Perhaps The Ultimate C6 Journey?!
01-30-2008, 02:34 PM
#141
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Some great suggestions coming in as to where you would like to see Atomic photographed, do keep them coming. 
Managed to escape the desk late afternoon and got a couple of quick snaps in twilight of the English countryside to share.
Managed to escape the desk late afternoon and got a couple of quick snaps in twilight of the English countryside to share.
01-30-2008, 03:10 PM
#143
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Hi Graham,
What a lovely story and wonderful to see your Vette here at home....so now we must meet in our cars and take one of your European tours
Hopefully you'll be there for me when I get my next Vette and help me through this long process...again!
Lovely car, I'm so happy for you and know that feeling because our C6's are so rare over here........Snow predicted later this week, tuck her away!
What a lovely story and wonderful to see your Vette here at home....so now we must meet in our cars and take one of your European tours
Hopefully you'll be there for me when I get my next Vette and help me through this long process...again!
Lovely car, I'm so happy for you and know that feeling because our C6's are so rare over here........Snow predicted later this week, tuck her away!
01-30-2008, 03:16 PM
#144
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To comply with the rules here, I now have:-
Outer lights are brakes (as well as on the lip spoiler) & indicators. Glass is 2/3 red and 1/3 amber.
Inner red lights are fog lights on a manual switch inside the car.
Some people leave the inners as brakes and bolt on what looks like a bicycle reflector lamp between the exhausts,
but I did not want to go that route.
01-30-2008, 03:21 PM
#145
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Hi Graham,
What a lovely story and wonderful to see your Vette here at home....so now we must meet in our cars and take one of your European tours
Hopefully you'll be there for me when I get my next Vette and help me through this long process...again!
Lovely car, I'm so happy for you and know that feeling because our C6's are so rare over here........Snow predicted later this week, tuck her away!
What a lovely story and wonderful to see your Vette here at home....so now we must meet in our cars and take one of your European tours
Hopefully you'll be there for me when I get my next Vette and help me through this long process...again!
Lovely car, I'm so happy for you and know that feeling because our C6's are so rare over here........Snow predicted later this week, tuck her away!
Hi John
Thanks for the kind words and yes, we must meet up.
You MUST also come out on a Driving Adventures tour in 2008.
Snow? - Got to get some shots of Atomic in the snow!
02-10-2008, 12:07 PM
#146
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Friday saw me put close to 500 miles on the clock in one day during a trip to the north of England and the
beautiful Lake District, which for those that are not familiar with it, is a rural area in North West England that
is a very popular holiday destination.
Naturally famous for its lakes, but also its mountains (or fells), and its associations with the early 19th century
poetry and writings of William Wordsworth and the Lake Poets.
It's a walker's paradise and if you look carefully, away from the constant tourist traffic, there are also
some cracking roads!
We are now into our 'Recce Season' for the Driving Adventures tours and we went with the purpose of checking
out some new hotels for a forthcoming client trip, although, my business partner was also taking delivery
of his new car that will act as lead vehicle during at least 10 tours this year.
Having previously used a Corvette engined Monaro and a BMW M3, lead cars have to be changed on a regular basis
due to the high mileage vs. depreciation.
His new weapon of choice came close to also being a C6 Corvette, but in the end, 4 wheel drive and 4 seats won
the day for him and we travelled to the docks to collect his new Audi RS4 as it came in from the Isle Of Man.
For me in the C6, it was going to be the first major shake down to see what Atomic could really do under some
intense driving and the day started well.
Having left home in beautiful Winter sunshine, sadly by the time we'd burned off 3 hours of freeway, rain was
setting in and after collecting the Audi and actually entering the Lake District, the cloud level came right down,
as did the light, leaving us in a constant dull twilight state with wet roads full of grit and gravel to content with.
Not ideal.
Once clear of the mainstream routes, we entered some familiar favourite hidden roads that carve their way
through the hills and it was time to have some fun.
As I am sure you can all relate to, having a new car and one that has just cost you a lot of money, you don't drive
recklessly, you feel your way into it, so that is what we did, especially since the roads and conditions were at a
low point.
