GP is go!
Author: Alex Hodgkinson
WITH a GP at Mallory in June and the Nations at Donington at the end of September, UK fans face a wealth of top grade action on home turf this summer, but the call of the wild, or more precisely the roar of 30 throaty four-bangers, will once again entice thousands of Brits to the continent. The annual T+MX guide aims to help you avoid a few pitfalls and get you to your chosen race, and back home again, without undue stress. Read on for the ultimate guide to foreign travel with a purpose!
Ever-rising fuel prices – the Euro exchange rate has wiped out much of the price difference – have made travel anywhere other than Majorca and the Costas almost a luxury, but the 1980s fans now have families of their own to introduce to the delights of continental motocross as an integral part of the annual hols, and there will always be younger lads and lasses in search of adventure and who don’t mind roughing it a bit.
Whether you fly or drive, the itineraries at the end of this article are an indispensable assistance in getting to the race of your choice. Our sport may be getting dragged from rough hillsides to flat fields adjacent to a parking lot, but only Malpensa (not on the calendar this year) and Donington are actually within walking distance of an international airport, so even cattle-class fliers will need to drive some distance.
But the real way to see foreign motocross is from the back of a Trannie with a bunch of mates, a couple of mattresses, a few cases of Stella and the chance to see how the other 90% of Europe lives.
Traffic jams are not a prerogative of the Home Counties and West Midlands, and every opportunity has been taken in the itineraries to steer you away from the fiercest snarl-ups, but please bear in mind that traffic comes to a standstill in every major conurbation sometime between seven and nine in the morning, and four and six in the evening, so time your trip to avoid these. And turn off the SatNav. These routes are written from experience.
The best time to travel long distances, unless you are an 11 to seven sleeper, is of course the night, but even better is a relaxed trip and, wherever two races in a class are run on consecutive weekends, a linking itinerary is also provided.
Study the holiday calendar, see where you can get free for a fortnight or three-weeks and revel in the delights of a trip away to foreign climes.
So, off to La Continente with you this summer, but, before you set off, just a few words of guidance to ease virgins into travel on the wrong side of the road and update experienced travellers into changes which have occurred in the last 12-months. In particular, those who would previously head first for Paris on their way south should study the new itinieraries because the completion of the A28 from Rouen to Tours means you don’t even have to sniff the French capital on the way to anywhere along the Atlantic coastline. And the expansion of the Common Market has opened up new opportunities to the south-wester corner of Europe.
But, first off, let’s get ready to set off.
You need a passport, and so does each of the kids now they have been wiped off mum and dad’s passport. All other European nationalities get away with an ID card within the EU (and Switzerland), but this minor inconvenience is surely worthwhile to avoid having to carry a plastic card around with you at all times. But make sure it is still valid for the entire duration of your intended trip or HM Customs may not even let you into Dover docks.
This is not the only documentation you will need. It is compulsory to carry your driving licence, insurance papers, MOT certificate and log book at all times when driving abroad, and your passport has to be in your pocket as ID even when you’re down the local watering hole or on the beach. Clearly you have to be sensible about this and not take it in the water, but leaving them lying on the dash or in a hotel room is not a sensible option. If they are stolen, you will have to find a Consulate and spend hours filling in forms or they won’t even let you past Immigration at Calais on the way back.
Your UK driving licence is valid throughout the Common Market and Switzerland, which should cover most of you, but anyone heading further afield, either way out east or overseas, should get down the DVLA and obtain an ‘international drivers permit’.
Insurance is a sticky question. Back in the last century your standard UK premium only covered third-party risk outside the British Isles, but in the meantime UK insurers have latched on to increased foreign travel, have upped the premiums but in so doing extended your cover.
Back in the day you had to cough up extra to get the ‘green card’ insurance document which confirms this, but nowadays it is simply a matter of contacting your insurers, in plenty of time, and asking them to issue one. It is worth it, because if something does happen on your continental tour, foreign officials are much more impressed by the green card than your native policy document. One minor warning if you are travelling through Serbia; make sure ‘SRB’ is not deleted on your green-card, otherwise you will have to pay that country’s insurance premium. Various other national legal peculiarities occur in different states.
Virtually everywhere outside the UK requires you to carry a warning triangle, a first aid box (which, although you’ve never opened it, is only valid until the sell-by date), and spare bulbs. If you are carrying anything on the back – bike or trailer – you will need a reflective board with diagonal red and white stripes in Italy, there and in Austria, Spain and Portugal you must also have a yellow reflective workman’s vest in the vehicle in case you have to change a tyre, and hopefully nobody will actually venture aboard without a usable spare; and this should be of the same make and profile as those you are running.
