911 Pyrenees & Le Mans Trip - Including Cartastrophe - Page 3 - 911/Carrera GT - PistonHeads UK

The idea for this June 2023 trip originally started in the middle of 2022 and was partly guided by a similar trip back in 2018. The ferry to Spain, criss-cross the Pyrenees, and then Le Mans for the 24. Major difference this time being that two of us didn’t actually have cars. Irrespective of this seemingly minor detail we pushed ahead in September 2022 with booking the Portsmouth to Santander ferry for June 2023. With the ferry booked attention turns to route planning and finding some good hotels - oh, yeah, and finding a car. It turned out that the two of us without cars were pretty much looking for the same spec; a 991.2, with mostly the same extras, mileage, price, etc… and the search continued from summer 2022, through the winter, and towards the spring before, somewhat inconceivably, two ideal options came to market in early March and we pounced. The trip was fully set now. Cars sorted. Hotels booked. Some decent restaurants found. The plan had come together nicely with some great roads on the agenda. Some spirited driving in the Pyrenees followed by a fast autoroute drive to Le Mans for the 24h race. Friday - Depart Portsmouth The usual beer heavy mayhem on board for the first night. This was then resumed the following day, starting at a mostly respectable hour, while “enjoying” the ferry dining options, and snoozing on the sun deck. Sunday - Arrive Santander We land early on Sunday morning and cruise towards the Pyrenees, the weather forecast looks great, the cars look great, we’re surprisingly without hangovers, and at this point we have zero idea of what’s to come. Later that day… Just More Oil Somewhere along the way to our destination for the night the 991.2 requests some more oil. We had an awesome first taste of Pyrenean mountain roads and it didn’t seem entirely unusual that a little oil top-up was needed. Pull over, pop the hatch, unscrew the cap, try to avoid spilling a drop, and away we go. All good… or so it seemed. First Night Hotel Arrival Cars safely parked. Checked-in. Rooms are good. Hotel is good. A couple of us have stayed here before. We head out in search of beers and dinner. Monday - Top of the Mountain Sunrise (and an unexpected surprise) Setting off first thing for a blast to the top of the nearest mountain, to catch the morning light, and hopefully some good photos. Usual ski resort in summer vibes. Unemployed chair lifts floating in the breeze. Forlorn piste bashers. Huge parking areas for the winter crowd are entirely vacant (but for some reason we still park in the bays). All looking good. The idea was to do this and then head back to the hotel for breakfast. However... on starting the cars there is a huge cloud of smoke, which, without any of us being spanners, doesn’t seem good. Maybe an oil issue? Park the car on flat ground to hopefully produce an accurate oil level gauge. This doesn’t reveal anything except another huge cloud of smoke on startup again. Eeeeeek! A very very careful drive back towards the hotel and a request for oil pops up (same as yesterday). Hmmmmm… maybe the top-up yesterday wasn’t enough. Pull over, top-up, seems like that’s helped, drive on to the hotel and grab breakfast. Now there’s all kinds of speculation underway. Too much oil. Not enough. Some other issue. Maybe it’s a turbo. Could it be a one-off. Is there a more serious issue here. Take 5 guys, one dodgy 911, feed them coffee, stir the pot, and let simmer for an hour… before you know it you have conspiracy theories and suggestions that the car just needs a good drive. We had planned to head over to an awesome viewing point for some huge canyon in the Pyrenees. About an hour or so there and then an hour or so back. Probably the right kind of drive to assess the situation (although in hindsight, ridiculously remote and a nightmare to be recovered from if there was a show stopping problem). Another cloud of smoke on startup, smaller this time, but everything else seems fine. No warning lights. No messages popping up. The engine sounds fine and is turning over as normal. Maybe, just maybe, it was a one-off and there’s nothing to worry about. We cruise on over to this viewing point. Truly spectacular. We hang around for photos and terrible attempts at conversation with a German couple that rocked up at the same time. The Pyrenees and probably most of Spain has these great roads for cruising around. Often along the valley floor in the mountains. Beautiful lengthy ribbons of tarmac that stretch out to the horizon. Often in remarkably good condition. Sometimes just taking in the scenery, at the speed limit, with the odd perfectly sighted overtake, is the most rewarding type of driving there is. At least until another cloud of smoke and the engine warning light pops on. Eeeeek! Heading back towards the hotel and startup was fine but this time a cloud of smoke out the back while driving. This is a new one; everything before was on startup. No request for oil but the engine doesn’t sound right and a warning message has popped up. Time to pull over, switch off the engine, and start praying (if there is an automotive God would it be Chris Harris? Tiff? Mansell?). Fortunately the car starts up fine and seems ok. How very odd. Maybe the prayers worked. Manage to rendezvous with the guys again at a Repsol station up the road and relay what’s just happened. Very cautiously the unanimous agreement is to divert back to the hotel. We weren’t far and it seemed to make best sense to put ourselves there for recovery (an address that could be easily found, a Spanish speaker in the hotel if it helped, the hotel bar available if needed). Call made and Jose (seriously) is on his way. Say adios to the car. Feels pretty odd handing the keys over and watching as the truck disappears out of sight to a garage 20km away. One of the many benefits of being in a group is the option to jump in with one of the other guys for the next few days. This works out to be great as being a co-pilot and experiencing the drive from the passenger side is arguably just as fun. Plus the cars you sometimes find in the mountains are Platinum MICOL material. We have a great time over the next few days exploring the Pyrenees. Amazing roads. Fantastic weather. Plenty of beers. Some memorable restaurant moments. Thursday - Turn and Burn It’s then time to give the Autoroutes some €€€s and check out the greatest motorsport race in the world. It’s a high speed run through the western side of France. Amazing that we were able to arrange tickets for the race this year. Was a little concerned that the ACO would start playing by the rules on the gate and enforce the one car per pitch rule. Ye of little faith… as always there’s barely more than a glance at the ticket and you’re through (this ‘traditional’ approach to camping passes has to go in the plus column for the ACO). The race is spectacular. The whole weekend is amazing. Almost forgot about the abandoned 911. Jump in with one of the other guys on Monday morning for the drive home. We’ve done it so many times now. A mostly easy snooze drive through northern France and thankfully not too much on the other side. Now to start sorting out this car issue but for now that’s part 1 done.

