BERNINA GRAN TURISMO 2017
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The 2017 edition of the 'Bernina
Gran Turismo'
promised to be one of the
most wonderfully eccentric (and demanding) events of the year. Great
friend Marco Makaus, Rolls-Royce collector and historian and a Cernobbio and Sankt Moritz
resident, is one of the moving forces behind BGT and this for us is a perfect
reference. So Anna and I decided to take the plunge (upwards) and take
our Bristol 403 to the heights of Engadin and the 'Ospizio Bernina'
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Thursday 14 September 2017
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Before departing towards Neuchatel for the 2017 'Concorso d'Eleganza
Lamborghini', I drove the 403 to the Gordini garage to have her checked out
thoroughly before the Bernina trip. It drives beautifully, but I'm
really thankful to have fitted both the overdrive and the remote gear
lever kit. Snow chains are in the boot, just in case
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The Bristols are loved by the Pasini family, on top of their undisputable engineering qualities and individuality, because both our
409 and 403 can swallow a quantity of luggage that would be very
difficult to fit in any other comparable saloon of times, let alone a
sporting saloon. So I can take 2 dinner jackets with me, just
in case; try this with our Porsche 911!
First stop, the Grand Hotel
Villa d'Este in Cernobbio, home of the most important classic-cars
Concorso in the world since 1929
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Thursday 21 September
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Thursday 21 we arrived in Villa d'Este, the perfect intermediate
stop for a trip to Sankt Moritz. Our favourite Club Sandwich and a glass
of white wine on the shores of the Lake with a ray of sunshine always
make us happy....
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Just to show the style of this hotel, this is the entrance of the
gents' room
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The 403, as seen from our room Thursday afternoon. Thus we missed
the BGT party at the famous 'Dracula Club' in Sankt Moritz; but, to be
honest, nothing compare in our minds to VdE, so we were more than happy
to stay there and relax.
The relaxed elegance of Villa d'Este may
have inspired Coco Chanel, one of the world's great fashion icons, when
she said:
“Some people think luxury is the opposite of
poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity.”
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We had a splendid Martini
(Tanqueray 'Ten') and an even better dinner at 'La Veranda' in
VdE, with the fireplace in the background and all the relax that you
expect here. And take a look at the wine list: you could also order a
glass of one of my favorite white wines, Tiefenbrunner's elegant (and
very rare) 'Feldmarschall'
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THE DRACULA CLUB
"As you probably might know already, on Thursday night the 21st
of September, 2017, the world-famous Dracula Club in St. Moritz opens up
for us exclusively! The Bernina Kick-Off Party at the coolest club
around."
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"For those who don’t know the Dracula Club: Famed entrepreneur and
colourful cosmopolite Gunter Sachs opened the world famous Club in the
1970s and soon it became the epicenter of the St. Moritz Nightlife and
the international Jet Set. Today, his son Rolf Sachs, a well-known
artist and designer, presides the private club which is only open to
members and their friends in winter, as well as for the club’s own
“Festival da Jazz” in summer. The Bernina Gran Turismo Kick-Off Party in
September is the only possibility for “mere mortals” like us to get into
the infamous Dracula Club."
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Friday 22 September
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Friday 22 we departed from Villa d'Este. It was a nice sunny
day with a perfect temperature and all the charm and luxury of our
favorite hotel
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The trip from Cernobbio to Sankt Moritz via the Maloja Pass is quite slow
and therefore long, but after we did negotiate the hairpins of
the infamous Maloja, the panorama became wonderful. Just look at the
reflections on the water
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The BGT logo is very nice
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Kempinski in Sankt Moritz-Bad is one of the oldest 5-stars hotels in
Engadin. Huge as you would expect, it has been thoroughly renovated and
is very elegant indeed
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Anna along the Bernina pass route. The hood is open as the 403's
radiator was
leaking some water. It didn't make any harm, as we found out later, but
the moment was worrying.
The real mystery is why subsequently the
refrigerating liquid simply disappeared from the 403's radiator (I added
4 litres of the stuff while driving at an altitude between 1900-2300
metres just to maintain it barely visible in the rad) even if there was no
visible leak after that first episode and the water temperature was
always around 65°C-75°C, tested also with an IR thermometer pointed at
the top of the radiator. Then, when we got back to 300-400 metres and
then almost sea level for the trip back home, no liquid was necessary
anymore.
I must thank J.D. Classics' very kind guys for
lending me a can of radiator leak stopper, it was a great help just to
have it as a safety measure as I was worried that a leak could develop
and force me to stop the 403
(P.S.: the leak was subsequently
found to be due to
the radiator tap that however leaked
only under pressure so it was not so easy to diagnose...)
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The road surface was very, very nice....
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2330 metres is the highest point we reached with the 403 until
now
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A good handshake in front of the Ospizio with Marco Makaus, one of
the organizers of this event. He drove there his venerable Flaminia
Coupé Pininfarina
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Luca Moiso worked a lot on the organization of the event, his
wake-up call on Saturday was set at 4,30 a.m.! The
organizing team of the event included Marco, Ana Engelhorn, Florian
Seidl and Claus Muller
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Sun is always welcome
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Friday afternoon the BGT entrants were transported to Alp Grum with a
vintage Zug of the 'Rhätische Bahn'
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A stop at the enticingly old-fashioned 'Ospizio Bernina' railway station
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This trip allowed us to enjoy some lovely views of the Swiss alps and
lakes
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In the Alp Grum stube, waiting for a vintage fondue
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Saturday 23 September
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Lots of racing cars, single-seaters, sports cars, etc, waiting at
the Ospizio Bernina before the 2nd session. A happy sort of lunacy
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We had the chance to meet FNCC member Steve Ward, proud owner of the
stunning ex-Roy Salvadori 'Le Mans Replica' Frazer Nash. A splendid
motor car, and Steve is a very friendly fellow
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Frazer Nash Car Club ('FNCC')
'The essence of the Club is happy, striving, motorsport
activity. Ask Nashmen and they will tell you that the Frazer Nash Car
Club is quite simply the best car club in the world!'
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You wouldn't expect to find the legendary 250 GTO 'Breadvan' at the top
of the Bernina Pass....but here she was
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A really fascinating Matchless 500 was only one of the many beautiful vintage
British motorcycles lined up at the Bernina
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Driving the 403 is a pleasure even on high Alpine passes, though the
b***dy n.2
spark plug did oil again and this somehow spoiled the fun
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You wouldn't expect a Grand Prix Maserati here...
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Coming back home
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This is how we travelled from Sankt Moritz to Bologna, at 60-70 mph
the oil/water temperature and oil pressure were always perfect. Or, probably, the
water temp was way too low...?
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660 miles from start to finish
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The temperature of both oil and water remained more than reassuring
for the whole trip keeping the 403's natural cruising speed of 70-80
mph. Oil pressure is a healthy 30 lb/sq.ft when idling with the engine
oil temperature never going over 75°C (above, left) whilst it rises to
55-60 lb/sq.ft when the 403 cruises at 3.000 rpm. No water was needed
after we reached Poschiavo and then Tirano....
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SUMMARY
The
Bologna-Sankt Moritz-Bernina trip was this time a little big longer than
usual, something like 660 miles or 1062 kilometers (return trip
to/from Bologna). Fuel
consumption remained around 10 litres/100 kms; oil consumption was negligible.
The 403 drove quite well though the mystery of the disappearing radiator
liquid and the fouling of the no.2 spark plug gave me some headache
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