Germany to South France
Just a little report, more pictures to follow as soon as I find a decent 3G internet line.
I left my hometown in Germany at 7 am in the morning and arrived at Nizza airport at 3 pm. Eight hours for 850 km (around 90% are Autobahn/Highways), incl. my food/drink/relaxing brakes of around one hour. Not bad, my wife and the kids arrived at Nizza airport at 4:15 pm and my wife was speechless. I took the kids to the hotel, she drove with the luggage in a Taxi (I hope this answers now some of the "how do you do it with wife and two kids in a 911..." questions.
For short range commuting, the 911 is great over here and I get a lot of attention from the people over here, people who are used all day long to Porsches, Ferraris and other fine cars. The PSE also seems to draw a lot of sympathy, in Germany I got a lot of "middle fingers", here in South France I get a lot of "thumbs up". What a difference in mentality. 
So far, the 997 has been perfect, no problems at all.
But this time, I had a different kind of problem: italian drivers.
It has been a long time since I've been in a 911 to Italy and what happened to me all the way along starting with Milano up to the french border near Nizza was pure horror. Maybe our friends Dario and Sergio could give me an explenation for what is going on but apparently every italian driver, starting from a Fiat Uno to a Mercedes S class had to feel provoked and show me what they've got. An Audi RS6 driver in Milano kept at 120 kph maybe 20 cm(!) safety distance, it was impossible for me to go faster with half a dozend of cars in front of me. I put the hazard lights on, I even played with the stop lights, I made signs, nothing, this guy didn't understand. Then, I had to brake suddenly because of the car in front of me and because I learned to keep a safe distance, I applied the brake pretty early and this guy behind me almost hit me. Since then, he started to show me the middle finger and other funny stuff, following me all the way in a pretty aggressive manner. I know how to handle this type of driver, I was awaiting the exit towards Genova and when it came I made from the left lane a 90 degree turn at around 120 kph with full acceleration using a gap between the two cars on the right lane. This dumb guy behind me tried the same and almost hit the second car in the gap I used and of course he didn't make it. But I NEVER encountered so much stupidity in my life, this guy was so p.ss.d and without a reason. Afterwards again, most cars started to "chase" me, I asked myself if this was some sort of special day in Italy when all crazy people are allowed to drive once in a lifetime. I also met an italian GT3 MkII, no chance to keep up with him at speeds over 180 kph on the straight line but in every curve I was back, the 997 CS was clearly superior or the drive of the GT3 was afraid of driving faster, something I can clearly understand in a car without PSM. Another problem in Italy: almost impossible to get 98 octane fuel. The only Shell station shortly before France (around 100 km) had no fuel anymore (incredible and there wasn't a lot of traffic on this day) and I had 4 litres (YES, FOUR!) when I finally was able to get fuel in FRANCE, shortly after the italian border. I didn't want to use 95 octane fuel and I was so upset, I said to myself "no way, I don't give up on 98 octane fuel".
In France, people were driving more "normal", I started to relax. Arriving at my hotel, I had a problem with the ride height because of the parking. Finally, hotel security gave in and they allowed my car to be the only one parked inside the huge hotel complex. A more secure place isn't possible.
I'll post some more pictures and more details over the next few days. I also have to say that I'm again and again surprised how much people seem to be attracted by the 911.
Regarding police along my route: I passed a german police control and the guy stopping the cars was just starring at me, probably forgetting about stopping me.
Swiss police stopped me after San Bernardino because apparently I had passed a civil police car in a 100 degree curve on a mountain road decending to Lugano at over 160 kph. A british(!) motorcycle driver confirmed it, he wanted to pass that civil police car too and I was "going off like a rocket". I told the police that this isn't possible and how could I be faster than a motorcycle, we argued in a very very friendly way and I got off with a verbal warning. BTW: I was doing 170.
In Italy, there have been two laser gun traps, lucky me, I saw them in time (thanks to the italian police for putting their cars THAT visible on the right side. Funny: they stopped the car behind me and the second time the one in front of me (who passed me at full speed when I changed to the right lane and slowed down).
In France, I had only one cop on a motorcycle knocking on my window telling me to slow a little bit down because of dumb tourists (no kidding).
Please don't get me wrong: I'm not an aggressive driver and I also don't make speeding my daily habit. It really depends on the situation, traffic, etc. And of course I was alone in the car, no wife and kids.
The 997 CS is just an incredible car.