Commenting to follow. We have done Le Mans for the last two years in the wife’s mustang. This year we’re going again. The wife has just sold the mustang for a 996 turbo and I’ve just sent her a link to this thread. Seems like a cracking way to do it. We always do the race followed by 10 days driving in france but this may be an option but in reverse for us Le Mans then the Pyrenees. Hope the car wasn’t too expensive to fix.

We are in the Pyrenees foothills now and it’s stunning roads, there’s a cracking hotel in Cognac to break run down, we didn’t fancy long and expensive ferry, we then went to a couple of places in Catalonia and are heading for San Sebastián before turning north for Loire. Roads are superb, empty, quick, deserted.

The experience of liaising between the AA and a garage in Spain is as painless as you would expect… smooth as sandpaper unfortunately. The AA didn’t seem to know what was going on half the time. The first garage they put me in touch with didn’t have the car. Fortunately the garage were extremely helpful and guided me towards the garage that did have the car (tbf it later transpired that the two garages were virtually next door to each other). The garage is absolutely convinced it’s a spark plug issue. This seems extremely unlikely but I’m 1000km away and don’t speak the language. They think it’ll be a few hundred €€€s to fix. This is where it starts to become interesting. In a scenario where the garage thinks they can put you back on the road for less than £500 the AA will recommend you authorise the garage to go ahead with the work (at your cost), and the AA will then arrange and cover the cost of your travel to reunite you with your vehicle, including the costs associated with driving the car back home. Seems ever so slightly nuts that this is considered the most cost-effective option. Anyway. The garage goes ahead with the work. They road test the car. Apparently everything is fine. Time has marched on though. After the car was collected in early June we’re now approaching July and that absence makes the heart grow fonder thing is 100% true. Arrangements are made. There’s a flight to Zaragoza and an overnight stay there due to the flight timings not matching up with the train timings. Zaragoza is probably off the radar for most folks. Unless you have a particular reason to visit, family, friends, work, something like that. But… Zaragoza has a charm to it and is worth returning to, especially if you’re looking for something different to the usual Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Seville options. Up early and a train to Huesca. Then onwards from there to the garage to collect the car. It also comes as no surprise that Spain is hot. Hot like Jalfrezi. Even in the shade it’s hot. The original plan was to walk the 20 minutes from the train station to the garage but that doesn’t seem like such a good idea now. The relief on discovering that the office at the garage has aircon is impossible to describe. The relief on finding that they have the car and everything is good to go is also impossible to describe. So far… so good. Have a little poke around at the garage. They have some more MICOL material stashed away here. An old Alpine almost hiding in the shadows. Half tempted to buy some oil but think it’s better to be optimistic. The bill is paid. The key handed over. The car starts fine. No cloud of smoke. The engine runs as normal. The a/c works. It’s good to be back! At least it was. 30 minutes down the road… same issue. Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh. Cloud of smoke out the back, a request for oil, the engine management light, the engine running rough, and a message advising that driving is permitted but to drive with caution. Lovely. If this was in the UK I would of turned around, back to the garage that had ‘fixed’ the car, and stepped through the process with them. At this point though there’s a decision to make. Hanging out in Spain while they make a second attempt to fix the car has some appeal, but making it home has even greater appeal. The engine fault light is on and the engine sounds terrible but the message that’s popped up reports that it is safe to drive on. Hmmmm. There’s a hotel