Off to Europe tomorrow...Annual trackday road trip

[lofty]

Not sure if its really worthy of a mention but hey ho.

Myself and 6 others are off to sunny (hopefully) Belgium tomorrow for our annual 2 day trackday at the magnificent F1 circuit, at Spa Francochamps.

I wont be tracking a car this year, just going as support and a very willing passanger. The other 6 guys are towing their trackcars there so i'll be snuggling into the 60mph convoy as we toddle acrross a bit of northern europe.

Mileage covered will be around 1400 miles in the next 4 days, so lets hope the hdi enjoys another stretch of its legs.

I'll post some pics on my return if you guys are interested? I'll try and sneak the pug onto the circuit for some "arty" shots if i can?

See you in a few days.

Matt

[puggy]

Have a good trip Matt !! piccies always appreciated and i hope the
weather is good to you

( pity you cant thrash the hdi round the circuit )

[teamster1975]

Hope you have a good one Matt!

[Doggy]

Sounds like great fun, Matt - enjoy.
Hope you have better waether than my bro - he went to Le Mans a month ago & returned last Thurs after touring Gemany, Poland, Czech Republic, Lithuania etc. He got 3 dry days in France and rain virtually every other day.
...and he expects sympathy

[lofty]

Cheers fellas.

The Weather doesnt look too good at the moment , but we are going prepared! Red Bull, waterproof underpants, and woodshavings!

I wouldnt dare risk the hdi on circuit, the DMF is making enough chirruping noises as it is.. LOL

Sods law, the remote key stopped working today - i reckon its taken offence at the GB badge on the bootlid all of a sudden.

I'll post the pics when we return.

[swiss]

I've found one of you already

[lofty]

PMSL @ ^^^^

Got back home about 4pm, 9 hours or driving from Spa... bit tired to say the least.

The 406 has run faultlessly, did 915 miles on the same tank of fuel and was showing 60 odd miles left! Actual fuel consumption (calculated by me brimming it just now) was 58.5mpg, and that motorway driving, car and boot full, a/c on as well.

The trackdays were eventful to say the least, bear in mind the same group of us have been tracking cars for the best part of ten years, with lots of reliablity, we had the following failures...


Audi RS4 time attack car - Blown n/s turbocharger after 15 minutes....

Sierra Cosworth - melted number 2 piston after 2 hours

Escort RS cosworth race car - snapped nose on the crank - at least we found the cause of the odd hig rev misfire!!!

Nissan Skyline R32 GTR - leaking oil feed pipe to turbo - fixed then 4 hours later the turbo let go on that!!!!

The other 2 cars - Sierra cosworth and Nova 2.0 16v LET turbo went ok, both doing loads of laps over the 2 days.

I'll post some pics up in a minute for your perusal

[lofty]

[swiss]

That is all so unbelievably cool. I saw the Top Gear boys racing a 3.0TD 3-series in a 24 hour gig the other day. Would love to get in to this sort of thing.

But were you guys actually racing or just competing to see who could destroy the most engines in the shortest time?

[steve_earwig]

Boom boom!

[lofty]

That is all so unbelievably cool. I saw the Top Gear boys racing a 3.0TD 3-series in a 24 hour gig the other day. Would love to get in to this sort of thing.

But were you guys actually racing or just competing to see who could destroy the most engines in the shortest time?

LOL - Trust me engine destruction was the furthest thing from our mind, its just unfortunate that it happens so far from home at Such an expensive trackday..

Most of us have been doing trackdays for the last decade and the occasional hiccup occurs, but nothing on this scale.

On the upside the guys were very envious of us getting there and back on less than £70 of diesel! hee hee.