More to come...stay tuned.
I left my hometown in Germany at 7 am in the morning and arrived at Nizza airport at 3 pm. Eight hours for 850 km (around 90% are Autobahn/Highways), incl. my food/drink/relaxing brakes of around one hour. Not bad, my wife and the kids arrived at Nizza airport at 4:15 pm and my wife was speechless. I took the kids to the hotel, she drove with the luggage in a Taxi (I hope this answers now some of the "how do you do it with wife and two kids in a 911..." questions.
For short range commuting, the 911 is great over here and I get a lot of attention from the people over here, people who are used all day long to Porsches, Ferraris and other fine cars. The PSE also seems to draw a lot of sympathy, in Germany I got a lot of "middle fingers", here in South France I get a lot of "thumbs up". What a difference in mentality. So far, the 997 has been perfect, no problems at all.
But this time, I had a different kind of problem: italian drivers.
It has been a long time since I've been in a 911 to Italy and what happened to me all the way along starting with Milano up to the french border near Nizza was pure horror. Maybe our friends Dario and Sergio could give me an explenation for what is going on but apparently every italian driver, starting from a Fiat Uno to a Mercedes S class had to feel provoked and show me what they've got. An Audi RS6 driver in Milano kept at 120 kph maybe 20 cm(!) safety distance, it was impossible for me to go faster with half a dozend of cars in front of me. I put the hazard lights on, I even played with the stop lights, I made signs, nothing, this guy didn't understand. Then, I had to brake suddenly because of the car in front of me and because I learned to keep a safe distance, I applied the brake pretty early and this guy behind me almost hit me. Since then, he started to show me the middle finger and other funny stuff, following me all the way in a pretty aggressive manner. I know how to handle this type of driver, I was awaiting the exit towards Genova and when it came I made from the left lane a 90 degree turn at around 120 kph with full acceleration using a gap between the two cars on the right lane. This dumb guy behind me tried the same and almost hit the second car in the gap I used and of course he didn't make it. But I NEVER encountered so much stupidity in my life, this guy was so p.ss.d and without a reason. Afterwards again, most cars started to "chase" me, I asked myself if this was some sort of special day in Italy when all crazy people are allowed to drive once in a lifetime. I also met an italian GT3 MkII, no chance to keep up with him at speeds over 180 kph on the straight line but in every curve I was back, the 997 CS was clearly superior or the drive of the GT3 was afraid of driving faster, something I can clearly understand in a car without PSM. Another problem in Italy: almost impossible to get 98 octane fuel. The only Shell station shortly before France (around 100 km) had no fuel anymore (incredible and there wasn't a lot of traffic on this day) and I had 4 litres (YES, FOUR!) when I finally was able to get fuel in FRANCE, shortly after the italian border. I didn't want to use 95 octane fuel and I was so upset, I said to myself "no way, I don't give up on 98 octane fuel". In France, people were driving more "normal", I started to relax. Arriving at my hotel, I had a problem with the ride height because of the parking. Finally, hotel security gave in and they allowed my car to be the only one parked inside the huge hotel complex.
A more secure place isn't possible. I'll post some more pictures and more details over the next few days. I also have to say that I'm again and again surprised how much people seem to be attracted by the 911.
Regarding police along my route: I passed a german police control and the guy stopping the cars was just starring at me, probably forgetting about stopping me.
Swiss police stopped me after San Bernardino because apparently I had passed a civil police car in a 100 degree curve on a mountain road decending to Lugano at over 160 kph. A british(!) motorcycle driver confirmed it, he wanted to pass that civil police car too and I was "going off like a rocket". I told the police that this isn't possible and how could I be faster than a motorcycle, we argued in a very very friendly way and I got off with a verbal warning. BTW: I was doing 170.
In Italy, there have been two laser gun traps, lucky me, I saw them in time (thanks to the italian police for putting their cars THAT visible on the right side. Funny: they stopped the car behind me and the second time the one in front of me (who passed me at full speed when I changed to the right lane and slowed down
).In France, I had only one cop on a motorcycle knocking on my window telling me to slow a little bit down because of dumb tourists (no kidding
).Please don't get me wrong: I'm not an aggressive driver and I also don't make speeding my daily habit. It really depends on the situation, traffic, etc. And of course I was alone in the car, no wife and kids.
The 997 CS is just an incredible car.
More to come...stay tuned.
Luckily traffic cleared and that was the last that I saw of the Golf 
