One thing all vacations have in common is that they end usually sooner than later. The direct route home is about 1800km. We started Saturday morning at 10am sharp. The first stretch over backcountry roads to Bari took us almost 2 hours. With temperatures above 33°C and no clouds – it was certainly a challenge for the Morgan. And while I had an eagle eye on the temp gauge – after 4 hours just behind Foggia on the Autostrada – we had another case of sudden power-loss.
By now I know it is a carburettor vapor-lock issue caused by excessive heat. 15min cool down phase and we could continue. After so many kilometers behind the wheel, I can sense the minor differences on the accelerator pedal. It feels like a minor vibration when the problem is about to come up. After the short stop – I drove very slowly. It was clear we needed a longer break for the engine. Next exit was Lesina where we decided to have lunch.
This town was not a wonderful experience – we tried to get a table in three restaurants but being friendly or welcoming seems to be a qualification unknown there. The last place we tried was better – but the food was nothing to write home about. During lunch I wondered why we had vapor-lock again? I drove carefully the entire morning. Temp gauge was around 90C. Why did we have the issue? One thing that most events when it happened had in common were that I was in fifth gear. After this break I did not use the fifth gear anymore and tried to get the RPMs between 2600 and 3000. This limits out max speed around 95 to 105km/h
The next 500km to Bologna were hard. An almost continues traffic jam from Pescara to Santa Maria a Mare without a good option for a country road took us hours. The discussed if we should stop in some coast town between Pescara and Rimini but decided against it. When arriving in Bologna at 11pm, after 750km in 13 hours we were only tired and worn-out.
My wife had the master plan for Day 2. Instead of the planned stop in Lucern – she wanted to complete 560km and get to Basel. Getting up early was key for this. In order to avoid overheating issues with the Morgan again – we took breaks very 90 min. An extended one for a few hours in Como. After an exceptionally good lunch we strolled through the old town. Much to the dislike of my better half we only found men’s clothing stores. Eventually we continued and crossed the border to Switzerland. The road quality immediately improved which made driving a bit easier – avoided potholes on Italian roads was difficult to say the least.
But one thing did not change: the extreme heat. Who could have known that day we pass through Switzerland is the one for a questionable temperature record? We felt this all the way on the highway 2 around Lugano and onwards. Certainly the “road” – highlight I was hoping for would come up next. With the overheating issues we had – I almost considered skipping it. Thankfully, my wife insisted on the St Gotthard Pass instead taking the tunnel. We passed the long queue for the tunnel on the right lane and had nobody ahead of us on the ascent.
Being able to drive uphill without obstructing vehicles in front – allowed me to keep the rpm in the range between 2200 and 3000. As I has to slow- and shift down in the tight corners, I noticed a strange smell when going into third gear afterwards. I quickly went but thoughts about it stayed in my head. We somehow made all to the top – and had a short break. To this point we were lucky when it comes to traffic. But an accident in Hospental cause a traffic jam all the way up to the top of the ST Gotthard pass. The last 190 km to Basel took almost 5h and we arrived at the hotel just in-time for the last order for finger food from the hotel bar.
The last 450km from Basel were a walk in the park. The Morgan front suspension delivers direct feedback about the road quality. The roads in Switzerland are good – coming home I realize that German Autobahn quality is insanely good. We tend not to think about it and take it for granted. We avoided traffic around Karlsruhe and the Hockenheim ring by taking a detour via the A35 in France starting in at about Baden-Baden.
Would we do the tour again? Yes, absolutely.
Would we do it in the Morgan? Yes, but only with a few modifications.
And the list will be shared here soon… 🙂
Fixing C6622 
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