Team Adventure
After 34 years off the road, what better TR road test than visiting 10 countries in just four days…
Matt George takes on Europe by TR, conquering 10 countries in 4 days.
Ahead of us is a huge adventure taking in ten countries and covering almost 2500 miles. Most people who’ve asked about our forthcoming trip think we’re mad – if that’s the case, then so are the other 167 good people also taking part across a 79-strong fleet of other fine Triumph motor vehicles.
Our car is the 1972 Triumph TR6 that I spent the best part of two years labour on in the PC workshop after it was dragged from an Ohio barn and returned to the UK in 2017. The restoration wasa labour of love, while at times it was a strain on both my wallet and my very sanity, but the car is finally back on the road where it belongs. Now, it is about to get a run that will prove its worth, or rather prove the quality of the careful work that was bestowed upon it by numerous people.
However, one job that never quite got ticked off the list was connecting up the heater. ‘Never mind’, I thought. ‘I’ve done the 10CR three times before and the weather has never been anything less than scorching. We’ll be fine.’ Little did I know how wrong I was. But I digress. To the road!
Day One Sedan – Bludenz
Up early on September 4, having made the journey over from the UK the day before courtesy of an ever-excellent DFDS crossing, we leave our overnight digs just outside Sedan and head into the town centre for the start proper – wife Abby and I followed by my parents Keith and Julie in dad’s fellow ex-us ’6. By 8am we’re stood in the queue to sign on in the salubrious surroundings of a Mcdonald’s car park and, by 8.30am, we’re off.
Despite a chilly start, the weather is pleasantly warm, so we’re able to spend the entire day with the top down. A lot of this leg of the event is spent on motorways, meaning ear plugs are required – the combination of my car’s straight-through exhaust system and the wind whipping past your ears can get wearing after a while if you’re not careful.
Today is a biggie – we’re due to cover bang on 400 miles as per the road book and tick off an impressive seven of our desired ten countries:
France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria. Possibly even in that order. Apart from missing a turn on the Swiss motorway and getting tangled up in the Zürich rush hour, we manage just that. We meet up with fellow entrants over a meal and a few local wheat beers, then retire to our beds.
Day Two Bludenz – Lienz
Up early to give the car a once-over, we administer nothing more than a drop of oil and treat the windscreen to a good clean. With grey skies above and rain forecast throughout the day, we also opt to
put the roof up. Just the 285 miles on the log today, which can mean only one thing – the roads travelled are about to become a whole lot more interesting.
We get underway and, just 20 miles down the road, we come to a toll booth for the Silvretta Silvretta High Alpine Road. The Silvretta, which links Tirol’s Paznaun Valley with Montafon Valley in the Austrian Province of Vorarlberg, offers up some fabulous scenery almost from the get-go. The snaking 10km highway climbs up to Bielerhöhe Pass and Silvretta Reservoir, 2032 metres above sea level, from Galtür and winds through an Alpine wonderland. We stop at the top at Bielerhöhe to get our road books signed, then make our way down the mountain via 30 epic switchbacks. Even roof up we’re having a great time, though some piped heat wouldn’t go amiss – it’s damn cold up here!
The Brenner Pass is next to roll under the TR’S wheels, before we reach the Sella Pass. One of the most famous passes in the Dolomites, the Sella is located on a grassy saddle that separates the Sassolungo from the Sella Group and links Val di Fassa to Val Gardena along the 12km main road no. 242, connecting the mountain pass to Canazei.
If you haven’t visited before, all I can say is, you really should. It’s a great classic driving road.
With the afternoon drawing on, our final pass of the day is perhaps the best one of the lot.
The Staller Saddle is an international high mountain pass at an elevation of 2052m above sea level, located on the border between South Tyrol in Italy and the Tyrol in Austria. We take on the Staller from the Italian side, which has a series of traffic lights to ensure traffic takes it in turns to go up from Italy and down from Austria. This means you can use the entire carriageway and has the effect of making the skinny track feel like a hillclimb course. After a coffee stop at the top, we head into Austria and enjoy a relaxed, top-down cruise to our overnight halt outside Lienz.
Day Three Lienz – Augsburg
Winding our way north of Lienz the next morning, it doesn’t take long for the roads to become interesting once more, as the infamous Grossglockner Pass swiftly looms large. Ascending the mountain, the tarmac getting ever slippier as the rain begins to fall, snow on either side of the road and a thick fog limiting visibility, I must admit that my enthusiasm starts to waver for a moment or two. In fact, at this point, the thrill of hustling the TR up and around each hairpin bend is somewhat tempered by genuine fear. Plus, it is absolutely freezing! With my hands beginning to go numb, we eventually admit defeat/see sense and pull over to put the roof up, parking alongside an enormous tracked snow plough in the process. As you do.
Having reached the summit and gingerly made our way down the other side, the sight of a wood-clad cafe/restaurant shimmering through the fog is a welcome one indeed. After thawing out for twenty minutes or so while enjoying coffee and hot chocolate, we pronounce ourselves fit for action once more and get back on the road. With the weather deteriorating further, we cut our losses and take the direct autobahn route to Augsburg for beer, meat and, finally, our beds for the night.
Day Four Augsburg – Kerkrade
We leave Augsburg in a persistent drizzle and the weather doesn’t get much better from there. A steady autobahn run up through Germany
‘The winding, single track Staller Saddle feels like our very own hillclimb’
takes care of the majority of the 377 miles we need to cover today, but thankfully the final stretch of the run is more interesting, taking in a last few twisties among the beautiful Eifel Forest National Park, swinging by the infamous Nürburgring track along the way. Finally, the sun comes out and we push on northwards for the final run up to the finish at Kerkrade and the warm welcome of the history-laced Abdij Rolduc. We’ve made it, along with the majority of the crews that started out all those days and miles ago.
The Rolduc party goes on long and late, despite the fact that most of the smiling participants are as weary as they are happy. The following day we saddle up for home and make our 1400 hours crossing from Dunkirk with time to spare. Sadly, once back on UK roads, traffic conditions conspire against us, with many crews getting stuck on the M20 and M25 for a few hours. We stop briefly to pick our dog Pippa up from her sitter, squeeze her bed and other accoutrements into the TR, then finally make it home at 8pm. It’s time to relax.
The 10CR is a tough event, but one driven with a wonderful spirit throughout. I’ve taken part four times – and I’m still drawn back again and again. It’s ambitious but, along with the Round Britain Reliability Run, it makes me cherish being a member of the Club Triumph family. Plus, the TR has been a real trooper, taking everything we can throw at it, both powering up mountain passes and pounding down autoroutes and autobahns alike. Now, about that heater! THANKS TO DFDS, dfdsseaways.co.uk, Leacy Classics, leacyclassics.com, TRGB, trgb.co.uk, Performance Classic & Custom, performanceclassicandcustom.co.uk