Author

groundspeed

Roads, cars and stories. From two friends with a shared obsession.

Stories (10)

LONDON TO TUSCANY IN A PORSCHE 911: THE ROAD TRIP YOU HAVE TO DO ONCE IN YOUR LIFE

Fifteen days, 2,500 kilometres, a silver 911 Carrera GTS, and Alessandra in the passenger seat. From London, through the Eurotunnel, Paris and Burgundy, to the hairpins before Tuscany - with a stop at a French petrol station that nearly ended it all. Part one of two.Read the story

I THOUGHT BUYING A CLASSIC CAR WAS ABOUT MONEY. I WAS WRONG.

The three Ss and the M: the letter nobody mentions before you buy a classic car. Spare time, savings. The trio every would-be classic owner can recite by heart. Until you hear that new noise that "definitely wasn't there yesterday" - and realise a letter is missing from the list.Read the story

IS BUYING A CLASSIC CAR ACTUALLY WORTH IT? A 55-YEAR-OLD ITALIAN HAS THE ANSWER.

Every time someone comes over and tells me one more story, it is as if an invisible passenger climbs in for a while. A father. A mother. A brother. An old friend. Or simply a much younger version of the person standing in front of me.Read the story

I WENT TO GERMANY MYSELF TO COLLECT THE PORSCHE. I WOULD NEVER PAY SOMEONE TO BRING IT TO ME.

How hard is it really to import a car from Germany yourself? The story of my third personal import - Autobahn, Swiss passes and a ferry across the Adriatic - and everything you need to know before you bring your own.Read the story

MY DREAM FLEET: IT WAS NEVER ENOUGH

This one comes from Fotis. An airline captain by trade, over 60, and a petrolhead through and through - a soft spot for Porsches, and honestly for anything with an engine. Thirty years flat out, four Porsches, a Camaro, a few broken ribs, and a dream fleet that needs refreshing too: because there is no cure for being hooked.Read the story

THE ROADS OF THE SOUTH: FIVE ROUTES BELOW THE ISTHMUS WORTH A FULL TANK

The series that started in the North heads south. The Peloponnese and Central Greece hide roads that in other countries would be national monuments - here they're just 'the road to the village'. Five routes, with maps and all the practical bits.Read the story

FIVE ROADS IN NORTHERN GREECE WORTH A FULL TANK

You don't need the Alps. Some of Europe's best driving roads are two hours from Thessaloniki - no camper vans, no queues, coffee at the end. Our five favourites, with maps and all the practical bits.Read the story

SEPARATING MEN FROM BOYS: MY FIRST CAR WAS A MANUAL 981 BOXSTER S

Manual, rear-wheel drive, over 300 horsepower - and 24 years of waiting. How a GT Silver Boxster 981 S became the first Porsche with my name on the paperwork, and how the first speeding ticket arrived that very night to confirm the choice.Read the story

THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD ON 102 HORSEPOWER: THE SLOWEST CAR WAS THE FASTEST DECISION

In Melbourne, facing one of the most beautiful coastal roads in the world, we did the opposite of the obvious: we skipped the convertibles and the fast stuff and booked a Suzuki Jimny. A trip about why, on certain roads, the slow car is the right car.Read the story

THE THIEF OF JOY STAYED OUTSIDE: COLLECTING MY FIRST 911

Twenty years after the first time I sat in a 911 pretending to drive, I took a train to a place just north of Nottingham to collect my own. A story about dreams that take their time - with an F12 in the background, ice-grey seatbelts, and a heart rate of 160.Read the story