Spazz - trip details 2014
Re: Spazz - trip details 2014
Shocking behaviour.
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Re: Spazz - trip details 2014
Having been back for almost a week , I’ve had time to take stock of another SE European invasion... 
The trip started off with some uncertainty surrounding whether we could attend or not – Robin’s car has been on the receiving end of fairly major surgery, and had developed a fuelling issue which meant it wouldn’t have been sensible to attempt to drive it several thousand miles.
Alternatives options were discussed – Take the bus (Previa) as beer / spares wagon and enjoy just the social side, take my car (which being FWD, would have been fairly dull on track), or just cancel altogether.
At the 11th hour Campbell made his extremely selfless offer for us to take UJI along on the trip – Those of you who’ve been here a while will know that Campbell’s owned UJI from brand new, having ordered it from MMC back in ‘98/99.
It’s now covered 105k on the original drivetrain, and been on many road runs / Campaganzas / x2 Stelvio trips / a smattering of track days / been driven all over Europe – It really is part of his family.
A new set of tyres were fitted at MMC for the trip on the Friday morning, and we packed up and headed south for Norwich. The run down was fairly uneventful, bar the usual stop/start gridlock around Newcastle on a Friday afternoon. We debated a few routes to Norwich, but opted for the A47 from Newark on Trent via King’s Lynn which was unfortunately clogged full of HGVs, and took us over two hours to cover 100 miles.
We arrived at the hotel around 9:45pm, and made haste to the bar – Quite a few of the SE massive were well established there, and beermagedon ensued.
The barman seemed a little miffed at accepting Scottish banknotes, especially as his till was completely full of them by the end of the night!
Saturday
Early start the following morning, to fuel and head for Hethel – My helpful* sat nav took us down a single track country road, which happened to pass the wrong end of Potash Lane. Following the road around the perimeter eventually got us to the factory gate, and into Hethel.
I guess Hethel is Lotus nirvana if you’re a fan of the marque – Numerous cars & development hacks lying scattered all over. We were directed to the ‘paddock’ next to the track, and into the old control tower for the brief (where they run the driver academy from).
It was pointed out that Hethel is a test track and not a racing circuit – There’s very little run-off, and the barriers were only there to prevent the ‘flaming wreckage landing in the neighbouring farmer’s field’. We were free to take photos / video, but only of the track and not of the factory areas / developmental car graveyard next to the paddock.
A great day followed – Hethel was an SE only event, so track etiquette was spot on, and it was all very relaxed.
The track is designed to challenge a car’s chassis – The Graham Hill Esses would punish you with oversteer if you got the line wrong / lifted. The Andretti hairpin directly after baited you into carrying too much speed, leading to horrendous understeer towards the exit kerb. My particular favourite was the fast section called Clark, where you aimed towards the left pit entrance, braking from high speed and turning into a fast right / left / left sequence past the pit wall.
(I also enjoyed a few tidy laps with Malcolm in his new V6 Exige – First time I’d even sat in one, and was very impressed with the turn –in on road rubber, as well as the wall of torque…Not to mention the nice noise it made!
)
As part of the day we were offered a factory tour – Really interesting to see the cars being assembled, from bare tub to finished product. (The motorsport green Exige roadster would have been my pick of the bunch).
Jean-Marc Gales (new Lotus CEO) popped by the paddock with Graeme for a chat, and the lads at the factory also wheeled out some eye candy in the form of an all-black Exige V6 Cup R.
A nice touch at the end of the day, was for Martin Donnelly (ex-Lotus F1 driver / instructor for the day) to lead all the cars onto the steering pad for a group photo.
The group split afterwards, with half heading to Team Lotus to look at the old GP cars, and the others heading to the bar. Mr Robertson managed to sort a last-minute booking for 35 at one of the Norwich curry houses for a decent bum burner, although tut wasn’t able to make avail of his war pensioner’s discount for his king prawn surprise.
The sensible and weary returned to the hotel bar, while team hardcore stayed out in search of Jägerbomb oblivion.
