Automotive

Guys - A big thank you for all the help with my attempts to insure a US registered car in Europe. I made it back and the car is still on one piece! Although there is rather more of me due to the excellent food enjoyed on the trip.

It was a truly epic driving trip. We drove the car from Key West to NY and then picked the car up in Belgium. Meandered our way down as far as the Amalfi coast and then back to the UK via Germany (and many points in between).

Some pictures:



In the Swiss Alps.



Tuscany




An attempt at a wrist shot....


Not for the faint of heart... As a bus/truck/gaggle of scooters were likely to emerge....


Secure parking in Napoli


Country road in the UK - Kent.


Suffolk:


The only disappointment being the fabled German Autobahns - Way too much traffic (caravans and trucks galore) and the weather wasn't cooperating.... So the legal high speed blat will have to be revisited.

An epic trip to be resumed in September.

I hope you did the Stelvio pass among other serpentine roads.

about 32 years ago I lived in Göttingen, but most of my work was in the Ruhrgebiet.
Friday evenings I would drive home and it happened many times on the Autobahn that I would see no other car driving my direction from Paderborn to Kassel.
Those where the good old days, you could just floor it.
Unfortunately the cars I was driving at that time didn't really reward that much.
Don

Awesome Carl.  The Z8 is my favorite BMW.  Very cool trip, thanks for sharing these pics.

Regards,
ED-209

I have always been a fan of the very special Z8.  The car just enhances the road trip.

No words can describe these road trips pls more pics.


Bill

Well I ended up with 2500+ pictures. It's going to take sometime to sort them out.... Here's some from along the way.

Brugge:




J and a drill bit!


Lake Lucerne:




Portofino:


Watching the soccer:


Venice:




A taxi in rome:


From the Hilton bar.


Munich:


Nuremberg:


And my niece in trafalgar Square:

Initially i thought you were mad to ship your own car across for this roadtrip, but it has obviously worked for you. You have a car you are used to on roads that are unfamiliar which is sensible.

Did you do much of the UK? I know some stunning roads all over, especially in Wales, Scotland and the bits in between. Give me a pm before your next visit.

Best
G

... I've done a fair amount of the UK. Especially with my immediate family being fairly well disbursed. We did another UK road trip last year acquainting my better half with friends and family. Had some fun with a Fiat 500 (modern version).

Didnt realise you were one of her majesties finest Carl. You obviously know UK roads as well as i do.

Best
G

Your hotel in Rome, was it the Cavalieri Hotel with an impressive art collection?  I remember that view of the cityline you posted.   This message has been edited by patrick_y on 2012-08-08 10:29:57

We took a trip up the hill for cocktails with a view. Spectacular on both counts!

Interesting tonality in the pics - were those done in post, or straight out of camera?

Cheers,

TM

To drive a roadster in the Swiss Alps. It was epic.

The pictures were all taken with an iphone - I had decided to not take a camera on the trip. For the mot part it worked but I would have enjoyed having some other lens options. As it was the car was packed to the gunnels so there was simply no room.

The images are processed by the instagram app which worked really well to share the trip with the folks back home.. So for consistency I tried to use the same filter. I also occasionally used the autostich app to patch panoramic photos together - with mixed results.

I have just picked up a wide angle/macro lens adapter for the iphone. But haven't had a chance to play with it yet. It's tiny/inexpensive and I'm not holding out too much hope...

... and the composition and subjects work well with the Instagram filter you chose. Do you recall which filter was used for these? IPhone 4S?

Thanks for taking us along on the trip.

Andrew

And I used one of the xpro ii, lo-fi or Hefe filters depending on the exposure.

One very annoying thing with instagram is that it always forces a crop of a portrait image but not a landscape. A silly feature/bug.

What  beautiful trip, and in one of my fav cars.

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

cheers

 

 

Vte

Very nice Z8!!!

Beautiful pictures too....

I'm from Belgium, next time you're around; feel free to contact me ([Email address suppressed for privacy]), if you want I can show you around a bit (I live in Ghent) and I'll buy you a beer and we can talk watches & cards amongst other things ;-)

Other Belgians might even want to join in and we can organize a mini-GTG.

Kind regards,

Bart Thans

 

 

... But in the event it is Belgium I shall definitely hold you to that!

Loved the beer and food.

.. One of only places on the Getmsn Autobahn is close to the German border. So that's on E45 between Neumünster and Flensburg.  That's where I generally always have tested high speed on my cars

Hi Carl,

.. And packing the trunk an art form. Plus it was Saldi season which ultimately entailed shipping the excess back....

But being able to drop the roof was priceless.

any mountain pass pictures to show?
Don

Composite of about 6 images stitched together... One of the issues with a lack of wide angle...

A stunning road. I hope you did it a few times and gave it the full monty :-)

G

Looks like an epic road trip

for sharing your dream with us. It was a pleasure to look at.

Any other dreams like this, you have in mind?

To work on and for dreams is pleasure and pain, but at the end there is pleasure only. Hopefully ;-)

Oliver

Thank you for reportung your " escape " and the pick up of your awesome Z 8.

A dream car for many of us, and what's better than a road trip to celebrate this moment?

Keep the pics coming!

Best,

Nicolas

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