Winter Trial leg 8

The final leg began in Linz and sent us back to Salzburg almost to where we began 3000kms ago. You almost expect there to be a sting in the tail from the organisers but the two regularities were straight forward and we had a bit of fun on an ice circuit.

Our final result was 18th overall and 5th in class. About where I expected to be prior to the start.

As ever a hugely enjoyable adventure in challenging conditions and big thanks must go to Herman, my driver, all Bart’s team at Classic Events for putting on the event. Mark Appleton for designing the route, GaugePilot for the best navigational instrument on the market and Volvo for having the foresight in building a car over 50 years ago that’s still brilliant!

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Winter Trial legs 6 and 7

What a day! Mixed fortunes with a trip to a snowy ditch avoiding an oncoming vehicle, more winter wonderland and a superb and challenging night section made particularly hard as the roads went from dry through snowy to sheet ice, but unpredictability on every corner. We went well, lost some time after the ‘off piste excursion’ but rescued it and had a straight forward night section.

Last day tomorrow and there will certainly be some surprises!

Winter Trial leg 5

An amazing day with some winter wonderland scenery. They really had an awful LOT of snow recently!

The day went respectably well with some interesting regularities, an ice test and a very enjoyable navigation section. Great fun in sunny Austria

Tomorrow we go north to the Czech Republic for some more of the same and the infamous Winter Trial night loop. Late night coming up!!

Winter Trial legs 2,3 and 4

It’s been very busy! A long day section starting in Ljubljana and a difficult night section returning to Ljubljana again.

Snow was prevalent above 600m and made the roads interesting. New continental tyres seem grippy and no need for chains as yet.

Today brought us out of Slovenia and back to Leoben in Austria. More snow and ice plus a lot of drama for some teams.

Winter Trial. Day 1.

An easyish opening day with 3 regularities and two tests. The first test being on the Altenmarkt ice circuit.

A steady and conservative day by ourselves see us starting 17th overall and 3rd in class. The roads are almost snow free here in Ljubljana but let’s see what it looks like tomorrow for the first of two night sections.

STOP PRESS

The starting list for tomorrow was based on the results at lunchtime.

We are in fact 10th overall going into day 2.

Winter Trial, getting to the start, scruitineering etc..

A leisurely 5 hour drive from Zurich brought us to the German/Austrian border recently famous for the huge snow fall a couple of weeks ago and historically the Eagles Nest; Hitlers mountain headquarters. Some impressive scenery along the route but most of the snow on the roads has been cleared away.

Scruitineering and the paperwork passed without issue and a welcome dinner and brauhaus beer has set us up for the start tomorrow.

Ljubljana is our destination tomorrow evening.

Winter Trial 2018 prep..

Route plotted, well, in draft form, I’ll go over it again to detail some awkward stuff.

An interesting route leaving Berchtesgaden for the Ice Racing track at Altenmarkt on the way to Ljubljana for two nights and one night loop. Then to Leoben in Austria for the next Evening. Two nights in Linz, Austria and another night section in southern Czech before the finish in Salzburg. 8 legs of snow and ice!

It’s going to be fun and perhaps very challenging conditions considering the amount of snow that’s fallen in this area over the last fortnight.. can’t wait!