Sunday
A more relaxed start to the day, before the joys of escaping Norfolk (and its many roadworks / solitary scamera van) onto the M25. Despite being a Sunday morning, the Dartford crossing was its usual self, with tailbacks and delays beginning a few miles from the QEII bridge.
(Although this pic's of the chunnel queue! )
Having cleared the M25, we continued south on the M20 and onto the chunnel – As they left Norwich before us, few of the SE crew were already there, but booked on a later crossing.
The chunnel was relatively painless as usual, and we were soon enroute to Francorchamps, via the Brussels ring-road, arriving at La Source hotel around 8:30pm. (A rather swish establishment, which is apparently a favourite of the F1 fraternity during the GP weekend).
The group split again, with half eating at the (expensive & slow) hotel restaurant, and half heading to the local steakhouse in the village.
There followed a return to the hotel bar, where we drank their beer till they wouldn’t serve us anymore.
Monday
To the track for the driver briefing at 08:30 – Spa has a genuine aura about it…It’s a ‘proper’ race track. The FIA WTCC had been there the day before, and the truckies were loading up the race cars, pop-up workshops and hospitality stands. This did mean we had to use the old pits, as opposed to the F1 pits, but no great hardship.
It was a busy day – Paul Golding reckoned on 110 cars booked on, with an on-track limit of 64. The Elise cup are racing there soon, so quite a few race teams were using the day for a spot of impromptu testing. Although mainly Loti, there were the usual Porsche suspects out and about (GT3 / Boxster Spyder), as well as Caterfields & a nice S3 Elan race car.
I enjoyed a good morning session in UJI, reminding myself which way the track went – The Yoko C Drives it was fitted with are fuel saving rather than performance tyres, but did grip well up to the point of them overheating, where they turned into chewing gum. (Poulon was a good test – As they went off, you’d drift ever closer to running right over the outside kerb in the middle part of the corner).
Blagged a few laps with Ali C in his 2-Eleven – Some smooth / quick driving, and the car’s very capable. It’s a real buzz to go round Spa in something fast, with great grip & brakes. Eau Rouge was almost flat & before the tyres went off Blanchimont was, at 120-130mph +
Around lunchtime Bob vanM appeared, and it was great to catch up for the first time in 4- 5 years.
Unfortunately after lunch UJI’s downpipe cracked at the join with the flexi – On inspection it was badly corroded / rotten, and had cracked at the join with the flange. Attempts were made with Bob’s help to acquire a new downpipe, but the Belgian Lotus dealer in attendance only had an S1 downpipe (UJI has an S2 manifold / downpipe), so Robin made a temporary exhaust bandage using an old BBQ platter and a handful of jubilee clips – SE Pikee engineering at its best!
Keeping the revs down, we left Spa and headed onwards towards Zolder, around an hour away.
The Hotel De Pits was very pleasant – Located adjacent to the pit straight of Zolder circuit, it actually had a foot bridge which you could cross directly into the pits. The outside terrace had a fantastic view of much of the track, as did the balconies of the basement rooms.
In usual SE fashion, bags were flung into rooms upon check-in, and nice cold lager was immediately sought. The service was slooooow, as I think we overwhelmed the two bar staff who were attempting to wait tables in the busy restaurant, in-between keeping us in beer. (They ran out of pint glasses too!)
Same applied we did actually get seated for food…Which resulting in tut being berated by the waiter for stealing the scraps from a recently departed table of Belgians
More ale / gin flowed, and the one eyed angry pirate put in an appearance while everyone drank beer till they wouldn’t serve us anymore (There’s something of a pattern here?!)
Tuesday
With UJI drivable, but in no way track-worthy, it was another leisurely start to the day. Bob vanM was arriving later in the morning with his magic box of exhaust repair tricks, so UJI was driven to a pit garage and jacked up / de-undertrayed in anticipation.
There were already reports of draconian noise limits – Some were actually black flagged during the sighting laps! Zolder were operating a ‘two strikes and your day’s over’ policy, and as the proper session began, even standard cars were falling foul of the noise meters.
