Off Topic Flat out Fiat in the Scottish Hills

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Off Topic Flat out Fiat in the Scottish Hills

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I was amused by Thomas' gordinir8 observation yesterday that the UK "is flat". Not where I'm standing it isn't. :)
I was in the middle of a run of over 200 miles, taking Tom's the hobbler advice with an "Italian tune-up". on the west coast of Scotland where we took on the Bealach na Ba and lots of fairly steep ups and downs. We were reduced to first gear at several points.
The parts of Greece that I have visited: Kerkyra, Kefalonia, Lefkas and other islands are amazing with really twisting and steep roads everywhere; one of my dreams is to drive my car there. It's colder and more open up here, but it definitely isn't flat.:D
PS. Yes, I have put a stupid strap as a precaution on the bonnet...once flying up was more than enough.:eek:
MAL_7938 by Peter Thompson, on Flickr
MAL_7935 by Peter Thompson, on Flickr
 
Have you got some funny lense on there? It looks like you have stretched Murf in the second picture.

Those look like great fun in 500.:D
 
Wow amazing little video. I can see why you are reticent about taking Murf's 500 engine out and trying the 650 one. Sounds like he is running really sweetly, didn't miss a beat.

Did your furry friends move out of the way eventually. Looks like they were a bit taken aback to see a Fiat 500!!!:D

Oh and nice picture as well.
 
Ha! Those hills are for kids!! Peter i like that you are much enjoy travelling with your little friend in a place i would like to visit one day. Since you been here i guess you understand why UK it looks flat to me. If you ever manage to come here i will be more than happy to come with you with my car and have a ride.

As for your strap it is stupid but there are also cool ones.
 

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The cattle are well used to cars as this is quite a busy part of the NC500 route in summer. So they didn't exactly move but they let me thread through them.
Andrew suggested leather straps but I don't like them even more[emoji12]
There's only one thing for it.... I must drive down to Greece one weekend.?
 
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Awesome! (y) I did the NC500 in June last year in my daily driver and loved every minute of it. I'd love to do it again in my 500 once its built, I think I'd be seeing it from a different angle to the previous trip :)
 
Awesome! (y) I did the NC500 in June last year in my daily driver and loved every minute of it. I'd love to do it again in my 500 once its built, I think I'd be seeing it from a different angle to the previous trip :)

Yes...I was the 500 on the inaugural run. It is a great road but you really need good weather to appreciate it properly...unlike yesterday.
In a 500 you might see it from this angle.;)
MAL_8144 by Peter Thompson, on Flickr

[ame]https://youtu.be/hZec8sHKo_U[/ame]
 

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Peter I fear you are slowly turning Murph into one of those endurance cars! You know the type with every addition you may need just in case. Before you know it you will be covering him in stickers of all the places he has been to[emoji16]
 
I promise to do that so long as the stickers can honestly read "Dakkar", "Goa", Kyoto etc.
If I do fit stickers I'll make sure they're small ones.
You're right though, that is the perspective from which I view that car..... trying to breakdown-proof it. It's worth it for the satisfaction of spinning along through the relatively remote roads we frequent.
 
Yes, even when it goes "fast", you can still pour a cup of tea from your flask when driving a Fiat 500.:D
Here's more driving, just to show we can go at speed. This is over a very long but continuous, fairly gentle incline heading towards Achnasheen in The Scottish Highlands.
[ame]https://youtu.be/fcU-vxk7cgc[/ame]
 
I was beginning to wonder if you are the only person in Scotland who owns a car? But then we saw the other three as well in that last clip!
 
I do choose some of the less popular roads but that one is the main routes for anyone living in a vast area of the Highlands to find their way back to civilisation. Despite it being winter I was surprised how little traffic was around.
Even quieter on this sequence, the last I will bore you with on this thread. It must be 8 or 9 miles over the Bealach na Ba, half of that in either direction is continuously uphill. On this occasion I went in the less steep direction. So I was surprised to have to resort to first gear over several extended sections. Last time when I went the really steep way I only needed first gear once and for a very short time. The car ran better on hills with the spark-timing all wrong!:eek:
[ame]https://youtu.be/omJWmH81GCE[/ame]
 
Love the movies Peter, thank you:D:D, I'm most envious of the terrain you get to enjoy, a lot different to our local "Flat Lands" of East Anglia:rolleyes:, however, I can see what you mean about Murf not liking the climbs :eek::eek: He sounds as though he's really struggling on some of that, although I realise there is a certain measure of mechanical sympathy and your foot isn't flat on the floor
 
I realise there is a certain measure of mechanical sympathy and your foot isn't flat on the floor
:D:D:D...I'm not so sure about that:D
But in his defence, those hills are very steep and relentless, much more so than the video shows, and most people who know the area well won't believe me that he can really do it.
When I did the route a couple of years ago in convoy with several other classic cars, all except a Citroen 2CV and a Dyane having at least twice my engine capacity and around half his age, the owners were amazed what small advantage they actually had on arrival at our twenty to thirty mile distant destinations; just a few minutes each time, usually they were just at the stage of locking their cars when we arrived with beaming smiles and Murf.
 
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