Stelvio 2003 - SELOC's 5 Day Quick Blast

My very first Stelvio Run and my shortest conducted over five days.  Although I bought my Lotus Elise S1 in the summer of the previous year it wasn't till the January of 2003 that I came aware of the various Lotus Forums on the web to discover there was a Lotus run to the Alps every year. What's more, as previous runs had been organised by Tony Churly which were by  invite only, this year SELOC were planning their own and it was open to all-comers. Tony was looking to have as many Lotus's at the top of Stelvio on the Friday 13th September so any interested Lotus group was more than welcome to organise a run to coincide with this own.

Day 01: As Stelvio first days go this was a long one. We caught the 07:59 Tunnel to France getting us into Calais at 21:43 local time. Actually as Stelvio first day crossings go, this was quite a late one. The usual auto-route down to Troyes and Dijon and on to Bourg-en-bresse. From there we stayed on the A40 through to Geneva and Annemasse before departing the auto-route at Bonneville for the short single carriageway run to La Clusaz. In subsequent years we have always come off the Auto-route at Bourg-en-Bresse as there are a multitude of great roads in that area. However being our first Stelvio run this was all unknown to us, so we just stuck to the auto-routes.

Two memories of that first days' run down. Firstly the rain which we encountered as we approached Geneva. It was an absolute deluge and was my first experience of fitting the long tailed roof of an S1 Elise in a hurry on the side of the auto-route...never a very easy task. When we reached the hotel we were only to discover that one of the group had aqua-plained in the wet on the auto-route (something Lotus's are very prone to in the wet), colliding with the central reservation and writing his car off. Personally I didn't know him and although pleased the driver was unhurt, I felt it was a dreadful way to start a trip, especially as he must have been as excited as I was. It wasn't going to dampen my spirits.

Secondly I remember the first major overtake I performed following Max as we made our way from Bonneville though to La Clusaz. Three cars in one overtake, something I would never have attempted in the UK but the feeling of excitement was unforgettable.

Day 02: With the auto-routes long behind us we started on our first proper Stelvio day. Although we didn't know it at the time, Rob had really set up a cracking first day for us in the mountains. For those of you who know the French Alpine passes in this area they don't get much better than this as an ensemble. Col des Aravis (1,486m), Col de la Madeleine (1,993m), Col du Grandon (1,924m), L'Aples-d'Huez (1,860m), Col du Lauraret (2,057m), Col du Galibier (2,647m), Col du Telegraphe (1,566m), Col de l'Iseran (2,764m), Col du Petite St Bernard (2,188m) and eventually the hotel in Aosta, Italy.

This was a Big Stelvio day from a standpoint of mileage and I have a doubt whether we actually completed it in its entirety. However looking at the map there aren't many short cuts to make it shorter, so perhaps we did do the full day. TomTom was available but I had brought only a PDA variant with me, which was forever crashing and did not have the itinerary functionality, so it was as good as useless. Certainly this caused us a lot of delays up to the Col de la Madeleine, by which time I was good to throw it in the bin and decided to stick to map navigation only for the rest of the trip.

A huge oversight in my choice of passenger this year was that Jo suffers from car sickness especially when sitting the passenger seat. So after some faffing around we were able to find a pharmacy that sold us some tablets with limited side effects that Jo could take. Thankfully this did the trick and Jo was fine for the rest of the trip much to the relief of my fellow group drivers!!

On the Col de la Madeleine we were overtaken by Yvo Tuk who was leading a group of Lotus's from the Netherlands. We thought we were going quite quickly and his group overtook us on the steep descent at the southern end of the pass as if we were driving Motorhomes. Little did I know but only the next day I would experience the challenge of driving with this group.

On the Col du Petite St Bernard, Max picked up a male hitch-hicker. I recall he had this large Army kit bag which he had to keep on his lap as there was no other space in Max's Elise. By the time we had completed the pass the hitch-hiker was desperate to get out of the car, feeling very sick as he hadn't been able to see any of the road due to the size of his bag. The Hotel for the night, to my knowledge we have only stayed at the once. It was difficult to find, even now when I look on Google Maps, and did't have a restaurant so we had to dine out in the village.

Day 03: Robs's suggested route for the day took us east to Borgomanero and then north to Domodossola before heading northwest into Switzerland at Zwischbergen. Then on to Brig and then east through Fiesch and Andermatt, Chur and south to the hotel for the night at St Mortiz. Once again a flurry of Alpine passes here to experience for the first time and some big boy ones too. The Simplonpass (2,005m), Furkapass (2,431m), Oberalppass (2044m) and the Julierpass (2,284m).

