Monte Carlo or Bust, did my £500 ZT make it?

P-Nut · 26th July 2018, 09:15

Hello, as some of you were aware I competed in a banger rally called 'Monte Carlo or Bust' where there goal was to buy a car for £500 and try and make it to Monte Carlo. Thankfully this budget didn't include repairs or prep as I went way beyond £500 on those.

I will keep this brief as I can as to not bore you but feel free to ask anything.

Day 1: UK to St Quentin, France.

This was fairly easy, hope on the ferry and drive a couple of hours to St Quentin, the car was perfect and the drive on the French motor ways was lovely, nice and smooth, pleasant scenery although nothing the UK never had, the big issue was the price of the toll, 23 Euros!!!

Day 2: St Quentin to Dijon via the abandoned Reims-Geux racetrack/grandstand

We decided to skip the toll roads to see more of France and save money, again the roads were lovely, empty and smooth. However, once you've seen 20 picturesque French villages and flat fields you've seen them all, it got very boring very after 2 hours. The racetrack was interesting and better yet some restoration work is going into it for the first time so hopefully one day it will be a fully fledged tourist attraction. After the track more really long straight roads all the way to Dijon

Day 3: Dijon to Turin, Italy via the Alps

Oh boy this was a very big day, we went to meet at a shopping complex and just as we pulled up and turned off the engine, BANG... hissss...

A hose which I strongly believe to be a DIY job from a previous owner blew it's join, coolant all over the floor. The hose itself was a 10 minute fix thanks to having to jubilee clips in the boot. What took time though was dealing with the subsequent air lock afterwards having never done it before and the air valve being abused prior, I had to undo it by hand every time.

Being an amateur this took me a while, everyone had already left now and I was satisfied that I had done an adequate job.

I made very good use of option 7 under the hidden menu to keep an eye on temps and proceeded to cross the border into Switzerland without much issue.

What an absolutely majestic road this was! I have never been anywhere that beautiful before and it just continued and continued as we passed Lake Geneva on the way to the Alps. I can't describe how nice the drive was all the way through and as the road steepened temperature was sitting steady at 94.

Then the road got much steeper and someone suddenly turned the road into 'hard mode', the temperature flew up and the only cure was to go fast and rev fast as it bought the temps down below 100. There was only about 6km to go to the peak but the road was narrow and very twisty and the temps were going beyond 110 now, we made the decision to keep going for it as stopping would probably result in a heat soak effect and get even worse. Eventually after gunning it up the hill we spotted the car park, quickly spun it into a spot and got out and threw water all over the radiator to bring the temps down.

We rejoiced in our victory having made it, almost everyone had similar stories of needles creeping to the redline.

After a break it was time to do the easy part, descend, the drive on the Italian side was smoother and wider with lots of stopping places so it was in the bag... or so we thought. On the brief times we used the throttle we noticed smoke pouring out the back, it looked like white vapour smoke but upon inspection the oil dipstick was very low. Now in my stupidity the last time I checked was when I left home and it was 3/4 full. I didn't expect it to be gone after around 1200 miles. When then ensued was a desperate panic to find somewhere that sold oil, at one point Olive oil nearly went in but we spotted a Italian garage who was closing up shop and we managed to collar him with no mutual language and got a top up of Oilo.

The car stopped smoking and we were relieved, at the next garage I made sure to buy some 'Motor oilo' and continued on our way to Turin.

Subsequent check ups revealed that the KV6 had developed a bit of a drinking problem (yes I know how to check the oil before anyone says) but this was the least of my worries because Turin was HELL!

NEVER EVER DRIVE IN TURIN.

The lights were seen as suggestions, the locals didn't stop for reds and blasted you if you did, the amount of cars per lane is again up for debate, at one point on a TWO lane road we were FOUR side by side, parking was chaos the signs were confusing as hell. I'm fully expecting several tickets through the post from Italy for some sort of traffic violation. Less said about the city as well, the better, utter dump in my opinion.

Day 4: Turin to Nice Via Monte Carlo

We left Turin as early as we could to avoid the locals, once on the road to the south coast it suddenly turned beautiful and the most twisty 80mph roads you've ever seen, it was like a videogame, tunnel followed by bridges literally hundreds of them, it was stunning and once you learnt to drive like an Italian the roads pretty much turned themselves into a race track. Fantastic!.

The south coast leading to Monaco was stunning too, Monaco itself was actually a little underwhelming for me, not helped by a car that didn't like slow traffic and tons and tons of tourists, we didn't stay long but did a lap of the circuit.

Finally made it to Nice, France and parked up the car for a few days for some well earned rest.

On the drive back to England we discovered the extent of the ZTs drinking habit, approx 1 litre per 1000 miles.

We finally made it back this morning, I'll have to inspect to see what the oil consumption is all about. But all in all it was reliable, there was also a 75 and ZT-T, the ZT-T had apparently been on a forecourt for 4 years and nothing was done to it prior to the rally.

75c · 26th July 2018, 09:20

What a great adventure ! You picked the right car to do it in. Bet you're glad to be home.

