Luxury Car Crime Ring Busted!

It’s not exactly ‘Life in The Fast Lane’ material but I was so delighted to hear last week that Police finally caught a 24-strong gang that has been stealing luxury cars such as Range Rovers and Lexus in the Costa del Sol area.  They found a very big storage area in Marbella filled with such cars waiting to find their way to Morocco or Romania where they often break the cars into spares.  At least, one has the chance to buy one’s own bits back through such things as E.Bay!

Having suffered twice at the hands of this vile mob this year alone with Range Rovers, I am very interested to hear what happens next.  Chances of getting my cars back are remote but at least it may not happen to others quite so much now.  Well done the Spanish Police!

Life in The fast Lane: To Rally or Not to Rally ?

My motoring life though continues at a pace with plenty of things going on and so too at the Classic & Sportscar Club.

Rally Sierra Nevada Classic

A couple of weeks ago a Belgian group of rally enthusiasts organised a Rally called the ‘Sierra Nevada Classic’ which I was instrumental in getting off the ground.  The rally started from the Kempinski Hotel near Estepona and a super dinner was enjoyed by all the international competitors from around Europe and the UK the night before the first cars set off for a loop around the mountains. A long first day took in a fabulous climb up and out of Estepona towards Guenalgaucil and through the famous 17 kms cork forest stage above Gaucin towards Ubrique .  A quick lunch stop at the superb Restaurante El Paisaje at Atajate was much enjoyed and much needed by crews coping with the high heat.  Most cars made it through unscathed although a few suffered high engine heat after the long climbs.

Day one finished back at the Kempinski Hotel with another excellent dinner and some great stories to enjoy!

The next two nights focused on the fabulous city of Granada where my next event, The ‘Tour Sierras Altas’ would be based the following week.

The rally had an excellent entry list with a variety of classic (Pre 1983) cars such as Jayne Wignall driving one of two V8 Sunbeam Tigers from 1966.  MGBs, Austin Healey, Porsches, Alfas, Jaguars, Mercedes and other beautiful cars filled up the remaining places.

After Granada it was on to the racetrack at Guadix, over the mountains until the rally finished near Almeria after 6 days of competition. The outright winners were Stephan Vanhoecke and Kurt Verellen  in their Austin Healey 3000 with Hanns Proenen and his wife Resi runners up in their Mercedes 280E.  In the hotly contested regularity  section of 35 tests, two UK crews took the top spots with James and Fiona Willis in their MGC winning followed by top lady, Jayne Wignall co-driven by Kevin Savage second in their glorious Sunbeam Tiger.  Next event for these guys is on the island of Sardinia next year.

Tour Sierras Altas

I mentioned earlier that our own Tour, the ‘Tour Sierras Altas’ took place the following week starting from Malaga with a first night stop and a Gala welcome dinner in Jaen.  Our second day took in the mountains of the Sierra Maginas and finished that night in Ubeda with a ‘free’ night to explore the multitude of Tapas bars in this lovely town.  Something all crews did with relish!

Day three saw the route head across the mountains to finish in Granada where another ‘free’ night allowed everyone to experience some of the Tapas and delights of this wonderful city.

Day 4 was a ‘sort of’ rest day with a very short 75 Km loop that morning to take in the mountainous old road up to the Ski resort of Sierra Nevada at 2500 metres.  Stunning views and great driving roads was the much appreciated reward for this and then a terrific party & dinner was enjoyed at a first-class restaurant in Granada followed by a rather late bar in the Hotel to finish!

The Tour departed Granada on day 5 and finished the event at Restaurante La Bohemia in Coin where a super lunch was enjoyed before crews said their ‘Goodbyes’ and started to think about the next CSCC long Tour which will be the ‘Tour La Luz’ at the end of January.

When is a Rally NOT a rally ?

A point I would like to make here that many fail to understand is that these events are NOT ‘Rallies’.. Many other Clubs in our area (and others) call their events ‘rallies’.  They are not.  A rally is a timed event, timed to the second or less, and involves cars with safety equipment, navigation equipment and usually need permission and / or a license to run.  Our events, and those of many others are simply ‘Tours’ or excursions and, although uniquely in the case of the CSCC, use very professional rally-style navigation, there is no timing involved.  We do not wish people to think that we are organising rallies on the public roads!  We want people to enjoy their driving but enjoy stunning scenery, great roads, and most important when the day’s driving is done, to enjoy great company, food and wines and all at very reasonable cost.  For example, the Entry fee on our last 5-day Tour that I have mentioned included 4-Star Hotels, Bed & breakfast every day, parking, at least two party-dinners with all wines etc, professional rally-style Roadbooks and Rally-style identification plates, event organisation with professional, experienced organisers who stay with the event at all times, and much more.  The cost ?  This one was €695 per person.  What outstanding value for money!  And, these events are open to non-members of the CSCC!

So, if you hear people calling these events ‘Rallies’ you can tell them from me that they are not……Shame on those organisers of events in this area that do.   Rant over!

CSCC Forthcoming Events

In October the CSCC ( The Classic & Sportscar Club) organised a monthly luncheon at La Sierra restaurante in Cerros del Aguia and a very successful Run ( Not a rally!) that started in Mijas Costa, took in parts of the Montes de Malaga, with its stunning roads and views, before heading around the lakes of Almogia to finish at the fabulous Restaurante Jinete in La Cala Hills where a superb lunch was enjoyed by all 70 participants.

The club organises a one-day Tour every month, without fail, and the cost of these is only €20 per car plus whatever the lunch price is on that day in whichever Restaurante the event finishes.  However, to join these one-day events one has to be a member of the CSCC.  It’s great fun, no-one takes anything too seriously but to enjoy it all in good company.  And it’s great way to exercise your classic or sportscar and see more of this fabulous country that we live in….

Next events for the Club will be a lunch at La Sierra on Tuesday, November 04th and a car run with the finish at the superb Restaurante Nuevo Reino on the beach in San Pedro on Saturday, November 08th.

By the time you read this we will have had a Track Day at Guadix racetrack, a Jaguar celebration event and will already be planning Christmas events which will include a car run and an overnight stay with a party-dinner at the first-class Hotel Reina Victoria Catalonia in Ronda on Saturday, December 13th.  More information can be found on the Club’s website www.csccspain.com or email csccspain@gmail.com

I’ll bring you more news and future events on these pages next month.