Tour Tlein - 23 October 2022
Chris LeusteanOctober: as per tradition, the annual Special Stages Tour takes place, the last Tour of the season walking around the most beautiful roads in Italy, and this year we do it with the Tour-Tlein!
To close this 2022 we have decided to organize an event in the Motor Valley area, on the roads that climb the Apennines between the provinces of Bologna and Modena, an area to which we have not returned since the now distant 2016, which even in that The occasion was the last event of the season.
THE TOUR
The meeting point for the departure of this new Tour is at the gates of Bologna, exactly in Pianoro, at 9.30, at the Totem Bar. Unfortunately, the contacts cannot be found on the internet and therefore we were not able to plan breakfast directly here at the start, as we often do at our events.
The morning, which began with a "beautiful" fog that would also be typical of this period, actually changes into a sunny day, at least as regards the weather conditions at the start, with temperatures that are decidedly not typical of the period.
About thirty cars present for this Tour, and as always with a great variety of types, from small utility cars such as the Yaris TS, to the more powerful GT3 and R8 V10.
Ready to go, and we're off to a bang right away! Yes, because Pianoro is located on the SS65, the Futa state road.
Leaving the town of Pianoro, the continuous and exciting succession of bends immediately begins, on an almost perfect road surface and with a wide enough roadway to allow you to have fun in complete safety. An incessant rhythm of curves, interrupted only by crossing a few small towns.
Car traffic is quite low, but this cannot be said of motorcycle traffic. The still mild temperatures of this end of October in fact attract many motorcyclists to this very famous road, especially for two-wheel lovers.
The group, led by Daniele's new Yaris GR, the current forerunner of the Special Stages events (unfortunately the Subaru will be stopped for a few months), then arrives at the Raticosa Pass, whose parking lot is packed with motorbikes, for the first stop of this Tour. The weather is not the best, cloudy skies and a fairly cold wind (not too cold for the end of October) have replaced the sun we had at the start.
At the Chalet Raticosa, a very famous place for those who travel this road and always full of motor enthusiasts, we stop for a small buffet that we had prepared for the participants, served in the dehor reserved for Special Stages. It needs no advertising, but we feel compelled to underline the quality of the products and the friendliness of all the staff.
After the usual chats we are therefore ready to leave again following our itinerary which keeps us on the SS65 up to Passo della Futa.
The same conditions as the previous section in terms of road quality but with a sometimes damp surface, a sign of recent rain, make us lift our foot a little from the accelerator, especially when we are at the end of a group of motorbikes.
Arrived at Passo della Futa we leave the SS65 to take the SP120 in a westerly direction. Except for a very first stretch of a few hundred meters where the clouds are very low and are a great obstacle to visibility, the road then turns out to be perfect, dry and very fast. Traffic has dropped drastically, especially motorcycles are no longer encountered. We descend from the pass to Castiglione dei Pepoli along the SP8 and then take the SP62. Here, the road is in good condition, but as it faces north through dense vegetation it is also very humid, until we reach Lake Brasimone, where we make a second stop at the Chiosco La Guardata, right in front of the lake (whose level is definitely low).
There is no longer the strong wind that existed at Raticosa, and even if the sky is still a bit overcast, it is pleasant to be outdoors and have a chat with all the participants before setting off again.
The next stage is quite long. There are about 100 kilometers that separate us from the next stop.
We start immediately with a rather wide and flowing road, still without traffic, which takes us to Lake Suviana where a climb begins through the woods. A classic mountain road, very winding but in good condition and then goes downhill and down to Ponte di Venturina.
A short transfer stretch along the SS64 which we travel northwards and then abandon it in favor of the SP324 and then the SP623 and SP82
Traffic is always scarce, the few cars you meet along the way can be easily overtaken.
However, the surface worsens a bit, there are no holes, the seat has some depressions that make the car "jump" a bit.
We find ourselves again on the SP324 which we follow up to Fanano and Sestola.
Traffic conditions are always scarce even if some very tortuous stretches prevent you from easily overtaking the few cars you meet.
After Sestola, taking the SP31 to the north, the landscape begins to become hilly, with less dense vegetation that gives way to great panoramas.
Fast stretches alternating with other more tortuous ones take us up to the SS12 of Abetone to reach Pavullo where we have planned a short stop to regroup all the participants.
At the restart, still traveling north on the SS12, there is a bit of traffic until we turn onto the SP3 in the direction of Serramazzoni.
Classic hilly road with lots of ups and downs and with good visibility, like the many roads in the area that are widely used by the testers of the most famous car manufacturers in the area who come to these areas to test the world-famous Italian supercars.
At Montardone we leave the main road for a secondary road, narrow and ruined, which however is necessary to finally reach the point of arrival, i.e. the Agriturismo Villa di Là.
The large unpaved square allows us to park all the cars that slowly arrive at the farmhouse before entering to enjoy the well-deserved final buffet, full of typical local products.
Thus concludes the Tour-Tlein, the last event of this 2022 season which has finally seen a complete calendar of official events return, even if on many occasions the number of participants has not been what was hoped for, returning from pre-pandemic memories where each event marked the sold-out.
All that remains is to dedicate ourselves as much as I can to the ideas and projects we have for the 2023 season, with lots of new features, and to remind you that we have planned one last meeting, the Oasis Party, to thank all the participants and close the season definitively.
PS: the event has very limited places, so run and register!
