Bertus Hengstman is a mini fanatic in heart and soul. Everything he does in his free time breathes Mini. Well, not everything, but a lot is. For a few years he had been thinking about going to Monaco with a small number of classic Mini's via the Col de Turini. On 22 August the big day for the company arrived, a Minirit to Monaco with maximum pleasure.
"Enough people who like the idea," says Bertus, "but when the date is known, many people will drop out. But luckily I found a good co-organizer in Marco Bastiaanssen. ”
“The route I had in my head had to go over the Col de Turini and end up in Monaco. Several film locations of the Italian Job from 1969 were added later (I have a whole book of these locations). And because I drive an Innocenti Mini Cooper, we would also visit Milan. Here are still old remains of the Innocenti and Lambretta factory. "
Bertus: “A year earlier I had already started writing a beautiful route on paper. You go with a few older cars on the road, so driving a 500 km motorway in one day is the maximum. I had already roughly plotted the route on Google Maps and had already given an idea of the distance before it was drawn in more detail on maps. It was more difficult to set a date that would suit every member of the group. But that also worked out eventually. ”
The company started in Goor and arrived via Rheinmünster on Sunday evening in Chesières (Switzerland) in Switzerland. Bertus continues: “On the way we visited the car museum in Mulhouse, because you obviously don't want to miss that. There are a lot of special cars. ”
The next day the Great St. Bernhard Pass and Turin were on the program. Bertus: “We had very thick fog on St. Bernhard.” In Turin, of course, the film locations were visited, where the Minis come from during a wedding and the place where the gold was transferred from the hijacked Fiat bus in the Mini Coopers. .
After spending the night in the Italian town of Trinita, the Minis hurried over the Col de La Lombarde (2350 mtr), a beautiful mountain pass on the border of Italy and France and the Col de Turini (1607 mtr) towards Monaco. "That was very special, because the rally-Coopers wrote history on the Col de Turini," he continues. “Via Monaco we finally arrived in San Remo and spent the night there on the Mediterranean Sea. Great atmosphere, to be there with our classic Mini's. ”
The route continued via a beautiful coastal road towards Varazze, then nicely inland to the north, to arrive in Milan in the afternoon. Bertus: "As planned, we visited the remains of the Innocenti and Lambretta factories there."
From Orsengio, Italy and via Lake Como the route led to Bellinzona, and further to the town of Airolo. “That's where the Gotthard Pass starts, and from there we drove to Maienfeld, also known as the land of Heidi. Via Liechtenstein we arrived at our overnight place for that day, the Austrian Damüls. "
Friday was the real driving day for the team, it turned out, because for the last time we really had to go to Ravensburg, known for its beautiful puzzles, and a piece of motorway to be able to continue driving better. To end up somewhere under Ulm via the Romantic Road, the Mini lovers spent the night in Mespelbrunn near Frankfurt.
Bertus: “On Saturday, a fantastic ride came to an end, which had been in the planning for years, and where it finally came about. We had a great time with six of us, without any hassle or problems. In 8 days we have traversed 8 countries and driven 3500 km, without special defects to the Mini's. ”
Yes remains a nice article