We eventually worked out where they were (so that one could lift accordingly), but it did mean short-shifting for some and running in higher gears.
Bob arrived, and work on UJI commenced – Holts finest exhaust bandage, some fire-proof shielding and gum gum were put to use, as well as refining the original repair. This was completed by fitting rear diffuser spacers, and blocking up any underbody holes which might allow exhaust gases to enter the cabin.
The day was drawing on, and we still hadn’t ventured on track – George very kindly offered me the keys to his Exige S, and I managed about a dozen slow & steady laps. (His instrument cluster was inoperable, so no rev counter – Plus he was on one black flag warning, and I didn’t want to earn him another one, thereby ending his day).
Zolder was a fun track, though – Well suited to the Elise / Exige, with elevations / tight chicanes along with fast & flowing corners. (I liked the sequence at the end of the pit straight – Late turn-in left, brake / downshift right, then short-shift up and build speed through the long right hander).
Around 4pm everyone was getting ready to make a move – The hardcore SpaZers had Snetterton the following day, and I had to catch a flight back from Brussels that night, to return to work.
Kelvin kindly braved the Brussels ring road to drop me at the ‘kiss & fly’ (as he previously mentioned, I just did the ‘fly’ part), and I miraculously avoided too much of the disruption caused by the French ATC strike, making it back to Edinburgh airport for around 10pm.
It was a fantastic trip, with some great company – I think I realised that the last Euro trip I attended was Donkey Punch…And that was back in October 2008…(!)
Special thanks to Robin for offering his pax seat to tag along in, Campbell for entrusting UJI to us, Paul Golding & Andy G for putting the whole SpaZ concept together, Graeme R for sorting the Norwich group meal, and everyone else for the camaraderie and companionship.
The trip started off with some uncertainty surrounding whether we could attend or not – Robin’s car has been on the receiving end of fairly major surgery, and had developed a fuelling issue which meant it wouldn’t have been sensible to attempt to drive it several thousand miles.
Alternatives options were discussed – Take the bus (Previa) as beer / spares wagon and enjoy just the social side, take my car (which being FWD, would have been fairly dull on track), or just cancel altogether.
At the 11th hour Campbell made his extremely selfless offer for us to take UJI along on the trip – Those of you who’ve been here a while will know that Campbell’s owned UJI from brand new, having ordered it from MMC back in ‘98/99.
It’s now covered 105k on the original drivetrain, and been on many road runs / Campaganzas / x2 Stelvio trips / a smattering of track days / been driven all over Europe – It really is part of his family.
A new set of tyres were fitted at MMC for the trip on the Friday morning, and we packed up and headed south for Norwich. The run down was fairly uneventful, bar the usual stop/start gridlock around Newcastle on a Friday afternoon. We debated a few routes to Norwich, but opted for the A47 from Newark on Trent via King’s Lynn which was unfortunately clogged full of HGVs, and took us over two hours to cover 100 miles.
We arrived at the hotel around 9:45pm, and made haste to the bar – Quite a few of the SE massive were well established there, and beermagedon ensued.
The barman seemed a little miffed at accepting Scottish banknotes, especially as his till was completely full of them by the end of the night!
Saturday
Early start the following morning, to fuel and head for Hethel – My helpful* sat nav took us down a single track country road, which happened to pass the wrong end of Potash Lane. Following the road around the perimeter eventually got us to the factory gate, and into Hethel.
I guess Hethel is Lotus nirvana if you’re a fan of the marque – Numerous cars & development hacks lying scattered all over. We were directed to the ‘paddock’ next to the track, and into the old control tower for the brief (where they run the driver academy from).
It was pointed out that Hethel is a test track and not a racing circuit – There’s very little run-off, and the barriers were only there to prevent the ‘flaming wreckage landing in the neighbouring farmer’s field’. We were free to take photos / video, but only of the track and not of the factory areas / developmental car graveyard next to the paddock.
A great day followed – Hethel was an SE only event, so track etiquette was spot on, and it was all very relaxed.
