Alp Attack Is As Tough As It Gets

26 Ottobre 2015 Redazione Eventi, News

It was a normal Thursday afternoon in the peaceful village of Dornbirn in Austria. Every hour the church clocks were singing their songs, the mailman was riding his bicycle from door to door and an old lady walked from her old house to the grocery shop 400 meters away to get her daily amount of activity. A day, just like every other. But all of a sudden the silence got interrupted by a menacing roar coming from the distance… Birds were flying away, children ran from the streets to their houses and front doors got locked. “Alp Attack” was about to start.

It was the beginning of an event full with challenges. Demanding the most out of the cars but also out of the driver’s own physique. Three days filled with driving the best possible driving roads of the region. Climbing 15 mountain passes and attacking at least 1.000 curves. Alp Attack is an event like no others, only for the real drivaholics.

Dornbirn was the place where the Alp Attack participants gathered all together for the start of this adventure. Kicking off with a dinner at an altitude of 1.000 meters, with an overview over the Bodensee. The next morning it was time to start the engines for the first day of driving. Alp Attack held a wide variety of cars participating. There were Italian beauties as the Ferrari 458 and the Maserati Gran Turismo S, but also the Porsche Turbo S, Audi RS6 (704hp) and Ford Mustang (700+ hp) supporting the German and American part. Not to forget the cute and small Mini Coopers and Audi A1, kicking a** big time up in the mountains!

During the first day, participants were ready to attack 4 mountain passes including the Timmelsjoch with a height of 2500 meters. As the day started with some rain, luckily it cleared up and blue skies showed their faces. During the day the drivers got more confident as they were getting used to driving on the narrow mountain roads and the tight corners. This evolved in higher speeds and inevitably in more attention from the police. As we were driving with a group of seven cars through the lovely mountain village of Solden suddenly a police officer jumped in front of the cars. We needed to pull over because of so-called outrageous driving, scaring fellow traffic and waking up the Milka cows (Google it!) from their well deserved September sleep. As the police requested for backup, we could only wait. Frightened by the words of the police, and afraid of what was awaiting us. Finally the moment was there… I have never experienced receiving a (thought to be BIG) fine with so much fun, laughs and relief as this one. The police didn’t know how to punish a group like this so they made up a fine of 35 euro’s, for the whole group! Well, time to continue the trip as there were enough mountains to attack in front us. The whole group paused at the astonishing Silvrettasee for a good view, a nice coffee and some well deserved rest before heading towards the lovely town of Trento where the first day would come to an end.

The second day promised a drive of 390 kilometers in approximately 8 hours. During this day the world famous Passo dello Stelvio was on the agenda. With the sun at the sky and a great group of 40 people this was promised to be a wonderful day. The Stelvio pass is a mentally challenging mountain road. With a lot of tight hairpin corners without good sight of what’s coming down you can imagine it can be scaring. Think about driving a GTR with its terrible turning abilities and not seeing if there is a cyclist coming down, only for drivers with balls of steel. But when you have reached the top of the mountain and you can oversee all these corners with your feet in the snow, it the most satisfying feeling ever. But then you realize, this is just the first mountain pass of the day. With three more to go, all you want is a good energizing lunch and getting back in the car. At the end of this day full of driving it is the best feeling when you enter the parking lot of the luxurious Kurhaus in Cademario, when you know there are some pools and wellness areas to recover and prepare your body for the last day of Alp Attack.

This day three of Alp Attack is the last one.. But the last one isn’t always the easiest. This day was actually the toughest one so far. With 6 mountain passes in 420 kilometers the last parts of energy and concentration were requested of the dedicated Alp Attackers. The pouring rain wasn’t a big motivation when the group departed towards the St Gotthard pass. Where mountains were killed at high speeds during the past days, this first pass was one to approach with the highest state of cautiousness. Nevertheless this group of people stayed together and survived the first of 6 passes of the day. After a cup of coffee and when the weather seemed to get better people ran towards their cars to continue their journey. The next 200 kilometers was only filled with climbing and descending mountains. The Furka, Grimsel and Susten pass are almost attached to each other leaving the Alp Attackers without a moment of rest. After 7 hours of driving it was time to fill in the address of the last hotel. Luzern was the place to navigate to. This evening there was a dinner planned for the whole Alp Attack group together in the hotel Bistro. After the dinner there was a finishing drink at the hotel rooftop terrace with an amazing view over Luzern. Stories were shared, friendships created and plans were being made for the upcoming events. This group of people are immediately infected with the StreetGasm virus after this great weekend. All of them have signed in for one or more upcoming events, with SG2K as the one to look out for the most.

Words and Photo credits: Streetgasm 2K