Adventure in the St. Gotthard Tunnel

Member Submission by Edwin Lorse

My wife, Silvia, and I spend parts of our summers in Europe. We were both born and raised in Germany, so we travel “home” to visit family and friends and to explore new places. Two years ago, we bought a 2009 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 in Frankfurt, Germany after years of bad experiences with car rentals. When it is not being driven the 911 rests in Freiburg, Germany in the Black Forest, where we have an apartment.

Last summer we decided to partake in a tour of Italy. Leaving home in Freiburg we traveled south to meet with PCA members Alessandra and Guido Trussardi and their Porsche 993S. Our meeting point was Lago Maggiore. The route to Lago Maggiore is a beautiful drive from our home to the lake on the south side of the Alps. “Lago” is the largest lake in Switzerland and the second largest lake in Italy. The northern head of Lago Maggiore is in Switzerland and the southern portion in Italy. What makes this trip to Lago Maggiore interesting is the St. Gotthard Tunnel. The tunnel runs through the Swiss Alps from Göschenen in Canton Uri to Airolo, Canton Ticino, all in Switzerland. The tunnel is 11 miles long with 2-lane traffic and serves more than 1,500 vehicles per hour. The tunnel is part of St. Gotthard Pass, which is one of two main north-south routes through the Swiss Alps. While this 11-mile-long tunnel is dark and a bit daunting, the mountain pass is filled with beautiful scenery and adds a short delightful hour to our trip.

Allowing a few days at the Lago in beautiful places like Verbania, Canopio and Ascona, Switzerland we headed further south to the ocean side of Liguria, Italy. Here we stayed a few days in Celle Ligure right between Nice and Genoa enjoying the Italian countryside and cuisine.

Ready to complete our tour, Sylvia and I drove 200 miles north from seaside Liguria back to Switzerland on the southern side of the Alps. It was our intent to retrace our outbound route back through the St. Gotthard Tunnel and St. Gotthard Pass. North to south or south to north travel offers equally stunning scenery. This road is meant to be driven in a Porsche.

On our trip back North, and not long after entering the St. Gotthard Tunnel,

Our German housed 911 Carrera 2

I noted a battery and alternator warning message in the dash. “Oh, great!” I thought. “This couldn’t happen on the 200 miles open highway we drove all morning. No; it had to happen now in a busy and packed tube.” With no emergency bay in sight, we couldn’t stop. Behind us there was a long line of vehicles comprising hundreds of cars, buses, and huge trucks. I didn’t have the opportunity to finish that thought when the whole dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. Vehicle coolant and oil temperature were climbing, with coolant temp soon in the red. Fortunately, by the time the red-light flashed, an emergency pull-off bay was in sight. I turned into the area and safely stopped the car, taking several deep breaths.

I needed those breaths as once I exited the car as I was hit with 100ºF temperature and exhaust fumes that made me dizzy. Fortunately, an emergency phone was found behind two automated steel doors, so I made the call for a tow. I got back into the car and a short 10 minutes later we saw the flashing lights of the tow truck approaching. The tow truck stopped traffic so we could push the 911 to a position where the Carrera could be safely loaded. With our Porsche on the flatbed, we rode the remaining 9 miles to the end of the tunnel. The tow driver dropped us at a nearby car repair station. A beautiful chalet along our drive

Made in the shade, our lunch stop with a view Diagnostic: the bolt for the belt tensioner broke. The repair could not be made at this shop as they only worked on VWs, Fords and Opels. So, we contacted our auto club, ADAC. They arranged a rental car and paid for the $500 tow to transport the Carrera back to Freiburg, a trip of 200 miles. How long it would take to get the car to FVD Brombacher in Freiburg was the next question. The repair shop owner said forever—and he was not kidding. It was vacation season and thousands of stranded cars required transport north. After four weeks our 911 finally arrived in Freiburg and was fixed by FVD Brombacher, our favored Porsche shop. Unfortunately, we had already left for Florida before the repair was completed. Our 911 Carrera now must wait for another adventure, perhaps northward this time.