Honey Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/p344acaf0553becc3688a7ff33aedf792/ee2c38ac.jpg Aron (AJI) http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/pc1e099d5edddde120301e60751d96bfe/ee2c5354.jpg Great Idea!!! http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/p556db2d883ca94a229cbb1a7fe6cdcdc/ee2c53bc.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/p54449edc73c70633350b9f48cfdf1483/ee2c6146.jpg Heartbeat http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/p96b0941dfaaed3bd68da85a08ee24704/ee2c4838.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/p2d19a30c13eed89066473ce2194bfa71/ee2c46e1.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/pc6bff5843538c453a8c3926d573eab31/ee2c4646.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/pd9ce1d82e00326d791e8b51d5785b884/ee2c459d.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/p0bc0bc7c1246bd579393659c734e281e/ee2c44f4.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/p0c8e35e4acd814d176c98aa2d348862f/ee2c43a5.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honey Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/p6736f020e4386c58d4a7a14a02e662d1/ee2c4264.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/pf229c55eff5de3d423b127ca48aee629/ee2c314d.jpg Impressions http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/p0b7c8073c5e19aa38acfd4cc41ef8906/ee2c4bed.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/pda58fa1d54deda5caad18d49b552e4d3/ee2c4a80.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/p24c451f4faefcf39709d0be3fec9e0ff/ee2c48ff.jpg Wohoooo http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/pa169d5ca0790ef7073fb470c2e2b804b/ee2c4791.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/pfaeb0865a397a35fee0ecbb18fdd2c86/ee2c41ae.jpg A lot of bhp by the way http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/pe36f9e112322e8299feeb1c1efc2e620/ee2c405b.jpg Carbone http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/p32f90c5e5a10c626e0a2b82fa51b96ba/ee2c34d6.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honey Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Well done http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/pfa7077ee83d23a245bcc815fd99fa653/ee2c36bf.jpg http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/pcb0ff34485bdc1f793ce818ebbdaa40c/ee2c35f8.jpg The same procedure as every year http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/p4552e13fd4037346dd0644863f0cbbd7/ee2c4efe.jpg Shit happened to Nissan 200 SX http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/p7f2baf16621d3453217185972b2811a2/ee2c4df6.jpg It´s cool to be a cat, isn´t it Ernie? http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid209/p3173ad02545a845a8f8949739dbdbb30/ee2c4ced.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiefgroover Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 If we didnt have all those sub spec jap imports the UK supras would be worth the same. Lucky Germany isnt RHD!. OK Honey, 29th it is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honey Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Sounds perfect Chiefgroover. I will arrange anything else Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian R Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Great pics will post some tommorow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveR Posted July 5, 2006 Share Posted July 5, 2006 Right, as promised, here goes! French motorway drivers are a bit rubbish, but easy enough to avoid/pass most of the time. France was quickly 'out of the way'. Belgium (or at least what you see from the motorway) is incredibly dull. Belgium motorways are about as good a quality as you'd get if I had a go at making them and ervythig looks the same. Oh, and it's flat. Did I mention dull? Germany rules! Decent, grippy roads, nice scenery... and... the 'Ring!! Never before have I smelt such a pungent and intoxicating mix of hot oil and rubber - and I used to marshal at races at Silverstone, lol! The car park (s!!) are brimming with anything from Caterhams to Elises to 3 Series (most of which are stripped out bar a roll cage and 2 seats) to golfs to Lambos to TVRs to Ring Taxis (2 x 5 Series and 2 x Zackspeed Vipers!) to Carrera GTs to Saxos (lol) but very rarely are there any Japanese cars - which means you get people paying a LOT of interest & people taking photos despite the competition for attention. So you check your tyre pressures, you check your oil, you check everything you could possibly ever event think of checking because you're secretly a little worried and don't mind putting off your first lap for a bit longer. Eventually you've got everything sorted and everything lose in the car has been strapped down, and you go to the ticket machine. You're gutted when it's teh easiest thing in the world to use - press the ticket type you want (I went for a 4 lap ticket), put your money in - and out pops your invitation to the Ring.... oh cr*p! I thought I'd see how I was coping with the nervous excitment, so I strapped my heart rate monitor on and read 130bpm - just the 75 over my normal resting heart rate then! The track was quiet, so I thought, it's now or never. I fired the Supe up, strapped myself in good and proper, and headed for the ticket barriers. In goes the ticket "thankyou, please take your ticket, 3 laps remaining" shows the display - and the barrier lifts. Oh cra*p! Oh really really cr*p! Select first and trundle through the coned off area, staring at the track dissapearing out of view just ahead. This is it now, no turning back. 13 miles of 'fun' were ahead of me - assuming I avoid any incidents! Round the cones and it's time to drive like I'm on a race circuit. So, 3/4 throttle it is then! 2nd. 3rd, 4th, under the bridge, better ultra-short-shift into 6th and proceed at 1/3 throttle... don't want to stress my poor baby do I, and besides, there's a corner less than 1/2 miles away that I might have to brake for! The whole lap was an experience - although I 'know' (roughly) the track from Forza motorsport etc etc this is the REAL world now and I'm driving around in the car I've wanted for over 10 years, that I've had for 11 months, and haven't finished paying for... so I drove with caution - after all, what if there was oil or an accident on the track just round the next corner? What is over that blind crest? You can't trust the games you know, I saw someone say that on Top Gear when Clarkson went there. Every time I saw someone in my mirror I flicked the right indicator on and shifted right over to the side until they'd well and truley passed. 