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EURO COMBO 07 -
26th to 30th May
I’m totally
‘throttle-lagged’, worn out, the car is beyond dirty and my glove box is
filled with petrol receipts that I daren’t look at for fear of screaming
like a girl at the amount spent on this unforgettable 1200mile trip. Its
easy to forget the cost though as its been one of the
best, if not the most enjoyable trips to the Nurburgring, that also took
in a perfect trackday at Spa-Francorchamps.
This years Euro
Combo kicked off for me by missing the Chunnel due to customs, then
getting questioned by a French policeman about my licence plate at a
toll booth, then having to dodge the large presence of French traffic
police, but I shouldn’t have worried as this was a sneeze of delays
compared to some of the cars on there way down. Mark & Richard two
brothers from Derby took 24hrs to arrive at the Hotel in Nurburg due to
an exploding radiator and that their convey partners Paul and Steve in a
stripped out white BMW E30 decided to develop a misfire that could not
be cured until they came across a helpful garage 20miles from Nurburg
that let them strip parts off other cars.
View
from the castle over Nurburg Saturday afternoon
Beers were
already being drunk that Saturday afternoon while sitting out in
the sun, 25C heat as the rest of the eighteen Euro Combo
attendee’s slowly arrived when out of the blue the sky darkened,
wind swirled around our exposed legs and arms, and within a few
minutes the skies reaped some form of vengeance upon us. Rain
was shooting horizontally along the street with leaves and
branches caught up in the foray as we darted into the hotel from
the terrace. We stood and watched in disbelief as this
mini-hurricane raged outside. It seems that Ring weather is as
unpredictable as ever. Still it did not deter us from our table
booked at the Pistenklause and with the help of Mark Z who
taxi’d us the 250m to the restaurant to avoid a soaking.
A great
evening was had with everyone meeting eachother and swapping
stories.
I could
see that we had assembled a great and diverse bunch of people
and that this was sure to be another great adventure.
We had two days on
the NurburgRing; tourist days as the Germans call them where £10 buys
you 10minutes, 12.7miles, of driving nirvana, where you are on the
worlds only rollercoaster that ‘you’ are in control of. And when I say
rollercoaster I am not exaggerating as the Ring raises and falls over
300m with its numerous twists and cambered turns. The Fuchshrohe and
Platzgarten have such severe drops that when you hit the belly then
crest the top of these black topped beasts your stomach is left in a
state of severe confusion, or is that convulsion?
The
Track Masters
Evo pounding round a soaked & slippy Nordschleife
We unfortunately
but not surprisingly had rain in the morning of day 1 and all of day 2,
but that did not deter anyone as we were all out exploring and
experiencing this thrilled ride, with the Euro Combo crew coming back in
with huge grins and the thumping hearts of sheer disbelief at the amount
of adrenaline pumping through their veins, then going back out again.
The rain and slippery surface does not make for fast laps but it does
allow you to learn about your car in extreme conditions and the
direction the course takes, which is very important as it is not easy to
learn.
Martin Forrest going into the infamous Karussell
And Stuart
Knight exiting Brunchen
As always with any
trip to the Ring is the standing around in the carpark looking at the
cars and exotica plus talking to all in sundry about everything Ring
related. Martin Thom and I met Jethro from Evo magazine who had bought
along his early M3, the car that is supposed to break the 8minute btg
time one day.
Evo
Magazines M3 pictured
with the Track Masters Evo in the Ring carpark
Late Monday
afternoon of the second day those that had had enough of the wet weather checked out the
GP circuits impressive museum and karting track before we packed up the
cars from the storage room we had reserved from the hotel and headed
westward to Stavelot, in time for a few well earned beers in a bar that
turned out to be a local gay haunt. We made quite an impression walking
in there all 23of us (5 more joined us for Spa only), all blokes but
one.
We stayed
in a gorgeous characterful and very ancient hotel in a cobbled square that must have
dated back 400 years.
Dinner that night was in a favourite Pizzeria of ours
Tuesday morning we
awoke early with slightly muddle heads from the exuberance and laughter
of the night before and headed off to Spa-Francorchamps for an MLR
organised Trackday.
The trackday in my
mind was just perfect. The morning was spent flying around in the spray
and wet tarmac of this historic GP circuit, sampling the new chicane, as
the bus-stop has been thankfully removed, and accelerating past the
impressive new F1 pits, around a newly widened La source and skimming
the 24hr pit wall to the delight of spectators as they held on to their
umbrellas and hats. The force of the cars licking past really made a
fantastic noise and the air rushed past like you were in a tornado. The
biggest difference here was how carpet smooth the track was, how open,
how much run-off, all compared to the narrowness and rough finish on the
Northloop. It was like opening your eyes several degree's wider, and
made you realise how you had adjusted to the Rings confines.
The afternoon
dried out and left a completely dry track, so after all the sliding
about learning the lines you could then start to put your foot down and
learn how brave you were going down into, up and over Eau Rouge and flat
in top gear through Blanchimont. Truly an impressive and fast
circuit
Track Masters
Evo going through a soaked Eau Rouge at some speed
The three big
braking points at Spa being at the end of the Kemmel Straight where 150+
was seen before jumping on the anchors just past the 150m board for the
3rd gear Les Combes, braking from a similar speed after the
long left handed Blanchimont, then squirming around the new super slow chicane in 2nd. Even after that deceleration 150ish to 20mph
the last few metres into the chicane the brakes ground the front end of
the car into the ground to haul it up. It was quite an amazing feeling.
And I know you are thinking ‘what about Eau Rouge’? Well flying down the
24hr pit straight in top gear at who knows what speed but definitely
somewhere past 120mph you were hard on the brakes for no more than a
second, then left over the rumble strip balance the power, then a sharp
fast right up the hill looking at only the sky as Eau Rouge is soo
steep, the force of the ascent pushing you down into your seat, power
now fully applied again, then bear left at the top as the car goes light
the rear dancing about behind you and through Radillion onto the Kemmel
straight. Amazing fun.
The Track Masters Evo also
did supremely well on the trip, gone were the problems from its 500bhp
turbo kit and all that remained was endless power and an excellently
handling car, that thrilled driver and passengers alike. It was the
passengers, the Euro Combonites that kept the car out on the Northloop
and on track at Spa for most of the time there. 240miles travelled on
Spa-Francorchamps alone and at the Ring we didn’t count but it was a
lot, and with it running the same as the Ring taxi 4up it gave a lot of
laps to many passengers. And judging by the WHHOOOPPAA’s and various
other exclamations they belted out around the wet 9minute laps they all
totally enjoyed the thrill ride. Who needs Alton Towers??
Wednesday morning,
guess what? As we prepared to leave the sun was out, t-shirts were on,
typical!! I wouldn’t have changed the weather for anything as we had
such a good time in all conditions on the Ring and at Spa, and in the bar.
We met a great bunch of people, and afterall it was these people who made
the trip what it was, a fantastic adventure.
Until next year!!
In fact who needs next year when we have the
Euro Blast in September!?!
Mrk
BRAKE TEST
While we were on
the trip
Carbotech asked us to try out there Trackday XP10 pads. We had
already tied the XP8's on the Evo and were happy with them, but we
needed something more, so they let us have a set for the trip, read
here to see what we thought. I think you can forget about having to
look elsewhere for Road and Track pads in the future.
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