Graham Family Outing to the Ring and Hockenheim
Day 0 - packing
Friday arrived after some late nights and lots of work to get the car ready and fit in other work. It was time to pick up the Ring Bus aka Shogun Sport from East Anglia Car & Van Hire (http://www.eastangliarental.com) who did me a good deal on the vehicle for the week.
Lee (IWANT1) also lent me his trailer again for carrying of the scooby. Thanks again Lee.
This saved having to squeeze the three of us and camping gear into the scooby and meant that I could promise Rachel that everything that she wanted to take, she could. We had camped before but never for more than 2 nights and not for a long time. Doing a week around a 'car' holiday instead of going on a hot holiday was a big sacrifice on the girls behalf and I needed to make it as pleasureable as possible for them.
Well, that was the plan, but ferry prices for car and trailer were not the greatest so a 6.30 am crossing with P&O was booked so that meant we had to leave home at 3am
Friday arrived after some late nights and lots of work to get the car ready and fit in other work. It was time to pick up the Ring Bus aka Shogun Sport from East Anglia Car & Van Hire (http://www.eastangliarental.com) who did me a good deal on the vehicle for the week.
Lee (IWANT1) also lent me his trailer again for carrying of the scooby. Thanks again Lee.
This saved having to squeeze the three of us and camping gear into the scooby and meant that I could promise Rachel that everything that she wanted to take, she could. We had camped before but never for more than 2 nights and not for a long time. Doing a week around a 'car' holiday instead of going on a hot holiday was a big sacrifice on the girls behalf and I needed to make it as pleasureable as possible for them.
Well, that was the plan, but ferry prices for car and trailer were not the greatest so a 6.30 am crossing with P&O was booked so that meant we had to leave home at 3am
Day 1
Rachel smiling at this time of the morning !
Annabelle still tired
Cant make out the time but it is 3 am
An easy drive down to Dover and seeing the sun rise made it a special start to the day.
Loading onto the deck
The queues for the food were huge so instead my long awaited proper breakfast turned into a muffin and a cup of coffee - I was not happy.
On deck getting some air.
bye bye England
Excitement over and they share a book
And we are there - time for the 5-6 hour slog down to the track
A short break en-route meant that we made good progress cruising at 65 most of the way as we werent missing any track action so there was no need to hurry. After a bit of faffing around going up the wrong road we found the campsite. It was very smart and well looked after with a nice helpful lady at the gate asking how many days we were stopping for, whether we wanted electricity etc. This was all painless and very cheap - 0.5 euro per day for electricty was well worth it for charging duties and to power our small camping fridge.
We found the base quickly and proceeded down the big slope into what would be the exclusive northloop camping area for our stay. Nige & family, Lee & Barney, Al Clark, Andy and Dan were already there and we said a quick hallo and started to put up the tent.
Lou made us very welcome with a cup of coffee and gave us a hand erecting the tent using her experience of shortcuts - thanks
Tent up
Time to unload the car using the upslope of the ramp to remove the need for lumps of wood to shallow the ramps.
The boys had been gathering logs (well trees really) for our campfires.
The campsite
Annabelle had done her bedroom so was happy
Lee and Barney putting their NL sticker on wonky (apparently they are supposed to be
)
Mark arrived to try and quieten down his huge exhaust. They hadnt let him on track the day before because of it so time for the drill to fit a baffle.
Annabelle and Mat just 'hanging'
Tyres swapped on Lee/Barney's Golf and off the the ring for the evening 1.5 hour session. Enough time to get a couple of easy laps in.
Weather was hot and dry at around 27C so perfect. Heading up to the car park and it was heaving with cars and bikes. This was going to be busy !
I followed Nige round for the first lap and was running low boost and normal road tyres to get a feel for it before upping the boost. It was a fun lap remembering the way round after such a long break from the place but it soon clicked into place and I learnt some new lines from Nige. His familiarity with the circuit gained him a little time over me in the twisty sections but it was soon made up on the straights. No prizes for hero's this early in the holiday.
The track closed after I had done a couple of laps on my own and it was time to head back to the campsite to regroup and get some grub.
We were knackered after the early start and a takeaway pizza was in order from Pinnochios and sit around the campfire. Fantastic first day. We turned in at around 12pm ready for an early start the next day. The track was to open at 8am and we wanted some early empty laps.
Rachel smiling at this time of the morning !
Annabelle still tired
Cant make out the time but it is 3 am
An easy drive down to Dover and seeing the sun rise made it a special start to the day.
