2018 Cars In Corse - Jaguars, Kangoos, Pigs and other Animals

Our big spring trip of 2018 brought us to the island of Corse this year carrying with it the longest arrival journey we ever had. Most Ravys family members decided to have an intermediate stop in the south of Germany or in Switzerland to avoid getting into trouble on Saturday when we would have to check-in for ferry boarding at 7PM. But back to that later.

 

Friday evening brought six of nine cars together at a hotel in Freiburg and gave the drivers the possibility of starting endless discussions on the advantages of all-wheel-drive vs. rear-wheel drive, turbo-charging vs. supercharging and natural aspiration, four cylinders vs. six inline or flat and having the engine where it belongs or in the front or back of a sports car. A couple of beers and one or two bottles of wine helped remaining completely objective during the arguments.

 

Saturday morning gave us a relaxed start after having breakfast together and shopping for dinner on the ferry later that evening. However we began becoming a bit nervous checking the traffic situation direction south that forecasted some two hours of traffic jams which would make arriving in time for ferry check-in a bit questionable and made the Audi TT, BMW M2, Ford Focus RS and Hyundai i30N set off very quickly around 10.30AM. In the meantime we also heard of the Jag F-Type going south from Switzerland. The Ravys staff took a bit longer and got away around 11AM from the supermarket. What followed was a trip more exciting than we wished for but unfortunatley not due to winding roads but due to the worst traffic jam in 19 years having us stuck in front of Gotthard tunnel for more than two hours and letting time slip away for checking-in on time. The Mazda RX-8 was in even worse trouble coming from Austria and the Ravys headquarters started making nervous phone calls and researching the internet for later ferries in case we’d miss our planned one. Luckily the Italian highways allowed us gaining some time back and at the end everybody made it on time to board the ferry towards Corse that cruised the Mediterranean Sea from Genua to Bastia during the night from Saturday to Sunday.

 

We left the ferry on Sunday morning having to jump start the 911 (Porsche and batteries, a never-ending story) and parking the whole bunch on the roof of a parking garage under a blue sky having all nine cars and 2800 horses waiting impatiently for the curves to come. And Corse did not disappoint, beautiful coastal scenery and tight and winding country roads through blooming fields made everybody forget the worries of the traffic packed day before. This is sports cars heaven! The beautiful city of Calvi with its picturesque port welcomed us in the evening for dinner.

 

Monday took the family from Calvi to Ajacchio through the mountains of Corse’s very centre giving us the chance to meet some of its natural inhabitants almost a bit to close and personal - talking about pigs and goats that occupied the roads being completely unimpressed even by the i30N’s exhaust pops and bangs. Later that evening we felt like Gunther Sachs in our sixties-style hotel facing the seaside only missing the young Brigitte Bardot here.

 

What followed on Tuesday was the rain-session that is mandatory in every Ravys trip and left us with the finding that all you need to go quick around those tight, wet roads is deep knowledge of the road layout, a small dose of madness and a Renault Kangoo with some 90 HP on the front - man, these Corsican minivan drivers know what they are doing! Anyway, having digested the shock of being slower with 300 horses more, we arrived for sunshine, dinner and some Cuba Libres in Propriano getting ready for the last driving day on the island.

 

Another change of scenery then on Wednesday going through the canyons and forests of Corses south with a longer lunch break in the beautiful middle of nowhere and the challenge of finding a replacement for the RX-8’s rear tire that took a puncture and did not want to keep pressure anymore. After fixing that we continued the trip and finished in a hotel in the mountains close to Bastia with a great view towards the island of Elba and a sunset as colorful as the four driving days before.

 

Thursday had us leaving Corse on the ferry, relaxing and reminscing about all the corners and adventures of Cars in Corse 2018 and giving us time to be grateful for another grow of the family and for looking forward to the next trip.

 

Thanks to Felix (911 Carrera 4S), Max (TT), Jan (Focus RS), Christian (RX-8), Alex (M2), Konstantin & Achim (F-Type) and Martin (i30N) from your Ravys crew:

 

Alin (Impreza WRX), Timo (Cayman S), Kamil and Ralph!

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Newsletter - 2018 February

Days get longer and sometimes even the sun shows up on the sky accidentally. But at latest by seeing our list of participants for #CarsInCorse spring fever breaks out:

Along with the usual suspects with center-of-gravity-optimized flat engines in the front, in the back or at the correct spot, steady four-cylinder-turbos from Cologne and Ingolstadt and our good old rotary-engine-monster from the far east we are looking forward to one or the other surprise and can finally welcome a growling supercharged JAAAG of Type F for the first time.

