fiestaturbo.com

[Capri]

...will be the last time I'll be around for 10 days or so, so if you have any moderating requirements between now and Sunday week, please contact one of the other mods. I, meanwhile, will be taking this:



here:



via these:



and then some of these:



Teeheehee.

Packing is underway currently, as is a slight panic as to just how much money I'm going to have to spend over the course of the next week or so in fuel. Owch.

Will be going with a mate who's never skied before and doing a bit of a combined alpine skiing/photography trip. And of course, crossing Europe in a Jaguar. Which is something I'm so excited about I might just wee a little bit.

Will be leaving to stay at his house tomorrow night, and then departing first thing Saturday morning for a 7:30am train to France. Will then be a day of driving through Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany before finally arriving in Mittersill, Austria at around 7-8pm, traffic and weather permitting. Then the return leg will be the following Saturday, stopping overnight in Calais before arriving back in the UK on Sunday morning.

So have fun while I'm gone, have a good week all, and I'll see you round the bend.

[FiestaBen]

Ouch on the wallet

Mate sounds like an amazing trip, have a great time, be careful and take lots of pictures!!!

Ben

[Charm]

Sounds like fun. Watch out for black ice on those mountain roads.

[Ollie]

Packing is underway currently, as is a slight panic as to just how much money I'm going to have to spend over the course of the next week or so in fuel. Owch.

Can you hear the pennies running through the fuel pipes?


Have a great time dude. We'll expect the usual selection of photos.

[Scott69]

i wish i was you lol have a good trip

[xr2i_babe]

have an amazing trip

[Xr_Dub]

slick dick aka smooth babay

[MotorcyclesFish]

You dreamed of a big star
He played a mean guitar
He always ate at a steak bar
and loved to drive in his Jaguar



Mate, I'm so jealous. Enjoy - I want to hear more comedy tales like that time you took that random girl halfway across France.

[filtra]

Enjoy homes, a perfect trip, if Sir Pimpalot had the timing belt done i'd be in hot pursuit!

[JamieFRST]

Sounds like a Top Gear challenge, have a great time! Get some use out of that canon

[M1K3Y_B]

Have fun

[Capri]

Cheers for the good wishes guys! To be honest, I can't actually afford to do this trip, but half of it's already been paid for in the form of hotel and ferry bookings so I'd lose money if I didn't go. So to hell with the credit crunch, let's go and burn some monies!

final preparations are underway. The Jag's antifreeze is all topped up, though I think I need a little more oil before I leave! Headlight protectors and GB plate applied, roof rack and snow chains in the boot, all ready for the off tomorrow!

[Chris 2i]

nice one, I love roadtrips!

My gf and I were thinking of driving to Lake Garda this year, but we might leave it until next year now what with the exchange rates etc...

[BigUKG]

Very Jealous!!!

Looking forward to seeing some pics of your little adventure!

Enjoy mate

[Kittie]

Wow, jealous doesn't even come close...

[BigUKG]

Wow, jealous doesn't even come close...

Would be so much fun in a GTi too

[Kittie]

And with the GTIs new Wilwoods, we wouldn't even have to plunge over a cliff and die or anything, it'd be great!

[BigUKG]

wouldn't even have to plunge over a cliff and die or anything

Good news!!

[~nomad~]

Mate, I'm so jealous. Enjoy - I want to hear more comedy tales like that time you took that random girl halfway across France.

In his boot. Dead.

Wasn't that funny tbh

[MotorcyclesFish]

Mate, I'm so jealous. Enjoy - I want to hear more comedy tales like that time you took that random girl halfway across France.

In his boot. Dead.

Wasn't that funny tbh

It was funny for us though.

[andymac]

In his boot. Dead.

Ahh, that explains the quicklime and carpet then...

[Capri]

Sitrep - Day 5:

The trip down was a complete success with no problems, and we didn't even get lost, which I was very pleased about. The Jag performed in an exemplary manner and was everything I'd hoped it'd be, although there were some sections of Belgian motorway which caused excessive tramlining and had us on our toes. We had her clocked at 140 on the Autobahn before I lost my nerve; there was still more to give but laden down with two passengers, luggage, and on an uphill stretch, it was starting to hit the top end. I think with enough road she'd have hit 150 but I didn't have big enough balls for that, as it was dark and there were still other cars around.

