StuartW
Member
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- 9,320
It was Nicola's birthday on Saturday so we decided to head down to a Chateau on the Loire Valley for a long weekend.
We took the Stradale and despite having owned four Granturismos over the last 8 years, this is the first time we have used it for a European jaunt and for such a long run. The car was in the safe hands of Matt & the team at SportsItalia last week for a pre trip check over and to fit the infotainment upgrade. I have a Samsung Android phone, and this was the first time that I have used Android Auto but it performed perfectly with Google Maps and messaging - many thanks Matt for a great install, and the rear parking camera came in very useful too
We used the Eurotunnel Flexiplus which was great as we had a 160 mile journey down to Folkestone from Lincolnshire before loading, so the flexibility of check in times was a great help as we did the whole drive from the Lincs Fenlands to Pas-de-Jeu in one go.
On arrival in France, it was raining hard and there were weather warnings for storms with 50 mph winds so the 360+ mile run down to the chateau was a challenge but we broke it up with a diversion at Le Mans of course to take a quick look around in the pouring rain ...
I used an Emovis Tag which made life easy on the toll roads, and the high standard of the roads was a real pleasant change from the UK and also the good manners of the drivers which was a nice surprise
It finally stopped raining as we arrived at the chateau in the early evening which was very nice - rustic and tastefully preserved & restored. It is one of the properties featured in the Channel 4 Chateau DIY TV series
The weather was much better on Saturday and we were out and about exploring the area where the car was greeted with many smiles and acknowledging nods
We headed back the next day and the journey back to Calais in the dry weather with the sun shining was perfect, the car covered the miles so easily and we were back at the Shuttle Flexiplus lounge in no time at all
The crossing was simple and I was very pleased we had not used the ferries having seen what greeted the passengers at Dover. We were back in Lincolnshire yesterday evening having covered 1,100 miles over the three days
The point of this is not to just share some holiday snaps, but to say just how comfortable this car is on a very long journey. Being the Stradale, it has the fixed dampers, so there is no Skyhook but for me, it is much the better for it.
The Michelin PS4 tyres were fantastic in the hideous weather with great grip and no aqua-planing.
The observant amongst you may have noticed the wider track on the car too. I have recently fitted spacers to the car having been back and forth on the dos and don'ts of them for years. I bought a set for my first GT - an MC-Shift - but thought better of it and never fitted them. I also ran my first Stradale without them. I occasionally tracked those two first GTs so did not want to risk the extra stresses that spacers may put on the car when driven hard, so ended up selling the spacers without fitting them. The one issue I have had with my GTs however is tramlining. It was worse with P Zeros but still very much evident with the Michelins so with this Stradale, which I never intend to track, I decided to try spacers again to try to alleviate this. I bought a set of excellent condition used H&R hubcentric 22 / 25mm spacers from Bebs on here - thank you Brian - and I have to say that I found the wider track to definitely help the tramlining issue considerably. I was all ready to remove them if there was no improvement, I did not buy them for aesthetic purposes, although I do believe that the look better too. But far from it, I have driven many miles in a number of GTs and they definitely have made a significant difference. My Trofeo race car also has spacers which Maserati fitted to all of the race cars, so they must believe that there is something in it too.
In summary, this car really can be used as intended and I would encourage anyone to do so although I know that many of you do already and have been doing so for years, so I am very pleased to have now done the same. I know that Craig who owned the car before me enjoyed a number of European adventures in it too. The car never missed a beat, there were no gremlins at all and everything worked exactly as it should have - happy days!
We took the Stradale and despite having owned four Granturismos over the last 8 years, this is the first time we have used it for a European jaunt and for such a long run. The car was in the safe hands of Matt & the team at SportsItalia last week for a pre trip check over and to fit the infotainment upgrade. I have a Samsung Android phone, and this was the first time that I have used Android Auto but it performed perfectly with Google Maps and messaging - many thanks Matt for a great install, and the rear parking camera came in very useful too
We used the Eurotunnel Flexiplus which was great as we had a 160 mile journey down to Folkestone from Lincolnshire before loading, so the flexibility of check in times was a great help as we did the whole drive from the Lincs Fenlands to Pas-de-Jeu in one go.
On arrival in France, it was raining hard and there were weather warnings for storms with 50 mph winds so the 360+ mile run down to the chateau was a challenge but we broke it up with a diversion at Le Mans of course to take a quick look around in the pouring rain ...
I used an Emovis Tag which made life easy on the toll roads, and the high standard of the roads was a real pleasant change from the UK and also the good manners of the drivers which was a nice surprise
It finally stopped raining as we arrived at the chateau in the early evening which was very nice - rustic and tastefully preserved & restored. It is one of the properties featured in the Channel 4 Chateau DIY TV series
The weather was much better on Saturday and we were out and about exploring the area where the car was greeted with many smiles and acknowledging nods
We headed back the next day and the journey back to Calais in the dry weather with the sun shining was perfect, the car covered the miles so easily and we were back at the Shuttle Flexiplus lounge in no time at all
The crossing was simple and I was very pleased we had not used the ferries having seen what greeted the passengers at Dover. We were back in Lincolnshire yesterday evening having covered 1,100 miles over the three days
The point of this is not to just share some holiday snaps, but to say just how comfortable this car is on a very long journey. Being the Stradale, it has the fixed dampers, so there is no Skyhook but for me, it is much the better for it.
The Michelin PS4 tyres were fantastic in the hideous weather with great grip and no aqua-planing.
The observant amongst you may have noticed the wider track on the car too. I have recently fitted spacers to the car having been back and forth on the dos and don'ts of them for years. I bought a set for my first GT - an MC-Shift - but thought better of it and never fitted them. I also ran my first Stradale without them. I occasionally tracked those two first GTs so did not want to risk the extra stresses that spacers may put on the car when driven hard, so ended up selling the spacers without fitting them. The one issue I have had with my GTs however is tramlining. It was worse with P Zeros but still very much evident with the Michelins so with this Stradale, which I never intend to track, I decided to try spacers again to try to alleviate this. I bought a set of excellent condition used H&R hubcentric 22 / 25mm spacers from Bebs on here - thank you Brian - and I have to say that I found the wider track to definitely help the tramlining issue considerably. I was all ready to remove them if there was no improvement, I did not buy them for aesthetic purposes, although I do believe that the look better too. But far from it, I have driven many miles in a number of GTs and they definitely have made a significant difference. My Trofeo race car also has spacers which Maserati fitted to all of the race cars, so they must believe that there is something in it too.
In summary, this car really can be used as intended and I would encourage anyone to do so although I know that many of you do already and have been doing so for years, so I am very pleased to have now done the same. I know that Craig who owned the car before me enjoyed a number of European adventures in it too. The car never missed a beat, there were no gremlins at all and everything worked exactly as it should have - happy days!
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