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The trip was booked whilst I still had my ultra reliable Porsche 911 and I would be part of a 10 car convoy enjoying a driving holiday down to the south of France along a collection of the most amazing roads available.
Along the way I would also be ticking many boxes in my bucket list
When I saw the Azure Blue I had a mental picture of it sat in the Southern France sunlight - a bit more than the wonderful Grey UK skies however I can't say that the car has inspired me to be ultra reliable prior to departure over the recent weeks. I'd visited the Birmingham dealer to have the software backdated to a previous working version and stored the emergency numbers in my phone in advance.
Stopping overnight at the Holiday Inn Express, I found there were plenty of parking spaces and usually there is a drop down barrier on the carpark.
Rooms were the usual express standard and a cup of tea with breakfast before the 5 minute drive to the tunnel was spot on.
The route averaged out at around 300 miles a day but via the winding cross country roads rather than the Autoroutes. We were heading firstly through the Loire valley and onto Cognac for a Remy Martin visit- apparently some of the group have a drink problem
Great roads and plenty of sunshine..
We continued on toward St Tropez for our next stopover, which really is where the fun really began, The Gorges Du Verdun,
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Gorge de Jonte,Mount Ventoux - this is sadly the only picture we took on Mount Ventoux, due to the weather closing in on us and having to crawl along following the fog light of the guy in front- it was a rather scary situation but something that legends are made of!!
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Having the sunshine return we visited many of the other tourist highlights, each time finding an interesting road and keeping well away from the motorways.
It was also this time that the obvious fixation on speed bumps the French have was starting to take it's toll on the cars underside, I'd now started to collect plastic pieces from under the car, the wind deflectors were pretty much coming away. When I say speed bump, its usually a row of bricks across the road!! The Porsches were all managing fine but me not quite so much... I even had to turn around on Route du Cretes as the surface was just too much for me to take.. that and a scraping as I lost another section of plastic..
As we headed East across the coast we headed north to our next highlight, something I'd been meaning to visit for a while, as McLaren owners we seem to have an interest in physics and engineering and the next visit was one of those, the Millau Viaduct
We headed both across and under the structure and actually standing under the main pillar and looking straight up, does give you a spell of dizziness!
Convoy going across
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Lower visitors centre
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Some reflection...
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Seeing it on a sunny day really is something special...
We had used a tour guide for the trip, who had provided Sat-navs with pre-plotted routes for each day, however just to try and gain some confidence in the cars system we tried to use it every so often or left it on the map, we almost instantly found that the search system had locked up, even as far as I couldn't even select a country! however by touching the screen and 'go there' it sometimes worked, Yes it fell off the road a few times, couldn't count the exits of an island nor had any fuel stations that were of any use!
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Without the help of the cars system though we headed across country, taking the time to pose through Cannes and alongside of the coast in the sunshine,
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Once again heading inland to route via the Col du Turini, which was an amazing drive both up and down with the added bonus of tunnels to play in!!
The days end location was the mecca of Monaco..
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Where we were lucky enough to be meeting up with some club friends who had an Apartment in Monaco itself and were invited for drinks prior to our evening meal at the Café De Paris.
Some outlook they have!!
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The obligatory drive around the circuit took place, a convoy to 10 Porsche and the 1 McLaren, amazing experience and apart from the couple of cars in the dealership, I didn't see another McLaren in town! quite strange to hear people gasp when you turn the corner!
Ferrari's though- ten a penny
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Sadly we got sent to the wrong carpark and I found myself struggling to get out of a circular up ramp in the carpark!! The Porsche made it safely but I got it slightly wrong and scuffed up the underside of the bumper, hopefully it's just the wrap and won't need a respary- just a new wrap fitting
Over the next couple of days we meandered north up via Grasse, Gap and the route Napoleon.
This was by far the prettiest stretch of the trip and we had some fabulous driving through the pass, quite busy roads but not too busy that we didn't have some fun..
![]()
Prior to or last run for home we dropped in to the old Reims circuit, I've been there plenty of times, but some of the group hadn't and nor had my 12C
![]()
In the sunshine, we did get a little bored, so some spirited runs through the grandstands entertained us- and quite a few of the locals after a while!!
Some wonderful machinery stopping off to see the spectacle..
Annoyingly to end the trip, the car refused to see the key whilst a crowd gathered at the channel tunnel and then to top it all, I got sent to a normal carriage where I unfortunately caught a rim on the carriage kerb.. should have taken my roof rack!!
I had tried to treat the car as the everyday supercar I thought I'd purchased- how everyday is yet to be decided after I get the repair bills!!
Average MPG was 20mpg with 27mpg on the Autoroutes, which was equal to most of the Porsches- infact bettering a couple!!