booked for tonight and the ferry booked for tomorrow. Pause for a moment to consider options. Really, the only option, press on and pray that the engine doesn’t explode on the drive to Bilbao. There are probably few feelings in the world which are stranger than limping back to Bilbao in a 911 while you are overtaken by agricultural trucks and Fiat Pandas. The drive was torturous. Stopping at least twice for oil top-ups. The now usual look of “errr, mate, there’s a lot of smoke there” from innocent bystanders when you start the car again… and more oil required (should’ve bought 5 litres when I could). Thankfully the car makes it to Pamplona and a great city centre hotel with private parking (especially fortunate if the car doesn’t start the next day). Pamplona is probably best known for the running of the bulls. I’m about a week before the festival and it’s not my thing but you can see how absolutely crazy it must be through the old town. It’s Friday night and Pamplona nightlife starts early (at least by stereotypical Spanish standards). With the car in limp mode and a ferry to catch a few more Mahou will have to wait. The car actually seems a little better in the morning. There’s the same usual engine management light and the same message reporting that it’s ok to drive on but the engine seems to be running more like normal. Almost forget about the issues but about an hour from Bilbao there’s a fuel stop and the relentless cloud of smoke appears again on startup. Sensing that there could be a really cruel twist of fate here there’s a renewed set of prayers - please make it to the ferry, please make it to the ferry. An ever so slightly comical message pops up in Google Maps, reporting that Bilbao is closed today. As if we needed another challenge. Another torturous drive but ever so slowly Bilbao creeps into view. Bilbao isn’t closed and the ferry is in sight! In absolutely perfect English the Border Control guy asks to look in the trunk. Given the perfect command of English it seems reasonable to politely query whether the trunk is really where he wants to look. He insists. Unfortunately there isn’t much to see. Unless you wanted to see how much oil I had spilt. He cracks a wry smile and acknowledges why I queried it before. We pop the frunk, receive the nod of approval, and we roll on to the ferry. The relief is probably comparable to finding the air conditioned office at the garage. The crossing is fine. A good opportunity to rationalise all the receipts in preparation for a massive expenses claim to the AA. Also an opportunity to consider whether starting the car in the confines of the ferry is going to engulf the entire car deck in a cloud of broken Porsche, hmmmm. The Spa 24h race and the Tour de France help pass the hours before the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth comes into view. After collecting the car in Spain a distress call was made to Porsche Brooklands who very kindly and very sympathetically offered to take the car and diagnosis the underlying fault. They were extremely busy, as always, and couldn’t make any promises, but if I could get the car to them, they would somehow, thankfully, find a way to have a technician look at it. At risk of slipping into a slight tangent… Porsche Brooklands are excellent. I don’t have experience of the old Camtune days but over the course of the last decade or so everything involving Brooklands is wonderfully positive. Hopefully they’ll be able to figure out this persistent issue. Just need to get the car to them. There’s more relief on the ferry arriving in Portsmouth and making it back to the car deck. The car starts fine, there’s some smoke, of course, but nothing too bad by recent standards. We’re then crawling off the ferry and towards border control where thoughts spring to mind of what happens if you break down in this no mans land before you’re formally through border control and back in the country. Hmmmm, best to keep the engine running. Similar to the departure from Pamplona the car is, somehow, inexplicably, feeling better, but you can still tell it’s not 100% right. The drive up to Brooklands is actually pretty good. The end (of this part) is in sight. Let’s see what they make of it.

Oil into turbos under high boost from vigorous driving. Experienced similar last week on my GTS. Porsche not playing ball because they can’t reproduce it. I have to go and spank the car again and get video evidence before they’ll progress it under warranty. A few similar stories on PH and elsewhere.

All rather distressing for yourself but makes for an excellent read

I just had this same issue on my 991.2 CS. Car towed to Porsche Silverstone who replaced both turbos all under warranty

Sounds like a throttle body issue. Had a similar expeience. Too much oil is getting mixed with fuel, which is causing the smoke.

Quite the exciting road trip and a great read. This is what these cars are made for. Sorry to hear of the problems and looking forward to hearing some good news from Porsche Brooklands!

Great diary making a good read

I’ve got the same car and had same problems….I documented it on here..needed new turbo as shaft seals had gone allowing excess oil into combustion chambers…sorry you had such a waste of time re plugs etc…most garages know the turbos are a weak point on this model so why they went that route and caused you so much extra trouble god knows🤨. Hope you get it fixed properly and get back to enjoying a great car…good trip though..good luck. Ian

Not sure why any garage would diagnose plugs as the problem. Plug issues usually cause misfires or running on fewer cylinders, not clouds of smoke which is usually oil being burned somehow (generally caused by turbo or engine wear).

Guyr said: Not sure why any garage would diagnose plugs as the problem. DangerDoom said: In a scenario where the garage thinks they can put you back on the road for less than £500 the AA will recommend you authorise the garage to go ahead with the work (at your cost), and the AA will then arrange and cover the cost of your travel to reunite you with your vehicle, including the costs associated with driving the car back home. Have I just reached that point in my life where I am now officially in a permanently cynical state?

Hugely appreciative of Brooklands taking the 991.2 on extremely short notice. The car is with them at the start of July. They are a little short on staff (summer) but within about a week there’s a diagnosis. It may be surprising, at least for some of you, to see that Brooklands reported the turbos to be operating correctly. The exhaust system was removed and it was determined that the oil feed pipes had failed. At the very least this correlated perfectly with the excessive oil consumption and the clouds of smoke on start up. The proposal from Brooklands was to have the oil feed pipes and the coolant pipes replaced. This would require drilling out the securing bolts and is going to be a pretty substantial job. It’s less than 4 months since the car was purchased. The dealer that sold the car is covering the repair work, including the Spanish spark plug work, and are thinking it will be more economical to have their specialist garage undertake the work. There isn’t any clarity on the timeframe for the work being done but their rationale is understandable given the numbers involved. The car is in bits though. Brooklands had dismantled about half the car (almost everything is engine out these days). They put enough of the car back together in preparation for loading on to a transporter. Unfortunately a week is lost while this is happening so the specialist garage that the dealer has selected only receives the car in the middle of July. Tick tock, tick tock… In the meantime the AA have, remarkably, processed the expenses which were incurred in collecting the car from Spain. This part, to the credit of the AA, was quick, easy, and the reimbursement comes through in a couple of days. I wasn’t previously inclined to say anything particularly positive about the AA but on the expenses they’ve done an impressive job. Another week rolls by and updates are leaner than Gwen Jorgensen. The garage has agreed with the diagnosis and having made further progress than Brooklands they are inspecting the turbos for damage. We’re now into August. Parts are on order but beyond that there isn’t anything else to report. ... and another week goes by and it looks like progress is being made! The garage has received the parts and are cracking on with the work. We’re now in the middle of August and fortunately the car is being road tested. This goes well and we're now figuring out the delivery of the car from the dealer. 10 weeks from the first sign of trouble in Spain to having the car back. It’s a hefty parts list and the labour hours are extensive. It also transpires that one of the turbos did need to be replaced. Maybe this is for the best and reduces the likelihood of discovering an issue later on. A pretty full on experience; from handing the car over in Spain, enjoying the Pyrenees from the passenger seat, blitzing through France to Le Mans, flying back to Spain to collect the car, only to discover the fault was still there, limping home, going through two garages, and then finally receiving the car back after 10 long weeks… Fortunately a pretty demanding workout is lined up for the start of September. Just a couple of weeks to go and we’ll be back in the mountains. Edited by DangerDoom on Monday 2nd October 17:48