To be honest, I had expected the 4 wheel drive Audi to vanish into the distance in those conditions, but it never did
and not once did I feel any under or oversteer.
On the way home, my business partner & I discussed the days driving and while he was mightily impressed with the
RS4 over the M3, we were both delighted that the Corvette had more than held it's own in such difficult conditions.
Photos of the beautiful surroundings were all but impossible, so below is as good as the light got.
We head off around 2500 miles of France on Friday, checking out more Driving Adventure hotels and roads, so hopefully
if the weather plays ball, more words and images will follow soon!
Mileage now stands at 2368
beautiful Lake District, which for those that are not familiar with it, is a rural area in North West England that
is a very popular holiday destination.
Naturally famous for its lakes, but also its mountains (or fells), and its associations with the early 19th century
poetry and writings of William Wordsworth and the Lake Poets.
It's a walker's paradise and if you look carefully, away from the constant tourist traffic, there are also
some cracking roads!
We are now into our 'Recce Season' for the Driving Adventures tours and we went with the purpose of checking
out some new hotels for a forthcoming client trip, although, my business partner was also taking delivery
of his new car that will act as lead vehicle during at least 10 tours this year.
Having previously used a Corvette engined Monaro and a BMW M3, lead cars have to be changed on a regular basis
due to the high mileage vs. depreciation.
His new weapon of choice came close to also being a C6 Corvette, but in the end, 4 wheel drive and 4 seats won
the day for him and we travelled to the docks to collect his new Audi RS4 as it came in from the Isle Of Man.
For me in the C6, it was going to be the first major shake down to see what Atomic could really do under some
intense driving and the day started well.
Having left home in beautiful Winter sunshine, sadly by the time we'd burned off 3 hours of freeway, rain was
setting in and after collecting the Audi and actually entering the Lake District, the cloud level came right down,
as did the light, leaving us in a constant dull twilight state with wet roads full of grit and gravel to content with.
Not ideal.
Once clear of the mainstream routes, we entered some familiar favourite hidden roads that carve their way
through the hills and it was time to have some fun.
As I am sure you can all relate to, having a new car and one that has just cost you a lot of money, you don't drive
recklessly, you feel your way into it, so that is what we did, especially since the roads and conditions were at a
low point.
To be honest, I had expected the 4 wheel drive Audi to vanish into the distance in those conditions, but it never did
and not once did I feel any under or oversteer.
On the way home, my business partner & I discussed the days driving and while he was mightily impressed with the
RS4 over the M3, we were both delighted that the Corvette had more than held it's own in such difficult conditions.
Photos of the beautiful surroundings were all but impossible, so below is as good as the light got.
We head off around 2500 miles of France on Friday, checking out more Driving Adventure hotels and roads, so hopefully
if the weather plays ball, more words and images will follow soon!
Mileage now stands at 2368
Last edited by Atomic UK; 02-10-2008 at 01:31 PM.
02-10-2008, 01:28 PM
#148
Team Owner
Great story. The color on that Audi is great......why......it's almost....Jetstream. The France trip sounds like fun, looking forward to the report.
The France trip sounds like fun, looking forward to the report.
02-10-2008, 07:52 PM
#151
Le Mans Master
great post,enjoyed reading all the threads,
did you have to empty the fuel tanks before loading or were you able to ship with full tanks?
02-21-2008, 06:51 PM
#152
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Greetings from France - Day 1 of our trip down to the French Riviera and a long one at that having left home
at 2am and having driven south until 10pm!
We took the Channel Tunnel service, which for those that don't know, is a train service beneath the English
Channel and at 32 miles, it is the longest undersea tunnel in the world.
We left steady drizzle in England and upon landing in Calais, we headed south under a grey sky, visiting a
Châteaux or two on the way. It hasn't taken long for the compliments to start, from French ladies blowing
kisses, to people shouting "c'est magnifique".