The track is designed to challenge a car’s chassis – The Graham Hill Esses would punish you with oversteer if you got the line wrong / lifted. The Andretti hairpin directly after baited you into carrying too much speed, leading to horrendous understeer towards the exit kerb. My particular favourite was the fast section called Clark, where you aimed towards the left pit entrance, braking from high speed and turning into a fast right / left / left sequence past the pit wall.
(I also enjoyed a few tidy laps with Malcolm in his new V6 Exige – First time I’d even sat in one, and was very impressed with the turn –in on road rubber, as well as the wall of torque…Not to mention the nice noise it made!
)As part of the day we were offered a factory tour – Really interesting to see the cars being assembled, from bare tub to finished product. (The motorsport green Exige roadster would have been my pick of the bunch).
Jean-Marc Gales (new Lotus CEO) popped by the paddock with Graeme for a chat, and the lads at the factory also wheeled out some eye candy in the form of an all-black Exige V6 Cup R.
A nice touch at the end of the day, was for Martin Donnelly (ex-Lotus F1 driver / instructor for the day) to lead all the cars onto the steering pad for a group photo.
The group split afterwards, with half heading to Team Lotus to look at the old GP cars, and the others heading to the bar. Mr Robertson managed to sort a last-minute booking for 35 at one of the Norwich curry houses for a decent bum burner, although tut wasn’t able to make avail of his war pensioner’s discount for his king prawn surprise.
The sensible and weary returned to the hotel bar, while team hardcore stayed out in search of Jägerbomb oblivion.
Sunday
A more relaxed start to the day, before the joys of escaping Norfolk (and its many roadworks / solitary scamera van) onto the M25. Despite being a Sunday morning, the Dartford crossing was its usual self, with tailbacks and delays beginning a few miles from the QEII bridge.
(Although this pic's of the chunnel queue!
)Having cleared the M25, we continued south on the M20 and onto the chunnel – As they left Norwich before us, few of the SE crew were already there, but booked on a later crossing.
The chunnel was relatively painless as usual, and we were soon enroute to Francorchamps, via the Brussels ring-road, arriving at La Source hotel around 8:30pm. (A rather swish establishment, which is apparently a favourite of the F1 fraternity during the GP weekend).
The group split again, with half eating at the (expensive & slow) hotel restaurant, and half heading to the local steakhouse in the village.
There followed a return to the hotel bar, where we drank their beer till they wouldn’t serve us anymore.
Monday
To the track for the driver briefing at 08:30 – Spa has a genuine aura about it…It’s a ‘proper’ race track. The FIA WTCC had been there the day before, and the truckies were loading up the race cars, pop-up workshops and hospitality stands. This did mean we had to use the old pits, as opposed to the F1 pits, but no great hardship.
It was a busy day – Paul Golding reckoned on 110 cars booked on, with an on-track limit of 64. The Elise cup are racing there soon, so quite a few race teams were using the day for a spot of impromptu testing. Although mainly Loti, there were the usual Porsche suspects out and about (GT3 / Boxster Spyder), as well as Caterfields & a nice S3 Elan race car.
I enjoyed a good morning session in UJI, reminding myself which way the track went – The Yoko C Drives it was fitted with are fuel saving rather than performance tyres, but did grip well up to the point of them overheating, where they turned into chewing gum. (Poulon was a good test – As they went off, you’d drift ever closer to running right over the outside kerb in the middle part of the corner).
Blagged a few laps with Ali C in his 2-Eleven – Some smooth / quick driving, and the car’s very capable. It’s a real buzz to go round Spa in something fast, with great grip & brakes. Eau Rouge was almost flat & before the tyres went off Blanchimont was, at 120-130mph +
Around lunchtime Bob vanM appeared, and it was great to catch up for the first time in 4- 5 years.
Unfortunately after lunch UJI’s downpipe cracked at the join with the flexi – On inspection it was badly corroded / rotten, and had cracked at the join with the flange. Attempts were made with Bob’s help to acquire a new downpipe, but the Belgian Lotus dealer in attendance only had an S1 downpipe (UJI has an S2 manifold / downpipe), so Robin made a temporary exhaust bandage using an old BBQ platter and a handful of jubilee clips – SE Pikee engineering at its best!
