Epic European journeys - London to Warsaw in my new 328 GTS

Greetings to all Ferrarichatters - I can now truly say I am a Ferraristi as I picked up my 328 GTS two days ago and am proud to announce myself as the first Ferrariowning fchatter in Poland .

You can read Marc's story on the pick up of the car in "The handover" thread. Here's my story. Firady morning I flew in on a 6.a.m. flight from Warsaw. Marc picked me up at Luton Airport and we went to his house to pick up the beast. Had quite an eventful trip home. In the UK immediately after leaving Marc's house I was greeted by torrential rain which was to stop only in Germany. The motorway to Dover was CLOSED because there had been no ferry sailings the last day and it was blocked by trucks waiting to get out of the UK. I missed my ferry and had to take Eurotunnel on a standby ticket - ouch!

Finally got to France around 4 p.m. The next 600 kms were mainly stuck behind idiots with their rear fog lights on in traffic jams and heavy rain. Antwerpen was worst - spent about 2 hours there. Then in Germany the traffic lightened up and I finally got to the hotel in Porta Westfalica (chosen because of the Italian name of the town).

Saturday was to be the fun day. Left the hotel at 7 a.m. and got on the empty and dry autobahn to Berlin. Watched the sunrise and enjoyed really effortless cruising at up to 200 km/h with ease. As it got later noticed the attention the Ferrari was getting with cars jostling behind me to be first in line behind the car but not wanting to overtake. Lots of waves and smiles - coool .

I stopped for photos at the old iron curtain border crossing between East and West Germany. Having grown up on the "other side" and having crossed the border in this particular place, remembering the East German guards searching the car for stowaways means I still get a lump in my throat and a nostalgic reflectional mood whenever I pass it. I thought it fitting to have a photo of my new Ferrari in this chilling place.

The drive to the Polish border was a blast - great empty autobahn and great weather. I crossed the border into Poland in a little town north of the autobahn crossing - Kostrzyn. The reson was that the road from Kostrzyn to Pniewy is one of the nicest driving roads in Poland - starts through a national park with marshlands and goes on through forests and small villages. Completely empty, winding road - loved every minute of it. I then got back on the A2 to Poznan and got a phone call from Fchatter Marek from Poznan who knew I was driving back and wanted to see the car. I picked him up at a McD's off the motorway and took him for a little spin. It was his 1st time in a Ferrari so as the seasoned Ferrari veteran (by 24 hours ;-) ) I showed him what the magic was about. He seemed to enjoy it ;-). Trip back to Warsaw was uneventful save for the wonderful brand new motorway which is really deserted and just made for cruising at 160-200. Made one or two high speed bursts and the GPS sat nav showed that the fastest was 244 km/h which I think is pretty good for an 18 year old car.

Car is now sitting in my garage waiting for a wash. Surprisingly it's not so dirty - only the wheels have a great coating of brake dust - a tribute to the 20 coats of Zymol Marc put on the car .

All trip the car did not miss a beat and performed flawlessly. I am hooked in the noise, performance, raw power and acceleration. I love the looks. I still need to work on the handling and always getting the gear changes right. Still can't find the right seating position for me either - the Maranello Clib de Masochisti must have designed it. Also if ever a car was crying out for a 6th gear - this is the one!

Thanks to Marc for the car and for the professional way of handling the transaction - it involved a lot of trust. Basically if it wasn't for what I was able to read up on the car from his posts on here I would not have done this -this is a great forum and I hope to continue to pick your brains and contribute when and where I can.

--
Przemek (PoleApart)
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

About 1600 km in total during the 2 days.
I've actually done it a couple of times in 1 go but not in a Ferrari ;-).

Roads in Poland - well some are great like the A2, others nice and empty and winding but others really crap. You need to know where to go. In a couple of years when they finally connect the A2 between the German border and Warsaw it should be great. Now there's about 100 kms missing on each end but the 300 km in the middle is great.

 

I'm actually wondering whether because it's first home was Greece that is the reason why it doesn't have front fog lights. There is a blanking plate between the seats, no light for them on the dash and no bulbs. I thought all 328's had them. Since in winter we need to drive with our lights on this is not good as I must have the pop up lights on all the time.

Still it's now going for a wash and off for a good sleep until the weather gets better.

Here are some more pics - I didn't take a lot because of the weather.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Thanks for the suggestion but this car is staying 100% original, exactly the way it left Maranello. No ghetto alloy wheels or other after market add ons. Anyway - at high speed it's quieter with the pop ups up

 

On the licence plate issue. I can get a personal plate in the format:

W[single digit number] xxxxx

So for example these are possibilities:
W3 28GTS
W1 FORZA
W8 BELLA
W8 FORME
W0 FRARI
W0 FCHAT

At the moment the 2 most likely options I'm considering are either W3 28GTS or W6 DO100 which in Polish means 0-100 in 6 seconds ;-). If anyone has any creative suggestions feel free to contribute.