Driving across Europe

[alexblack13]

I too am with the majority and say go do it. These cars can be quite reliable and 800 miles should be a breeze.

I've now done nearly 9k mls with my restored Sprint without missing a beat.

Have fun and remember the Camera.

Alex...

[Jon.ford]

I too am with the majority and say go do it. These cars can be quite reliable and 800 miles should be a breeze.

I've now done nearly 9k mls with my restored Sprint without missing a beat.

Have fun and remember the Camera.

Alex...

[Morangles]

Hi everyone,

Apologies for taking so long to tell you how I got on, but since I got home life has been one mad rush.

Anyway here goes! The great news is that I got home safely after completing 1,300 km in the Lotus Elan from Sweden to Denmark and into Germany and then France. The terrible news was the weather, which was appalling with gales of wind, storms, rain, rain and more rain. Being philosophical, this was I suppose, a great way to get to know a new car, even if at times particularly in Germant, I had to pull off the road, as I couldn't see where I was going. Anyway, at least I discovered that the hood doesn't leak!! But I got home safely and that is what counts, and the Lotus was GREAT!!!

So here's what happened. The vendor told me the car did not have a valid MOT and told me to tell the police if I were stopped that "I am on the way to the test centre now!" My Swedish friend G?sta said I could possibly have my car taken off the road if stopped by Swedish police so ought to get it done. He booked me an appointment and the car passed with flying colours (even though the MOT tester said the pollution level was twice that authorized on Swedish roads!) Next the Elan went to Bertil Carlsson, a Swedish Lotus guru who did some work on the carbs, connected up the horn which wasn't working and gave the car a tune up. I can really recommend Bertil who is in Angelholm, as he also has a large collection of Lotus cars, including several Elans, Europas, Caterhams and even an Elan estate and knows every Lotus inside and out. Bertil was lucky enough to have even met Colin Chapman!

So finally, the next day, September 11th (!) it was time to set off for Paris from Helsingborg. It started raining before I reached Malm?. Over the bridge into Denmark and then onto Rodbyhaven for the 45 minute ferry to Puttgarden in Germany. There was quite a lot of rain on the Danish portion of the route, but the roads were mainly clear so it didn't really matter.

Into Germany and direction Hamburg. The clouds decided to declare war on the Lotus as soon as we arrived in Germany and the rain began to fall in buckets. Coupled with this were repeated roadworks shifting us from one side of the carriageway to the other. There was much more traffic in Germany including dozens of heavy lorries shooting past at 150km an hour, throwing spray into the windscreen. At times this was quite scary as the heavy rain and spray from other vehicles meant I couldn't see where I was going, so I pulled off the road to wait for the rain to stop.

I finally made it to Hamburg at 7pm after driving 450 km from Helsingborg. Here the Lotus was loaded onto an Auto-Train direction L?rrach close to the border with France and Switzerland, giving me the chance to sleep off the stressful day.

The next day, September 12th the weather was better with less rain despite the still dark cloudy skies. The car started with no trouble and I quickly made it off the train, to a caf? where I could check the oil and water levels. The water level was fine, but the oil needed a top up. I also noticed that one of the boot hinge studs had come off, (probably due to vibration on the road) so I stopped at a local garage in L?rrach to get it replaced which proved a five minute job. So with levels checked and stud repaired it was over the border into France and onto the autoroute. I must admit I felt immediate relief to be back in France, even though I still had another 650 km to go. My Google map was working on my mobile phone and my French is certainly better than my German. So onto Besan?on, then Dijon, Troyes and finally onto Paris through some rain, and even some sun (!) but by this time I didn't really mind what the weather did.

But you were all right to tell me to drive back. It was a great experience.

Total distance covered 1,250km. Total fuel costs 150 Euros. Total number of extra grey hairs 0.

Photos to follow.

[alexblack13]

Good Job! ... It sounded fun too!

Waiting on the pic's now, so don't keep us waiting too long.

Alex B...

[elansprint71]

Good man!
On reflection, one thing that none of us told you is that sometimes the wipers can have two speeds- slow and very slow. I always thought this was normal until I rewired my car and put in extra earth wires; actually the fast speed is now pretty fast! If yours are a bit slow, you could just run an extra earth.

[StressCraxx]

Hi everyone,


Into Germany and direction Hamburg. The clouds decided to declare war on the Lotus as soon as we arrived in Germany and the rain began to fall in buckets. Coupled with this were repeated roadworks shifting us from one side of the carriageway to the other. There was much more traffic in Germany including dozens of heavy lorries shooting past at 150km an hour, throwing spray into the windscreen. At times this was quite scary as the heavy rain and spray from other vehicles meant I couldn't see where I was going, so I pulled off the road to wait for the rain to stop.

But you were all right to tell me to drive back. It was a great experience.

Total distance covered 1,250km. Total fuel costs 150 Euros. Total number of extra grey hairs 0.

Photos to follow.

Glad you made the trip! There is a product made here in the US, called Rain-X. It is an alcohol based sealer applied to the windscreen while dry. It makes the rain bead up instantly and the wind carries it up the windscreen. If you get splashed, the windscreen clears almost instantly. Above 45mph, you don't need wipers! I learned about it when racing in the rain in Colorado thundershowers. It also makes it easier to remove frost or dead insects from the windscreen. A bottle of this stuff lasts forever.

http://www.rainx.com/product/glass-and-cleaners/rainx-original-glass-treatment/#.UF9_GFEpXAw

[alexblack13]

Well reminded Sir! ... We should still have a bottle of that product tucked away in our kart racing kit. Essential for karting in the wet. Works very well from memory..

I love the German Autorail system too. (Used it often to ship us and our Bikes from Austria up to Dusseldorf). We will let you of with that little 'cheat'... LOL... Put it down to the weather.

Well done again. Now. Where's our pics?

Alex...

[Etienne 7]

Great job ! Well done ! Looking forward to the pictures now...

[vernon.taylor]

Great, very glad you made it! Shame about the weather. I look forward to the photos, too.

@+

Vernon

[Pistacchio sprint 72]

Congrats! I did not have your bravery. Mine was Located in Rome Italy, 700km from my home. I decided to pay a transporter instead. It worked fine also!

[gino1]

Hi Pistacchio Sprint,
I think I know the car you bought as it is the Green one I imported for my friend Giuseppe.
This car is in amazing condition.

Gino
Milano
Italy

[Morangles]

Here at last are the photos of my across trip from Sweden to Paris. I really apologize for having made you all wait so long, but I have had the worst time trying to upload them all. Anyway, it is finally done, so I hope you enjoy the ride. It was exhilarating to say the least, thanks notably to the almost non-stop wind, rain, storms and spray from lorries not to mention the roadworks.
But anyway I made it home and looking on the bright side got to know the Elan rather well in the process. She behaved perfectly and got me home in one piece.
So once again thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement and in particular all those of you who volunteered to help if something went wrong along the way.
I would have loved to have met you all.....but maybe it is just as well that at least on this occasion that I didn't have to call!
Philip

[Morangles]

Here is part 2 of my journey from Sweden to Paris...

[alexblack13]

Brilliant. Well done again...Great pictures of an exciting trip..

I have a small story about the bridge from Sweden (Malmo) to Denmark.

We were on Motorcycles in a group of around 15 machines. The Swedish guide wanted to pay for everyone and then wave us through the barrier one after the other. This did not work! The barrier came down on us and almost knocked us off our motorcycle. The ensuing holdup whilst they fixed the broken barrier lasted about 20 Min's..

Not our fault!! ...... LOL...

Fantastic bridge.

Alex B....

[Etienne 7]

Great pictures, thank you!