Keeping the revs down, we left Spa and headed onwards towards Zolder, around an hour away.
The Hotel De Pits was very pleasant – Located adjacent to the pit straight of Zolder circuit, it actually had a foot bridge which you could cross directly into the pits. The outside terrace had a fantastic view of much of the track, as did the balconies of the basement rooms.
In usual SE fashion, bags were flung into rooms upon check-in, and nice cold lager was immediately sought. The service was slooooow, as I think we overwhelmed the two bar staff who were attempting to wait tables in the busy restaurant, in-between keeping us in beer. (They ran out of pint glasses too!)
Same applied we did actually get seated for food…Which resulting in tut being berated by the waiter for stealing the scraps from a recently departed table of Belgians
More ale / gin flowed, and the one eyed angry pirate put in an appearance while everyone drank beer till they wouldn’t serve us anymore (There’s something of a pattern here?!)
Tuesday
With UJI drivable, but in no way track-worthy, it was another leisurely start to the day. Bob vanM was arriving later in the morning with his magic box of exhaust repair tricks, so UJI was driven to a pit garage and jacked up / de-undertrayed in anticipation.
There were already reports of draconian noise limits – Some were actually black flagged during the sighting laps! Zolder were operating a ‘two strikes and your day’s over’ policy, and as the proper session began, even standard cars were falling foul of the noise meters.
We eventually worked out where they were (so that one could lift accordingly), but it did mean short-shifting for some and running in higher gears.
Bob arrived, and work on UJI commenced – Holts finest exhaust bandage, some fire-proof shielding and gum gum were put to use, as well as refining the original repair. This was completed by fitting rear diffuser spacers, and blocking up any underbody holes which might allow exhaust gases to enter the cabin.
The day was drawing on, and we still hadn’t ventured on track – George very kindly offered me the keys to his Exige S, and I managed about a dozen slow & steady laps. (His instrument cluster was inoperable, so no rev counter – Plus he was on one black flag warning, and I didn’t want to earn him another one, thereby ending his day).
Zolder was a fun track, though – Well suited to the Elise / Exige, with elevations / tight chicanes along with fast & flowing corners. (I liked the sequence at the end of the pit straight – Late turn-in left, brake / downshift right, then short-shift up and build speed through the long right hander).
Around 4pm everyone was getting ready to make a move – The hardcore SpaZers had Snetterton the following day, and I had to catch a flight back from Brussels that night, to return to work.
Kelvin kindly braved the Brussels ring road to drop me at the ‘kiss & fly’ (as he previously mentioned, I just did the ‘fly’ part), and I miraculously avoided too much of the disruption caused by the French ATC strike, making it back to Edinburgh airport for around 10pm.
It was a fantastic trip, with some great company – I think I realised that the last Euro trip I attended was Donkey Punch…And that was back in October 2008…(!)
Special thanks to Robin for offering his pax seat to tag along in, Campbell for entrusting UJI to us, Paul Golding & Andy G for putting the whole SpaZ concept together, Graeme R for sorting the Norwich group meal, and everyone else for the camaraderie and companionship.
Re: Spazz - trip details 2014
Brilliant write up and pictures
Cannot wait to do one of these trips, it sounds epic.
Steve.
Cannot wait to do one of these trips, it sounds epic.
Steve.
Last edited by C7Steve on Sun Jun 29, 2014 7:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Spazz - trip details 2014
Think Lindsay and I were last to check out the hotel in Norwich, loaded up and went for fuel. We then didn't stop until the tunnel. Managed to get an early train and headed for a very civilised lunch as I had promised Lindsay could drink champagne since she hadn't been to France. Took a random turn off the motorway into dunkerque.
Turned up at Le Source and it was great to catch up with Steve Williams. Early night looking forward to driving Spa the next day.
Turned up at Le Source and it was great to catch up with Steve Williams. Early night looking forward to driving Spa the next day.
