Ali and Paul @ the ring

[Scotty C]

Nice day for it

I drove the ring last year in the rain, not nice.

[Scotty C]

looks like they got better weather yesterday on the GP.

[j2 lot]

If either of those were zoomed in tighter to the cars they would be good calendar contenders

[alicrozier]

Was a good trip!





Team Desperados...


A few more photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13434462@N ... 084714498/

[robin]

Big D was partial to the Desperados on FF IIRC

[alicrozier]

Big D was partial to the Desperados on FF IIRC

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13434462@N ... 084714498/

Especially for Big D

Was the scouf of choice in the Brookside Close restaurant/Shop/Off Licence...

[ruadh08]

Onto the ferry, next stop the bar!



Hooning down the autobhan!



Rare moments of car washing





Bob, Malcolm, and Ali at the GP circuit.

The GP circuit was great, and we had a dry day at it. Only downside was when a Caterham blew its engine and caused a mile long oil slick, right at the fastest part of the track. This caused an RSR exige to end up in the armco, and Malcolm had a major 120mph spin and enede up in the gravel. The track was closed for the day after that.

Later that evening we went out in two coaches round the ring, stopping at a few points to get out and look at the corners etc. It was amazing just how much camber is on every corner. Driving round slowly in a bus, you also notice all the skidmarks in some very strange places, and most of them ending up in the barriers!
Our coach driver decided to overtake the other coach IN the carousel, then proceed to drive the rest of the track at full pelt. It turned out later that he was an old hand at the ring having driven in a lot of the 24hr races there!

Group dinner was then partaken of at the famous Pistenklause, with steaks cooked on hotstones, and a few beers.



Lining up on the main straight at the ring at 7am, still dark and damp!



Photocall and the death briefing on the Carousell.

At the briefing, we were told that these were the worst possible conditions for driving the ring. Ron, the organiser reckoned that one in 10 of us would be crashing into the barriers, and warned that we could be killed on any of the corners, as the conditions were so bad. The drizzle had just started, and the track was VERY slippy underfoot, this caused more than half of the participants to pack up and go home, without even going on the track.

By the time 9am had come round, and we had all been out on siteing laps, behind the instructors, the rain had started in earnest. This scared some more people off!

Team SE, rose to the occasion with all three of us going out determined to get our moneys worth, and I clocked up 92 miles without stopping doing back to back laps. Then came in for fuel, and went back out for more. We all did over 160 miles each, and despite the rain, there seemed to be quite a bit of grip, and had very few scary moments. Malcolm was the only one confident enough to give it full chat down the straight, probably over 140mph, I chickened out at about 125 when I felt the first signs of aquaplaning, and Ali was struggling getting his tyres to find grip over 100! I don't think any of us got overtaken, and it was very rare to see another car on the track, the ones that we did see, all let us past without any hassle.





Sadly we had to finish at 12.30, which seemed to come round very quickly. We then headed down to the Mosel Valley for a very nice lunch in picturesque Cockem. Dined back at the Pistenklause, washed down by a few bottles of wine. Managed to recruit another 2-11 owning Swiss chap for SE called Conrad, who seemed to like the SE sense of humour!

All in all a great trip, great value, nice accommodation, and good company. RSR did a great job in setting it up, and I for one will definitely be back next year!



Ali and Malcolm trying to master REAL RACING HD on the ipad!

[BigD]

Big D was partial to the Desperados on FF IIRC

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13434462@N ... 084714498/

Especially for Big D

Was the scouf of choice in the Brookside Close restaurant/Shop/Off Licence...

It's only good if it's warm. Seriously though I'm right off it now.

Looked like an excellent trip and well worth the money for the number of laps you got. You must learn loads in the wet, more time to take it in. Hope it's wet when we go. (Everytime i wish for rain it's dry so it'll probably be dry. )