I'm from the UK and lived in Kent, which is the nearest county to Calais and the Eurotunnel, so I've been over to France, Germany and Spain a couple of times. My advice regarding speeding etc is to have a similar attitude to the US. There are cameras and radars but mostly on the motorways. Returning from le mans one year in a Fiat 20v turbo I tagged onto the back of a group of TVR's and managed some good speed without worry as I knew the first few cars in the group would be caught. We were then overtaken by a E46 CSL doing about 160 who two miles later was getting a good telling off by the gendarmes. They take you to a cash point for you to pay an instant fine. Germany isn't as good as you'd think for autobhans as tgey are busy but they are quieter at night/early morning. Parking is a non issue as people will not deny your car etc. It's not like Paris in the 70's where bumpers were used for exactly that.

I've done the Glossglockner and Nurburgring. They both get very busy but are great fun. Quite scary as if you go over the edge on the Glossglockner you will have a huge drop. Crashing at the ring is a disaster as the barrier repair is hugely expensive. Atmosphere at the ring is amazing and the car park is a source of entertainment for hours. You can rent race cars there pretty cheap.

To simplify things you could just rent a sports car and then rent a track car at the ring.

One other thing! Petrol is like €1.30 a litre so just be aware of that.

When I return from Dubai to Ireland I might get my car shipped to Greece and then drive it from there. Euro trips are great fun.i took Europe for granted when I was there. There is just so much to see.

 

Perfect excuse to do a euro delivery of a new Porsche/BMW/Audi.

 

That's some great info, thanks! The more I think about it, the more I'm beginning to see that the Nurburgring is a must. I have way more desire to go for some spirited driving up a twisting mountain pass than to go 300km/h on a straightaway, but that's just me. Just hanging out for the day and going for a few passes on the Nurburgring seems like it would be amazing.

 

You'll love the ring but beware as its an intimidating place. Tourist days get very busy and bikes sharing the track with cars don't help. I nearly took out a biker in my s2000 that tried out raking me unsuccessfully. Lots of track closures when I was there to scrape the the bikers off the track. It's a very long, narrow and up n down track so it takes hundreds of laps to master. Just treat it as a fast alpine drive and you'll be ok. Some locals absolutely hammer it and you have to look out for them. I remember looking in my mirror and seeing a small blue dot miles back and thinking I have some space to concentrate on looking forwards. A few seconds later a blue e36 screamed past leaving my car shaking. The car park after revealed it was a stripped out supercharged race car with 450bhp on 1100kg. You will love the variety of cars and atmosphere. A real motoring mekka. The roads around it in the Eiffel mountains are also awesome!!

 

I looked into the same thing and ended up renting a 911 for a few days out of the 3 weeks we were there. As others have said watch you speed where there is a posted limit. I received 3 tickets, all by camera. The police charge the rental car company $30, or something like that, to send them the info and sometimes the police send you a ticket back to the states and sometimes not. If you plan a trip to the Nürburgring check the calendar to see if it is a public driving day or not.

 

Im also from Kent/London border and two years ago had a long weekend in Lille France. Sailed from Dover UK to Dunkirk France and bombed down the A25 to Lille without trouble. Hopped from France into Belgium and headed along the E17 to Ghent & Bruges. Belgium is great as its very flat with straight motorways/Highways/Interstates (however they translate).

Have to agree with JR2 that 100mph= for long periods does get a little tiresome and monotonous but those 10 min short bursts on a straight road gets the heart pumping. On my travels i didnt see a single cop, maybe i got lucky as these city hops were only 1/2hr-1hr journeys each.

I'm planning to visit a friend in Hamm, Germany later this year and try the autobahns whilst in Germany of course if the timing coincides i'll happily keep driving and meet & greet at any of the given locations on your bucket list.

 

996 turbo / GT2 forum meet up? :-))

 

I would love to do a meet up! That would be a highlight for sure!

 

We'll I'm a sheep in wolfs clothing, a C4S owner does that qualify?

 

More EU travel info:
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice..._equipment.pdf

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice...eas/index.html

 

Pardon for bumping 2 yr old thread but did you end up shipping your car to Europe? Which company did you use to ship it back? I shipped mine to Europe few months back but quotes I am getting to ship it back are just through the roof. Stuck and trying to find a reasonably priced service to do RoRo or consolidated cargo.

 

 

I have a 911 in Europe that ended up there for similar reasons as this thread but I haven't registered or really driven it due to life situation changes. Considering bringing it back, maybe we can share a container? I'm near Toronto as well...