IHWC 2014 Itally Here We Come - Day 3 report

For today a visit was planned to Autodromo di Modena. So we left the city together:

 

Took the autostrada

 

                                                                 And arrival at the circuit

        Pietro made some nice captures when driving on the circuit and made this compilation video:

 

And another capture by Paolo.Listnen to that sound:

 

 

After this we left to visit the Lamborghini Museum. Nearby we had to fill up again, whereby we discovered a nice compatibility item:

 

 

Without realizing Siep filled up his car at the service pump, meaning an extremly high liter price: 2,08 Euro !!!

 

He got offered a free official Ducati cap sponsored by Shell as some kind of compensation.

 

 

And of course I claimed a free cap as well, though I paid the normal gas price. What an outfit:

 

 

Lamborghini city arrival

Parked the car in front of the Lamborghini museum 

 

 

I was surpised about the Espada missing in the entire collection.

 

Pure automotive art:

 

And back again to the city Hotel in Bologna.

Instagram #Ferrari #412 #Ivry

IHWC 2014 Itally Here We Come - Day 2 report

 

For day 2 we had to stood up early to be on time at the Stelvio to avoid potential traffic and bikers going to climb up hill. From the Hotel it's a very nice road with great sceneries. Since Pietro forgot his passport I was Lucky to drive the road twice:

 

And the route to the Stelvio was open:

 

And luckily it wasn't realy busy either. So the Climbing could begin. The 400 managed very well and to my suprise each hairpin could be made in one go as well.

 

 

 

 

Also the automatic handled it particular well. Almost at the top there was a clever photo business (www.fotostelvio.com), shooting pictures of everyone passing by. I ordered the following 2 pictures:

 

 

Someone was also able to make a snapshot of the Stelvio webcam with my 400 on it. Cool!

 

And the other picture on the top:

 

After a cofee break we went downhill on the other side and drove on to Bologna. Again a very cool ride with excellent views:

Unfortunately somewhere on the Autostrada we got stuck in a severe traffic jam. It was extremely hot and the airco could not coop with it.

 

 Nevertheless we arrived on time in Bologna and checked in at the Hotel nearby the city centre.

IHWC 2014 Italy Here We Come - Day 1 report

Ok, I will make a start about the trip I made with the 400 to Italy. I will write a retrospective blog for each day. This year we kicked of a little later than usual. Reason being is that we wanted to drive over the famous Stelvio Pass. On Tuesday 10th of June I drove away around 6 o'clock in the morning. The mileage on my odometer when leaving was 1048 km. And of course it was heavily raining. I was glad I had my new window wipers sorted. Just before 7 I arrived at the gas station nearby the German border. By then it stopped raining.

 

We all arrived around the same time, so we could do the ritual of adding the stickers on the car and got the routebook hand outs. Including a small coffee break. And leaving around 7:30

 

My co-driver Peter drove along with the others and at this point he moved over to my car. Good to have a huge boot to put all the Luggage in.

 

Not much later we stranded in a huge traffic Jam. Not sure what happened but the entire Ruhrgebiet was locked up. I think we did spend at least 2 hours in traffic jams and driving alternative routes via TomTom (without little or no luck). During the night there had been a huge storm, I suspect this must have been the cause. Near the roads there were lots of broken trees and such.

 

The German Autobahn was very crowded with lots of "Baustelle" (Road works) but we had good music on the radio:

 

 

During the ride I also spotted this AGIP truck. You can also witness on this video snapshot how busy it was.

 

 

 

Nearby the Austria border the roads got less crowded and we could do some proper cruising on the German Autobahn:

 

 

 

 

Due to the severe traffic jams and road works our driving route got messed up (and hugely delayed). We were suppose to meet up with Jos at Bregenz in Austria. Somehow we messed up or missed the right exit and took a different entry into Austria. As such we went via the Fernpass instead. Although it's a very nice route it was an unfortunate mishap. Especially since Jos made an effort to drive 3 hours with his 8.32 all the way from the Elsas - only to do a quick meet & greet (sick! - but appreciated). Again my apologies for missing you out! ...

 

 

 

In Austria we could fill up with cheap gas (1,44 Euro) compared with (1,73 Euro) in the Netherlands). Not much later we were already driving in Italy via the SS45 to our Hotel for the first overnight stay.

 

 

Arrival at the hotel around 7 o'clock in the evening.

Autoradio Blaupunkt Heidelberg Stereo CR Super Arimat - Alle 13 goed!

If your remember this blog:

http://erwin400.blogspot.nl/2013/10/hello-music-lovers.html

You might know I was still on the hunt for the original radio manual. I have finally got it. It was on offer on Ebay in Germany last week. And today I received it at home. I'm very pleased with it as I'm now complete on all the documentation. As you can see on the pictures it's quite a stack of equipment and not exactly a simple radio.

 

 

I even have the complete parts and repair manual with all schematics:

I now need to get some time-period music on a cassette. I have already obtained this MP3 cassette. So I can easily put digital copies on it via YouTube and play it in the car.

So, I now need to consider what would be appropiate music - next to my Fausto Papetti tapes. And I think I have found something that fits quite nicely. It was Sinterklaas evening in 1978 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas). And I was all excited about the presents we would get. My dad got a record and exactly that moment got captured on camera by mom. You can see me on the left with a huge smile and missing some teeth.

This specific record is still in my possession. The release is got called "de hits van nu - alle 13 goed!" which was very popular at the time.

As I digged up the record I took the time to play it on my Weltron 2007. Isn't that a great space age player? On this YouTube capture I'm playing Jean Michel Jarre. This happens to be another record from 1978. I'm actually quite surprised my mother bought this record back than (knowing she is more into the BZN genre). And I remember it was being played in the living room at the time as well. I like this particular record very much.




So I guess I have to put both records on cassette ... watch this space.

Spot : Ferrari 400 Automatic - it's me watching them watching us

Of course due to yesterdays event there were a lot of car spotters. I have seen a few next to the road.
This must have been one of them. Since the 400 series does not qualify as a exclusive sports car it's likely removed from the website www.autogespot.nl So I have to suffice with this lo-res snapshot

Taken by spotter: http://www.autogespot.nl/spots?spotter=kev224

Pagina door .Pagina door . - Eerste spot Eerste spot ooit van deze auto Ferrari 400 Automatic nl

 

http://ag-spots-2014.o.auroraobjects.eu/2014/06/08/thumbs/ferrari-400-automatic-c221908062014213657_1.jpg

 

 

ITALY HERE WE COME! Una Esperienza Particolare

Oh Yes! Tomorrow is the day for the trip to Italy. I'm looking forward to it. For the frequent visitors of this blog, don't expect any updates this week. Perhaps some small updates will be given on their FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Italyherewecom-Una-Esperienza-Particolare/326608517349879

Their website: http://www.italyherewe.com/

Agenda for this years trip: http://www.italyherewe.com/prog2014.html

                                                            Buon Viaggio, Capitano!

                                                                  Ready for Take Off: