Departure time from Turin was 10:30 in the morning but because the Alfa GT still struggled with a missing right side window and no satnav I offered to guide them to a garage where the window could be fixed. Carglass didn’t call Menno back at 8 the next morning and when he called them again they were not very helpful. The nearest place where they had a window for the Alfa GT in stock was 200 kilometers the wrong way. Luckily the girl at the reception of the NH hotel in Turin was willing to call a couple Alfa Romeo garages in the city to see if they could help. After a couple tries she got a call back from one of the garages saying they had a window and it could be fixed in about 45 minutes. We jumped in the car and drove to the Alfa garage that was just 1 kilometer away from the hotel. The owner was already waiting for us outside and suprised to see two cars all stickered up Race 2 Raise style.
It took about an hour and 190 euros to get the window fixed and after handing out some stickers we were back on the road with a mission. The others left at 10:30 and by the time we left Torino it was 13:30 so we had a 3 hour delay. This ment there was no way we could make it to the first checkpoint in Monaco in time as most of the cars were already there. I entered the second checkpoint: Villa Belrose in St Tropez into my satnav and we rushed out of Turin onto the highway. Due to very little traffic and good conditions we made good progress towards Monaco. When we stopped for fuel at the coastal highway along the Mediterranean Sea the other teams were still in Monaco. When we passed Monaco 45 minutes later to our suprise a couple Race 2 Raise cars entered the highway at the very same moment. We drove towards St Tropez together with them and saw a couple police traps on the side of the road but no tickets for us. After we left the highway we got stuck in the worst traffic on the way to St Tropez. But the Race 2 Raise cars in the distance worked to Olivier like a red cloth to a Bull! We witnessed some creative driving leaving no piece of driveable roadsurface unused and arrived at the beautiful hotel Belrose as third car!
Some drinks and a jump in the pool later it was time to head towards our hotel in Cannes to prepare for the now infamous white party at the beach. Driving back to the highway we were forced to take a detour due to roadworks and got stuck on a tiny mountain road with about 150 cars and a few campervans blocking oncoming traffic. After about 30 minutes we finally managed to squeeze past the campervans. At the hotel we quickly got changed and gathered downstairs to wait for the taxis to take us to the l’Ecrin plage beachclub in Cannes. Champagne and quality snacks (spring rolls!) served us well after a day hard work. After dinner it was time to party! Our Race2Raise DJ’s Jamie and Bigbooming Bart got the party started in no time. At around 3 am some of us went back to the hotel but a large group decided to carry on elsewhere. After some time and with the help of Bâoli manager we found a couple taxi’s and a club that was still open on the monday night.
The taxi’s took us to club Seven in the centre of Cannes. Club Seven looks more like a livingroom then like a real nightclub, for those familiar with Cannes it looks like the cheap sister of ‘the Loft’. When we entered the club it was nearly empty but thirty people dressed in white certainly spiced things up. The resident DJ was sending out tunes like he was in a state of unconsciousness, not the thing you need when you want a good party to kick off, so after a little while we tried to kick the resident DJ out of his booth and replace him with our own DJ’s. Easier said then done, he wouldn’t give up his spot until all of us cleared the dancefloor and someone handed him an unknown ammount of money… With Jamie and Bart back where they belong we kept dancing till the early hours. Favorite tune during this night: I’m from Holland! Where the f* ck you from?
Pictures:
At a small Alfa Romeo Dealership in Turin:
Checkpoint at Villa Belrose in St Tropez:
On the way to Cannes:
White party in Cannes:
More Race2Raise:
