Fellow Brit Pete has given me permission to cross post this report of his recent road trip...

--

I picked mine up in June. P30 perf pack, one of the very first production build run. Drove it for about 2k miles to run it in and get the diff oil changed (must be done at 1800 miles) then disappeared into Europe with a crowd of friends.

Only a couple knew I had bought the car. Until we arrived at the chunnel terminus, they were expecting me to turn up in a Panda 100HP. Definitely the weediest car compared to the 355 Spyder, E92 and E43 M3s, M5, 911 C2, Boxster S... but one blip of the throttle and most of the car park swarmed around it coo-ing.

In a flight of fancy I am, I think, the only one brave enough to order mine in solid red with cream leather interior. With walkie-talkies in all cars, my callsign instantly became the Red Baron.

Here it is outside Assisi in Italy:




From the chunnel we drove to the 'ring where I drove two laps, the first time I'd even revved the engine past 5k... well, maybe the second... with a boot solidly packed with luggage and six Magnums of Champagne. Couldn't be bothered to unpack it after the hour it took to organise!

It was awesome. A bit loose at the back with all that weight in the boot and, after taking the Karussel quite fast, I thought I heard the pop of a cork and spent several minutes trying to find a leak. But they held firm (and were all drunk in one evening later on!). Plus better traction out of corners

Next day a trek across German autobahns, into Austria, then Italy at a small hotel at the foot of the Stelvio pass. Totally legal speeds, I found the limiter several times, and never a foot wrong; utterly stable, always responsive, and soooo nice to drive through tunnels with the rear windows wound down

The morning dawned incredibly bright and clear and one of those life-changing experiences occurred. It was like a Playstation game.... rolling green fields with Milka cows grazing, mountains rising all around, some huge wind turbines lazily rotating by the side of the road, snow-capped peaks in the distance and gently twisting black tarmac slowly climbing up to the real twisties. Like a girl I almost cried.

Search Youtube for "C63 and Tuscany" and you'll see what I mean. Almost no footage of the Baron, but you can hear it on occasion from half a mile away

And so the holiday continued. Spent a week in a Tuscan villa with a horde of friends and half a million bottles of wine. Endeared myself with the local Caribinieri by virtue of rattling windows but was never stopped (phew!). Drove back via the mad Genoa motorway system into Nice. From Nice to the astonishing Route Napoleon and back to Aix en Provence. Across to Condom (Yes!) and up to Tours. Then home to the Worlds Biggest Thunderstorm over London. Two weeks of sheer bliss.

The Baron is an awesome car. Always an experience and always a fantastically engaging drive.

Great to read. I understand exactly what you mean. Good to see the photo outside Assissi too - brings back good memories.

You guys in the UK are so lucky to be able to chunnel across to Europe and travel all those sensational roads where the people (especially the police) aprreciate a good car.

Great picture - definitely my favorite town in Italy. Congrats on the car.

I was for the past few minutes living my life through you...lol What a wonderful trip and I'm glad there are people like you to enjoy the splender of life. If it wasn't for my 4yr old I might have been tempted to pick-up my car in Germany and driven around Europe. I am Italian, 1st Gen. U.S. but rised in a very large Italian family, I'm very well versed in Italian culture.

Well maybe in another life time, I will have my car by next week so its Not sooo bad, right? I'll need to plan my first experience maybe to Upstate NY Not quite europe but its a start...Cheers!!!

Hey dlbello, so am I! 1st gerneration Italian, large family, I just got back from there with my wife and 8mnth old boy, we were there for a month, I could totally relate to his trip, except that i did it in a Fiat 600(seicento) with 40 raging cavalino's(horses) whooopeee, i swear on some of those very steep hills i could have sprinted faster with the babystroller than that car!

Yeah I did the same thing when my son was 1yr old...but I went to Iran yeah no joke... My now X is Pursian. So the seicento 40 cavalino's (thats funny) you needed a 500 Cavalono ...lol or Cavalo to speed things up. So what part Italy? Please everyone excuse the for a second... OK i'm getting my car next week,,, we're back on.... can't wait,, bla bla bla,,,

Wow, thanks so much! Great car, and I love the color. Your brave choice paid off. We certainly need more photos...and soon!

wow, what a great post!

and i watched the video on youtube!

makes me we dont have many roads like that here



btw, MARS RED is one of my favorite colors!!!!!
have you ever seen one with tints?
so mean!