Europe Meet 2011 (Picture heavy!)

In September 2010, GTOUK received an email from Yves-Andre Peignon of www.3si-fr.net, a 3000GT forum in France, asking if we would be interested in arranging a European meet of our cars.

http://www.gtouk.org.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=49574

8 months later and it’s all finished, but what a meet it was!! AllenPS, Chooch and me (unfortunately Rossi’s car died just before we left so he had to bow out) all headed to the south of France for a meet of 4 countries; France, Spain, Italy and UK. I couldn’t have wanted for better company and the meet itself although was not as well attended as we would have hoped for, in my opinion was a roaring success!!

Day 1

We all meet at Medway M2 services in Kent and head to Dover ferry terminal to begin our journey south.


Excellent!! We’re now in France. So let’s start our 5 hour journey through France to our midway rest point in Bourges. Allen had the smart idea of bringing some radios with him so we could all talk to each other while driving and not run up a stupid mobile bill. Time for some action photos….







An hour or so in and Grace (our 7 year old) already needs to pee so we stop at the first of what we thought would be many service areas. As it turns out, Grace was an absolute angel for the whole trip and there wasn’t a single extra added stop other than for fuel. It’s at this point we realise how much the locals appreciate our cars. We come out from the services to find people stopping and taking pictures of the three of us parked up outside. So we joined in with the appreciation……



We set off again and get some more action shots along the way.




A few hours later and we arrive at our hotel in Bourges and after a small hiccup with the booking, we manage to get some well needed sleep.

Day 2

The following morning, we set off around 11 after some pain au chocolate and wicked strength coffee. Loads more shots of the cars and a few shots from the Millau viaduct too.





























This was the only rain we saw for the entire journey!!




Eventually, we arrive in Cap D’Agde and we’re greeted by signs directing us to the event from all the surrounding routes

At this time, we meet with Yves and hand over the banner I made for the event so he can hang it up bright and early the following morning.

Day 3

It’s the morning of the meet. I arrive around 9:15 and I’m the first of the UK team to arrive as we’re all staying in different places around Agde and the 4th car over all. We stand around and wait for all the different cars from different countries to arrive and chat about all things GTO/3000GT.













Car of the show for me had to be this one. It was simply immaculate in every way!!



At 11:00ish, the photographer arrives and positions us in a more photographic way and takes some snaps to try and sell us later on





Once the photographer had finished, the 13 car convoy begins. The police escort is certainly no slouch and takes us on a route of the surrounding areas, including dual carriageways where we can put our foot down a bit, town centres, the harbour, the beach….










Videos:

These were filmed out the window or sunroof so there is a lot of wind noise but you get the idea.

http://s733.photobucket.com/albums/ww331/staffordcox/Europe%20meet%202011/?action=view&current=-Convoy3.mp4http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww331/staffordcox/Europe%20meet%202011/th_-Convoy3.jpg

Listen out for Ewan’s brakes in this one:
http://s733.photobucket.com/albums/ww331/staffordcox/Europe%20meet%202011/?action=view&current=-Convoy4.mp4http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww331/staffordcox/Europe%20meet%202011/th_-Convoy4.jpg

http://s733.photobucket.com/albums/ww331/staffordcox/Europe%20meet%202011/?action=view&current=-Convoy5.mp4http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww331/staffordcox/Europe%20meet%202011/th_-Convoy5.jpg

http://s733.photobucket.com/albums/ww331/staffordcox/Europe%20meet%202011/?action=view&current=-Convoy6.mp4http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww331/staffordcox/Europe%20meet%202011/th_-Convoy6.jpg

After a cracking tour of Agde, we’ve build up quite an appetite so it’s off to the beach restaurant for a bite to eat. A local security company had been arranged to look after our cars while we eat, which turns out to be a 3 hour affair with a stunning view of the Cap D’Agde beach and Mediteranean sea.




Once we finished dinner, we waddle back to the cars and say our farewells in the 30 degree heat and all go our separate ways.

