it costs a few quid more before you leave.

I really hope you all have a great time - I plan to go again next summer if new family commitments allow, but this time sharing my RX8 mate's new Elise SC, which will be totally different again, but I still can't wait!

I have been travelling through France to get to Germany and beyond for the past 27 years and I've never had a problem with anyone accepting my credit card in France. I always use my card to purchase fuel. Mind you I do purchase my fuel on the motorway. It may be different at smaller stations. I also use it to pay the motorway tolls at the barriers. There is usually less of a queue at the credit card barriers than at the cash one and all you need to do is put you card in the slot - no requirement for a pin number. Mind you it does help if you have a passenger because the card slot is on the Left of the car.

One tip worth considering. Get yourself an Audi Credit Card before you go. This card does not charge the extra 2% on foreign transactions like most credit cards. I used mine for all my transactions in France, Germany and Austria last year without any problems. Much better than having to carry too much in the way of Euros. A Nationwide Credit Card is the same.

Credit cards are fine on the autoroutes as most stations are open all the time and during normal hours in the smaller A road and town based stations. The problem comes when it is out of hours and the smaller ones are unmanned, but they remain open 24 hours / day for pre-pay only. The pre-pay machines only seem to accept the French CB card and won't take our credit cards. This is even worse on a Sunday when many smaller french ones are unmanned all day.

Yes I see your point. I basically don't like France or the French so I only ever drive through France on the autoroutes to get to Germany as quickly as possible. I will give it them, they do know how to build decent motorways with decent stopping and service areas.

Just trying to confirm my co pilot then I'm set!

Chas

Don't post on here much, but will be coming on this! Got a co-pilot sorted, so you can add another S3 to the list!

Andrew

:thumbsup:

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I'd love to be going on this, but the cost of getting from here to the meeting point would probably add another 1000 euros to the trip on ferries, accommodation and fuel.

My Garmin mapping software shows the route to be a 4499km round trip with a total driving time of 2 days 8hrs and 33 minutes. It would also mean my leaving home on Thursday and not getting home until late Monday.

I'll keep an eye out for the next one and might try to organise more than one co-pilot to share the costs.

:thumbsup:

Been looking at the route in more detail today, all looks good. What I shal probably do though is stop somewhere along the drive back up to Calais on the Sunday, and finish the trip home on Monday.

I have a 3 1/2 hour drive from Folkstone so add's a big chunk to the drive after a long weekend. Drive out will be OK as everyone will be fresh and excited!

Might as well make full use of the Bank Holiday!

Andrew

Hey all, just back from a week in the Scottish highlands, and its just fuelled my need to do this trip! Although it definitely looks like im doing this one alone but sod it-its only money! Just got my car tax renewal through, which is a buggar, and the car will need its major service AND cambelt/tensioners/waterpump changing too. Jesus im gonna be bankrupt this summer!
Any donations to the 'Keep Andys Car On The Road' fund would be much appreciated lol

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Photos look awesome matey, I know we'll all want to be making progress on the trip, but if we could have breaks at such places as these id really appreciate it, as Ill be too busy driving (on my own) to really take it all in or get pics.

Couldn't be bothered reading the whole post, (too drunk, I'll read it in the morning)lol. But I am deffo up for this. The missus and I were thinking of doing something different this year anyway.

Depends on work though, as we both work off-shore, it might be difficult to say the least. But if we're both (meant to be) in the UK, we will definatley come. So long as you don't mind being slowed down by an oil burner.

I'm new to the site (and Audi ownership), so this would be a good chance to meet some like-minded people, and have a jolly good laugh in the bargain. Gotta admit though, we're both merging on alcoholics, so, as long as there aint too much early morning driving, we'll be ok

Might have to invest in a better camera aswell though, and some nice lenses. I'm sure there will be many a epic photo to be taken (as well as a rather messy one).

Although, we are from Scotland, so might be a little more expensive, lol. What with Darling taking all my hard earned just to meet up with you guys.

Well, the problem with that is that while the missus works a regular shift pattern, I do not, so it would be all last minute as to wether I can confirm or not