P-Nut · 26th July 2018, 09:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by 75c

What a great adventure ! You picked the right car to do it in. Bet you're glad to be home.

It feels great to be home!

75c · 26th July 2018, 09:46

How's the ebay auction going ?? any interest ??

In normal circumstances you would think five hundred quid wouldn't buy much but a look in our members cars for sale shows a beautiful 1.8t for £550 that I'd love to take across Europe (if I had the time, bottle and money)

https://the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/s...d.php?t=286034

P-Nut · 26th July 2018, 09:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by 75c

How's the ebay auction going ?? any interest ??

In normal circumstances you would think five hundred quid wouldn't buy much but a look in our members cars for sale shows a beautiful 1.8t for £550 that I'd love to take across Europe (if I had the time, bottle and money)

https://the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/s...d.php?t=286034

Not sure which auction you are referring to.

If I had to do it again I would get a cheaper to run car, fuel is more expensive over there and the toll roads are expensive. A tank of fuel was about 90 euros and tolls were in excess of 200, just in fuel and tolls it was over 700 easily, should have bought a CDTI.

75c · 26th July 2018, 10:00

Sorry, I thought you were selling the car on your return. Must have got you muddled up with someone else ! Still jealous of the adventure though.

maxi_crawf · 26th July 2018, 13:54

I'll be doing something similar in August but instead of in an organised group me and my two 'Lads' will be doing it as privateers (just for the hell of it)

How many miles did you do door to door?
we are doing;
Harwich to The Hook of Holland
Lyon
Cannes then through Nice, Monte Carlo staying over in Pisa,
Milan then through Switzerland, Austria, Germany staying over in Munich
then back to the Hook of Holland

That's in my 190 so the final fuel bill will be 'Interesting'

Nick Greg · 26th July 2018, 14:10

A splendid story. Thanks for sharing that!

P-Nut · 26th July 2018, 14:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxi_crawf

I'll be doing something similar in August but instead of in an organised group me and my two 'Lads' will be doing it as privateers (just for the hell of it)

How many miles did you do door to door?
we are doing;
Harwich to The Hook of Holland
Lyon
Cannes then through Nice, Monte Carlo staying over in Pisa,
Milan then through Switzerland, Austria, Germany staying over in Munich
then back to the Hook of Holland

That's in my 190 so the final fuel bill will be 'Interesting'

From the North East it was around 2500 miles, if I was to do it again I would do it without the big group thing as it felt like we were running out of time although it was supposed to be a challenge.

Just to help you budget it's about 80-90 Euros a tank in my 190 or 1.60ish per litre.

maxi_crawf · 26th July 2018, 14:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by P-Nut

From the North East it was around 2500 miles, if I was to do it again I would do it without the big group thing as it felt like we were running out of time although it was supposed to be a challenge.

Just to help you budget it's about 80-90 Euros a tank in my 190 or 1.60ish per litre.

I'm setting off from Hull then picking one lad up in York then the other from Manchester airport flying in from Nashville, then on to Harwich so I think it's going to be about the same distance (not including the Atlantic)

how many days did you do it over?

I think I remember seeing about the ZT-T on a Facebook forum a few weeks ago.

26th July 2018, 09:15	#1
P-Nut Gets stuck in MG ZT 190+ Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: North Shields Posts: 561 Thanks: 143 Thanked 170 Times in 103 Posts	Monte Carlo or Bust, did my £500 ZT make it? Hello, as some of you were aware I competed in a banger rally called 'Monte Carlo or Bust' where there goal was to buy a car for £500 and try and make it to Monte Carlo. Thankfully this budget didn't include repairs or prep as I went way beyond £500 on those. I will keep this brief as I can as to not bore you but feel free to ask anything. Day 1: UK to St Quentin, France. This was fairly easy, hope on the ferry and drive a couple of hours to St Quentin, the car was perfect and the drive on the French motor ways was lovely, nice and smooth, pleasant scenery although nothing the UK never had, the big issue was the price of the toll, 23 Euros!!! Day 2: St Quentin to Dijon via the abandoned Reims-Geux racetrack/grandstand We decided to skip the toll roads to see more of France and save money, again the roads were lovely, empty and smooth. However, once you've seen 20 picturesque French villages and flat fields you've seen them all, it got very boring very after 2 hours. The racetrack was interesting and better yet some restoration work is going into it for the first time so hopefully one day it will be a fully fledged tourist attraction. After the track more really long straight roads all the way to Dijon Day 3: Dijon to Turin, Italy via the Alps Oh boy this was a very big day, we went to meet at a shopping complex and just as we pulled up and turned off the engine, BANG... hissss... A hose which I strongly believe to be a DIY job from a previous owner blew it's join, coolant all over the floor. The hose itself was a 10 minute fix thanks to having to jubilee clips in the boot. What took time though was dealing with the subsequent air lock afterwards having never done it before and the air valve being abused prior, I had to undo it by hand every time. Being an amateur this took me a while, everyone had already left now and I was satisfied that I had done an adequate job. I made very good use of option 7 under the hidden menu to keep an eye on temps and proceeded to cross the border into Switzerland without much issue. What an absolutely majestic road this was! I have never been anywhere that beautiful before and it just continued and continued as we passed Lake Geneva on the way to the Alps. I can't describe how nice the drive was all the way through and as the road steepened temperature was sitting steady at 94. Then the road got much steeper and someone suddenly turned the road into 'hard mode', the temperature flew up and the only cure was to go fast and rev fast as it bought the temps down below 100. There was only about 6km to go to the peak but the road was narrow and very twisty and the temps were going beyond 110 now, we made the decision to keep going for it as stopping would probably result in a heat soak effect and get even worse. Eventually after gunning it up the hill we spotted the car park, quickly spun it into a spot and got out and threw water all over the radiator to bring the temps down. We rejoiced in our victory having made it, almost everyone had similar stories of needles creeping to the redline. After a break it was time to do the easy part, descend, the drive on the Italian side was smoother and wider with lots of stopping places so it was in the bag... or so we thought. On the brief times we used the throttle we noticed smoke pouring out the back, it looked like white vapour smoke but upon inspection the oil dipstick was very low. Now in my stupidity the last time I checked was when I left home and it was 3/4 full. I didn't expect it to be gone after around 1200 miles. When then ensued was a desperate panic to find somewhere that sold oil, at one point Olive oil nearly went in but we spotted a Italian garage who was closing up shop and we managed to collar him with no mutual language and got a top up of Oilo. The car stopped smoking and we were relieved, at the next garage I made sure to buy some 'Motor oilo' and continued on our way to Turin. Subsequent check ups revealed that the KV6 had developed a bit of a drinking problem (yes I know how to check the oil before anyone says) but this was the least of my worries because Turin was HELL! NEVER EVER DRIVE IN TURIN. The lights were seen as suggestions, the locals didn't stop for reds and blasted you if you did, the amount of cars per lane is again up for debate, at one point on a TWO lane road we were FOUR side by side, parking was chaos the signs were confusing as hell. I'm fully expecting several tickets through the post from Italy for some sort of traffic violation. Less said about the city as well, the better, utter dump in my opinion. Day 4: Turin to Nice Via Monte Carlo We left Turin as early as we could to avoid the locals, once on the road to the south coast it suddenly turned beautiful and the most twisty 80mph roads you've ever seen, it was like a videogame, tunnel followed by bridges literally hundreds of them, it was stunning and once you learnt to drive like an Italian the roads pretty much turned themselves into a race track. Fantastic!. The south coast leading to Monaco was stunning too, Monaco itself was actually a little underwhelming for me, not helped by a car that didn't like slow traffic and tons and tons of tourists, we didn't stay long but did a lap of the circuit. Finally made it to Nice, France and parked up the car for a few days for some well earned rest. On the drive back to England we discovered the extent of the ZTs drinking habit, approx 1 litre per 1000 miles. We finally made it back this morning, I'll have to inspect to see what the oil consumption is all about. But all in all it was reliable, there was also a 75 and ZT-T, the ZT-T had apparently been on a forecourt for 4 years and nothing was done to it prior to the rally. __________________ Approved food eater Last edited by P-Nut; 26th July 2018 at 09:23..

26th July 2018, 09:20	#2
75c Gets stuck in Rover 75 Saloon Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Belfast Posts: 601 Thanks: 150 Thanked 294 Times in 190 Posts	What a great adventure ! You picked the right car to do it in. Bet you're glad to be home.

26th July 2018, 09:46	#4
75c Gets stuck in Rover 75 Saloon Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Belfast Posts: 601 Thanks: 150 Thanked 294 Times in 190 Posts	How's the ebay auction going ?? any interest ?? In normal circumstances you would think five hundred quid wouldn't buy much but a look in our members cars for sale shows a beautiful 1.8t for £550 that I'd love to take across Europe (if I had the time, bottle and money) https://the75andztclub.co.uk/forum/s...d.php?t=286034

26th July 2018, 10:00	#6
75c Gets stuck in Rover 75 Saloon Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Belfast Posts: 601 Thanks: 150 Thanked 294 Times in 190 Posts	Sorry, I thought you were selling the car on your return. Must have got you muddled up with someone else ! Still jealous of the adventure though.

26th July 2018, 13:54	#7
maxi_crawf Posted a thing or two R75 Saloon Conn CDT SE, MG ZT190+ Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Kingston-upon-Hull Posts: 1,960 Thanks: 823 Thanked 426 Times in 274 Posts	I'll be doing something similar in August but instead of in an organised group me and my two 'Lads' will be doing it as privateers (just for the hell of it) How many miles did you do door to door? we are doing; Harwich to The Hook of Holland Lyon Cannes then through Nice, Monte Carlo staying over in Pisa, Milan then through Switzerland, Austria, Germany staying over in Munich then back to the Hook of Holland That's in my 190 so the final fuel bill will be 'Interesting'

26th July 2018, 14:10	#8
Nick Greg Posted a thing or two Honda Insight Hybrid Join Date: May 2015 Location: Brighouse Posts: 1,157 Thanks: 691 Thanked 424 Times in 280 Posts	A splendid story. Thanks for sharing that!