Sunday

Dave & Gary were up the track for 8.15am, the conditions were slightly damp but drying quickly. That made sure the guys had some nice early laps with the Clio and the 205. Gary had a nice lap following Ed in his 944 turbo, enjoying the view of 10 year old tyres scrabbling for grip. It’s a good job Ed is up to the job of driving sideways as he was doing enough of it.

Emma, Clare and Hollie arrived after breakfast.

Lots of cars were being turned away during the day for noise restrictions, so BE WARNED, they are having a clamp down. Gary witnessed a couple with nearly 120db readings!

Gary chased down a well driven British Scooby (take a bow Cookstar) and while in the car park later talking to Bren from Sliders, overheard an amusing conversation between two bikers. It went something like this …..
"Where have you been?"
‘’Out for a lap in that Scooby over there’’
"Was it any good?"
‘’Yeah f’ing excellent, but I’ll tell you what’’
"What?"
‘’See that 205 over there that bloody thing past us like we were going backwards, the driver must be a lunatic’’

Gary nearly spat the coke out he was drinking. Bren introduced them to Gary and more pax laps were quickly arranged

The traditional lunchtime Pizza was taken at Christa’s with Hammoc & Steve.

Amongst the 9 pax laps Gary did he took a brit biker for a lap. The guy promptly changed his opinion on car drivers, he now thinks they are all lunatics. Time was then spent with Ed and Tor Leife admiring his CSL. It looks spectacular in Motorsport white with matching red and purple mirrors.

The track was extremely quiet. Gary met several people from Northloop and ScoobyNet, Palantine and friends in their Foresters, Dastardly and mutley, Mervil to name a few.

One eventful lap for Gary came soon after/ The track was bone dry, going flat through Fuchsrorhe at around 125mph. Bang take the curb on the left at around 100mph, start breaking for the right hand approach corner to Adenau Forst only to find that the corner was wet. Without indication an 80mph spin occurred with the car finally coming to a halt on the infield without hitting anything. No damage and no armco bill . Another warning, weather conditions can change dramatically on a single lap. 2Km’s on and the track was bone dry.

The weather changed to snow, Dave & Clare carried on lapping, Gary took the camera out for a while then gave up for the day.

Monday

Dave and Gary back up to track to get in the early laps. First stoppage is a biker off at Weirshefen, a couple of broken bones but not too serious. There ensued the usual mad rush for everyone to go out when track reopened, Gary went out 2 mins later and found a biker on ground at T13. He spent some time helping the marshals sort things out. Not much later, another lengthy stoppage due to a British Corrado barrel rolling at SX. The driver was extremely lucky considering he wasn’t wearing a helmet.

Plenty of time to talk to Simon Mully and other biker friends from Byrne Up. Gary took one of them for a pax lap, but didn’t have time to take the other who asked. Next time for sure.

Clare driving clio came upon an accident at kesselchen where the ring viper had hit a bike which it came across in the track. Clare was extremely lucky to avoid the incident with no damage. Testiment to Clare's undoubted driving skill or luck, we will never know, just glad things ended the way they did.

Dave, Clare and Hollie left mid afternoon to head back to the ferry.

Rain again during afternoon. Ed and Gary had a chat with a guy who owned a Lambo Gallardo and Ferrari F430 which had been lapping. He and his friends were there for the first time and asking for advice on lines. Ed went out with owner in the Ferrari 430 while Gary followed close behind in with his mate driving the Gallardo. The weather was awful, pouring rain and standing water....

Imagine if you will following one of the loudest most gorgeous sounding cars in current production and not being able to hear a damned thing as you are sat in a wailing V10 engined beast yourself...... The 430 was the hardest to drive as it’s rear wheel drive, (the owner only ever drives in RACE mode too). The back end was twitching like mad as Gary followed in the 4wd Gallardo about 20 yards behind. The acceleration was shattering, the car sounding like it was ready for a higher gear when there was still another even more inducing wail for the last 3000 revs......

The drivers were genuinely happy to have Gary and Ed in their cars, especially as they had been overtaken by a 205gti on the previous lap. At the end of the lap, which Gary didnt want to end he sheepishly offered to take the Lambo's pilot for a wet lap in the 205..... He eagerly agreed, insisting he had his picture taken with the car as he got in. The lap was pretty mild due to the weather but Gary’s new friend loved it shouting every 2 or 3 corners. Back in the car park he was animated as he re-traced our lap with his friends. They shook hands, exchanged e-mail addresses and went their separate ways. One of the best points of the weekend for sure.