Just back after a big trip over the weekend - I was lucky enough to be able to get down to Monaco for the GP. Late notice of the trip meant there was no way we were going to be able to get flights at sensible money so we took the car

The skoda was just awesome on the French autoroutes, quick, comfortable, spacious etc. My new Garmin nav did a great job too, really glad I made the effort to integrate this in the dash so no trailing wires.

We saw a lot of police speed traps on the way down so took it pretty easy, cruise set at 150kph just about the whole way down.

Returning after the GP had finished we took turns driving and snoozing and did the whole trip back in one go without stops. Left Monaco at 6pm and was back in Oxford having a coffee at 7.30am on the Monday morning. The trip back was much quicker - after about 10pm there was not much traffic around, and we virtually had the Autoroutes to ourselves between mid-night and our 5am arrival at the Eurotunnel, so higher speeds were possible ;-)

Overall, 1,919 miles there and back, 28hrs 31m driving time according to the computer and 31mpg overall which his very impressive given the speeds..

This is my first big Euro road trip in the car and i have to say its very impressive. The Weitecs are just perfect on those smooth French Autoroutes.

The GP was also excellent and the whole "monaco-on-gp-weekend" experience was just fantastic - it really is one of those must do before you die things for any petrolhead.

Oh, and we were the ONLY Skoda in Monaco..!

Glad you had a good weekend, We will be down in Monaco in about 8 weeks for our hols.

Will be driving as well.

We managed to drive back last year door to door in 12.5 hrs in a Roomster TDi and we left at 8.30am.

Did you have seats? i Have been down 3 times and have sat on the hill twice witch is great fun but you need to take a small shoval to dig a seat!

im Soooo jealous Had to make do with the TV but glad you had a good time and the car fared well on the long trip

We had grandstand seats for qually which were really good, just after tabac so you could see all the track from exit of the tunnel to the swiming pool. For sunday we were slumming it up on Rocher hill - actually not a bad place to watch from - you get a view over the whole of the marina and we could see pretty much from the tunnel exit up to rascasse but obviously the cars looked pretty small from up there. With the F1 iphone app giving us live timing it was still a great place to be. And yes, we had to carve out some "seats" in the dirt on the hill otherwise you'd just slip down the whole time!

Grandstand for sat - 220 euro IIRC and rocher (general entry) for sun about 65 euro. I think a grandstand for sun was circa 400 euro which was a bit too steep for us.

We drove to the Gorge du Verdon in Provence for our hols last June. For those of you who watch Top Gear, it was the area where J C tested an Audi RS4 against a couple of rock climbers and is a stunning area for touring and general sight seeing

One day, we drove the 70 or so miles from where we were staying to Monaco. Not knowing any other street names to plot into my TomTom, I set it for Casino Square and arrived in front of the Casino in my vRS, amongst some of the most stunning machinery you could imagine.

There were plenty of Rollers, Bentleys, Ferraris and Lambos, but only one Skoda!!!

Edited 1 June, 201115 yr by Mouldy

I have free tickets for Silverstone along with hotel and parking

If any of you are going we could have a mini meet at Becket's car park

I want to do this next year, just got to get some friends to come with me. I'll get someone to share the driving. How much all in did it cost (fuel, food, etc)? Did you buy tickets in advance? I'm guessing Monaco is an expensive place. Did hear of a story of someone buying what should have been a £15 bottle of scotch for £360!

Hmm.... fuel for the trip..... 1919 miles divided by the 31mpg that the OP mentioned = 62 gallons of fuel.

62 multiplied by 4.54 to convert to litres = 281.48 litres

281.48 litres multiplied by cost of £1.35 (local shell standard fuel) = £379.99

That sound about right Rob??

I set it for Casino Square and arrived in front of the Casino in my vRS, amongst some of the most stunning machinery you could imagine.

There were plenty of Rollers, Bentleys, Ferraris and Lambos, but only one Skoda!!!

There was a Roomster parked there last year

You just drive up to the front of the Casino and stop and give one of the valets the keys and they give you a chip with a no on it and park for you!!

Just went into the casino for a looky and stayed in there for about 10mins and came out and the got the car for you to get in and just drop them a small tip.

And all the people standing watching out the front wonder who the person in the Roomster is to get there car parked for them!!!!!!

Then went and found a nearby car park and went car spotting!!!

This one was subtle,

Twin triple exhausts

Hmm.... fuel for the trip..... 1919 miles divided by the 31mpg that the OP mentioned = 62 gallons of fuel.

62 multiplied by 4.54 to convert to litres = 281.48 litres

281.48 litres multiplied by cost of £1.35 (local shell standard fuel) = £379.99

That sound about right Rob??

Can't fault your logic. I have all the fuel receipts but I have not sorted them out yet or added it all up. That mileage is from my home in oxford and back, plus we did a small detour (a couple of hrs) on the way out to drive some of the N85 Route Napoleon- gave up on that idea due to heavy rain and low visibility but i guess that added both time and miles that you could miss out if you just went direct. Our trip back was just m-way and autoroute.

BTW you'll need to add about 180 Euro for Autoroute (motorway) tolls too. Even so, if split a couple of ways that is cheaper than the cost of the sleazyjet tickets we found - also the drive is FUN and you have the flexibility obviously. Personally I hate airports - i have to do air-travel for work so i appreciate any chance to drive instead of fly.

Martyn - I was a guest of a mate who lives down there so we didn't have to pay for accomodation or meals out or our tickets, so it wasn't actually an expensive weekend. Add in the company paying for my fuel and my only real expenses were the eurotunnel (£103) and tolls. From what I've read the costs of accomodation in Monaco itself is pretty high, but you could easily stay somewhere close-ish and just use the train or bus to get in/out every day. The train station is right next to the track. The restaurants we ate at were actually very reasonable - ie not hugely inflated for the weekend - they were not cheap (its Monaco afterall) but not silly money. General stuff like buying a ham and cheese baguette and a couple of bottles of water on race day is not more here than any other GP (like, 4 euro for the sandwich and 2 euros for a bottle of water). I would recommend though if you're going to do it, make it a trip of a lifetime and spash out - you only live once!

Sounds brilliant Rob

Get any decent photos?

Sounds brilliant Rob

Get any decent photos?

I was too busy having a good time to take many pics, but I have a few - i'll post some later.

I was too busy having a good time to take many pics, but I have a few - i'll post some later.

As promised:

New Garmin nav was very useful, but clouds looming as we near Grenoble.

Heavy rain and low clouds Nr Sisteron (N85) in the Alps for our breakfast stop. We gave up on the "Napoleon" idea after this due to the weather and headed off back towards the Autoroute.

Arrived in Monaco, parked up outside the apartment. The car spent the weekend tucked away in the underground storage. No surprise: we were the only Skoda in Monaco.

Mates Dickie and Ajd with Birthday boy Burnsie have a group hug in the pit lane on Friday.

View from the K3 grandstand at "tabac", looking towards the tunnel..

.. and looking the other way, towards the swimming pool and Rascasse.

very jealous!!! :-)

European driving is just so refreshing, we went down to Andalucia last week (bottom of Spain) 3500 miles in a week but a joy to drive, usual speed traps in France but only saw one in Spain. With all the EU money pumped into Spain over the last few years it has fantastic but empty roads.

yes, did 3000 miles in france last week and loved it!

yes, did 3000 miles in france last week and loved it!

Next year go to Spain, go into the mountain regions, Avoid the Costas like the plague. A couple of years ago we did some of the rally Catalunya stages, awesome & empty, just avoid the holiday season

recheck the fuel calculations, as they are all at UK prices, having just read an article on BBC, France is £1.55 per gallon for Petrol, so diesel will be close so more expensive than UK now.

See link

My link

recheck the fuel calculations, as they are all at UK prices, having just read an article on BBC, France is £1.55 per gallon for Petrol, so diesel will be close so more expensive than UK now.

See link

My link

Diesel is taxed less in France & Spain & is noticably cheaper than petrol, In Spain last week we were paying 1.22 Euros a litre at the local garage & only 1.28 on the Motorways. Cant exactly remember the French prices as we managed with only one fill up each way but Im think it was around 1.44 Euros a litre, France with the tolls though works out more expensive than the Uk for a trip but its a joy to knock off hundreds of miles at high speed. From Southern Spain up to our stop in France it was about 750 miles & we averaged just over 80 & thats with the cruise set at 95 (90 on Tom Tom) to minimise any potential fine. Spain also once you get a little way in has no tolls, just miles of empty roads that the EU ( WE !!!!!) have paid for

Fuel price comparison

Note European ones are in Euros or the local currency if not in the EU

http://www.theaa.com/onlinenews/allaboutcars/fuel/2011/may2011.pdf

At the bottom of the UK page look at the percentage thats tax, makes the blood boil !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited 11 June, 201115 yr by Stuart_J

Just a quick update on this thread:

I've just totted up my french receipts, comes to approx £400 quid overall, six fillups whilst i was abroad. I can't remember how much fuel was in the tank when i went over or how much was left when i got back unfortunately, but it gives you an idea.

FWIW the price i was paying was 1.63-ish euro per litre for the highest rated octane i could see at the pumps.

Sounds like you had a great weekend rob, very jealous!

However, I think my OCD would go into melt-down at the chips and bugs I would get on the front of my car on a similar trip!

.. I think my OCD would go into melt-down at the chips and bugs I would get on the front of my car on a similar trip!

Nahh.. couple of minutes with a brillo pad and you're sorted.

Use the car for what it's intended for, otherwise what's the point of having it

Bugs easily wash off and stonechips are just a fact of life really....

AND you get the satisfaction of returning it to pristine after it returning from the trip in 'well-used' condition

This is good reading. It is my turn to drive to Le Mans for the 24hr race next year and I can't wait to take the VRS. For the past 2 yaers we've been going in my mates VX220T, and although suprisingly comfortable AND being able to get our camping gear in the 'storage compartment' (!), I can't wait to take the VRS for a blast.

It's also another one of those things that every motorsport fan/petrolhead should do, I can highly recommend it

btw - We were paying euro 1.68 for 95 octane - and you thought the UK was expensive!!!

Edited 20 June, 201115 yr by weyland