Jeez, thank goodness the supplying garage picked up the cost!

Sorry to hear of the car woes, hopefully it'll all be fixed and as good as new shortly. The trip looks fantastic though! I used to do something similar when I had a Maserati Granturismo GTS, but alas I sold that a few years ago. Will you be doing something similar next year? And would you be open to others joining? I'll be looking at getting into a 992 shortly, so would at least meet the Porsche ownership criteria! Oh, and I'm. a big fan of beer, as it seems you guys are!

Good to read your car being repaired. Almost a mirror image of my own car problems and that took 6 weeks to finally resolve …and that was at an OPC. Amazing that most ICE cars on the road now are turbo charged and Porsche has been in the turbo game longer than most…all the way back to the early ‘70’s and they have something seriously wrong with these gen 2 991’s …amazing.

am i missin something?? it says car will be ready in sept but we are now october. is the thread like a prerecorded soap opera or something where we get instalments every week? did it get repaired and did you ake it back to europe??

Sorry to hear about the car trouble. Did a similar trip a few months back, the Pyrenees are an absolute blast, couldn't recommend enough.

Sidsw said: am i missin something?? it says car will be ready in sept but we are now october. is the thread like a prerecorded soap opera or something where we get instalments every week? did it get repaired and did you ake it back to europe?? Yeah... come on guv... don't keep us in limbo...what happenes next??

conanius said: Guyr said: Not sure why any garage would diagnose plugs as the problem. DangerDoom said: In a scenario where the garage thinks they can put you back on the road for less than £500 the AA will recommend you authorise the garage to go ahead with the work (at your cost), and the AA will then arrange and cover the cost of your travel to reunite you with your vehicle, including the costs associated with driving the car back home. Have I just reached that point in my life where I am now officially in a permanently cynical state? The very same for me.

The closing chapter (for now)… Early September and a select group of experienced wheelmen rendezvous on the border. Exhibiting all the classic tell tale signs and giveaway characteristics, this is a coterie of individuals in the hunt for crisp mornings and fine tarmac. We’re heading south and to the promise of perfectly sequenced hairpins, assaults on a few favourite summits, and views that stretch further than the horizon. But first there’s a channel crossing and a few hours on the autoroute. Not the most exciting but very very worth it. There’s a tenacious thought… will the car make it. Fingers crossed we won’t have a repeat of the Spain story. We land in the Vosges for a couple of days. Exploring some favourites and discovering new favourites along the way. It’s busy here in early September but the weather is absolutely spot on. The route down includes a scenic diversion for the last hour as a little taste of what’s to come. It’s then hotel check-in and the usual first night beers. It’s over 5 years since a couple of us were here last but it’s wonderfully reassuring to see that the Vosges still has an undeniable charm as a road trip destination. The 911 has also made it this far… We agree on a dawn raid and it pays off with a spectacular morning. Quiet roads, dappled sunlight in the forest sections, the natural cadence of the road opening up to give man and machine a moment, and then back in to life affirming gradients, confidence inspiring camber, and views that you really should stop for. We’re not at nosebleed altitudes but when you have a chance to look around the landscape really is something. The early start means an early (ish) finish and like weary ravers dragging themselves home at sunrise we head back to recuperate, shoot the breeze, exchange photos, and plan the next day. Starting early worked well and today it’s the same again for an extremely indirect (but extremely fun) route to the edge of the Vosges. This first part includes some of the best stretches from the day before and then some new territory where undulating curves serve as a temporary au revoir (we’re coming back here in a couple of days). The route planning for this trip was comprehensive but it seems there’s another fantastic road around every corner and junction. Eventually though we slip back into the regular world of traffic lights and big box retailers. There’s a stop for coffee and fuel. It’s then a slog drive but the destination speaks for itself. We slip into Switzerland and head straight to some of the best roads in the world. This is brand new territory for the guys. The 997 C4S was here about 10 years ago and the Cayman GTS made it here in 2017 on a lightning quick run to Slovenia but it’s the first time in the 991.2. On which, so far, fingers crossed, it’s all just miles and smiles now. The Pyrenees experience is starting to fade into the deep recesses of memory. We’re now approaching the good stuff but the requirement for lunch does, briefly, interrupt the surging desire to explore the nearest pass. With one appetite slaked it’s time to see how the Swiss make mountain roads. Extremely well is the unanimous verdict. It’s time to grab a beer but the prospect of yet another early start is an unspoken certainty. All sunrises are created equal… but some sunrises are more equal than others. There’s something about setting off in the dark before dawn when it’s by choice, and especially on a road trip, which can really give you that slightly illicit feeling of doing something mischievous. This was one of those moments. Slipping away as quietly as you can, immediately switching to full beam and trying to pierce the darkness, there are 2000 metres of ascent ahead once we’ve furtively made our way through the village; it’s dry, crisp but not cold, and it turns out, perhaps unsurprisingly, the roads are perfectly clear. The sun rises as we make our ascent. It really is spectacular up here. We stop for some photos, of course, but limit the stopping time to maximise driving time. The warmth of the sun is welcome as it finally makes it above the Alps. We come down from the literal high and return to the hotel for breakfast. Fired up on coffee the day includes a continued survey of the finest Swiss passes. The scenery is outstanding and the roads are just as good but nothing quite compares to the sunrise run. We bump into these guys along the way. We stumbled across an excellent place for lunch and then a final run. Fuel and a scrub for the cars. Then fuel and a scrub for ourselves. We park up the cars and settle in for a few beers as the sun sets. Thankfully the 991.2 hasn’t skipped a beat. It’s another sunrise start and a few more photos. We’re then heading back to France for an afternoon in the Vosges. This trip is almost coming to a conclusion and there’s huge relief that we haven’t seen any issues with any of the cars. 1830 reassuring miles gives the confidence to report that the repaired 991.2 C2S is absolutely solid. A much happier situation than the Pyrenees back in June. The fuel bill on the other hand… Now on to planning the next one.

That's a wonderful read. I lived through you vicariously for the good bits. And winced on your behalf when the engine threw a wobbler. Great pics too - sowing the seed of an idea for doing something similiar, tho probably in lesser cars. Good luck on the next trip Danger Doom

Its been a great read So, overall how does Pyrenees compare to Alps this time of year...in terms of roads, traffic, policing and costs? I get the impression Pyrenees is quieter/cheaper overall with less speed 'issues'

We didnt see any police when travelling in September, plus if you tie it in with a trip to San Sebastian then its the cherry on top of the cake.

Glad to hear that you got it sorted and got to go on a great trip trouble free!

Oh for roads like that in the UK. I didn't see a pot hole in sight!

Great read and a nice change from all the value threads. Would love to have friends that I could do a trip like this with.

bennno said: We are in the Pyrenees foothills now and it’s stunning roads, there’s a cracking hotel in Cognac to break run down, we didn’t fancy long and expensive ferry, we then went to a couple of places in Catalonia and are heading for San Sebastián before turning north for Loire. Roads are superb, empty, quick, deserted. How did you guys get on with the rest of your trip? Also, did the channel crossing, fuel, tolls, and hotels for you guys work out cheaper than the Spain ferry? We've looked at that before and although the ferry is long (it really is) the costs (and avoiding the mileage) have worked out in favour of the ferry.

PetrolTed said: Oil into turbos under high boost from vigorous driving. Experienced similar last week on my GTS. Porsche not playing ball because they can’t reproduce it. I have to go and spank the car again and get video evidence before they’ll progress it under warranty. A few similar stories on PH and elsewhere. Any luck with capturing the issue on video? Have you asked them if they are following the guidance on the technical bulletin?

Coxey said: I just had this same issue on my 991.2 CS. Car towed to Porsche Silverstone who replaced both turbos all under warranty Great that you had yours fixed. PetrolTed might need your help by the looks of it.

Polome said: I’ve got the same car and had same problems….I documented it on here..needed new turbo as shaft seals had gone allowing excess oil into combustion chambers…sorry you had such a waste of time re plugs etc…most garages know the turbos are a weak point on this model so why they went that route and caused you so much extra trouble god knows??. Hope you get it fixed properly and get back to enjoying a great car…good trip though..good luck. Ian Thanks, yeah, who knows. Maybe they should've known better but I imagine they plugged in their diagnostics machine, it said spark plugs, they did that, the car was probably fine on a quick test drive, and that was the end of the story as far as they were concerned. Hopefully it's not entirely unfair to say the garage was probably the Spanish version of Kwik Fit. Great that it's now fully sorted and yeah the Vosges/Swiss trip worked out perfectly.

Polome said: Good to read your car being repaired. Almost a mirror image of my own car problems and that took 6 weeks to finally resolve …and that was at an OPC. Amazing that most ICE cars on the road now are turbo charged and Porsche has been in the turbo game longer than most…all the way back to the early ‘70’s and they have something seriously wrong with these gen 2 991’s …amazing. Yeah really surprising that Porsche are either negligent on their engineering here or the quality control process let's too many defects through.

kevinon said: That's a wonderful read. I lived through you vicariously for the good bits. And winced on your behalf when the engine threw a wobbler. Great pics too - sowing the seed of an idea for doing something similiar, tho probably in lesser cars. Good luck on the next trip Danger Doom We look forward to hearing about how your idea develops

Andyoz said: Its been a great read So, overall how does Pyrenees compare to Alps this time of year...in terms of roads, traffic, policing and costs? I get the impression Pyrenees is quieter/cheaper overall with less speed 'issues' Unfortunately don't have good experience of both the Alps and the Pyrenees at the same time of year, but... The Pyrenees are probably, generally, quieter than the Alps. The Alps covers a huge area but that huge area is also surrounded by significant population centres. The Alps is possibly the recipient of more transit traffic; all kinds of road traffic passing across from one country to another. Don't have the stats but experience suggests the equivalent traffic in the Pyrenees is a fraction of what you see in the Alps. The road quality, particularly on the Spanish side, is generally just as good as the road quality that you'll find with comparable roads in the French and Swiss parts of the Alps (maybe even better in some cases). The quality of the French roads in the Pyrenees didn't seem as good as the Spanish side - but - go next year and you might find they've completed some resurfacing work. The Swiss have a solid (and apparently substantiated) reputation for strong discipline on speed limits. From what I've understood the 120kmh speed limit on a Swiss autobahn means 120kmh; it's not the ~10% rule of thumb that you can generally apply elsewhere (with a bit of sense and all the usual caveats). You see a marked change in driver behaviour when you cross the border leaving Switzerland, especially going south into Italy, and conversely when you cross into Switzerland with everyone suddenly on their best behaviour. On a previous trip (in the 981 Cayman GTS) I was pulled over 2 or 3 times (over the course of a few days) by the Swiss authorities. No issues with driving behaviour. The checks were on identity, ownership, insurance docs, origin, destination, etc... Maybe they also wanted me to know they were around. In the Pyrenees, again on a previous (different) trip we were stopped by the Spanish police for 30-40 minutes. No issues with driving behaviour in our case but they thought we were part of a larger group. They didn't believe us, at least at first, when we explained that we had no idea about this other group. I think they were expecting this other group to show up on the same road behind us. It wasn't made clear to us what they thought had happened but we assumed whoever this other group were must've done something to have attracted their attention. Anyway. This other group didn't materialise so after 30-40 minutes we continued on. Our driving behaviour on these trips is, genuinely, very respectful. These are fun destinations to us and they might be sparsely populated places but there are communities there, people live there, older people, children, folks going about their normal day to day lives, etc.... Particularly in the mountains you'll have livestock on the road, hikers popping out unexpectedly, cyclists who will be extremely appreciative when you use the full width of the road to overtake, and so on and so on. The local who was overtaken, at speed, by a freight train of 4 UK plate cars earlier today might be running the cafe you stop at tomorrow (and they'll remember when you turn up and can't speak the local lingo)... or they know someone in the local police force who will appreciate the knowledge Costs are possibly marginally lower in the Pyrenees (than the Alps). There appears to be a lot of variance though, same as you would find in the UK (or indeed in most places). Accommodation in Switzerland was particularly tricky. With where we were looking and with our criteria, primarily we're looking for safe parking and ideally somewhere with a restaurant/bar or within walking distance of restaurant/bar options, the options were either £50 pppn or £300 pppn with very little in between. The Pyrenees probably had marginally more choice but not necessarily higher/lower cost. Depending on where you're setting off from and how much time you have the ferry to northern Spain might swing things for you. From the northern parts of the UK the prospect of a break with the driving and how the timings work could be quite favourable. If you're already within an hour or two of the channel you can probably make it to the Alps within a day of driving. Whenever we've looked at costs (fuel, tolls, hotels), mileage, time, etc... it seems to be pretty neutral in terms of drive vs ferry, but it's probably very case-by-case, and depends whether you can handle 36 hours on the ferry. If scenery/landscape is important to you I think the Alps probably wins every time. The Pyrenees are impressive but the altitude in the Alps is