Loading onto the deck
The queues for the food were huge so instead my long awaited proper breakfast turned into a muffin and a cup of coffee - I was not happy.
On deck getting some air.
bye bye England
Excitement over and they share a book
And we are there - time for the 5-6 hour slog down to the track
A short break en-route meant that we made good progress cruising at 65 most of the way as we werent missing any track action so there was no need to hurry. After a bit of faffing around going up the wrong road we found the campsite. It was very smart and well looked after with a nice helpful lady at the gate asking how many days we were stopping for, whether we wanted electricity etc. This was all painless and very cheap - 0.5 euro per day for electricty was well worth it for charging duties and to power our small camping fridge.
We found the base quickly and proceeded down the big slope into what would be the exclusive northloop camping area for our stay. Nige & family, Lee & Barney, Al Clark, Andy and Dan were already there and we said a quick hallo and started to put up the tent.
Lou made us very welcome with a cup of coffee and gave us a hand erecting the tent using her experience of shortcuts - thanks
Tent up
Time to unload the car using the upslope of the ramp to remove the need for lumps of wood to shallow the ramps.
The boys had been gathering logs (well trees really) for our campfires.
The campsite
Annabelle had done her bedroom so was happy
Lee and Barney putting their NL sticker on wonky (apparently they are supposed to be
)Mark arrived to try and quieten down his huge exhaust. They hadnt let him on track the day before because of it so time for the drill to fit a baffle.
Annabelle and Mat just 'hanging'
Tyres swapped on Lee/Barney's Golf and off the the ring for the evening 1.5 hour session. Enough time to get a couple of easy laps in.
Weather was hot and dry at around 27C so perfect. Heading up to the car park and it was heaving with cars and bikes. This was going to be busy !
I followed Nige round for the first lap and was running low boost and normal road tyres to get a feel for it before upping the boost. It was a fun lap remembering the way round after such a long break from the place but it soon clicked into place and I learnt some new lines from Nige. His familiarity with the circuit gained him a little time over me in the twisty sections but it was soon made up on the straights. No prizes for hero's this early in the holiday.
The track closed after I had done a couple of laps on my own and it was time to head back to the campsite to regroup and get some grub.
We were knackered after the early start and a takeaway pizza was in order from Pinnochios and sit around the campfire. Fantastic first day. We turned in at around 12pm ready for an early start the next day. The track was to open at 8am and we wanted some early empty laps.
Day 2 - Sunday - Open all day
For some reason we still congregated around the campfire even though it wasnt lit :lol:
Nige's record of work he had done - good idea
Chilling out
Ready for the off
Annabelle strapping for her first lap of the trip
People watching in the pits at 8am !
Rachel, Lou, Annabelle and Cat headed up to Brunchen to watch and take pics
Nige
MADDOG JNR
A lucky Evo driver
Lots of laps and lots of traffic but on the whole well behaved and well spaced made for a great dry and hot day on track. Rachel, Annabelle, Mat, Barney and I am sure a few others jumped in for laps. I lose count but I think I did 9 laps in all on Sunday.
Up over the crest
The car was faultless and never missed a beat all day, never used any oil and never lost any water - perfect
During the afternoon we gathered a crowd of people that were going to be eating that night and I headed down to the PK to book a table for 26 .... sure no problem. Result.
After the track closed it was time for us to shower and get changed to head out for the customary steak on the stone and a beer or two.
Beer = Happy
Annabelle & Cat
Nige's bump from changing the clutch
Great night but because we were mostly driving back to the campsite, we decided to head back reasonably early and light the campfire and drink some more
At 3am we called it a night :thumb:
For some reason we still congregated around the campfire even though it wasnt lit :lol:
Nige's record of work he had done - good idea
Chilling out
Ready for the off
Annabelle strapping for her first lap of the trip
People watching in the pits at 8am !
Rachel, Lou, Annabelle and Cat headed up to Brunchen to watch and take pics
Nige
MADDOG JNR
A lucky Evo driver
Lots of laps and lots of traffic but on the whole well behaved and well spaced made for a great dry and hot day on track. Rachel, Annabelle, Mat, Barney and I am sure a few others jumped in for laps. I lose count but I think I did 9 laps in all on Sunday.
Up over the crest
The car was faultless and never missed a beat all day, never used any oil and never lost any water - perfect
During the afternoon we gathered a crowd of people that were going to be eating that night and I headed down to the PK to book a table for 26 .... sure no problem. Result.
After the track closed it was time for us to shower and get changed to head out for the customary steak on the stone and a beer or two.
