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Wednesday 5th November
Imola - Turin
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| An early start to get to Turin
by lunchtime. Travelling in Sputnik and Smokey Joe we made good
time, despite fog on the motorway on the way. As we approached Turin
the weather cleared and the last fuel stop was in brilliant
sunshine. A local kept us chatting for a while, fascinated by the
Minis.
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Once into the outskirts of Turin Jojo got very excited,
again thank goodness for walkie-talkies - the sound of
'red-light-red-light' became a familiar cry from this stage on. Both
cars had three drivers each in them, and after Binky's accident we were
all extra sensitive to dangerous situations.
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On arrival in Turin we were greeted by some members of a
local Mini Club, with a nice Inno and a Clubby Estate.
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The Italian Job cars all lined up in the square
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We were told we had half an hour until the
police escort arrived to take us to the Fiat Factory - but we had
sightseeing to do... |
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There's the weir that the Minis ran over - hope ours
don't try it...
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And if you look to the left you'll see the
church... |
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| ...with the steps... |
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...that the Minis ran down in the film... |
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And there's Camp Freddie's balcony! |
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| Needless to say it took us more
than half an hour and we all had to run back to the square to be ready in
time! Luckily the police escort was late arriving, hardly surprising
after that to find that they made a pigs' breakfast of keeping the convoy
together on the way to the Fiat Factory. Once again though, the
Minis caused a massive traffic jam in the centre of Turin!
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At last the Fiat Factory came into view... after
regrouping the first group of cars went up the winding tunnel up to the
roof...
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The cars went up in two groups - you can see the ones
waiting down the bottom in the pics. Sputnik got two goes as Karen
was covering it for MiniWorld, and I was lucky enough to drive him down
and back up in between so managed to get pics of everybody up there.
We also went up into the control area and onto the helicopter pad, so got
some great shots. Unfortunately they were carrying out some repair
work on the banking so we didn't get to drive round it, but it was still a
fantastic experience just being there.
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They also allowed a couple of locals to go up with us
which was cool...
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Sput was allowed to stay up afterwards for a photoshoot
on his own and I got to have my picture taken in him on the edge of the
banking.
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After the rooftop, we booked into the luxury Meridien
hotel which is now housed in the Fiat Factory. The first floor of
the building is now a massive shopping centre, so we took a quick look
round there, managing to find an Internet Cafe as well so that we could
report back to the Bandits.
The evening meal was hosted by the Turin Tourist Board
in rather luxurious surroundings. We were taken there and back in
coaches, which could have probably held at least four Minis each if they'd
have wanted to come along. As it was, we could imagine them getting
up to lots of tricks while we were in bed, having such temptation in their
way with the Fiat Factory Rooftop just above where they were sleeping.
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