I'm just uploading some videos to youtube...nothing special but adds a bit of wind in your hair
Best parts- Col du Turini and Monaco
Worst part - M25 on equal par with Doris
Along the way I would also be ticking many boxes in my bucket list
When I saw the Azure Blue I had a mental picture of it sat in the Southern France sunlight - a bit more than the wonderful Grey UK skies
however I can't say that the car has inspired me to be ultra reliable prior to departure over the recent weeks. I'd visited the Birmingham dealer to have the software backdated to a previous working version and stored the emergency numbers in my phone in advance.Stopping overnight at the Holiday Inn Express, I found there were plenty of parking spaces and usually there is a drop down barrier on the carpark.
Rooms were the usual express standard and a cup of tea with breakfast before the 5 minute drive to the tunnel was spot on.
The route averaged out at around 300 miles a day but via the winding cross country roads rather than the Autoroutes. We were heading firstly through the Loire valley and onto Cognac for a Remy Martin visit- apparently some of the group have a drink problem
Great roads and plenty of sunshine..
We continued on toward St Tropez for our next stopover, which really is where the fun really began, The Gorges Du Verdun,
Gorge de Jonte,Mount Ventoux - this is sadly the only picture we took on Mount Ventoux, due to the weather closing in on us and having to crawl along following the fog light of the guy in front- it was a rather scary situation but something that legends are made of!!
Having the sunshine return we visited many of the other tourist highlights, each time finding an interesting road and keeping well away from the motorways.
It was also this time that the obvious fixation on speed bumps the French have was starting to take it's toll on the cars underside, I'd now started to collect plastic pieces from under the car, the wind deflectors were pretty much coming away. When I say speed bump, its usually a row of bricks across the road!! The Porsches were all managing fine but me not quite so much...
I even had to turn around on Route du Cretes as the surface was just too much for me to take.. that and a scraping as I lost another section of plastic..As we headed East across the coast we headed north to our next highlight, something I'd been meaning to visit for a while, as McLaren owners we seem to have an interest in physics and engineering and the next visit was one of those, the Millau Viaduct
We headed both across and under the structure and actually standing under the main pillar and looking straight up, does give you a spell of dizziness!
Convoy going across
Lower visitors centre
Some reflection...
Seeing it on a sunny day really is something special...
We had used a tour guide for the trip, who had provided Sat-navs with pre-plotted routes for each day, however just to try and gain some confidence in the cars system we tried to use it every so often or left it on the map, we almost instantly found that the search system had locked up, even as far as I couldn't even select a country! however by touching the screen and 'go there' it sometimes worked, Yes it fell off the road a few times, couldn't count the exits of an island nor had any fuel stations that were of any use!
Without the help of the cars system though we headed across country, taking the time to pose through Cannes and alongside of the coast in the sunshine,
Once again heading inland to route via the Col du Turini, which was an amazing drive both up and down with the added bonus of tunnels to play in!!
The days end location was the mecca of Monaco..
Where we were lucky enough to be meeting up with some club friends who had an Apartment in Monaco itself and were invited for drinks prior to our evening meal at the Café De Paris.
Some outlook they have!!
The obligatory drive around the circuit took place, a convoy to 10 Porsche and the 1 McLaren, amazing experience and apart from the couple of cars in the dealership, I didn't see another McLaren in town! quite strange to hear people gasp when you turn the corner!
Ferrari's though- ten a penny
Sadly we got sent to the wrong carpark and I found myself struggling to get out of a circular up ramp in the carpark!! The Porsche made it safely but I got it slightly wrong and scuffed up the underside of the bumper, hopefully it's just the wrap and won't need a respary- just a new wrap fitting
Over the next couple of days we meandered north up via Grasse, Gap and the route Napoleon.
This was by far the prettiest stretch of the trip and we had some fabulous driving through the pass, quite busy roads but not too busy that we didn't have some fun..
Prior to or last run for home we dropped in to the old Reims circuit, I've been there plenty of times, but some of the group hadn't and nor had my 12C
In the sunshine, we did get a little bored, so some spirited runs through the grandstands entertained us- and quite a few of the locals after a while!!
Some wonderful machinery stopping off to see the spectacle..
Annoyingly to end the trip, the car refused to see the key whilst a crowd gathered at the channel tunnel and then to top it all, I got sent to a normal carriage where I unfortunately caught a rim on the carriage kerb.. should have taken my roof rack!!
I had tried to treat the car as the everyday supercar I thought I'd purchased- how everyday is yet to be decided after I get the repair bills!!
Average MPG was 20mpg with 27mpg on the Autoroutes, which was equal to most of the Porsches- infact bettering a couple!!
I'm just uploading some videos to youtube...nothing special but adds a bit of wind in your hair
Best parts- Col du Turini and Monaco
Worst part - M25 on equal par with Doris
