Alpine Grand Prix 2021 | Conquering The Giants Of The Alps

28 July 2021 Redazione Events, News, Stories

ALPINE GRAND PRIX

Conquering The Giants Of The Alps

Words Andrea Albertazzi / Photos Giorgia Rossi

Gargantuan, ambitious, insane. I run through my head searching for the ideal adjective to describe this year’s Alpine Grand Prix, a 400km tour de force on mountain roads, crossing the three giants of the French Alps and throwing up to 10, 11, or even 12 passes into the game. The scenario is that of something definitive, an event that marks the boundary between the ordinary and something unthinkable, especially taking into account that everything has to be done in a single day, within just 7 hours, excluding the lunch break and the stops planned in the most strategic points so to allow participants to fully enjoy the majestic panorama that appears in front of their eyes, once at the height of the clouds. It will be epic and it will be unrepeatable.

Never as on this occasion, the teams are not made up of occasional drivers. It takes the right ingredients, it takes pure love and the utmost dedication. It can be perceived by the cars lined up, which represent the perfect combination of performance and driving involvement. Everyone arrive on time immediately after the first lights of dawn, while the town of Courmayeur is still asleep under a clear sky. Mont Blanc is right in front of us and being able to distinguish its most intimate ripples so clearly, gives us hope for a favorable weather. After a quick breakfast, accreditation and briefing, the crews prepare for the ultimate climb, for the first time without even knowing if at some point it will be better to wave white flag and head home before having crossed all the passes.

Everyone knew it wouldn’t been an easy cruise – as well as the health emergency that implies negative tests in the absence of a vaccine – helped to select a smaller number than usual. Only the bravest, only those who see this day as a mission to accomplish rather than a picnic with other sports car enthusiasts. The engines start up and abruptly interrupt the quiet at the feet of the mountains. And as the convoy heads for the first checkpoint of the day, everything suddenly takes shape. Without even realizing it and with the curves beginning to follow one another, the most absurd Alpine Grand Prix ever comes to life. The die is cast, there is no more time for second thoughts.

The pace is marked by a pair of Alfa Romeo 4Cs, two white racers that launch head-down into the heart of the Piccolo San Bernardo pass. A line-up of Porsche Caymans, including a 718 GT4 driven by an experienced gentleman driver, who despite the arrogance of his car, has not given up on elevating the style factor, wearing shirt and suspenders. Fantastic. Then Mustang, BMW 1M Coupe, Corvette C7 Z06, Ferrari California, 911 GT3 and GR Yaris follow closely. The group is initially quite compact and while the road is still all for ourselves, we cross the French border and aim our gaze towards the first real playground of the day: the Col de l’Iseran.

With the staff cars, including the surprisingly good Ford Puma ST made available by our friends at Ford Italia, to keep the group compact, we pass a sunny Val d’Isère and things finally start to get serious, climbing up to an altitude of 2,764, on top of the first of the three alpine giants. The sun is now high in the sky, no trace of clouds, but the air is fresh and favors the appetite and the desire to get back on the road and attack the south side, devouring the transfer across Val Cenis, towards Col du Télégraphe and then Valloire. A lot of petrol has already burned out and after the minutes useful for a quick stop at the refueling pump, it’s time for the Col du Galibier. The road climbs in an even more scenic way and while the horsepower horde runs along the asphalt snake, we reach 2,642 meters. Another checkpoint, other photos, other moments to feast the eyes in front of mother nature’s masterpiece.

Next page of the road book and the tires screech along the curves of the Col du Lautaret, where the valley opens up further and constantly offers postcard views. The road becomes faster and after having eaten an indefinite number of switchbacks, untying the engines is just what was needed. After crossing the center of Briançon, it’s time to take one of our favorite passes, the Col d’Izoard. It is not so much for the length of the road, or for the typology of its bends, as for the magic offered by its lunar landscape, images that you absolutely cannot get used to. At the Refuge Napoleon it is time to stop and put something in our stomachs, taking advantage of the terrace reserved for our crews, overlooking the hairpin bends of the northern side, wrapped in the embrace of rocky mountains that seem to host you in the belly of another planet.

The hours pass quickly, the tiredness begins to be felt, but there is all the intention of continuing and completing the mission. Again on the move, descending the south side, passing Vars and then the Col de Vars, then touching Jausiers on time for the third alpine giant, the majestic Col de la Bonette. You get there by gulping down the wonderful stretch of the Col du Restefonde, with its stone bridges, its abandoned forts and the background that first enters your heart and then your soul. 2,715 meters, but there are still a few kilometers, along the ring that leads us to the monolith, located at 2,802 meters. This is the roof of Europe, this is the end of a day to say the least intense, but which has been able to give emotions that we will hardly remove from our skull.

Yet it is not over here, as the Colle della Lombarda is still in store, with its hairpin bends that take us back to Italy, where it is time to release the tension and get on the way home, while the sun – which kept us company for the entire marathon – begins to descend and is about to set. Not a simple tour, not even an event, but a proper adventure. A challenge with yourself, won hands down by every single participant, more than ever the real protagonists who have had the merit of conquering the peaks of a dozen of the most beautiful roads of the old continent, one after the other. This time we played the Russian roulette, but after about 10 hours of driving, the heroes here proved to be the right people for the task. Thanks and never like on this occasion, congratulations to everyone!