Beer = Happy
Annabelle & Cat
Nige's bump from changing the clutch
Great night but because we were mostly driving back to the campsite, we decided to head back reasonably early and light the campfire and drink some more
At 3am we called it a night :thumb:
Day 3 - Monday
The track was open all afternoon so I decided to head into Adenau to get some tyres swapped on rims so that I could run 888's on track now to see how they performed here. The RE070's were good enough for busy sunday but I wanted to try these to see how much more grip they would give.
F&M Motors in Adenau did the honours for me and turned them round within the hour for
The track was open all afternoon so I decided to head into Adenau to get some tyres swapped on rims so that I could run 888's on track now to see how they performed here. The RE070's were good enough for busy sunday but I wanted to try these to see how much more grip they would give.
F&M Motors in Adenau did the honours for me and turned them round within the hour for
Day 4 - Tuesday - Phantasialand all day then track in the evening
Up leisurely and all packed up ready we were heading up to Phantasialand - Germany's equivalent to Alton Towers. This was up towards Cologne so would take around an hour to get there in convoy with Nige & Family, us, Bruce & family and John & family. We were meeting Teflon up there.
A short while later and we were in. It wasnt as big as Alton Towers but they had some great rides. The Black Mamba was a favourite for all and because the german schools had gone back it was quiet enough to get off and go straight back on. We did that ride 4 times in all along with other rides and the customary log flume. Nige was at the front so got soaked :lol:
Sorry but I didnt take my camera in so it is a bit short of pics for today
We finished off at Phantasialand early (ish) so that we could get out on track again in the evening and drove back down to the campsite to get the car and get petrol for the evening's laps.
Chilling out together again
Nige and I swapped passenger laps in case it was raining the next day and I learnt a lot about his driving, his commitment and some new lines. It is always an eye-opening experience taking a lap with someone that knows it so well. Thanks Nige.
After the day's track action I headed to NurburgMotorsport to see Ken Harris and arrange to have some grub with him that night. Ken showed me around the premises and intro'd me to Manfred and Jurgen. Looks like a good set up. Manfred and I chatted about getting the best from the car on the 888's and tried very hard to stop him unbolting my rear spoiler to stick onto his race car :lol:
Evening and we met up with Ken down at the Asia Bistro in Adenau. Not the most warming or busiest of places but Ken assured us that the grub was superb - we took his word for it and he was not wrong
It was a little unusual to be dished up all on one plate but I believe that this is how the germans like it.
After food we followed Ken up some awesome roads up to his place to have a cup of coffee and to be nosey :lol: Great pad :thumb:
After the coffee had done it's job we said our goodbyes and headed back to the campsite. Everyone was still at comfy corner, we were invited but were very tired so hit the sack.
Up leisurely and all packed up ready we were heading up to Phantasialand - Germany's equivalent to Alton Towers. This was up towards Cologne so would take around an hour to get there in convoy with Nige & Family, us, Bruce & family and John & family. We were meeting Teflon up there.
A short while later and we were in. It wasnt as big as Alton Towers but they had some great rides. The Black Mamba was a favourite for all and because the german schools had gone back it was quiet enough to get off and go straight back on. We did that ride 4 times in all
along with other rides and the customary log flume. Nige was at the front so got soaked :lol:Sorry but I didnt take my camera in so it is a bit short of pics for today
We finished off at Phantasialand early (ish) so that we could get out on track again in the evening and drove back down to the campsite to get the car and get petrol for the evening's laps.
Chilling out together again
Nige and I swapped passenger laps in case it was raining the next day and I learnt a lot about his driving, his commitment and some new lines. It is always an eye-opening experience taking a lap with someone that knows it so well. Thanks Nige.
After the day's track action I headed to NurburgMotorsport to see Ken Harris and arrange to have some grub with him that night. Ken showed me around the premises and intro'd me to Manfred and Jurgen. Looks like a good set up. Manfred and I chatted about getting the best from the car on the 888's and tried very hard to stop him unbolting my rear spoiler to stick onto his race car :lol:
Evening and we met up with Ken down at the Asia Bistro in Adenau. Not the most warming or busiest of places but Ken assured us that the grub was superb - we took his word for it and he was not wrong
It was a little unusual to be dished up all on one plate but I believe that this is how the germans like it.
After food we followed Ken up some awesome roads up to his place to have a cup of coffee and to be nosey :lol: Great pad :thumb:
After the coffee had done it's job we said our goodbyes and headed back to the campsite. Everyone was still at comfy corner, we were invited but were very tired so hit the sack.