20 or 30 cars and bikes must have gone past me, but I didn't care. Getting on for 14 minutes later, and I'd done it - incident free my Supe and I had completed the Ring. Time to let the car cool down (must have really needed it ) and check what my heart rate had been whilst on-track... 100bpm - not bad considering it's start! I let 30 minutes go past and thought about the lap, chatting to a few of the others about their experiences, too. There weren't any nasty surprises, there wasn't anything I hadn't expected, it's not that big a deal to let people past, and even the blind crests weren't too scary. I went out again before the track closed for the night and went a little harder. 10 minutes and 55 seconds later I was back on the finish straight, passing under the 'scaffold' gantry. Cool thinks I.. the track was closing so it was time to hit the hotel for some food and a beer... So Saturday comes and I'm back at the track for 10am; an announcement tells us that the track is closed to motorbikes (only) but I thought if it's not safe for them to go round I'm not going round either, so Kate and I decided to go to Adenau (small town & corner name) to see what we could see from there. Lots! Vipers and Lambos sound amazing climbing hills! Locals in golfs and 3 series BMWs and British guys in expensive 911 GT3s brake very late. We walk a little further back round (and up!) the track to a tight late apex left that drops in height sharply, perch ourelves on a little wall and watch all manner of cars/bikes/etc going round it - I watch closely to see what line works better than the others. A coach full of biddys comes round doing no more than 20mph, much to our amusement! Then we spot Tom and Ian R trundling along, out of the way of everyone else and at a similar pasce to my first lap the day before. We get all excited at seeing people we know on the world's most famous circuit and wave but are too high up to be spotted. Later Aron goes past, obviously knowing the track a lot better than we did, which combined with the 'rareness' of Jap cars over there and his exhaust note at full chat attracted a lot of attention - or at least it attracted mine! That looked like fun... let's go back to the track Kate We get to 'the field' (overflow carpark) where most of us were stationed when not on track (plenty of space to park and sit, plus you can see what's on the start/finish straight from there) and I decided I'd go out for a drive. Ian R followed me and mistakenly thought I hadn't been out before (ok, I'd only done 2 laps, but 14 minute lap times were certinaly behind me now ). "He's going for it!!" was what he'd reportedly said to Lucy when we set off, and I guess I pressed on a little harder than the day before, but you still have doubts at several bends - is this that bend or that bend? Better be safe rather than sorry... It was certainly faster than Ian and Tom's sighting lap anyway, and the buzz I had when we got back was obviously mutual from Ian and Lucy's faces. The day continued pretty much on that sort of a theme - people were parked up, occasionaly deciding to go for a lap or two, but mostly just chilling out letting the cars cool down with the bonnets up, parked in a field sapping up glorious sunshine and chatting with mates - perfect. JSpecGermany (Mike) joined us and I took him for a lap in my Supe. treating it like a sighting lap for Mike I decided to take it steady & did a steady lap (probably ~12 minutes) and we returned to 'the pits' - aka 'our' section of the field. Mike was soon itching to get out there and returned the favour by taking me along. It was obvious that he knew his car a hell of a lot better than I knew mine, and we were soon caning along,- his UK front brakes complete lack of fear(!) helping him to push on into the corners much more than I dared to on my stock Jap specs. Mike can certianly handle his car, and I didn't know you could drive an auto box like that!! During the day, both RX7s had offs - one minor and one not so minor, but both guys were really good about it (and the 1600 Euro bill for damaged armco caused by the Rex in the pictures! Owch!!) But no-one was hurt and after initial concern when the news spread, the cars were still driveable and spirits remained high. Later than night Mike's wife Carly arrived (nice to meet you, sorry we didn't get chance to say bye in the morning!) and met us at the Ringhaus Hotel bar - Kate and I had been invited back by those staying there so decided to take them up on the offer and eat with them. Many hours passed chatting with new friends and before we knew it was already midnight and time to return to our hotel and hit the sack - but not before announcing that I'd be at the track for when it opened at 8am with the intention of having it all to myself.... and throwing the invite open to everyone else there.... -- (Bedtime for me now, more later if I'm not boring people!