Daily Briefing 1 March 2013

Good Morning! White Rabbits, kick and a punch for the first of the month.

Welcome to our daily briefing for Friday 1 March 2013.

* Dangerous Rain in coastal Spain.

For breaking news please see our Twitter feed @DriveEurope.

The Gotthard Pass, 1957 - It's strange the way it happens but yesterday we had cause to ponder, separately, bubble cars and micro-caravans. Suddenly, we come across a picture of both together. This BMW Isetta 600, with tandem seating, tows its tiny caravan up the Gotthard Pass at Andermatt, central Switzerland. Post war austerity was on the wane by 1957. Tastes were turning back to 'proper' cars. The bottom dropped out of the market literally overnight though, thanks to the energy crisis following Suez, the concept staggered on until the early 1960s. Picture taken from The BMW Story by Horst Mönnich.

The Gotthard Pass, 1957 – It’s strange the way it happens but yesterday we had cause to ponder, separately, bubble cars and micro-caravans. Suddenly, we come across a picture of both together. This BMW Isetta 600, with tandem seating, tows its tiny caravan up the Gotthard Pass at Andermatt, central Switzerland. Post war austerity was on the wane by 1957. Tastes were turning back to ‘proper’ cars. The bottom dropped out of the market literally overnight though, thanks to the energy crisis following Suez, the concept staggered on until the early 1960s. Picture taken from The BMW Story by Horst Mönnich.

WEATHER

Dangerous Rain, Spain

Castellón & Tarragona, the coastal regions south of Barcelona, set for torrential rain and potential flooding , click here for latest.

Potentially dangerous weather – snow/ ice, high winds, rain, storms – in many other parts of south and east Spain, though less intense than yesterday.

Also Sardinia and Sicily, high winds and storms.

For the latest click here. For the weather-where-you-are click here.

Winter sports – for the latest BBC forecast click here: essentially conditions set to get milder from this weekend.

looks like a rather nice place to spend time

GENEVA – Stop fighting over who gets to drive. Retire, defeated, to the back seat and console yourself in luxury. Sports limousines are a growth market for sure. Along with the Porsche Panamera, BMW 6 series Grand Coupe, Aston Martin Rapide S – even the Audi A7 Sportback and mini-me Mercedes CLA saloon – it’s all about comfort, speed and style, for four people. Porsche and Maserati supply fitted luggage – four matching suitcases – to make the most of the boot space. The new Maserati Quattroporte V8, pictured, takes its bow at the Geneva Motor Show next week.

CURRENCY

Figures from end of play Thursday 28 February. Indicative ‘travel money’ rates from BBC. Guide only.

£1 buys €1.1280 – €1 is 88.7p – €5 is £4.43.

This rate is unchanged since yesterday. For other currencies click here.

Porsche GB's Photo of the Week, from the launch of the 911 Carrera 4 and 4S in the Black Mountains, Wales (so that's why they call them the Black Mountains).

Porsche GB’s Photo of the Week, from the launch of the 911 Carrera 4 and 4S in the Black Mountains, Wales (so that’s why they call them the Black Mountains).

CROSSING THE CHANNEL

As of 07:30 GMT, most services running well. For the latest BBC Ferry Travel News click here.

* Passengers on TransEuropa Ferries Ramsgate-Ostend should phone 01843 595522 for a sailing update. A technical problem has been affecting services.

* Travelling to the Channel ports? See @Burger_Ferry for the latest at Dover. See @TravelNewsSouth for the latest on the roads.

For the latest updates by operator click links below:

P&O – Condor Ferries – Brittany Ferries – Transeuropa Ferries – Eurotunnel – Stena Line

DFDS – Dover Strait – Western Channel – North Sea

TRAFFIC

For live traffic information in the following countries click the links below:

Austria – Belgium – France – Germany – Netherlands – Switzerland

The Automobile Club of Luxembourg provides a run down of planned major traffic events here (French only).

Google Maps includes live traffic information on all western European countries.

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