I think I will always remember this event, and there’s a bunch of reasons for that. I had originally planned to go the British Classic Car Meeting Saint-Moritz a few months before, because last year, I went to the Passione Engadina, an event in the same region only for italian cars, which was incredible thanks to the landscapes and the amazing roads. I had never been to the BCCM and a few friends had told me it was a great event so I figured I really had to go and make my own opinion. A few days before the event though, I received a very bad news, which stressed me a lot. Thus, I hesitated to cancel, but as I couldn’t do anything to improve my situation regarding the bad news I had had, I decided to keep going. At least I wasn’t going to be worrying at home doing nothing. So we took the road towards Saint-Moritz on Friday 11th of July 2014 with Thomas. Text & Images: Mickael B. ©
Introduction – Hit the road
We took the highway to Zürich, Switzerland’s biggest city and a place where there are a lot of nice cars. And not very surprisingly we encountered a few including this very nice light blue Bentley Continental GT and a Porsche 991 Turbo S Convertible. Once you pass Zürich, you have to head towards Chur, where you start climbing in the mountains to the Julier Pass, which is upon my opinion the best mountain pass road in the world. As simply as that. Why ? Well, first of all, the scenery is utterly speechless, between high mountains, rocks, small rivers, and typical swiss mountain farms. Then, the road itself is a two lane, giving you plenty of space to overtake easily, and the tar is perfectly sleek with no potholes. There is as well plenty visibility which is great to anticipate what’s coming ahead. I found it funnier than the Grand Saint-Bernard pass or the Stelvio for instance where the tar quality and road width is not as good. And as soon as we got into the Julierpass, we found ourselves just behind a first generation Aston Martin Vanquish. With the V12 roar on the uphill I could not have imagined something better. I almost had the impression of sitting in the Vanquish because we were hearing the engine so clearly and so loudly.
[x_blockquote type=”center”]The Julier Pass is the best mountain pass road in the world. As simply as that.[/x_blockquote]
We arrived in Saint-Moritz and put our stuff in the youth hostel, where we were staying. Then, we decided to grab something to eat and went afterwards in the city center, just as the night was starting to fall. Near the post office of the ski resort, we found very easily where the cars were going to be starting the rally the next day, with Jaguar having set a great stand to showcase their brand new F-Type, both in coupé and convertible. We continued towards the city center, and arrived in front of the Badrutt Hotel. The Badrutt Hotel is a legend. It was historically the first ski resort hotel ever made, and has remained in the same family ownership since its creation. The Badrutt owns a magnificent 1965 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III that they use for their customers and which was luckily for us just parked outside the Palace, showing that even the most prestigious hotel of Saint-Moritz was supporting the event.
At the Palace were two other british cars which were participating in the event, an Austin Healey 100/6 BN4 and an Aston Martin V8 Volante that went off moments after. So we began to take pictures and impregnate ourselves of this typical engadin atmosphere, breathing the fresh mountain air, looking at this amazing building – which should be called more appropriately a castle – that is the Badrutt. It was starting to rain so we decided not to go further in the village, getting back to our hostel, and waiting for the next morning to see all the cars during the rally. Still, I have to admit this moment spent alone with the Healey, and the arched entrance of the Badrutt was already a very good start of the event. We prayed for some good weather the next day and went to sleep, excited to see what was upcoming.
[x_blockquote type=”center”]Being alone with the Austin Healey and the arched entrance of the Badrutt Palace was probably the best start we could have dreamt of.[/x_blockquote]
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