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| Jota in Roma - We tag onto this group for the drive out of the city |
Once we get out of the city we park at the first Agip services to await the Lambo London Gang. After yesterday's 'average' run in the Aventador, Joe has suggested I take another run with him alongside to press all the buttons.
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| Awaiting the arrival of the Lambo London Gang at first services out of Rome |
After a good 30 odd minutes Joe arrives at the services and I jump into the comfort of the Aventador. We adjust the settings on the car along the autostrada so I'm in Corsa and Manual and practice firing the gears up and down the box. It is amazing how savage the car has become with the gears now punching into place with a huge jolt and crack from the exhaust.
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| Old v New contrast |
We turn into the country roads about 60 miles south of Arezzo and immediately it feels like a different car to yesterday. The car shrinks around you and the power is addictive. Smashing through the gears we are flying through the country lanes following a Gallardo Spyder.
It's a challenging drive carving through the traffic. Incident number one is when a dump truck gets excited on the bends when the Gallardo pass and picks up its pace. He drops a rear wheel into the dirt on a sharp left hand corner and I watch as the rear comes round on him. I'm facing a truck doing about 50 mph totally broadside when I slam on the anchors. He catches the slide and then indicates right to let me through. Close one.
Next a Fiat pulls out half way in front of the Gallardo causing him to swerve and he backs off whilst his wife gives him an earful and indicates right. I pass and follow a white Merci SV on Swiss plates for the remainder of the trip to our lunch stop at Il Borro, about 4 miles from Cov's house in Italy and my adopted Italian family in Loro Ciufenna.
Next a Fiat pulls out half way in front of the Gallardo causing him to swerve and he backs off whilst his wife gives him an earful and indicates right. I pass and follow a white Merci SV on Swiss plates for the remainder of the trip to our lunch stop at Il Borro, about 4 miles from Cov's house in Italy and my adopted Italian family in Loro Ciufenna.
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| Powering through the bends. The Aventador is transformed with two setting changes |
Jonty calls from Il Borro as we pass the Mona Lisa bridge along the Settiponti (7 bridges) one of my favourite roads in the world. 'I'll be there in 10 mins mate' I tell him as we sprint to the stop.
Jonty can't believe the sight of 350 Lambos in the grounds of Il Borro. He thought this was purely another CovBall type experience as before, with maybe 20 cars in total. How wrong. We get him into the meal along with Neil Bowers (his dad) as they call ahead to Lisa and Linda in Loro.
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| Line-up in Loro near Bar Centro for a coffee with my Italian family (Cavoto / Bowers) |
The Cavoto and Bowers clan greet us in the central square. The Lambo London Gang can't believe that it appears the whole village of Italians appear to speak with a broad Manchester accent. Lol, it's a mixed up little town, and a must to visit. Jeff, our Dallas auto Jurnalist mate has tagged along and is loving the square when I direct him to the bridge and the view into the gorge. He's amazed and immediately takes a vertical panorama of the view. We can see all the other cars passing through the By-Pass missing out on this minor diversion. Just then we get a call from Dave who we asked to Taxi our Australian mate who has come all the way to Italy only to discover his dealership has gone bankrupt and he has no new Aventador to collect or a ticket for the party. We agreed to taxi him to Bologna and need to transfer some luggage into the other cars to make it a comfortable trip. 6 Lambos parked in Loro central square has really amazed the town.
I'm now back in my Countach as we set off towards Bologna. The heavens open but we keep on it. About 20 miles along the route changing down for a tight left hand junction something goes wrong. It's not the clutch but I can't select neutral, or any other gear for that matter. The car is stuck in 1st and I can pull the lever out of the box. With very little linkage I assume I'm finishing the trip on the back of a wagon so pull over and request assistance.
Stepping out of my car the heavens decide to really go for it and the rain is now bouncing. I tell the 5 cars following me to just go and get the beers in for our arrival.
Lambo technicians arrive in about 5minutes and immediately get to work on the car. I call Dave Bell in the UK to see what he thinks. Response is 'yes there is a joint which may have come apart. If not then as long as the break is above the joint we are ok. Below and it's an engine out job.
The Lambo mechanic confirms exactly the same info and sets to work. What a difficult job. He pulls it apart and confirms its purely the bolt which has come apart. Co-driver Dave Hanley helps with the difficult job of putting it back together.
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| Gear lever should not be in your right hand in a UK Countach |
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| Now how the hell do we get this nut back on in there? They did it |
After about 1.5 hours we are fixed and sprint off to Bologna. Arriving in the central square we are directed to a bar with our London gang and decide to just hit it immediately without checking into the hotels. Cheers guys for a fab day. La Dolce Vita.
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| Piazza Maggiori |
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| A couple of beers later |
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