Volvo Comeback and 20th Place at the 19th Coppa d'Europa 2025

Wednesday, 16 Apr 2025

The route of the 19th edition of the Coppa d'Europa 2025 started in Maastricht and went through the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic to the capital city of Prague in 3 days, Paddy spent the nights in Oberursel and Chemnitz. The route also included a test on Germany's oldest racetrack, the Schleizer Dreieck.

All 3 days were more than 10 hours of driving on back roads and Paddy had to solve different kind of navigation challenges. Paddy drove a lot of roads, some twice, some not planned by the organisers but mostly as intended. It took Paddy half a day to warm up, he even forgot to start the Tripmaster on the first regularity. Paddy struggled, fell down, but got right back up. He finished the first regularity with only 1 second difference. The first day's programme was one of the hardest at a Coppa and Paddy finished 20th. With precision like a Swiss watch, Paddy defended his place in the top 20 until the very end, staying in 20th place on days 2 and 3. For the statistics nerds and curious readers, the result tables can be found on the Coppa website.

This was Paddy's 7th Coppa and it was a tough one. The long days of driving, almost 13 hours on day 2, were exhausting. Paddy had good and bad episodes, Paddy "Driver" Murphy learned that he can drive and do tulips at the same time, allowing Paddy "Navigator" Murphy to plan the route without the added pressure of the driver's anxiety, and saving time. Paddy "Navigator" Murphy learned that his definition of map manipulation differed from that of the organisers. This, and the long days, led to some spirited arguments with the organisers. They promised shorter days for the 20th edition of the Coppa ‐ Paddy has to verify that.

Human issues aside, Dom, the Volvo 1800E, was in the good hands of our mechanic after the AvD-Histo-Tour 2023. Dom got a "sharper" camshaft, a new flywheel, exhaust manifold, shock absorber, stabilizer bar, and so on. The result was excellent. Paddy could now take corners properly, and could fly uphill and it was a wonderful overall driving experience.

At noon on day 3, Paddy noticed a smell and sometimes smoke, in the evening loss of oil pressure and oil. Paddy made it to the finish line in Prague burning through his oil reserves. There was a leak in the oil hose at the oil pressure sensor. It did not seem too bad in the evening and with a refill of Paddys strategic oil reserves he was confident to make it back home. On the way, he emptied the 15W40 oil stocks of two Czech petrol stations to be on the safe side.

Just 300 kilometres later the situation got worse. It was "raining" oil and there was smoke as if Paddy had activated the bat-smoke device. Paddy was stranded in a German Autohof about 3 hours from home on a Sunday afternoon. A dreadful moment.

But then the most incredible thing happened. Paddy's crazy mechanic decided to spend his Sunday driving out to Paddy, making makeshift repairs to the Volvo and giving him a safe passage home. What a hero! After 3 hours of waiting and watching a flea market, and another 4 hours of driving, Paddy arrived home just before midnight.

The 19th Coppa, with more than 10 hours of driving a day, more than 500km of back roads a day, driving at the limit, was an endurance test for man and machine. It broke almost all of us, but Paddy bloody well pulled through. Another Coppa in the bag, what a journey and what stories to tell.

Many thanks to the honorary member Paddy "Nico" Murphy!