So, what’s happening in the project right now? How far have we reached in the production phase? And is it true that we’re going to visit several European cities after the Shell Eco Marathon? These and several other questions will be answered shortly in future Blog posts. For the time being we serve you the last part of Ulrikas, Mattias’ and Fredriks account from their representative journey to Monaco.
Team Baldos with furst Albert II (Photo: Melissa Abecassis)
Saturday 6th of March
After our meeting with His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco our mission was accomplished and we began the strenuous journey back to base. One last delicious French breakfast was consumed before the bags were packed and stuffed into the car. The seemingly easy task of finding our way to the freeway proved out to be rather complicated, and it took us almost an hour until we could gain some momentum northwards. Instead of going back the route we came from we took a detour towards northwest. We travelled through the Mont Blanc Tunnel and ended up in Geneva, Switzerland. We had heard rumors about the Geneva Motor Show and decided to take a few hours off to visit the exhibition. Later that evening – with our heads spinning around Ferraris, Bentleys and Porsches we headed east to a hostel in the Swiss capital Bern, where we spent the night.
Another Swedish vehicle - Koenigsegg agera on the Geneva Motor Show
Sunday 7th of March
This day was to be the moment of truth for our minibus (as well as our backs) – 1100 km between Bern (Switzerland) and Rostock (Northern Germany) was ahead of us. We started off with a good breakfast and were soon back on the roads again. Luckily enough Germany is perhaps the ideal country to just pass by, and with a speed of around 140-160 km/h the Baden-Württembergian countryside swept past outside the car windows. We took a few pauses in order to fill up the minibus and to eat, but apart from that our day was spent entirely on the highway. When we finally arrived in Rostock we switched back to our Swedish studded tires, made a quick visit to the tax-free shops on the Ferry and once again allowed the Baltic Sea to cradle us to sleep.
Monday 8th of March
As we rolled off the ferry we were all rather pleased to have made it back to the “country of the brown sauce”, and Scania greeted us with genuine spring weather. The checklist of Swedish cities to pass was quickly filled in. Our lunch, consisting of Pancakes, was consumed by an acquaintance to Mattias in Nyköping. Fredrik left the crew in his hometown of Sala, while Mattias and Ulrika (who were to continue all the way to Luleå) spent the night by Mattias’ brother in Uppsala.
Baldos II back in the workshop
Tuesday 9th of March
We started off early, already at 06:00, to enter the final episode of our excursion. Our first stop was for morning Fika (something similar to “second breakfast”) in Gävle by Finsun Inresol AB, a newly founded company in the Energy-technology business. They told us some enlightening facts about their hybrid diesel car “Solon”. The second stop of the day was by Mattias’ parents south of Umeå. A journalist from Västerrbottens Folkblad awaited us there, and he took a few photos of us and the car (found here). After a delightful dinner we sat out towards Luleå in the glittering northern night. And finally, at around 22:00, our European adventure was over. Well, this one at least.
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