This has been copied from somewhere else so apologies if some of it sounds out of context. For once i actually remembered to get some photos so i could do a report when i got back, When i say "I", I mean Willie took them while i drove LOL! Mix of DSLR and rubbish phone pictures so i apologise for the quality of some Anyway, The trip for me began just before 10pm on Monday night. FB_IMG_13811789222361805 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Willie had been staying down at Sherwood Forest Centre Parcs with his missus and her family so we worked out it would be best to pick up him somewhere down south instead of coming all the way back up to come back down, Picked him up just before 3am at a Travelodge at Pontefract services, quick fuel stop just South on the A1(M) and we got cracking for the remaining 4 hours down to Dover IMAG0266 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr M25 is boring IMAG0267 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1086 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1088 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Getting closer to Dover DSC_1090 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Arrived in Dover just past 6.30am and parked up for an hours sleep while waiting on Nick and Andy to meet them at BP, Was a lovely morning IMAG0268 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Headed over to the Docks for the 10am Ferry and thats when it felt like the trip was really beginning FB_IMG_13812211444265958 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Bon Voyage! IMAG0270 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Had a very entertaining Ferry journey thanks to Big Al, What a character:thumb: Then the journey that side begun IMAG0273 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1093 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1097 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1100 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1103 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1104 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1105 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1109 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1113 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1118 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr
Stopped for lunch halfway just before Brussels DSC_1119 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1121 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Didn't see much in the way of interesting traffic for once, THink this was as exotic as it got LOL! DSC_1125 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1129 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1137 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Moody A3 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Audi's by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Andy's S4 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr was just getting into a groove and getting comfortable with the car at those speeds at Spa in the dry then the rain came, Started off as just a shower which made the track very slippy then it eased off and looked like it was going to dry again, Unfortunately it wasn't to be. DSC_1195 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1198 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1207 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr IMAG0284 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr I spent most of the day on track, Only to leave to get fuel, Probably was on track more than the majority of cars there, Wet conditions meant everything was staying cool and i was doing 35-45minutes minimum at a time on track, Was really struggling for grip in places, especially Bruxelles which was annoying but i still had LOADS of fun, Actually really enjoyed it in the wet as there is a lot of grip even on non cheating race wets (Cough Floyd) and it is nice to say i have done Spa and in the pissing wet. Visibilty was laughable at times, One of the best moments for me was chasing Ian in the Turbo Mincer along Kemmel with wipers on full and not being able to see more than 2 metres in front :lol: But the rush from doing so was immense, would love to be able to do it in a full on race car with aero! Had a lot of fun trailbraking the car and getting it to rotate, Ian caught an excellent slide on video! [video=youtube;tX6jkfkLrUI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX6jkfkLrUI&feature=youtu.be[/video] [video=youtube;G0az-NUagG0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0az-NUagG0&feature=youtu.be[/video] Almost binned it at Blanchimont when the Lambo racecar shat its coolant round 3/4's of the track on the racing line, First noticed it was slippy when the back end came out at Les Combes avoiding a 996 which was facing me but though there was enough grip later on, Massive slide and tankslapper but held it then decided to come off and let the track clear up before going back out. Had a couple smaller slides and spun it on one of the last laps before the track was flagged at the end of the day but had so much fun, 100% changed the way i view wet trackdays now! Got loads of videos i need to get uploaded eventually, Including a rear view from my car with Al Clark in his 964 behind me:wave: Finished the day off with purchasing the photos that Nick@ Xtreme had taken including the all important Eau Rouge one XS2_0075 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr XS2_0535 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr I had noticed the photographer on the inside of La Source and said to my passenger that i was going to get closer every lap, Which i think i succeeded in doing! XS2_0295 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr XS2_0109 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr XS2_0254 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr XS2_0177 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr
Packed up and headed back to the hotel for some beer and over to the Chinese on the Recommendation from Ian, Thanks for that it was awesome mate! Ended up back in Nick and King Prawns room with some cheap beers watching some footage from the day and generally just having some epic banter! Up and down for breakfast at 9am on Thursday as none of use were on track so we were just heading over to spectate and grab some passenger laps. A group of guys from the SXOC that me and Willie know had came over for the Thursday trackday so it was good to catch up with them and i managed to get some passenger laps in an MX5 which was so much fun even though it had no power LOL! The track looked as if it was going to dry up before lunch time and i was seriously tempted to try and blag an afternoon session off Darren but decided not to when the rain started again just before lunch and we had planned to head over to Nurburg for the afternoon for a look as Willie hadn't been and i wanted a couple of cheeky TF laps. Plus Belgium is shit and i needed to get out of it for a few hours to a proper country:whistle: Was pretty wet when we arrived which put a downer on it for me as i had hoped for some dry TF laps as the weather had been nice all day LOL! IMAG0286 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr IMAG0288 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr IMAG0290 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Had a few hours to kill before the track opened at 5pm so we went to the rip off Ringwerk just to pass the time, As much as i oppose the place it does have some pretty cool stuff in it. IMAG0297 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr IMAG0299 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr IMAG0302 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr IMAG0305 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Luckily the sun came out and the track was drying but was still damp in places, Still done 5 laps though as it was eerily quiet, I passed 10 cars the whole time and that was it. Was really strange but thoroughly enjoyable even if they were pretty slow relaxed laps due to the damp patches IMAG0308 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Went to dinner at the place next to the BMW test centre for one of their amazing Calzones FB_IMG_13814255732743120 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Then headed back to Spa managing to find about 15miles on derestricted Autobahns:whistle: Nick and Al had went home that afternoon so we just ended up back in the room looking back through some photos and videos of the days. Up at 9am again and down to meet Andy and Emily for breakfast before packing up and heading for Dunkirk FB_IMG_13814784276103468 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Bye bye Belgium, See you next year! FB_IMG_13814825389348847 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Must be closer to the UK now FB_IMG_13814902016861181 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Ended up on the same ferry as a couple of the SXOC boys by coincidence so that was nice, bar the fact it was a ROUGH crossing then it was back up the M20/M25/A1M then the M6 for Willies at Kilmarnock. Once the nice AA man brought me some more fuel thoughhame: Got back to Willies at 2am and decided to sleep there as its still 2 hours to my house from there and i didn't fancy binning it that close from home after doing so many miles in Europe:nono:
Watched the F1 Quali then headed home at lunch time, Lovely weather up in Scotland, Shame we didn't have it in Spa DSC_1234 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr 2078 miles later and 447 litres of fuel, Fin. DSC_1237 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1238 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1240 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1243 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr DSC_1242 by Jamie_Atkinson, on Flickr Filthy. That's it then, Can't wait for the next one, DN and a Spa day or two for sure next year! Got loads of videos from Spa that i will get uploaded and have more photos of my flickr if yu want to have a look, there may be some of you! Massive thanks to all who organised the trackday and the Marshalls at Spa are brilliant! Met some amazing people the last few days and made some great new friends, Apologies if i spoke to you but didn't realise who you were. EPIC!
Hi mate, Seems like you had a epic trip. My mate went over to the ring earlier this year. Thanks for sharing pics. p.s i think i added you on fb (Darren Nicholl) - i noticed Mark @ eTune had uploaded a few pics of your motor - hence the add
Fantastic read of what looked like an awesome trip will have to get an rsmegane.com trip sorted eh...
Nice one mate, looked like a brilliant trip apart from the rain. Luck of the draw mind u, we went last year and it rained most of the time but we were lucky it was sunny and dry when we were on track. Can't wait to go back next year! When did you actually go?
Love reading these kind of threads, hoping to head to spa next year myself and the one in amsterdam, cant remember the name right now. glad you had fun!
That was a good wee read Jamie. I used to love wet days at Knockhill in the Clio but I'm yet to do one in the Megane, been really lucky with the weather this year. How were the AD08's ?
AD08's were great Mark, really impressed with them in the wet, Bit slippy in the damp though. Doubt i will be up at KH much, if at all next year. Plan on doing Spa at least twice and a Ring track day so i want to cage the Megane up for that and have a set of track wheels for doing them
Next time my mrs suggests a spa day this is what I'm going to book. Looks like you had a great time and a nice picture diary!
Ya can't beat a road trip , After driving down to Switzerland this year via the Nurburgring i'm hooked on long drives. Great pics by the way
