3MA Turin 2009

[ger]

 So Eugene i take it that you are going so, Ar mhaith leat dul go dti an Iodail ... seen that it's not a problem to drive that far over that weekend. What car are you going to take?

Slainte mhaith
Ger

[theredx19]

Well Eugene I was not giving out but stating fact from experience as I have done this trip and did Tuscany to Dublin in under 2 days in a 124 sport which had not moved in 10 years but I was lucky, everything ran smooth for me. I am going as a mechanic on this trip and will always help on a brake down see pictures of the 2007 trip but this is a long return trip between 4 and 5000km's, this could be the mileage limitation on some insurance policies. I am only putting down some ideas to help enhance this adventure and a k10 micra never gave trouble and a Niva was built by the russians so it can be fixed with duct tape and a hammer unlike Italian machines from the 60's, 70's and 80's 

[eugene]

So Eugene i take it that you are going so, Ar mhaith leat dul go dti an Iodail ... seen that it's not a problem to drive that far over that weekend. What car are you going to take?

Slainte mhaith
Ger

Cunas ata tu Ger.No i am not going,due to work commitments,but i would love to go and take one of my Nivas.Remember Ger,Lada&Fiat are first cousins .
I do hope to go to Turin next year with the wife and hopefully will have a 131 purchased before May09 .Eugene

[jasonh131]

I do hope to go to Turin next year with the wife and hopefully will have a 131 purchased before May09 Wink.Eugene
 well my thoughts as well and  a lotery win and even get passport ,all for our 19th wedding annavesary
the day before ill keep trying on most of these tasks
jason

[gerafiori]

just a thought i had for anyone without a car howabout fly out to turin for a few days to meet the convoy surely someone would have a vacant passenger seat and need a navigator 

[eugene]

It seems that no one is prepared to  travel with you Ger  .Eugene

[gerafiori]

no i wont be going its just an option for others,
i enjoyed driving before but now 2/3 hours is enough for me 
gerry

[eugene]

Well,you can always travel with someone of us.That way you wont have to drive .Eugene

[effe131]

hello! you have innovation for the dates for the gathering of 2009 to Turin? thus I begin to contact or the municipality of Turin or Fiat! as soon as you have some innovation you contact to me hello effe131/michele

[Thotos]

Ah yes... 3ma09 dates!? ? This is something that the three mad amigos have been discussing for ages. In fact we started the discussion on 3ma09 dates on the last day of the 3ma08 in May of this year. We thought we had agreement a while back and in fact provisional dates were posted here but we then run into some problems with those dates so they were not confirmed.

You would have thought choosing some dates would be simple but there's a lot of things to consider: Driving restrictions in Turin for old cars, sea crossing schedules and prices for the British and Irish participants, seasonal price changes, school and national holidays for several countries,? etc.?

The situation at the moment is that we have two sets of provisional dates. The first one is from Thursday 28th May to Sunday 31st May 2009.? That's actual 3ma09 dates and does not include travel days. We would expect to arrive in (or near) Turin on Wednesday (27th) afternoon and depart for the homeward journey on Monday 1st July. If we go for these dates we'd like to visit the factory and mirafiori village on Friday 29th May and have a static display at the Piazza San Carlo on Saturday 30th May. There will be driving activities for Thursday 28th May and Sunday 31st May.

The alternative set of dates are a week later starting on Thursday 4th June and finishing on Sunday 7th of June 2009. The original provisional dates published here were a day earlier? starting on Wednesday 3rd and finishing on Saturday 6th June with the static display. Two things have been decided for sure (almost!)? for 3ma09 which are that the 3ma activities will be for four days (as in previous years) and that it will be from Thursday to Sunday. The reason for the day choices is to please our Irish friends who apparently can cross the Irish sea easier and cheaper on a Sunday arriving in Cherbourg late afternoon on Monday. So we then give them Tuesday and Wednesday to drive to Turin and we'll start on Thursday.

So where we are at the moment, is trying to get ferry information (timetables and mainly prices) for May and June next year and also get advance school holiday and exam information for next year to make sure that people wishing to travel with their families can do so as economically as possible.?

We hope to have the dates finalised within a week or two and then we can start planning in earnest. Thank you effe131/michelle for your offer of help again; we'll certainly be calling on you for help and certainly to try and arrange for us to have the static display at the Piazza San Carlo if possible; if nothing else the coffee at Cafe Torino is superb!

If anyone has any comments (constructive criticism only please) about the dates please post here and let us know.

[eugene]

Theo,this is not an easy job for you or anyone else,but well done for your effort and patience.
Regarding people travelling from Eire.Some may not want to go to the Uk,but from Cork to Roscoff and others may want to go via through Uk.
All this depends on where you live in Eire.So maybe you could take this into account .Please note,i am not trying to be awkward here. :DEugene

[Thotos]

I believe that none of the Irish participants will be travelling through the UK.  Although I would have thought that was an option, I am assured by our Irish amigo that nobody will be taking that option. I am also told that the best option for the Irish is to travel from Rosslare to Cherbourg as it is the best value-for-money crossing and Cherbourg is further on the way to Turin than Roscoff.

Personally, I decided many years ago that when travelling across water with car, I will always take the shortest sea crossing and go for maximum driving. So I'll be taking the Eurotunnel from Folkestone to Calais on Tuesday morning; spending one night in France and arriving in Turin on Wednesday afternoon.

[eugene]

Theo,it is impossible to please everyone,but to make it easier on you and Simon,let the Irish get in contact wit Kev and see who wants to go which way.
As i said before ,some may want to go via Uk others may not,however maybe it might be an idea to have a meeting point in the UK somewhere and also in France for the Irish to meet up with the Uk contingent.What ever is decided it won't please everyone.
Please note ,i am only throwing these idea's open and if someone can add more to this,plesae do so ;DEugene

[Thotos]

Our  "Irish information" comes from Kevin who I believe has canvassed most (probably all knowing Kev) of the possible Irish participants for their preferred means of getting to France and it seems Rosslare to Cherbourg is the preferred option. There's always a feeling of safety when travelling with others so some people who might on their own choose a different route, will prefer to join in with the majority choice.

Of course we'll have a UK meeting point and certainly meeting points on-route in France so the UK, Irish, Dutch, French, Belgian, German etc convoys can all meet and travel together. Our wish (or should I say 'hope', or maybe 'goal' will be better  ) is to have at least 20 131s in convoy over the Alps and into Italy.

[effe131]

hello, regarding the limitations us they would not have to be limitazionipoich? would come demanded a special one pass for cars that participate to the gathering, however the limitations do not regard the saturday and Sunday? this morning is brought to me all' office of the city of Turin that is taken care dell' occupation public ground and not is problems? the week would go well end of 28 May (between l' other 29 May is my birthday) now I will try to contact or Fiat or the historical center Fiat besides the historical registry Fiat? to short I will try of darvi the most possible information also for the hotels? to this end I could segnalarvi some hotel inagurati with the winter Olympic Games of 2006? it would be perfect to have 20 coming cars dall' foreign country but would have to extend the voice also in Spain where the 131 came sold with brand seat? to short I will open an Italian site dedicated to the 131 where I will put more information possible to the gathering of Turin of 2009? from Turin it is all, salutes effe131/michele ps. I enclose l' address of mine blog dedicated exclusively to Fiat 131:
http://fiat131supermirafiori.myblog.it/