CARS & BBQ #001: CARS, FIRE AND A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THERMI
The second groundspeed meet. A Sunday at Dacristo, from a BMW 2002 to an Aventador, with the fire pit lit.
48,000 KM IN 18 MONTHS IN A PORSCHE GT4 RS. AS A DAILY.
From Lucerne to Rhodes and on to the Algarve, winter and summer, on chains in the snow. A racing car for every day? @thegreekdriver says yes.
WHAT'S THE BEST DAILY FOR A PETROLHEAD?
A MINI Cooper S F55 as an everyday car, a wet climb up Mount Olympus and the small reminder at the pump.
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2 BEST FRIENDS, A 911 AND 2,000 KILOMETRES OF MAGIC
Six European countries in three days, in a black 911 Carrera, from Munich to Monaco and back. A trip that took years to make happen and three days for two best friends to live.
KATARA PASS: THE PINDUS ROAD EVERYONE FEARED AND DRIVERS NOW SEEK OUT
The old Kalampaka to Metsovo national road over the Katara Pass, at 1,700 metres: where the corners start, when snow closes it, where to stop and what to watch for.
ARISTI TO PAPINGO: 22 HAIRPINS ABOVE THE VOIDOMATIS
Aristi to Papingo is 11.3 km: a drop to the Voidomatis bridge, then 22 hairpins, most of them stacked in the first two kilometres above the river. A guide to the most photographed road in Epirus: corners, views, seasons, stops.
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SUNDAY MORNING DRIVE: THE BEST SUNDAYS DON'T NEED A DESTINATION
We used to watch YouTube videos and dream of Sundays like this one. Years later, eight friends, four cars and an empty mountain road proved that the best dreams don't have a destination. They have company.
AROUND NORWAY IN 9 DAYS
Nine days of driving, a 911 Targa 4 GTS, fjords that don't fit in any photograph, and a range readout that at one point said 1,026 kilometres, something I never thought I'd see. Norwegian discipline, a 20-degree summer, and a track day to finish, so we'd remember why we went all that way.
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SOME PEOPLE PLAY PADEL ON WEDNESDAYS. WE WENT TO THE SERRES CIRCUIT.
Wednesday morning. A coffee in hand, the key turned, and the road to the Serres circuit. In the end, this Wednesday wasn't so different from tennis, padel or the gym.
AT GOODWOOD I WATCHED A MINI PASS A SEVEN-LITRE GALAXIE. ON THE INSIDE.
A Sunday at the Goodwood Revival with a friend who never cared about cars. How a Mini passes a seven-litre Galaxie, why no two cars want the same thing from their driver, and what stays with you after the fish and chips.
I WENT TO A PORSCHE MEET IN LONDON. NOBODY PAID ANY ATTENTION TO THE £250,000 GT3 RS
London, Lincoln's Inn Fields, 7:50 in the morning. Thirty people woke up without having to, started their Porsche and came here. On who they are, what nobody asks them, and what money doesn't buy.
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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.
SPORTSCAR TOGETHER DAY: WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU TOOK THE CAR OUT JUST TO DRIVE?
Sportscar Together Day is Porsche's worldwide celebration for everyone who loves driving. Its philosophy is simple: "Get Out and Drive". Three friends, three GT Silver Porsches, three girls who put up with us, the Serres circuit and three Trackspeed Mazda MX-5s. This was our own version of Sportscar Together Day 2026 in Greece.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
A PORSCHE FOR UNDER €25,000. TICKING TIME BOMB OR HEAVEN ON EARTH?
IMS, bore scoring, and everything you need to know before buying a Porsche 986 or 987 - from someone who's been on both sides of 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.
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THE CASE FOR CAPABILITY: WHY I FELL IN LOVE WITH A 25-YEAR-OLD TOYOTA PRADO
Tom grew up on RAF bases, where even a Ferrari felt a little pedestrian. He makes the case for capability over speed - and for a 25-year-old Toyota Prado with 350,000 km on the clock.
THE NÜRBURGRING IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK - A ROAD TRIP FROM GREECE TO THE GREEN HELL
Costs, the route, practical tips - everything I wish I'd known before setting off, and the stories no onboard video can show you. The Nürburgring is closer than you think.
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.
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FROM THE ROAR TO THE STAR: A CHARGER, A CORVETTE, AND THE A35 I NEVER EXPECTED TO LOVE
This story comes from Rafail Kopiloglou (Raf). He moved to Dubai at 20 as cabin crew, and by 22 had an American muscle car in his name. Then came a dream Corvette, the hardest sale of his life, and a two-litre hot hatch that taught him the dream was never about displacement.
I NEVER DREAMED OF A PORSCHE. UNTIL SHE CHANGED MY MIND.
This story comes from Vasilis. Vasilis flies all over the world, based in Dubai. On the ground, he loses himself among the supercars of the Middle East. He grew up with AMG posters above his bed - until a German lady from Zuffenhausen changed his plans.
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BUY THE PROJECT CAR - WHAT DO YOU CALL A LONGING ONCE YOU FINALLY GET TO LIVE IT?
An MX-5 they wouldn't let me buy at eighteen. Another one - faded and abandoned - that turned up in front of me ten years later. Between them, a longing that patiently waited its turn. That's how an old Japanese roadster became a project car - and the project car became stories worth living.
WHAT DO YOU NEED FOR A TRACK DAY?
Mugello, a 718 on fresh Trofeo Rs, and a friend who said "let's go" after two seconds of silence. What does a track day in Italy actually take? A helmet? 300 horsepower? A roll cage? Semi-slick tyres? A fire-suppression system? None of that. Good company and an espresso.
A PROPER DONKEY: THE DACIA DOKKER WE RENTED TO SAVE 100 EUROS
A guy called Youssef, a car rental office inside a Marrakech apartment, a Heineken placemat and three strangers drinking tea. How trying to save 100 euros cost us 50 more - and got us the best car for the trip.
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“HANG UP, I'M COMING”: I GOT STUCK IN THE MUD ON CHORTIATIS - AND THE DEFENDER WENT ON SALE THE VERY NEXT DAY.
Two and a half tonnes of confidence, a ditch full of mud and a Ford F-250 that appeared through the trees. How my first off-road outing became my last - and why I remember it as one of my best days.
I WAS ONCE THE KID ON THE RAILINGS: TWO SEPTEMBERS WITH SPEEDSECTOR IN RHODES
A Gumball clip I wore out on views somewhere around 2006, a humble Cayman loaded onto a truck under an F430, and two years in Rhodes - which taught me that we don't buy cars for other people, but for the kid hiding inside us.
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.
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TEENAGE LOVE DOESN'T AGE: TWO MINI COOPERS, EIGHT YEARS APART
A first car isn't transport - it's a coming-of-age ritual. A Mini Cooper S at eighteen, the friendships it built, a tearful goodbye in a garage - and, eight years later, the return: an R56 John Cooper Works as a gift to myself.
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.
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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.
TWO CARS, ONE MOUNTAIN: MORNING CORNERS ON CHOLOMONTAS
An M4 Competition, a 718 with the roof stowed, and the Halkidiki forest road that feels like a tunnel of oak trees. groundspeed's first road trip, exactly as it happened.