This has been an amazing event and one that we will definitely be arranging again. In total, we covered 1,556 miles, spent €373(£323) on fuel and €120(£105) on tolls. At a UK average of £1.36 per litre for fuel, I calculate that I was getting approximately 29mpg which I’m not too upset about. It is possible however that I’ve missed a fill up, but I’m going to ignore that and remain quite chuffed.

The discussions on how, when and where the next one will be held will begin in September and will be posted up as soon as something definite is decided. Until then, big thanks go to Carlos (Spain), Cristian (www.3000gt.it, Italy) and especially Yves (www.3si-fr.net, France) for putting this all together. And of course to Ewan and to Allen and Gemma for making the UK portion of the trip so enjoyable. I look forward to seeing some of your photos on here too guys………

Staff

Links to other sites and photos:

http://www.3si-fr.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5473&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

1 Like

Looks a great weekend!!! Well done to all that organised it! Put me down for next yr!!! :slight_smile:

Paul

wow, that does looks awesome, hope you all had a great time :smiley:

Neil.

Great pics and looks like it was a great event/road trip 8)

Craig :slight_smile:

Great photos, Staff.
I’m sure we’re all envious. maybe next time.

:cry: brings a tear to my eye!! glad yous had a good time guys!!

Cheers guys, it was a really good meet. I can’t recommend it enough

Sorry fella, you must be gutted. I hope you’re well on the way to getting her back to her previous great shape??

Great photos, looks like you had a brilliant trip - I’ll make sure I’m available for the next one!

[quote]Looks a great weekend!!! Well done to all that organised it! Put me down for next yr!!! :slight_smile:

Paul[/quote]

I’ll hold you to that guys :wink:

Looks like a fantastic meet.

It’s pics like these that remind me why I bought a GTO, they are such a good looking car.

Mark :wink:

Some good photos so well done to the photographer for hanging out of the window / sunroof. No silver ones then? I will have to change that next year.

Now thats what it all about Fantastic mate, if it wasn’t for me going to Lemans next week i would have sure been there with you.
Done these trips a few times now and still remember what great times they were
Next year for sure.

Malc

Also in the gallery now :smiley:

http://www.gtouk.org.uk/gallery/index.php/2011/europe-meet

Mark

Looks like you had a great time.
Now the first one has been done & tested perhaps more will come next time (including Me)
13 cars overall is a bit dissapointing but i susspect more owners will come from all the countries next time and make it even better.
By the way you didn’t bring the clear cam covers back with you, did you :lol:
Jeff 8)

[quote]Looks like you had a great time.
Now the first one has been done & tested perhaps more will come next time (including Me)
13 cars overall is a bit dissapointing but i susspect more owners will come from all the countries next time and make it even better.
By the way you didn’t bring the clear cam covers back with you, did you :lol:
Jeff 8)[/quote]

Thanks Jeff, we’re hoping the same too. We’ve got a tried and tested formula now and some photo’s to prove it so if we can double the turnout from each country next year, we’ll be over the moon!!

I’ve not heard anything about the cam covers, I’d forgotten all about them to be honest. I’ll email Yves this now and find out where we’re at and update the group buy post as soon as I hear back.

Staff

Looks superb - great pictures, weather, roads, scenery, GTOs. Brilliant.

James

Great job sorting this Staff,

Looks like a fantastic trip, something we will hopefully attend on the next one

Steve & Tracy

Envious as hell. What an excellent trip, and so well put together. Congrats Staff, Allen and Ewan.

I must do what I can to get on board for this whenever the next trip comes round.

I must say also what a fabulous trio of cars representing Old Blighty.

Mike

I really really cant recommend this enough for people considering going to next years event. Start putting a little away each month now so you have no excuse to miss out. We had such a brilliant time, made even better by the excellent company of Staff, Ilana, Grace and Ewan - what a top bunch of people they are. The convoy on the way down was great fun and some of the tunnels kept me grinning for miles after. These cars are made for this sort of event, and between us we had a complete garage tool kit just in case any issues arose.

I’ve taken absolutely hundreds of pictures, but here are a few of my fav…

Great pics Al, brings back some great memories. Can we go again now? :slight_smile: