{"id":8898,"date":"2023-09-26T12:54:14","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T12:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/?p=8898"},"modified":"2023-09-26T12:54:15","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T12:54:15","slug":"bernina-gran-turismo-in-awe-of-the-mountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/?p=8898","title":{"rendered":"Bernina Gran Turismo: in awe of the mountain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are better places to be on a Sunday morning, then standing in the cold at the top of the Bernina Pass in Switzerland. That is until dozens of engines brutally interrupt the peace and quiet. Welcome to Bernina Gran Turismo.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sitting at 2327 metres (7638 ft) above sea level, the sun breaches the clouds on the Bernina Pass, for one brief moment. No matter the cold at 8 AM on a Sunday morning, this is the moment everyone has been waiting for. One by one, the engines burst into life. A rough sound fills the air, as the carburettors grapple with the conditions, struggling to feed enough oxygen into all cylinders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo ISAW\/Vladimir Kadera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Foggy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a raw-sounding bunch that makes its way down into the Engadin valley, in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. Here, at the La R\u00f6sa postal station, this eclectic convoy turns around, blipping the throttle. Getting ready to tackle the 50 curves that separate them from the top of the Bernina Pass once more. Only now, they go up one by one, picking a fight with the chronometer\u2026 and the weather conditions. This is high up in the Alps. In the valley, the sun may be out, but as competitors turn around, the fog rolls right back in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo ISAW\/Vladimir Kadera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I still have to drive it home<\/p>\nRick Pearson<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As if the course in itself wasn\u2019t challenging enough. \u201cCouldn\u2019t see if the road went left or right,\u201d Rick Pearson (Alfa Romeo Giulia GT Veloce) says at the finish. Having enjoyed four perfect runs on Saturday already, all participants take a cautious approach. \u201cI still have to drive this car home,\u201d Pearson says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo ISAW\/Luca Danilo Orsi and Virgiliu Andone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Porsche 908-3<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s Bernina program \u2013 part of the International St Moritzer Automobile Week \u2013 saw a quality field of race cars and classic cars line up on the Hauptstrasse 29, ready for a 5.7-kilometre run, covering 450 metres of altitude. The perfect place to see a Porsche 908-3 in action. The car in question belongs to German racer\/collector Ernst Schuster, but is driven here by his nephew Chris Rendlen. \u201cI drove the car here in 2016 as well.\u201d It\u2019s easily the fastest car out here today, but Rendlen keeps a safety margin. \u201cThe 908 is very easy to drive, but it is understeering quite a bit.\u201d Here<\/a> is a video of Rendlen\u2019s drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo ISAW\/Vladimir Kadera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Octane junkie<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Bernina Gran Turismo remains a connoisseur\u2019s event. But with cars like this, and a Nissan Skyline R32, a Ford RS200, a Ferrari 458 Challenge (courtesy of the BI Collection) and a newly-restored Lotus XI (David Martin<\/a>\u2019s entry for this year\u2019s Bernina), a Ford Galaxie and others to see (and hear), Bernina was once more an easy fix for the octane junkie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo ISAW\/Vladimir Kadera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Vladimir Kadera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Luca Danilo Orsi and Virgiliu Andone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Luca Danilo Orsi and Virgiliu Andone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Vladimir Kadera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Luca Danilo Orsi and Virgiliu Andone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Luca Danilo Orsi and Virgiliu Andone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Luca Danilo Orsi and Virgiliu Andone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Luca Danilo Orsi and Virgiliu Andone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Luca Danilo Orsi and Virgiliu Andone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Luca Danilo Orsi and Virgiliu Andone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Luca Danilo Orsi and Virgiliu Andone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Luca Danilo Orsi and Virgiliu Andone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Luca Danilo Orsi and Virgiliu Andone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Luca Danilo Orsi and Virgiliu Andone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Photo ISAW\/Vladimir Kadera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Vladimir Kadera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Vladimir Kadera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Vladimir Kadera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Vladimir Kadera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Photo ISAW\/Vladimir Kadera<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are better places to be, then in the cold at the top of the Bernina Pass in Switzerland. But this is Bernina Gran Turismo…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[340,202,188,1260,1231,1259,522,254,137,1130,1258],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-8898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-historic-racing","tag-alfa-romeo","tag-bernina","tag-bernina-gran-turismo","tag-chris-rendlen","tag-david-martin","tag-ernst-schuster","tag-isaw","tag-lotus","tag-porsche","tag-porsche-908","tag-rick-pearson","post_format-post-format-video"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/IMG_9256.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8898"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8958,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8898\/revisions\/8958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8898"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taziomagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fthb-sponsors&post=8898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}