Col de Turini Tour V – Running Wild

9 July 2019 Redazione Events, Lifestyle, News

COL DE TURINI TOUR V

RUNNING WILD

Words by Andrea Balti / Photos by Giorgia Rossi

More kilometers, more curves and the same uncontrollable spirit of conquest for the most legendary hill-climb of the Montecarlo rally.

“We’ll save our tires another day” – yes, because in the end the Col de Turini manages to maintain that magical appeal that makes you disconnect your brain and live each bend as if it was the very last one. This year, in the true sense of the word, given the traffic of bikers that surprised us during the very first part of the tour and that we had to dodge like on a giant slalom especially on a portion of road literally covered with gravel. If anyone had any doubts about the Turini’s rallying nature, this fifth edition undoubtedly casts off every most remote sort of perplexity.

The early morning sun is hot and we have betrayed the Principality of Monaco in favor of a more comfortable location, a wider area and above all free from the stringent terror that grips supercars and sports cars owners, now targeted by the Monegasque police officers as soon as they rev up to 1,000 rpm. There is space to park all the cars, meet the other drivers and take a look at the road book, which this year presents a completely updated itinerary that will see us continuing northwards, towards the Colle della Lombarda, thus entering Italy in the area around ​​Vinadio. After just a few minutes, the arrivals are getting more and more numerous and the parking area is filled with all kinds of sports cars, the voices of those present are interrupted by the mumbling of some eight cylinders, ranging from the timeless elegance of some Maseratis, to the inspiration of unique wraps, like a mirror Audi TT, a two-tone S3 and the Focus RS of our convoy leader – Mr Sapone – an exceptional camouflage design with half the car on dark tones and half on light tones. Looking around, there are AMG A45, AMG GTR, Ferrari F430, the inevitable delegation of Mazda MX-5, but also Toyota GT86, Lotus Exige V6 350 Sport, Mustang and much more. What do they have in common? They will lick their chops at every turn.

The same applies to the Audi-Porsche RS2, nicely renamed as the traveling workshop, due to the owner’s continuous work in progress, which however – between one refueling and the other – perfectly keeps up with cars much younger and certainly less demanding. These are people who do not want to waste time on long speeches, endless lunches or museum visits. Time to upset sweet Greta, who at least for today will have to forgive us, engines and spirits are lit. Seeing the convoy of cars moving the first few meters towards Sospel is always an emotion and despite the fact that we have reached the fifth edition, anxiety is the feeling that in the first minutes makes it as the undisputed master. Abandoning the sea view we dive among the bare rocks that wrap around the introducing kilometers of the Col du Castillon, halfway between Menton and Sospel. Then it is just like pressing a switch and everything takes on another meaning. The road ahead does not hide the beauty of a landscape that never seems to change and preserve an innate aura of mystery, casting in those deep valleys dominated by mountains that rise and host buildings equally capable of arousing curiosity, convincing you that you will come back here again, to visit the area without haste, but also to shoot gear after gear as god commands.

A few kilometers slip away, but from here to the top of the Turini we come across an impressive number of bikers. Some risk their lives at every turn, others prefer a pace that almost never exceeds 5 kph (no mistakes, trust me). Apart from this, the classic “Col” hairpin bends give us the first strong emotions. They are always there, with that typical stone wall to the side and the desire to make the rear of the car to widen, throw the gas down and then jump on the brake while preparing the next switchback. We continue with this dance of perfect synchrony between arms and feet and reach the 1,607 meters of the Col de Turini, where we have the first stop and step inside the Hotel, this time without having lunch. It is impossible not to be captured by the atmosphere created by those walls covered with commemorative plaques, photographs, autographs and any motor memorabilia, but it is equally impossible to resist long away from the cars. Time to move again, towards La-Bollène-Vésubie, for another dose of asphalt coils shaken between rocks on one side and a scary cliff on the other. The group is compact, the tranquillity of the Valley is now a distant memory and the group makes its way up to the Col du Saint-Martin, for a break at a temperature far more pleasant than that of the strenuous heat of recent days.

Up to Isola then and so we climb at an altitude of 2000 meters up to the feet of the Colle della Lombarda, where we have the opportunity to unleash the horses thanks to the perfect condition of the road and the width of the curves that lead up to the winter resort aptly called Isola 2000. Still all very compact we are preparing to enter the marvelous panorama of the Lombarda, where however we are surprised by a bit of rain and a thick fog. It is necessary to lighten the pace and proceed with caution. The road is also inevitably narrower and some cars coming from the opposite direction force us to let the hot spirits relax. The descent on the Italian side, towards Vinadio, continues without strong emotions, but acts as a psychophysical cool-down, accompanying us without any frenzy up to the Birra Anima location, a very young company that produces six types of craft beer. It is here that the cars are arranged and we finally manage to quench our thirst and eat, already satisfied for curves.

The Col de Turini Tour changes every year, but for this fifth edition we have increased the total mileage and changed a good 70% of the itinerary, always paying great attention in order to offer participants a rewarding experience from the driving point of view, as well as for the places crossed and able to give moments of fun and aggregation, also thanks to a careful selection of the joining teams. There were 199 kilometers traveled for this fifth edition and while we are already working to make a sixth edition even more exciting, there is nothing to do but to thank all those who took part this year, making it another event accomplished better than we could expect. Seeing the satisfied faces of those present, listening to the comments and relive these emotions by observing every single photograph, repays every effort put into play in order to highlight a Sunday different from the others, one of those day on the calendar that are underlined for a very specific reason – today it’s all about fun. And we had fun, you and us, thanks to you for being the true engine of a passion that makes life a fantastic journey to travel all together, even better if on a winding mountain road.

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