Having returned from a 9-day road trip through the Alps (my first longer road trip with the F-Type) I thought I'd write something up. Since most members here are from the US it probably won't be too much practical help for anyone, but who knows - maybe you can plan your next European Road Trip...

I planned the trip to include both rewarding driving roads, as well as some good hiking areas with a final day of soaking up some sun on the french Côte d'Azur before heading back home to southern Germany. I drove a total of 3150 km (close to 2000 miles), mileage for the whole trip was 9.3 l/100km (= 25 mpg). Considering the amount for mountain passes as well as the the final parts on the unrestricted german autobahn I think that pretty decent.

Passes I drove:
Großglockner high alpine road
Jaufen Pass
Stelvio Pass
Umbrail Pass
Fluela Pass
Oberalp Pass
Furka Pass
Grimsel Pass
Great St Bernard Pass
Nivolet Pass (Colle del Nivolet)
Col de Tende (tunnel - not complete pass)
Route Napoleon

• Großglockner is probably the easiest of those - it's a fairly wide road in excellent, it's not too tight. Still it's a lot of fun and the scenery is fantastic. Before heading back down there a very worthwhile excursion to be made to Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe at 2,369 m (7,772 ft). Great hiking area. However, it's also the only pass on the whole list that requires a separate toll: it costs 36 € to travel the road...
• Jaufen Pass was my favorite road to drive during the trip. Not too crowded, some tight hairpins as well as other parts with more sweeping turns. Driving this road in dynamic mode of the F-Type is simple bliss...
• Stelvio & Umbrail: Stelvio is overrated. Sure it's an impressive road, those tight hairpins as well as the elevation make for an interesting drive. But it's too crowded even in the morning (I was on the road at 9:30 am) and to be honest, even if it weren't it wouldn't be my favorite driving road. It's simply too tight to open up the car. It's also the most commercial of all the mountain passes I drove - at the top there's a enormous amount of people tying to sell you stickers, T-Shirts an everything else that can be imagined. Also there's a guy who sits along the road all day and photographs every motorcycle, bike and sports car going up the mountain (see below)...
• Umbrail which connects to Stelvio is a bit more fun due to less crowds, but still a very tight road.
• Oberalp & Furka are both fun passes - probably comparable to Jaufen Pass, however the weather wasn't as nice
• Grimsel Pass was foggy - can't say much about it. If all you can see is about 100m ahead, it's not a lot of fun to drive...
• Colle del Nivolet was my personal highlight. Driving wise it certainly has the same problems as Stelvio (very tight road) made worse by the fact that the road is very narrow and not in too great a condition. The scenery however is simply amazing. It's part of Gran Paradiso National Park in Italy. I spent a whole day here hiking, and I could easily have spent several more. Going down from the mountain in the rain and behind all those cows (see below) was less fun however

Some other random observations:

• Car behaved great - not a single problem and certainly enough power (even in base form) to have fun on the roads.
• Other cars seen: an uncountable number of different Porsches, several Ferrari and Lamborghini, several Aston Martins, and a surprisingly large number of McLarens (around 30-40 I'd say). I think they were traveling in a group, since the were all on UK license plates, and traveling together in groups of 2-5.
• The F-Type is still a pretty rare car - I've seen 3 in total during the trip. A red R convertible with german license plates on Stelvio, a white V6 coupe in Cannes with french plates an another white Coupe (also V6 I think) on british plates on Route Napoleon. It also gets a positive reaction pretty much everywhere. Lots of thumbs up, even more stares, several photographs. Strangest encounter was on Großglockner Alpine Road: I was parked beside the road for photographs, when another car goes by the other direction. Driver sees the F-Type, turns his car around to stop beside me and compliment the car. Says it's a great car for the road, whishes he had one. Car the guy was driving? 2016 Aston Martin Vantage S. Makes you wonder why he doesn't get an F-Type...

All in all it was great trip - looking forward to doing something similar next year.
Now on to some pictures...