Last edited by Scotty C on Tue Jul 01, 2014 1:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"Here for a good time not a long time"
Re: Spazz - trip details 2014
Hi All,
Bob asked me to post up some of his pictures from the trip. He also says special thanks to Andy and Ali who might have good memories of taking Danny out for some special laps Unfortunately Danny's condition has worsened since then 
Cheers,
Robin
Bob asked me to post up some of his pictures from the trip. He also says special thanks to Andy and Ali who might have good memories of taking Danny out for some special laps
Unfortunately Danny's condition has worsened since then Cheers,
Robin
I is in your loomz nibblin ur wirez
#bemoretut
#bemoretut
Re: Spazz - trip details 2014
very sad to hear that, if Bob hadn't told me he was so ill i would have never known. Great SE spirt giving Danny some passanger laps round Spa.robin wrote:Hi All,
Bob asked me to post up some of his pictures from the trip. He also says special thanks to Andy and Ali who might have good memories of taking Danny out for some special laps
Cheers,
Robin
"Here for a good time not a long time"
Re: Spazz - trip details 2014
Very good memories of taking Danny round Spa - lovely lad - here's hoping he continues to prove the Dr's wrong.
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alicrozier
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Re: Spazz - trip details 2014
Humble that simple pax laps we sometimes take for granted made a big smile and hopefully some special memories for Danny and his family.
All characters appearing in this post are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Any references to laptimes, speed or driving on the public highway are purely for dramatic effect.
Any references to laptimes, speed or driving on the public highway are purely for dramatic effect.
Re: Spazz - trip details 2014
got a thank you sms from Danny 2 days after the monday at Spa
translated :
Hi Bob, thank you for the superb afternoon, that was really cool and 1 of the most fun and best things I have ever done.
a really great experience wih you, the 2 eleven and Ariel Atom ! please thank Ali and Andy from me !
thank you all for making this possible.
I will keep you informed about his condition
translated :
Hi Bob, thank you for the superb afternoon, that was really cool and 1 of the most fun and best things I have ever done.
a really great experience wih you, the 2 eleven and Ariel Atom ! please thank Ali and Andy from me !
thank you all for making this possible.
I will keep you informed about his condition
Re: Spazz - trip details 2014
Sorry for the split posts. Been manic since I’ve sobered up.
Spa
Ok so i drove 20 laps or so at Hethel, but that was the first time i had really driven any car in 2 years so, I was really looking forward to going back to Spa. I was a bit worried that i wouldn’t enjoy my day as the last few times i had been here i was either racing (in the pissing rain) or had an amazing time in the 211. But was i wrong I loved it, our 150 BHP 18 year old Elise was amazing once i got into the swing of it and realised that everywhere is basically flat out from turn in until braking zone. Wonderful handling car and i started to like the ZZR, they were a wishy washy when i drove the elise on the road running in the engine but i think after a couple of heat cycles in them round Hethel they were a lot better.
Highlight of the trip was taking Ali's 211 out for a few laps. AMAZING, getting back behind the wheel of the 211 again. I think i screamed like a girl every time i went round Pouhon, Lindsay loved it as well and wants me to buy another one. I then went out in Andy’s Atom. I was a bit nervous about driving it, but after a few laps i was in the swing of it. The power delivery is incredible and it’s a balance of understeer/oversteer keeping you on your toes. WOW shame i was so rusty and didn’t have bigger balls.
We packed up and headed on to Zolder only 1 hour away, in the hotel and straight to the bar.
Zolder to follow.
Spa
Ok so i drove 20 laps or so at Hethel, but that was the first time i had really driven any car in 2 years so, I was really looking forward to going back to Spa. I was a bit worried that i wouldn’t enjoy my day as the last few times i had been here i was either racing (in the pissing rain) or had an amazing time in the 211. But was i wrong I loved it, our 150 BHP 18 year old Elise was amazing once i got into the swing of it and realised that everywhere is basically flat out from turn in until braking zone. Wonderful handling car and i started to like the ZZR, they were a wishy washy when i drove the elise on the road running in the engine but i think after a couple of heat cycles in them round Hethel they were a lot better.