This was my 'Stelvio Baptism of fire' day and my brother and I did something completely different to the intended route. Shortly after leaving Aosta, my group got separated due to traffic in the town. I took a wrong turn, which I was unaware of at the time. With us heading North and the rest of my group continued east, we became well separated. So my brother and I decided, due to the mileage we had to cover that day, we would plough on, in the hope that we would meet up with our group or other Lotus's during the day. We were well off course and, unbeknown to us, heading up the southern ascent of a very foggy Grand St Bernard pass.

At the top we decided to stop for coffee and bumped into Yvo Tuk and his group from the Netherlands where we discovered to our dismay how badly we were off course. Yvo, although part of our run, had on each day done somewhat of his own thing but always ending up in the same hotel for the night. Realising we hadn't really the faintest idea where we were, we asked if we could tag along at the back on his group so we didn't have to travel alone, as travelling alone was something I wasn't overly keen on. So what followed was probably the most exciting of any Stelvio days I can remember. The group was travelling probably 30% faster than I was comfortable at driving, their cars for the day were highly modified and Yvo had his own itinerary which my brother and I had no view of. So the only option was to follow them and definitely not to lose sight of them otherwise we would be truly lost.

We followed them on unmade gravel passes, roads barely wide enough for one car. We got pulled over by the Swiss Police but were allowed to continue without a fine. We realised the significant advantage modified suspension had in high speed bends. My bulk-standard Elise bounced around them alarmingly whilst their's were rock steady. It was the only Stelvio I ever went on with standard suspension! I will never know where we went but we did arrive at St Mortiz intact with a story to tell our fellow group which lasted late into the evening.

Day 04: Our first signature Stelvio day. The planned route was to head north out of St Moritz and then immediately right to Ponttresina, Lavingo, Bormio, Stelvio, Merano and to the hotel in Obergurgl. One again some great passes to contend with Berninapass (2,330m), Forcola di Livigno (2,315m), Passo di Foscagno (2,291m), the mighty Passo dello Stelvio (2,758m) and the Passo del Rombo (2,509m).

As recollections go I have a number of lasting memories of my first signature Stelvio day. Firstly Max's and my map reading skills must have been terrible as we completely missed the turning right just outside St Moritz for Ponttresina and got as far as Zernez before we realised our mistake, some 30kms further down the road. After studying the map we believed there was another entry point to Lavingo by a tunnel which would get us back on the route. What we found created a Stelivo Legend. We had found the legendary Max's Tunnel of Love. This tunnel, the Munt la Schera to give it its proper name, was single carriage, just wide enough for a car and 3.3km long. It's stunning 'Hoover like' dam at the exit point, the amazing terraced road running alongside Lake Livingo and the petrol station at it's end which sells tax free 100 octane fuel. Everytime I have been on a subsequent Stelvio run in this area we have always revisited this hallo'd ground.

The day also brought with it my first meeting of Tony Chorly. We bumped into him in Bormio and he told us that the Passo de Gavia was closed due to snow. It meant nothing to us at the time as the Gavia wasn't on our route that day. Tony was travelling with his own group on a completely different run that year and the SELOC group's other optional route for the day, which we weren't on, was planned to meet up with him at the top of this tremendous Italian Pass for coffee before heading off to Stelvio. Had I have known about the Gavia I would have done it. It wasn't till subsequent years that I was to experience the delights of this pass.

I also remember passing at the bottom of the Stelvio pass Kevin Maroney's T25 Elise S2. Although the participants list doesn't show it, Kevin had brought with him his girlfriend for the trip. Both of them were standing outside his car and his girlfriend was giving him a right old telling off with lots of finger wagging. Something to do with his driving we assumed, but she looked none to pleased!!

The other memory I have of that day has troubled me ever since. There is a very grainy video of Tony controversial ascent of Stelvio that day in this yellow S1 160. It shows him overtaking, on the southern ascent of Stelvio, many of his driving companions in much less powerful cars. The very last car he tries to overtake proves to be fairly uncooperative and you can hear Tony bemoaning it in the video footage. The video states this reputably was Andrew Clarke in his Silver S1 Elise. I have have never been too convinced of this as my car was identical to Andrew's and the video is just to grainy to catch sight of the number plate. However I do recall ascending Stelvio that day with other Lotus's but Max was definitely with me. Thankfully his S2 Elise is no where to be seen in the video which has always comforted me that it can not of been me that held Tony up that day, but I have always had a lingering doubt.

Day 05: Well that was it ...a quick five day blast and what a blast it was. Our return to the UK was through the autobahns of Germany and was fairly uneventful apart from the mandatory maximum velocity speed run.

Although short and sweet it gave me an incurable addiction for the Stelvio runs. This has been the shortest Alpine run I have done to date, with us normally stretching it out to the full nine days available. It started me on the slippery slope from a modification standpoint, introduced me to a whole new friendship group, started the Stelvio yarns that I continue to bore people with and a love for the open road.

To access the 2003 Tour TomTom Itinerary Files
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To access the 2003 Tour Hotel Details
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