4 days / 4 countries / 4 events

Just got back from my little jaunt around Europe.

Saturday started from Milton Keynes to GT Battle, Rockingham which apart from the crap weather and poor show still proved enjoyable. Left there at about 5:30 and blatted down to Dover, onto the ship ( P&O staff done an excellent job loading the Supra, adjusting the angle of the ramp somehow to prevent ripping off the front bumper, etc. ), over to Calais and drive down to Chimay (arrived at 0400 local time).

Sunday, peared bleary eyed out of tent at about 8 am and wandered up to the King of Europe show. About 10 I was starting to wonder whether it was worth it but then it started picking up. The track at Chimay is actually just 4 regular roads in a sort of rectangle just outside the town which is shut off when the races take place. The timing gear, lights, etc where brought down from Holland (I think) as I got the impression that drag racing isn't held that often in Belgium and the quarter mile was set up on one of the straights. It was quite surreal seeing these cars (more at home on a preped track like Pod) running 9 second times down a standard tarmac road. There was even a rocket car there which I found supprising as we where just at the edge of town. Unfortunately there was a sad lacking in Jap cars running. No Supras on the track and only 5 there in total (yes Emma, they all got club cards on their windscreens). I was talking to a Belgium Supra owner for quite some time and he was saying that in France / Belgium the Supra is very rare.

Good few British guys competing though and the final was an all British affair between a funny car and a Chevy engined Audi (which won with a low 9 second time) that I think was at "Ten of the Best II". There was also a team called Taz Racing there who where running two Fiat 126's with Chevy V8's with Nitrous. These run 11.0 sec 1/4 miles but where blasted out of the water by an old green mini with mid mounted engine (not sure of dirivative) that run a 10.1! Left there about 6pm and headed over to the far side of Germany ( nr the Czech Republic ).

Monday headed back accross Germany heading for the Nurburgring. Arrived there about 4pm, so missed the guys that were over there by just a couple of hours, and run around trying to find camping but no joy so booked into hotel for the night. Dumped all the gear out of the car into the hotel room and got back to the ring about 6pm ready to get a couple of laps in before it closed at 7:30. Just before we got back though a biker had had a nasty crash and they shut the track down for the rest of the day. Don't know if he was OK but we saw the bike comming back on the recovery truck and it was a real mess. We saw helecopter take off from round the track so presume he was airlifted out. Thought, no problem, I'll go out tommorrow just to find that the track is under private booking until 5:30pm! Ah well, next time!

Tuesday - after breakfast repacked car and headed back into Belgium to Spa Circuit at Francorchamps. Seen this track many times on the tv but, believe me, "Eau Rouge" looks far more intimidating in real life. There was a Motorbike Race training school there on the day and these guys were amazing to see viewing from an empty grandstand. Pushed on then to this side of Belgium and found camp site. Here, shortly after crashing out for the night, we had the experience of a thunder storm under canvas! Lightning flashing every couple of seconds and thunder echoing throgh the valley amplifying the effect tenfold.

Wednesday - survived the night. Crawled out the tent about 9am, coffee, pack everything up and drive back to Calais Another excellent job by P&O Ferries and back to MK.

Total trip = 1395 miles (well Leon said the engine needed running in)

Lots of pics to come - will post link when hosted

Anyone for a trip to Nurburgring?

Some photos from King of Europe

What a great story The picture looks great - such a nice range of cars there and so many that you just don't see in the UK, especially this one:

http://photobucket.com/albums/y176/John_M_photos/King%20of%20Europe/?action=view&current=AmericanMuscle.jpg

(Ok I'm a big US muscle car fan!)

Excellent pics mate, sounds like that was a superb trip

Fantastic road trip!