Highlight of the trip was taking Ali's 211 out for a few laps. AMAZING, getting back behind the wheel of the 211 again. I think i screamed like a girl every time i went round Pouhon, Lindsay loved it as well and wants me to buy another one. I then went out in Andy’s Atom. I was a bit nervous about driving it, but after a few laps i was in the swing of it. The power delivery is incredible and it’s a balance of understeer/oversteer keeping you on your toes. WOW shame i was so rusty and didn’t have bigger balls.
We packed up and headed on to Zolder only 1 hour away, in the hotel and straight to the bar.
Zolder to follow.
"Here for a good time not a long time"
Re: Spazz - trip details 2014
After another long lie turned up and got Andy to take me out for some laps in Black Betty (Lindsay has named her car this) Never laughed so much for a long time. Teaching Andy (just out the Atom) that your foot is either flat out on the brakes or flat out on the throttle. took him a few laps but think he liked it. Great circuit and reminded me a bit of Zanvoort and Brands GP but maybe that’s just the 1970's GP track thing. Had a great time learning the first 3/4 corners and hunting down some cars on track. Great to get out in Mikes R8 what a piece of kit really is a big Elise and the brakes 
Packed up early and headed off with Craig who was flying home from Amsterdam the evening and Benny who we were having a few days in Amsterdam with on the way home.
Had a really great trip, to be fair it was all a bit rushed and it was a shame that Lindsay hadn’t had time to drive the car before we left and get used to it.
Great catching up with likeminded friends as always
Not sure when we will manage a trip again, let’s hope Golding/Andy keep organising these great trips.
Packed up early and headed off with Craig who was flying home from Amsterdam the evening and Benny who we were having a few days in Amsterdam with on the way home.
Had a really great trip, to be fair it was all a bit rushed and it was a shame that Lindsay hadn’t had time to drive the car before we left and get used to it.
Great catching up with likeminded friends as always
Not sure when we will manage a trip again, let’s hope Golding/Andy keep organising these great trips.
"Here for a good time not a long time"
Re: Spazz - trip details 2014
It was embarrassing how much I'd forgotten about driving a standard Elise since racing them! We were killing ourselves laughing - brake for the corner, then nail the throttle through turn in, without the power to unstick the rear it got earlier and earlier and earlier! Same style in the Atom would have had me facing the wrong way or 2 miles off the track!Scotty C wrote:Teaching Andy (just out the Atom) that your foot is either flat out on the brakes or flat out on the throttle. took him a few laps but think he liked it.
Not sure when we will manage a trip again, let’s hope Golding/Andy keep organising these great trips.
Magic fun although shortshift gear change took some getting used to!
Bugger of a week at work, but will try and post about the insanity of it all over the weekend.
I think 2015 will be FINALLY the last ever Frolic speaking to Paul, and not sure on the timings of it as I know August causes issues for quite a few people. Will suss out the likelihood of Spazz 2 if there's enough interest in going again, and of course, I'll aim to make it even better.
Golding though and his team really should be getting all the credit as they put it together with some feedback, input, suggestion from me. They couldn't believe the uptake when it went live - we had more people book in the first 24 hours than they'd expected for the entire trip!
Felt very lucky to have such a good group of people on the trip though - genuinely everyone that came I'd have been happy to have a drink and a chat with - some lots of drinks and lots of chats
Here's hoping we can continue to keep the madness going
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Re: Spazz - trip details 2014
Seconded, don't know what I would do without you lot to fcuk up with, have the piss taken out of (in the nicest possible way) and know that I am in safe hands when senility, balance, legs, sense of direction, wounds, etc, take over, which normally Verian has to contend with.
She is away for two weeks on a one off visit to visit friends and family down South, so missing my Carer and best friend(sorry Robin), nearly 40 years now and I have sort of got used to her being here.
tut
She is away for two weeks on a one off visit to visit friends and family down South, so missing my Carer and best friend(sorry Robin), nearly 40 years now and I have sort of got used to her being here.
tut