Just got back last night it went something like this.....
After a final fiddle by Roger (Promax) on Thursday,(i had the oil changed for some good stuff/filter,brakes checked,boost pipes checked for leaks and done up extra securely,new plugs and various other little bits and bobs,recent TR888s shod on my freshly cleaned and shiny after being carbon metallic brake dust encrusted 16 inchers...i set of early on Friday morning and met up with the organiser at a petrol station in Dover and met the other guys on the trip,we caught the ferry had a hot and am sure very healthy...ahem fryup on the ferry.Havn't been on the ferry for years and it feels more adventurous than the tunnel,they let me go on with the lorrys as my car is pretty low which was good.
We were all fueled up so we drove in convoy following the organiser "Dino"(Nurburgring experience) who did all the navigating and we followed him like baby chicks through france and belgium,we pulled off the motorway just after Spa (francochamps) and we went on some of the coolest quietest roads with lovely bends and had real fun on them (in a safe manner of course)and very soon it seemed pulled up at our hotel/guesthouse place of rest for the weekend.We got checked in the hotel owner was English and very freindly and checked us in.My room was small simple but very new,spotless with its own little bathroom nice little view aswell,it was most importantly right next to the track so i awoke next morning(after a great meal and one or two beers..) with the sound of race cars which was very atmospheric.On the Saturday we had a look around and went to a viewpoint to watch the racing,visted Adenau and another town aswell did some more very cool road driving through the hillside and went out for more beers and a lovely meal that evening.
The next morning we went down to the track bought our "laps" i got eight (around 149 euros i think?...)and i went out,it was a bit more hairy than the organised trackdays that i have been on, as there were bikes out there and some very quick cars of all shapes and sizes (lots of Porsches of course) and did 5 laps progressively getting quicker(relative to me- still very slow!) but just trying to get round smoothly and not get in anyones way as i really like my car the way it is...I was not in any way quick as its a very humbling place as the track is enormous( but very beautiful).The car went lovely ( i was a bit worried about exhaust noise as it is meant to be 95db limit but i drove around the pits on nearly no throttle and idled up to the electronic machine that you swipe your ticket card on so as not to draw any extra attention from the ring people with noise meters..) There were a few stoppages due to people coming off after i came in but i spent a few hours walking round looking at all the cars talking with the group,did some laps with Dino in his M3 that was great ....(the guy can pedal it very well indeed,very smooth and calm and very quick..)A couple of the guys found spaces with the "Ring taxi" and had a fast lap with Sabine Shmidt who was lovely and posed with them and some other volounteers from our group for photos,by the end of the day i did my remaining 3 laps and called it a day happy that it all went smoothly.Went out for another lovely meal in the evening and exchanged stories and had a real laugh viewing photos on a laptop taken by one of our group who was an avid photographer (he is sending me some pics later that i will try and post on here)But it was a great few days gave the car a thorough spanking when i could(didn't miss a beat) the KWs showed themselves to be superb over the country roads and on the track the car stayed perfectly composed and you could feel the dampers doing their job,the carbon metalic brake pads worked great aswell very pleased with the car and am more in love with her than ever before, i just need to be faster myself.Got back home last night and slept really well,it was a really well run and hilarious weekend lots of driving and laughing got the true flavour of the place,thinking of jumping on the September one.......[8|]Hopefully be able to post a couple of pics later..
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