Some great cars at Snett today

[RX7]

As I had the day off and the weather forecast looked good I pm'd Safety James to see if anything interesting was going on today. He responded saying that a group from Germany have come over and they had brought Porsches, Astons, Ferrari's. So I dashed to Asda first to avoid all the oikes at 7am and get back in time to head over to Snett about 10ish.

As I arrived one of the marshall chaps came over and asked my name and if I was driving and that I'd missed the drivers briefing......stop laughing Stu and Ben !! Needless to say I dismissed that by saying I was only coming for a look.

The pit doors were open and I could see a massive coach this side but couldnt see anything else. At this point I heard the raw of engines and turned to see a load of cars coming into the chicane. I grabbed my camera and moved the car to where the chicane is.

It was a chance to tryout a new lens I had got for my Nikon so apologies I am still practicing with all the settings and some are better in focus than others

But James delivered on his word, Porsche after Porsche came by and then I spotted something a bit special.....the new Ferrari 458, a car I dismissed on Top Gear this weekend as I didnt like the look of it. Seeing it in the flesh and hearing it my opinion has completely changed !! I'm going to buy a lottery ticket tomorrow

But some amazing cars and like the Nurburgring.....you could smell the wealth !!!

Anyway here are some shots:












I also tried messing about with some 'panning' shots:



(the GTR came out brilliantly, although on a photo forum they criticised me for an angled shot....I thought it was cool !!!)

And the piece de resistance......the 458




Overall a fun morning, cheers for the heads up James.

[Tk]

very nice cars , you had a better day than me facing a wall
the 458 is certainly grabbing some kerb

[Mr Fletcher]

nice pics gareth we spotted them on a couple of transporters on sunday and suggested that was a cool way to do trackdays

[Daniel]

brilliant stuff, that must've been a sight seeing those go round

[RX7]

A great sight but as much of a treat for the ears also

For me though I really liked the GT40. It just looked right on track and for a design that's 50 years old and still looks fresh that's something

[Safety_James]

Nice write up and great pics Gareth, glad you enjoyed it. We certainly did, made some good friends/clients today!!

Very fortunate I managed to get the 458 on track this morning, as the first noise test it was 117db yesterday evening

99% of the cars there today were German or Swiss owned cars, and i panicked slightly at the thought of attempting to explain in German as to why this customers brand new 458 was going to be sitting in the pit lane all day. Luckily all of their English was decent enough, and therefore not a problem, (makes me embarrassed really as I can barely speak German, a little Italian and thats all)

It seems this 458 that has 3 exhausts, has a very clever little control unit on a separate key fob with 4 settings. Numbered 1 -4 you turn the car on to idle, get out, stand to the rear and press various buttons.. to dull the exhaust note, changes configurations between valves and pipes, extremly clever, and managed to get down to 87db - Rather impressive, considering the 430's barely ever make it through at 105!!

Some of the specs on the Tech-Art cars were insane.. was privilaged enough to have a play in one and drive a few of the cars around for fuel etc..

They are off to Brands tomorrow and Silver-stone on Thursday, so if you can get to either, go and have a look!!

Also to my surprise, while signing them on in the morning, one bloke didn't sound european at all, more like a jordy (not sure if correct spelling), took me about 20 seconds to realise but it was Brian Johnson of ACDC who has apparently been a part of this club, and likes to drive his GT3RS in anger..

All in all quite a fun day!!

[Ben]

How BIG are the brakes on the yellow ferrari .. amazing!. Great pics Gman

[Stuart]

Looks like a great day.......what a trip too? Hopping over to the UK for a few drives and then back off to home. It really is about time we started a syndicate guys. That could be us

[Mr Fletcher]

Looks like a great day.......what a trip too? Hopping over to the UK for a few drives and then back off to home. It really is about time we started a syndicate guys. That could be us

Well trev must have enough cars for one transporter

[Stuart]

That's rich coming from East Anglia's biggest car whore