TPM Night Flight Challenge - Third Time's a Charm
Sunday, 30 Jul 2023
This was Paddy's third time on the TPM Night Flight route and as we all know, the third time's a charm. This time it took Paddy almost 11 hours to drive from Davos over 15 mountain passes to Linthal.
Some time ago, Paddy treated himself to a driving training with Porsches and only a few weeks later he bought one for himself. Some say a Porsche is impractical. Well, this Porsche was built for rides like the Night Flight challenge.
Our Lord and Saviour Elon bought Twitter months ago and is slowly burning it to the ground. Paddy tried to set up his iPad with Twitter and share pictures from the top of the pass as usual. The photo obviously shows Paddy passing the Flüela Pass, but unfortunately it wasn't possible to send the tweet. Too bad, no tweets for this ride.
The Night Flight led over the usual route and the following passes:
| Pass | Height Above Sea Level |
|---|---|
| Flüela Pass | 2384m |
| Norberthöhe | 1405m |
| Reschen Pass / Passo Resia | 1504m |
| Stelvio Pass / Stilfser Joch | 2757m |
| Umbrail Pass | 2501m |
| Fuorn Pass / Pass dal Fuorn | 2149m |
| Albula Pass | 2312m |
| Julier Pass / Pass dal Güglia | 2284m |
| Maloja Pass | 1815m |
| Splügen Pass / Passo dello Spluga | 2114m |
| San Bernardino Pass | 2066m |
| Nufenen Pass / Passo della Novena | 2478m |
| Grimsel Pass | 2164m |
| Susten Pass | 2260m |
| Klausen Pass | 1948m |
This time the night flight was a challenge not only because of its length. The race against the sun to the Stelvio Pass was clearly won. So clearly, in fact, that the sun decided not to show itself again. There was rain and fog, the roads were wet all the time and sometimes the fog was so thick that Paddy couldn't see 50 metres ahead. Unfortunately, this was also the case on the drive up to the Grimsel Pass. Nevertheless, Paddy managed to pulverise the records on several sections in his Porsche. It will be interesting to see what else he can do in the dry.
The statistics of this Night Flight are:
| Total Length: | 695km |
| Total Duration: | 11h 3min |
| Total Elevation Gain/Loss: | 18370m / 19267m |
| Elevation Range: | 233m - 2766m |
| Average Speed: | 63.00km/h |
| Consumption: | 11.3l per 100km |
After almost 11 hours, Paddy made it to Linthal and here is the photo of the finish line:
After a couple of hours' sleep, Paddy compared the current ride with the all-time leaderboard with the help of one of his legendary spreadsheets. The times include breaks and refuelling stops:
