Before the 08:00 start, minor attention was required to various cars, including the Martin &
Walker 550 Spyder of Mike Walker and Derek Nelson.
Whilst Vikas tucks in to his lunchtime sandwiches (at 07:30 am), Iain attended to a small problem
concerning a rear axle that had detached itself from the chassis of his Brightwheel 427.
One of the entrants in the "Miserable Old Buggers Club" team, the Sportster 7 of
James Miles & John Biddle.
Another of the "Miserable Old Buggers Club" team entrants, the Caterham 7 of Chris
Shanahan & James Steel-Sargent.
One of the Fisher Furys, entered by Stuart Malpas & Adrian Grinsted.
As decided yesterday, the two 289s of Butcher/Butcher and Pilbeam/Fry set off shortly after all
the other 'competitors' (after several laps of the breakfast table), and drove the route at a much
more leisurely pace, with frequent stops for cooling refreshments in the hot sunshine.
Now some of you may think that David Pilbeam was being very artistic, using the roll bar to
reflect the mood and the Hawk 289 in front of the bay, but WE know that he just couldn't be
bothered to get out of the car to take this photo, looking back at Ajaccio from the Plage
d'Agosta.
The local gardeners seem to grow some mighty big cactus pot-plants here.
We later encountered the SS100 of Suffolk-owners Roger and Caroline Williams stationary on a
hairpin bend half way up the Col de Cortone on the D55, after blowing a core plug in the 4.2
Jaguar engine (which they captured on video - visit their web site at
www.ss100.com, to see if they have uploaded this footage!).
After raiding the Butcher travelling workshop, we were able to assist in the fabrication of a
temporary plug involving part of a tree, some silicon sealant and a length of stainless wire ....
.... and we stopped shortly afterwards at a café (at the Col de Gradello on the D55)
usually frequented by the Tour de Corse rally drivers (where the owner was overjoyed to sit
and be photographed in our 289s).
After lunch, we decided to deviate from the beaten path to the unbeaten, largely undiscovered
delights of the D1. Despite all indications to the contrary, this is a major(?) department road
which winds its way around several mountains for over 25kms and which can only be negotiated at
walking pace. We didn't know that at the time, but it became glaringly apparent after only 5kms.
The problem was that the track had deteriorated down to about 6 feet wide and no turning back
could be contemplated. This major road is characterised by deep ruts, holes, undergrowth breaking
through the surface,
and wild pigs (this one was having a good scratch - or was he tenderising the bacon for us?).
The only bits missing (which was fortunate) were the large metal boxes on rubber round things.
These were good things to be missing, because if they were coming the other way either of us would
have had to reverse for about 20kms - not a good prospect with hundred feet drops at every bend
and a fuel guage hovering around empty!
And speaking of hovering, I don't know whether those sexy shorts will act like a parachute, Mr. Fry,
but doing the parapet walk with a drop of several hundred feet into an icy river only one step to
the left is not generally recommended.
Yes, it is a long way down there - let's throw some rocks off the bridge instead, to scientifically
determine the height.
Now, 3.4 seconds at 13m/s/s acceleration is ... ummm ... still a long way down there.
Eventually, the road widened and smoothed out a bit, with the usual token row of stones marking the
limit before the precipitous drop into the sea below.
Another set of winding tracks traverse the hillside.
We passed by peaceful villages perched on the side of the mountain, with huge drops of unbelievable
beauty and danger all around us.
Time for another refreshing drink, and to try and figure out what Graham Fry is demonstrating to us now.
More spectacular drops (over 400 metres into the sea on the left) on the road between Piana and
Porto ...
... and the views don't get much better than along les Calanche! This must be one of the
most spectacular drives in Europe - but how's the vertigo, Mr. Pilbeam?
We arrived back to the hotel around 8pm in time for dinner and multiple beers, before updating
the web site again.