Did you do all of that and miss out the Pico Europas? If so, you missed something more special than the Pyrenees by some margin

blueg33 said: Did you do all of that and miss out the Pico Europas? If so, you missed something more special than the Pyrenees by some margin Only by design - it didn't work with the schedule we were on... but be assured the Picos are top of the list for a future trip.

DangerDoom said: Only by design - it didn't work with the schedule we were on... but be assured the Picos are top of the list for a future trip. Northern Portugal is worth adding on. Which hotel did you stay in in Cognac. On our Spain to Le Mans road trip we stayed at a good hotel in cognac too

Ah we didn't do that drive through France - bennno did though, will be good to hear how they got on. Northern Portugal - thanks, will start looking around, any particular areas/roads to suggest, and actually anything in the Picos we should look at too?

Great write up, thanks for sharing. Sounds like a superb trip and we all like a happy ending!

DangerDoom said: Ah we didn't do that drive through France - bennno did though, will be good to hear how they got on. Northern Portugal - thanks, will start looking around, any particular areas/roads to suggest, and actually anything in the Picos we should look at too? I’ll see if I can dig out my picos and northern Portugal route.

blueg33 said: DangerDoom said: Ah we didn't do that drive through France - bennno did though, will be good to hear how they got on. Northern Portugal - thanks, will start looking around, any particular areas/roads to suggest, and actually anything in the Picos we should look at too? I’ll see if I can dig out my picos and northern Portugal route. Hey... any luck with finding that route?

Missed the earlier post, we stayed at Chais Monet in Cognac. Lovely place, we arrived in a porsche to find the car park full of Porsche and Bugatti.

DangerDoom said: blueg33 said: DangerDoom said: Ah we didn't do that drive through France - bennno did though, will be good to hear how they got on. Northern Portugal - thanks, will start looking around, any particular areas/roads to suggest, and actually anything in the Picos we should look at too? I’ll see if I can dig out my picos and northern Portugal route. Hey... any luck with finding that route? Really enjoyed reading about your adventures DD - I was lucky enough to be a motoring journalist back in the day travelling around Europe reviewing all sorts of quick cars - there's nothing quite like an epic road trip. As for Portugal, there might be some some roads worth visiting in this vid. If you go give me a shout, have a couple of interesting 911s to choose from for the trip - might even bring a friend so I can take both of them https://youtu.be/Xmu8dtcpg_Y?feature=shared