Tonight we are about 30 miles south of Clermont-Ferrand and while there have been some great roads,
it's been more of a mile muncher day, but Atomic has been a very comfortable host for the last 20 hours!
Today's mileage door to door was 741 miles and Atomic now reads 3193 on the clock.
Here are some shots from today starting with an overview map of today, although this is not the route
that we took - more tomorrow.
at 2am and having driven south until 10pm!
We took the Channel Tunnel service, which for those that don't know, is a train service beneath the English
Channel and at 32 miles, it is the longest undersea tunnel in the world.
We left steady drizzle in England and upon landing in Calais, we headed south under a grey sky, visiting a
Châteaux or two on the way. It hasn't taken long for the compliments to start, from French ladies blowing
kisses, to people shouting "c'est magnifique".
Tonight we are about 30 miles south of Clermont-Ferrand and while there have been some great roads,
it's been more of a mile muncher day, but Atomic has been a very comfortable host for the last 20 hours!
Today's mileage door to door was 741 miles and Atomic now reads 3193 on the clock.
Here are some shots from today starting with an overview map of today, although this is not the route
that we took - more tomorrow.
02-21-2008, 06:55 PM
#153
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Member Since: May 2006
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2016 Corvette of Year
2015 C6 of Year Finalist
Awesome, can't wait to see more. I'm hopefully coming home to good ole UK in April, Wish I could bring mine and hit Europe in it. Look forward to seeing and reading more.
Drive safe,
David
Drive safe,
David
02-21-2008, 10:20 PM
#155
Burning Brakes
What an incredible story and ongoing.....................of course I just PM'd you after reading the very first post in this fascinating thread to wish you a great trip,(can't believe you visited Naples as thats where I am from) not realizing where all this was leading to and turned a good film off(even if it was brilliant, nothing matches this story) and have spent the best part of 2 hours catching up with every post...........
Your writing expertise is exhilarating and I feel I am driving along with you.............................Original ly from London and the home counties and want to wish you continued enjoyment around Europe and by reading this, you also make me proud to own a Vette............
Await with baited breath your journeys..drive safe and keep well..
Your writing expertise is exhilarating and I feel I am driving along with you.............................Original ly from London and the home counties and want to wish you continued enjoyment around Europe and by reading this, you also make me proud to own a Vette............
Await with baited breath your journeys..drive safe and keep well..
02-21-2008, 10:41 PM
#156
Burning Brakes
Oh, and I forgot to ask you, (now fess up) every picture you post, Atomic is sooooo clean, considering all the mlileage, are you getting up at some ungodly hour and cleaning like mad, or cleaning in between shoots as she always looks immaculate??
02-22-2008, 06:31 PM
#158
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Thanks for the kind words guys.
Day two of our French Adventure and we set out early onto some new back roads which turned out to be all
we had hoped, fast, twisty, smooth and devoid of cars and... Gendarmes!
This was the first extended workout for Atomic giving me my first 'performance session' with the paddles and
I could not have been more impressed. Ample range in the gearing enabled me to down shift quickly into the
braking areas for corners and hot foot it out the other side, obtaining maximum torque between bends.
The French roads are a wonder. The majority are billiard table smooth with perfect camber built into the corners
and while high speeds on roads is not something I do on a regular basis, when the roads are built like this,
where you can drive for an hour with long range visibility and not see another car or village, it's impossible to resist.
So I pushed harder and harder, no sign of any under or over steer and the directional reaction of the steering
left me feeling in complete control. The ride is so much more stable than the C5 ever was, and even more so
than the base C6 Vert which I used in California - quite a relief for my passenger who is more used to putting me
through the same experience!
We had started the day at a chilly 26f and under cloud, but the sun came out as we climbed into our first low
level mountains and at 3000 feet, we found our first snow of the trip.
We had a significant technical issue today, although thankfully not with Atomic. One of our lap tops with the mapping
trace program died and with the power lead not fitting my laptop, we now have the master routes Sat Nav running
with my computer running on battery only and as a final back up, Atomic's trusty GM Sat Nav.