Großglockner High Alpine Road

Großglockner High Alpine Road

Großglockner High Alpine Road

Großglockner High Alpine Road

Marmots on Großglockner

Me driving up Stelvio - image by Foto Stelvio

Stelvio Pass

Stelvio Pass

Stelvio Pass

Furka Pass - Grimsel in the back disappearing in the fog

Colle del Nivolet

Colle del Nivolet

Gran Paradiso National Park

Gran Paradiso National Park

stuck behind the cows in the rain...

 

 

Those pictures are breathtaking. Thanks!!

 

Great Pics. Thank you for taking the time to share with us.

 

Amazing.

 

Really stunning. Thanks

 

I've motorcycled Stelvio and it was a hoot. I agree that there are better, although it's quite good when traffic is light (it was when I was there). When I go on trips like that I try to get at least one picture that will make my motorcyclist friends jealous. Stelvio excels at that.

 

Tail of the Dragon?

 

My arms get tired just looking at those beautiful pictures. Many years ago I drove the road to Hana and back and was worried I'd wear out a steering knuckle or tie rod end on the rental. On a totally unrelated and perhaps negative note, I'm so glad my State does not use front license plates; it's so distracting from the looks of the car.

 

I've done that one a couple of times in my 928. A lot of fun. But I don't think it even comes close to what we are seeing in these pictures.

 

I have not been there. It's a 2500 mile trip, one way. It's not like we've got a shortage here in the Bay Area though, especially if you consider the extended area. If we're throwing favorite roads out here, how about State Route 12 in Utah, between Torrey and Escalante?

 

Thanks for the photos, and thus memories.
I drove the Alps in 1971 in a new Triumph TR6, that had electric overdrive on the top 3 gears, effectively a 7 speed. Consequently there was never a grade for which a gear could not be found. Probably just like your gear choices on your FT.

 

 

 

Thanks for all the feedback - it really was a great trip...

I have a german brochure from MY17 around here - you're right, there are several pictures from Stelvio in there - didn't even know that!

Pretty sure that's actually Colle del Nivolet. The Italian Job was shot there - the final sequence with the bus hanging over the railing was filmed near the top of the pass. I'm not entirely sure about the intro, but it does seem familiar. Clever editing makes it harder to be sure - there's no river near that tunnel for example...

 

I would post a picture of Ohio, but I don't want to ruin the alps for anyone.

 

At least you don't live in Cleveland or Warren (ugh).

 

For those who have not already seen it, a video of a F Type R racing in the Grossglockner. Pretty scary at times...

 

That one insert showing the speedometer is not real - for once I seriously doubt you can reach those speeds on Großglockner. More telling however is the radio station insert: he's listerning to SWR3 which is not available on Großglockner; rather it's his local station from Stuttgart (that's where his license plate is from)...

BTW his passenger isn't too happy with him from the few sentences you can hear "Come on, be reasonable..." "Don't drive that fast!" etc.

 

@Almeida.

Great pictures ! And for me a good preview as next summer. I know a dascam is illegal in Germany, but not for roadmovies. Did you not consider making a movie from the trip ?
I will take two dashcams [in case one dies on the job..] , and hope to be uploading the day trip the same evening of that day if the hotel WiFi allow it..

- we'll start with the Sölk pass , do about 24 passes travelling west;
- through the French/Italian Alps;
- along the coast to Spain;
- through the Pyrenees ;
- coastal route to Bilbao ;
- through the Picos de Europa;
- then either down to Seville on the A66, or continue south through the mountain range in Portugal..

This trip I'll do with my son who will be 18 in ten weeks and is up for his driving exam next week [ here you can only drive without supervsion above 18yrs]. Hopefully he graduated from highschool just before the trip.
After summer he'll start university somewhere, not sure yet.

After that he'll fly home and my wife will come over. We'll drive back together avoiding winding roads as she gets carsick.. we're both petrolheads and he configered my F-Type. He'll get it in 8 years when I'll be 65...