[DeTomaso] NPC: Ride a Lambo through the Alps

[Mike Thomas]

So Mike, when are you going to start writing the book of all of your
adventures.  Seems you've lived the life of Riley ever since I've known you.
  _____  

From: MikeLDrew at aol.com [mailto:MikeLDrew at aol.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2013 7:14 PM
To: mbefthomas at comcast.net; detomaso at poca.com; rgregferrer at yahoo.com;
glherrig at yahoo.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] NPC: Ride a Lambo through the Alps



In a message dated 3/20/13 18 27 21, mbefthomas at comcast.net writes:




This is a pretty cool video.  It's about 15 minutes, and the first 4-5
minutes are a little slow, but once he gains altitude, the scenery is
spectacular.  The roads remind me of those used in Goldfinger waaaay back in
the 60's, or the opening scenes of the original Italian Job.  10 pts for any
of our Euro dudes who know the road, and a free drink at the Fun Rally if
you've driven it!



>>>I'm not a Eurodude, but I know it!

That's the Grimsel Pass, in southern Switzerland.  It's not far from the
Furka Pass, which was the road used in Goldfinger.

A couple of years ago I went with a friend to Switzerland and we rented
motorcycles and spent 10 days tearing up the Alps, and the Italian Dolomite
mountains, and crossed and crisscrossed all those passes, including the
Stelvio.  We stopped for lunch at the red restaurant you see on the right at
7:09.

Claude Dubois rode over from France and joined us for four days, along with
Thierry Monney, a Pantera owner from Geneva.

It was absolutely epic.  One of the greatest things I've ever done in my
life.  

As you can see, the surface of the pavement is flawless, but crash
protection is minimal.  While some corners are blessed with an actual
guardrail, most of the road is protected only by widely spaced stone
markers, which would do precious little to prevent you from hurtling off the
side, and there is simply no such thing as runoff room.  You either run
smack into a vertical rock face, or plunge into an abyss.  That makes for a
bit of circumspection when riding a motorcycle (and you can see in the video
that the roads are thick with motorcycles).

Claude took us on one pass that was truly terrifying.  The road was less
than two lanes wide in many places, but had traffic in both directions.  You
would tiptoe around a blind corner and find a car coming the other way, with
barely enough room for a car and motorcycle to pass.

Oh, did I mention that there was no guardrail at all, and that there was a
sheer drop of 1500-2000 feet on our side of the road?  The slightest
miscalculation would have been doom.  I actually had a car nudge my
saddlebag and pitch me off-balance, but I was only going about 5 mph and I
was able to save it.

After surviving that, we had lunch at a little cafe at the bottom of the
hill, and he told us a tale of one of the greatest races he ever drove, in a
Ferrari 250 GTO, racing up that same pass, except the road wasn't paved at
the time.  Hell-bent for leather, nose to tail with another 250 GTO, on a
closed rally stage, at night.

Wow.

Everybody owes it to themselves to go and see that part of the world, at
least once.  You wouldn't even need to have a special car (or motorcycle) to
make it special.  The lowest rental beater would still provide some of the
best driving you've ever had in your life....

Mike (now wants to go back there!)