As night fell, we made our way to a little known race circuit where we discussed plans for future events and although
the track was closed and with night descending fast, I did manage to grab some nice shots on the main straight...
how could I not?!
From there we headed towards our hotel for the night, passing under the world's tallest suspension bridge, the
Millau Viaduct that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau.This is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, with
a high point of 1,125 ft, even taller than the Eiffel Tower and only 125 ft shorter than the Empire State Building!
In answer to branmin's comment, the car is far from clean and this is something I love about the Atomic colour.
On previous trips, my black C5 became gray and dull, yet even before we had reached France, the spray from the
freeways had caked my previously gleaming Atomic and you can't help but feel frustrated during the 30 minutes
tunnel crossing that you can't use the chance to wash her!
I am sure you will notice the dirt more today as there were no jet washes to be found and we left one hotel
in the dark and arrived at tonight's just before midnight. Tomorrow is unlikely to see any improvement as there
certainly won't be any cleaning facilities where we are headed!
Today's mileage door to door was 345 miles, significantly lower than day 1, but out on the twisties, it was still
a 15 hour drive and Atomic now reads 3538 on the clock.
Here are a few shots from today starting with a continued overview map of the trip, although once again, this
is not the route that we took - more tomorrow.
Day two of our French Adventure and we set out early onto some new back roads which turned out to be all
we had hoped, fast, twisty, smooth and devoid of cars and... Gendarmes!
This was the first extended workout for Atomic giving me my first 'performance session' with the paddles and
I could not have been more impressed. Ample range in the gearing enabled me to down shift quickly into the
braking areas for corners and hot foot it out the other side, obtaining maximum torque between bends.
The French roads are a wonder. The majority are billiard table smooth with perfect camber built into the corners
and while high speeds on roads is not something I do on a regular basis, when the roads are built like this,
where you can drive for an hour with long range visibility and not see another car or village, it's impossible to resist.
So I pushed harder and harder, no sign of any under or over steer and the directional reaction of the steering
left me feeling in complete control. The ride is so much more stable than the C5 ever was, and even more so
than the base C6 Vert which I used in California - quite a relief for my passenger who is more used to putting me
through the same experience!
We had started the day at a chilly 26f and under cloud, but the sun came out as we climbed into our first low
level mountains and at 3000 feet, we found our first snow of the trip.
We had a significant technical issue today, although thankfully not with Atomic. One of our lap tops with the mapping
trace program died and with the power lead not fitting my laptop, we now have the master routes Sat Nav running
with my computer running on battery only and as a final back up, Atomic's trusty GM Sat Nav.
As night fell, we made our way to a little known race circuit where we discussed plans for future events and although
the track was closed and with night descending fast, I did manage to grab some nice shots on the main straight...
how could I not?!
From there we headed towards our hotel for the night, passing under the world's tallest suspension bridge, the
Millau Viaduct that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau.This is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, with
a high point of 1,125 ft, even taller than the Eiffel Tower and only 125 ft shorter than the Empire State Building!
In answer to branmin's comment, the car is far from clean and this is something I love about the Atomic colour.
On previous trips, my black C5 became gray and dull, yet even before we had reached France, the spray from the
freeways had caked my previously gleaming Atomic and you can't help but feel frustrated during the 30 minutes
tunnel crossing that you can't use the chance to wash her!
I am sure you will notice the dirt more today as there were no jet washes to be found and we left one hotel
in the dark and arrived at tonight's just before midnight. Tomorrow is unlikely to see any improvement as there
certainly won't be any cleaning facilities where we are headed!
Today's mileage door to door was 345 miles, significantly lower than day 1, but out on the twisties, it was still
a 15 hour drive and Atomic now reads 3538 on the clock.
Here are a few shots from today starting with a continued overview map of the trip, although once again, this
is not the route that we took - more tomorrow.
02-23-2008, 06:16 AM
#160
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Member Since: Sep 2007
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Reading of you travels during the middle of a blizzard here on the east coast, makes me very envious! As I have said before I love reading about Atomic's and your adventures and look foward to reading many more. Also the pictures are great!