If you say that driving is something that you love, if you are a proud and courageous long distance journey motorist, or a sports car-motorbike lover looking for tracks to test your skills or enjoy your horsepower. If you are a mighty mercenary upon your touring motorcycle or a powerful athlete upon your bike… if you are a traveller exploring and looking for the top places you can visit,
Then… Boom!
You have to accept the Stelvio Pass challenge.
As I was driving in Switzerland heading South, I had either to enter Italy the easy way on the motorway (Como) or the exciting, tricky, dangerous, risky, hard, funny, difficult, unknown, time-consuming, highlighted, and many more adjectives to describe, way. So after this sentence, it is easy to understand which one way I took.
The challenge was huge as I was investigating nice driveways and I didn’t reach any second thoughts.
My strategy was this: ‘Boom! Let’s Go!’
My car agreed by saying: ‘ !’
2,770 meters high, on the Alps through the mountain peaks between many smaller or larger rivers, where I was refilling my bottles with fresh Alpic water occasionally.
Driving South in Switzerland for 2-3 hours from Chur through Umbrailpass, that was the first exposure, or in other words, the introduction, of the incredible experience. Amazing Switzerland, as I was entering the Italian Alps side, I fall onto a triple crossroad.
1. is the way from CH where I came from,
2. is the way to Stelvio Pass,(and Bolzano)
3. is a way to unexplored adventures. (Bormio, Italy)
It looked like this place was the old tollbooth and a meeting place back to when the tolls still were on.
Taking the turn No.2 to this legendary Stelvio place, it is another 5 minutes drive to arrive in the Stelvio pass ‘meeting place‘. Unfortunately, I don’t have a photo of that place but it looks like a city square, with shops around appropriate to take a nice break and slow the time down.
Hundreds of people. Street food ready for the hungry motor warriors, accessories shops, souvenir shops, hospitality places. Classic cars and sports cars amongst the regular ones, motorcycles on and off-road style, touring motorcycles, and hundreds of brave athletes on their bicycles!
The uphill had just ended in my occasion and the downhill would start from then on.
Time to spend some money. Food and souvenirs. My favourite expenses.
Any kind of souvenirs and memorable ways on the
one hand; taking brave videos, highlighting the detailed built of the car in the amazing nature background of rocky grey Alps that expand into green countless slopes and the blue sky permanent frame, artistically showing some clouds every now and then, with the road Passo Dello Stelvio spreading like a snake to as far as the eye can see with its hairpin turns…
And on the other hand, practicing the driving skills on a highly demanding road, bringing the vehicle on its limits in a rare performing situation, facing a very rare kind of driving where balance between the use of breaks and the engine’s RPM is essential as well as the accuracy of handling the vehicle, when size matters…
I was driving my Jaguar X-type 2.0 with a Diesel engine, my trustworthy wheeled mate for my long travels around Europe (+UK+Balkan…) mainly. (so far)
There might have been around 30 hairpin turns on my uphill through Swiss Alps and then the number must be another 48, 150-180 degrees turns on my downhill through the Italian Alps. The challenging drive lasts about 1 hour without the break(s), starting from Santa Maria Val Mustair, Switzerland, and driving through the old tolls, Stelvio Pass and finishing in Gomagoi, Italy. It depends on how extremely someone drives of course.
This track is enough to overheat your breaks, overheat your engine or compartments of it and even break your vehicle down and even exhaust you as a driver. I had some problems as well. Fortunately, my Jag made it out for the medal all alive.
Nothing compares to the satisfaction you can get after completing one of the most highlighted places of driving interest.
Stelvio Pass challenge passed! Medal collected! Boom!
The Purpose 