 

Hotels and ferries are booked and all details will arrive at the participants soon.

 

For those being a bit late in decision making we still have two spots left for the tour from May 19 to 25 (if you are interested just drop a mail to contact@ravys.com to get to know late-bird prices etc).

 

For end of April we are planning the first ever RaVys regulars’ table in history to get to know each other and to join in the tour. We invite all family members and those who want to become part of the family to an evening of meaningful conversation about mobility in general! Also here we’ll have more details soon.

 

Talking about family: in roughly eighteen years we’ll have another Cupra-Curve-Guru by birth joining, which unfortunately means that the current Cupra-Curve-Guru himself Kamil won’t lead us along Corse. We congratulate and will have Cologne Porz in mind everytime we’ll be switching drive modes.

 

In this spirit, stay fast and clean and have fun driving!

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Newsletter - 2017 December

2017 is almost over, people put on winter tires, it's cold, wet and dark, Nordschleife is closed, everything sucks basically.

But don't you worry, there is a light at the end of the tunnel full of muddy snow:

Our planning for the first 2018 trip is almost finished and it will be awesome, sunny and curvy.

We are going to Corse in May!

The Mediterranean island does not only offer fantastic landscapes but also RaVys-approved routes, which have been checked by our Curve-Guru and Cupra-mode-driver Kamil himself.

Alin, god of hotels, took care of stays and restaurants and we have also selected the ferry transfers to offer you another asphalt-culinary menu second to none:

 

Saturday, May 19, 7 AM, Cologne: Departure (on-time, because ferry)

9 PM, Genua: Passage and overnight on ferry

Sunday, May 20 - Thursday, May 24: Corse, Baby! Enjoy four days of the most beautiful island roads.

Thursday, May 24, 11 AM: Passage back to Genua

Overnight around Milan

Friday, May 25: Return

 

All-Inclusive: Ferry tickets (go and return), lunch, dinner, accomodation in shared room with breakfast

Cost: 1000 €

Discount for patrons: 

1 Tour participation: 5%

3 Tour participations: 10%

5 Tour participations: 15%

On request: Single room (+ 250 €), radio (+ 20 €), rental car (according to RaVys rules, cost depending on car)

 

For binding booking just send a mail to contact@ravys.com including the following info:

1. Special requests (Single room, radio, rental car)

2. Your car (photo and some data would be nice)

3. Your mailing address

 

Deposit: 300 € before January 31

 

Conditions for participation:

You want to spend a good time with other revheads, own a driver's license and a car according to RaVys rules (min. 250 HP, max. 6kg/HP and don't you dare thinking of an SUV - exceptions can be granted on request depending on the approval of the allmighty RaVys board and require exceptional coolness of car)

 

The trip is limited to a maximum of 12 participants. First booked, first served!

 

Seasonal greetings and merry X-mas,

Your RaVys-Crew Alin, Kamil, Ralph and Timo

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2017 Alpine McKingz - New Game, New Chance

11 cars, from 26 years old rotary-roadsters up to brand-new turbo-wagons, from 250 HP lightweight clubsports to 385 HP sportscar icons and from Japanese obsession-with-detail to German art-of-engineering - we'll have it all again this year!

Vogesen'hin

September 2016: Already during the May tour we planned the next and even the tour after that. The Vosges in eastern France can be reached easily for a weekend-trip making the decision where to go quite easy.

The number of participants has almost doubled, transforming the RaVys Family to some sort of a Race Clan - the enthusiasm remains unbowed with everybody who once joined a RaVys tour hitting the accelerator again.

Due to a new record of 12 participants we decided to split the tour into two events for the first time on consecutive weekends in September - one in hot sunshine and one in cold, misty rain (somehow challenging in an American muscle car with 500 BHP).

Roaring V8's meet turbo-charged four cylinder's being chased by vigorous 'eco'-boosted Fiesta ST's and between all of that naturally aspirated flat sixes - Elon Musk quietly cancelled his participation due to lack of charging stations en route...

This is the time for pleasant anticipation thinking of the twisting roads in the Vosges. Somebody once said straights are for fast cars but corners are for fast drivers. And honestly, our German Autobahn has spoiled us already with fast driving on straights. Maybe this is another reason for RaVys organizing these tours. We also do it for you to become aware of yourself again, hurl yourself into the bending curves into YOUR weekend!

But there's more to it, your car's suspension, the brakes, the steering, all of what you don't really feel in daily driving, there is the friends you didn't see for a while but who waited for this weekend with you - so we jumped in our cars, motivated the sport exhaust with our right feet and sang an aria of corner exits...

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