< Previous Page
1 2 3 4 5
Next Page >
Luceram, France
GTS Chronicles, Col des Fourches
Col de la Bonette
After staying overnight at an off-season ski hotel, we continued our exploration of the French High Alps on August 3rd - this time hitting the Tour-de-France-famous Col D'Izoard (again extremely busy with summer tourist traffic) and the scenic Col du Galibier. We did, however, do some very productive roadside photographing and recording, getting some great shots of our Boxster and Cayman duo.

Upon reaching our lodging that night, I discovered that we had somehow misplaced one of our camera bags - a bag that contained expensive camera gear, memory cards, and Luke's Boxster key fob. To say that I was thrown into a deep funk was an understatement. Fortunately, after a lot of dogged detective work and a wasted day of driving, and with the help of a friendly hotel concierge, we managed to locate and retrieve the wayward bag.
The Focused Driver
Renault 4-fest
Crewmember Prep
Boxster in the desert
On an excellent bit road
Car-buddies on an Excellent Trip
Awkward Unloading
The Bag is Retrieved!
August 4 - SwissItalia

Our time in the French Alps had come to an end, and we drove north out of the mountains and into the lowlands of Northern Switzerland. Here we dropped off crew-member Brian and switched to crew-member Chris. The next day, we headed back south, into the Swiss Alps, crossing over an out-of-the-way but very fun little pass into Italy - the Splugenpass.

Snaking down from the Italian side, we stopped at the charming little mountain town of Campodolcino, which positioned us for an early-morning run up the nearby Malojapass - a super-fantastic set of hairpins that Luke and I had discovered on our M2 Euro Delivery trip back in 2018.
Crew-swap in Switzerland
Porsche Washing Club
Ascending the Splugenpass
Many Picnics
Safe in Campodolcino
Morning in Campodolcino
Chiesa d S. Giovanni Battista
August 5 - The Malojapass

Our sneaky plan to get up early and ahead of the traffic on the oft-busy Malojapass on the morning of August 5th did not go as planned. Rain clouds gathered and then pelted the landscape as we arrived at the good parts of the road. Combined with an unexpected large amount of traffic, there was simply nothing good to experience. At the top of the pass, we decided to head into a hotel to wait out the rain over breakfast (the Malojapass is that good, we simply couldn't let it go quite so easily).

Fortunately the rain did break, and over the latter half of the morning, we managed to squeeze in some good photography, video, and - with a bit of patience and careful planning to exploit gaps in the nearly endless traffic - a bit of fun driving on the super-wide, super-well-paved curves of the Malojapass. This stretch of road is very well suited to pushing a little harder, given the wide pavement and big margins. Even so, our GTS 4.0s performed admirably. The poise and tenacity of the chassis, the grunt of the flat-six, the snick-snick of the transmission. Extremely admirably.
Weather not looking so good
Waiting out the Rain
The Malojapass
The sublime
Next, we started our long drive north out of Switzerland, and back towards Germany - but not before driving over the high-altitude Julierpass and spending a few hours doing video shoot work with an externally-mounted gimbal. Tricky to set up and use, but a useful experience (if a bit of a time sink for us newbies). I would very much like to get better at this sort of thing, as the potential for some awesome dynamic car shots is high.

From the Julierpass, we gradually descended into Northern Switzerland, and then ended up at a nondescript little apartment we had booked for the night in the Austrian town of Dornbirn, very close to the German Border.
Gimbal Wireup
Low-mount setup
Luke and Boxster GTS at Julierpass
Sublime Cruising
August 6 - To the Green Hell (with a Birthplace Stop)

On August the 6th, we headed back into Germany and set a course for the Nurburg area - home of the Nürburgring race complex and the famous Nordschleife track. We planned to spend three days there, maximizing our chances of getting in some good laps during the circuit's Touristenfahrten sessions.

Along the way, we stopped in the Zuffenhausen suburb of Stuttgart and visited the "birthplace" of our two 718s. Although not really sanctioned, we quickly set ourselves up under the gleaming mirrored panels of the Porsche Museum and took a few celebratory shots of The GTS Chronicles duo.
GTS Chronicles Congratulations
Reflections of Greatness
The Eifel region was cold and rainy when we arrived. Nevertheless, after checking into our hotel room near the track in the hamlet of Adenau, we procured some tickets and excitedly did a lap during the evening's Touristenfahrten session. The cold and wet track, combined with our rustiness after our five-year long absence, meant that we approached these first laps with extreme caution. Even so, Luke discovered that he was slip-sliding in all directions. This was interesting, as I was not. It seemed to come down to our tires - his Boxster had come with Michelin tires, and mine had come with Pirellis. And it seemed that in these particular conditions, the Pirelli's had substantially more grip. And here I was thinking I had lost the tire lottery.
To the Nurburgring
Unpacking for the Nordschleife
A Toast to The Chronicles
During the morning and afternoon of the following day, we again (as we had done in 2018) rented mountain bikes and did a day of physical activity, following tracks around the perimeter of the Nordschleife circuit, visiting all of the notable curves. We were careful to finish our circuit in time for the evening's TF session, which today had thankfully turned out to be a dry session. Now re-familiarized and with the confidence of dry grip, we lapped more confidently.

We cut short our lapping session a bit early, as we had an appointment with an auto-youtube celebrity: Misha Charoudin, the most notable youtuber of the Nordschleife. We had asked for his advice during the outreach activities for our GTS Chronicles media pitch, and not only had he graciously given us his thoughts, he had agreed to meet and have a quick chat with us during our time in the Nurburg area. Fun! (and thanks, Misha!)
SchwedenKreuz
Cyclin' to the Devil....
Lining up for TF
Through the Karrussell
Meeting Misha
Our final day at the Nordschleife was a relaxed one. For a change, we had nothing major planned during the day, and took it easy, visiting the Nurburgring museum, gift shop, and taking a bit of time to capture some B-roll footage of the cars. We took part in one final Touristenfahrten session, where I really started to feel comfortable (I was even driving with PSM fully off) pushing the Cayman a bit closer to the edge of its performance envelope. Clearly this car will go faster than I was willing to push. Ah, to have a few more days here.
GTS Chronicles at the Nurburgring
GTS Chronicles at Pflanzgarten
August 9th. The end day had arrived. The last day of our GTS Chronicles Euro Delivery adventure. The objective today was to drive to Sindelfingen - a suburb of Stuttgart - and drop our cars off at a pre-arranged pickup point and time, at a facility run by the firm BLG Logistics. There we did a final inspection, signed the necessary forms, and handed in one set of keys. And said goodbye - goodbye to our two faithful steeds, steeds that had carried us over nearly six thousand kilometres of superb roads, amazing sights, and unforgettable experiences.
Pre-dawn Autobahn
A Most Auspicious Time
Arriving BLG Logistics
Capturing Thoughts
< Previous Page
1 2 3 4 5
Next Page >
Send feedback or leave comments (note: comments in message board below are separate from those in above message board)
send feedback | homemade custom message board
(Message Board failed to initialize. )
Web Page & Design Copyright 2001- 2025 by Andrew Lavigne. (Privacy Policy)