Some of the roads in town are a little icy, and even with the traction control turned on, the slightest throttle on these stretches will get the Jag trying to swap ends, which is a little unnerving. We've now taken to parking her on the road, as the three attempts to get her up the steep, icy driveway here have been tricky, albeit ultimately successful. But we did find a large expanse of snow-covered car park on Sunday in which some time was passed practising drifting, which is quite good fun despite the auto box and the size of the car.

Have managed to get in a couple of days' good skiing, Monday was epic with clear blue skies, quiet slopes and great snow - perfect skiing conditions. Tuesday wasn't so good, as the weather closed in towards the end of the day. Today we didn't make it up the mountain unfortunately; it had been snowing heavily since yesterday evening and though we tried to get up to the lifts, the Jag started slithering around halfway up. The snowchains were whipped out only for us to discover I'd been sold a set several sizes too small for the Jag's massive wheels, despite specifying the tyre size and being informed that the correct set was available. Not impressed. So we decided it was more prudent to head for home than to try and continue up with the arse end sliding around all over the place.

The weather's now cleared and the roads have been salted, so they're passable for us now. Tomorrow we'll be going for lunch in Salzburg and then on Friday the plan is a trip up the cablecars in the area to do some mountaintop photography.

So far the Jag has consumed around £180-worth of fuel, which is less than we expected. On the trip down we managed to average 21.5mpg, despite spending most of our time on the Autobahn at 90 or over. She is of course filthy now, but looks great in the ski lift car parks, with roof bars and ski rack, cutting something of a dash among the Audi and BMW estates and 4x4s which are so popular around here. Since we left Calais we haven't even seen any other Jags, and the car seems to provoke plenty of turned heads down here. I suppose it's both rare and British-registered, and of course not particularly suited to the climate and geography, with its fat wheels and auto gearbox.

Anyway, hope all's well back home, will be popping online now and again as we have TEH INTERNETS here (3 mobile broadband 'To Go' means no extra charges while we're here- win!)

[Chris 2i]

nice one, hope you're taking lots of pics

[Capri]

Well, I'm back, have been since yesterday lunchtime. The journey back was good, cloudy for most of the way but then we had an amazing sunset through Belgium and a cracking meal in Calais to top the day off. Shame about the hotel we stayed in in Dunkerque though - it was filthy, small, uncomfortable, and we were kept awake by the sound of the girl in the room nextdoor being rogered very, very loudly until 2:30am.

Anyway, seeing as I'm somewhat snowed in today I thought I'd sort out my pics for you lovely lovely people. I've put them all up on Photobucket as there are so many of them but have included a few here to whet your appetite.

Three pics which sum up the journey down:







Woke up the following morning to this:



Snow Jag complete with roof bars, ski rack and skis:



Salzburg:



Mountains:









Kitzbuehel:



More Mountains:







FilthJag near the end of the trip:







Photobucket link to the whole album:

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/1003/ ... %20010209/

If you're interested, there are descriptions of each picture so if you flick through using the Flickr-style function at top right of each pic, you'll get the descriptions too.

Enjoy!

[Chris 2i]

wow! stunning picture



glad you had a good trip and the jag held up well.

at the filling up pics - how much did you spend on fuel?

[Capri]

Thanks mate The Jag held up pretty well, though it did have a few 'moments' where it made some peculiar noises. Still had it up to 140 on the clocks though, and it had a touch more to give too, which wasn't bad uphill and laden. In total I worked out the fuel cost us just shy of £400 in total

[M1K3Y_B]

I like the three pics that some up the journey

[Capri]

Haha, yeah, although to be fair it used less fuel than I expected. That's not to say it didn't use a lot though.

[Ollie]

Those views are fantastic.

[M1K3Y_B]

Haha, yeah, although to be fair it used less fuel than I expected. That's not to say it didn't use a lot though.

How much did it use then in the end?

And how much were you expecting it to use?

[Capri]

Sorry, excuse my sh*tness at replying.

Ollie - They certainly are mate. Still wishing I was there now! My parents are out there this week, lucky sods!

Mikey - It got through 91.4 gallons in total, which equated to about £400-worth. I was budgeting for £500 fuel usage!

[M1K3Y_B]

£100 extra beer money, can't grumble at that

[Kittie]

Looks brilliant, lovely pics!

I'm SO jealous... although we have had lots of prettyness with snow here this week!

[dontpannic]

I've been there. Got held up there for 3 hours when a power cut caused a train to get stuck in the tunnel Free drink till it came out of our ears

[Ollie]

Ollie - They certainly are mate. Still wishing I was there now! My parents are out there this week, lucky sods!

Wish I could go there in the first place!