ED Memories: July 28, 2023

Friday, July 28, 2023

Best sleep yet. Wow. We're up in the morning early (6:30) with the birds chirping. I sit at the picnic table writing this and reading my Porsche magazine I brought along for just this purpose.

Having Andrew's colleague Andy with us has been nice. He joined a couple of days earlier than I thought just because of flights, but has been easy, peasy. Andrew is a different person - much more relaxed, and Andy is a super avid biker, so there's lots to talk with him about - many many parallels to F1, remarkably. He leaves us after today, going off on his own holiday in Milan. I think he has enjoyed the twisties, and the chance to yap with Andrew in his car as I chase along after them.

Andrew found a power plug at the bathroom shack, so he's doing some editing for a few minutes - it's sooooo peaceful, but the gas thing is weighing on my mind. I shall try to set it aside. I've got about 140 kms of gentle driving range, which is plenty. If I start to drive hard, that quickly drops to less than 100 so despite the road, I won't do that. In the future I will push hard for more fuel ups, even when the car isn't close to empty - missing out on really hustling the car a bit because I'm nervous about being able to fill up, well, that's just no fun!

I take a little walk in the woods along what I think is a nice nature trail… But in the end it leads up to a little old abandoned-looking house. Kind of creepy so I turn around and hightail it back towards the cars LOL. Another trail leads up the hill a little bit, so I head out that way, wandering through the woods, passing a lovely little old cemetery, when the road opens up at the end, and a presto, there's a café! And right next to it, an equestrian centre! Talk about an idyllic spot for horsey people.

After leaving the campground, and then visiting Firenzuola (and getting gas!!!), we spend some time on more twisty roads and grab a rifugio lunch. Then it's time to start cruising on the autostrada as we head north now, making some time in a roughly 3 hour trek. The Boxster is effortless on the highway. Smooth, quiet surges of power in sixth gear whenever you need it, no need to downshift to pass anyone. The cruise control is impressively intuitive, although I do wish it was on the wheel like the S2000 versus the stalk sticking out but I'm getting used to it and it does work extremely well. Podcasts through Apple CarPlay are a delight, easy to use and they sound great even at highway speeds.

I put the top up because it's scorchingly hot outside sun beating down directly, even higher 6 o'clock in the evening, but when we get back into the mountains and some of the shadowy dappled forest roads, like we had earlier in Tuscany, and the top comes down, and this little car just comes alive. Mind you, I'm doing 150 km an hour on the highway, and one of the high-speed trains went past like we were standing still.

We finally found a gas station with 100 octane so we are all gassed up and good to go. Gas is frickin' expensive here though, phew. Give me a Canadian fill-up anytime. A bit more autostrada and then we head into the next set of mountains. It's hellishly hot right now, 33.5°C is the reading on the dash for external temperature, so I've got the roof up and the air conditioning on to keep me comfortable. I tend to get a bit flushed in the twisties LOL.

We get a police escort through the small town of Allen Fat Joni (I need to look at the Google Map to get the proper name!) … a little nerve-wracking, but I think they were just appreciating the cars! They did follow us all the way from one end of town to the other though. 

Next up were some apexes and cambers in the mountains on some very narrow roads, so I had to bring the speed down a bit, although still not really exceeding the speed limit anywhere amazingly. As we headed towards the place, we were staying for the night, the road surface got a bit rougher, well more strong undulations I guess is the right word. Can't believe how well the Boxster suspension just soaks it all up. No wheel hop, no skittish behaviour, just all four tires planted all the time. There are a little aero flaps in front of the front wheels just like on the S2000 and those occasionally get a tiny scrape, just like on the S2000, no issue.

Andrew takes us up a winding tight, fairly rough, narrow road all the way to the top only to discover that he has mis-navigated us to the place we're staying, and we are actually about an hour away as the dusk starts to fall. No biggie though, and we backtrack carefully down the little road and make hay for the correct destination. Andrew definitely drives faster than me, but because of radio contact it's no big deal. Plus he is generally very good about waiting for confirmation at any kind of intersection, and we do have a protocol should we actually get separated. 

When we reach the final destination, I am in awe. First of all, I think we were again at the wrong spot as we go up a narrow street, with a castle at the end of it. Lo and behold, though, it's a surprise Andrew has had up his sleeve and we are actually staying in this magnificently renovated castle built in 1500 AD!!!

The proprietor is a super nice fellow, and his wife is just lovely. Andrew tells his story of his Italian heritage and that makes them warm to us even more to the point that they loaned us their little Fiat panda to go to a nearby pizza restaurant, where they made reservations for us!! When we get there, we realize why has it is a dirt track to get to the restaurant and they were thinking of our Porsches!!! How nice!!!!

The place is utterly silent because the walls are 5 feet thick, and the room is gorgeous. We give Andrew the king-sized bed as a 'reward' for him finding the place. Wow. Can't wait to explore around it in the morning.

Good night!

~ Luke

p.s. You can read the full, no-holds-barred accounting of this day at gtschronicles.com.