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burna Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Great write up Ste! Keep it coming please mate, got me itching to go on the next trip out there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jspec Germany Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Mike was soon itching to get out there and returned the favour by taking me along. It was obvious that he knew his car a hell of a lot better than I knew mine, and we were soon caning along,- his UK front brakes helping him to push on into the corners much more than I dared to on my stock Jap specs. Mike can certainly handle his car, and I didn't know you could drive an auto box like that!! A thousand thanks for the props Steve, but I must point out one discrepency... I'm still on worn stock Jspecs all around, and man were they hating me after that second lap we did. I need to find a couple of hours to put on my US fronts. As I told you dude, your car feels much more solid than mine to me. You thought mine handled better because of the way it felt. I'd attibrute most of that to bigger/wider wheels/tires and lower Cg because of the lower springs (nevermind driving style). The stock auto box can take some punishment and the downshifts are nice and rapid. Did you ride with Ian at all during the trip *hides from Luci throwing things*? He's got an auto and seems to make good time. I can't wait til you guys come down again. Maybe in August or October? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Class One Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Great write up Stve, its like you're there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jspec Germany Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Ahhh this is quite interesting!!! The Ringkorso will be on the 16.07.2006 but we all will meet up on the 15.07.2006 and have Party the night before. Of course we wanna do some laps as well..... Well, I wanna do I just need somebody to pick me up for the racing I will send you more details about it later on. There will be a lot of Supradrivers as fare as I know. I´ll go ahead and check it. We will see what happens in August. I dont have the dates for our official meets in August right know. But I have to drive such a long way to the Nürburgring so I dont know if I can make it again in August. I´ll do my best. If I will come then of course not with other Supradrivers We will see what I can figure out! Please let me know the exact day you will be there again. Or if we will meet up at Ringkorso we can plan with the other guys either! Would be great if you can meet up with us @ Ringkorso! Cheers Katrin I don't know if I can make it on the night of the 15th. I have a college class all day on the 15th, so it will depend on what time we are finished. There are a lot of factors I have to consider because I am leaving for a long business trip to Alaska on the 17th. I may make it down on the 16th to hang out, but don't know if I'll run the ring because if something goes wrong, I will have big problems. We will work it out. I'm open almost every weekend in August except the first, so hopefully we can make a trip with all the German guys. I hope the guy with the hurt wrist is healed by then. It would be fun to have a convoy of supras going around the ring. Did I mention my supra will be for sale in about a year and a half? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godmutha Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 The stock auto box can take some punishment and the downshifts are nice and rapid. Did you ride with Ian at all during the trip *hides from Luci throwing things*? He's got an auto and seems to make good time. I can't wait til you guys come down again. Maybe in August or October? Lol... no need to hide Mike, I'm used to seein her get punished, thats why I look after her so good. I dont think anyone went round with Ian, he said he wanted me in the car cause he didnt trust himself and by the end of the saturday, I was gettin to know the corners. She needs some TLC now and a few new bits and peices methinks. Cant wait to see you guys again, we'll have to make it soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jspec Germany Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Yeah definitely. Let me know what weekend you wanna come down and I'll go shopping. I know what you mean about not trusting himself. Were it not for having Steve in the car or following him round the track, I'd have been in for more than just a high-speed unintentional drift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honey Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 I don't know if I can make it on the night of the 15th. I have a college class all day on the 15th, so it will depend on what time we are finished. There are a lot of factors I have to consider because I am leaving for a long business trip to Alaska on the 17th. I may make it down on the 16th to hang out, but don't know if I'll run the ring because if something goes wrong, I will have big problems. We will work it out. I'm open almost every weekend in August except the first, so hopefully we can make a trip with all the German guys. I hope the guy with the hurt wrist is healed by then. It would be fun to have a convoy of supras going around the ring. Did I mention my supra will be for sale in about a year and a half? Normally Mike should be fine until August! No, you didnt mention the Supra will be for sale? Why are you doing this? Its such a great car Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jspec Germany Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Believe me, I don't want to sell it. I absolutely love the car! I may be moving back to the states and if so, won't be able to take the car with me. If so, I'll sell the car here in Germany or in the UK, but probably on the forum to keep it in the family. It's always nice to know where the car's come from if you're a new owner. If I do go back to the states, I'll be buying an aerotop 6 speed and going huge single. If I go back to Japan, I'll buy another Supra there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honey Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 If I would have the money for it........... but sometimes its hard to be self-employed Good Luck and keep it in the family. If you want me to I can ask on the german toyota website. Let me know in time Cheers Katrin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveR Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Will continue teh story of my experience tonight peeps Mike I thought you had UK fronts - maybe because they're freshly painted (and because you have balls of steel going into some of those bends, lol!) they seemed bigger. lol :D I hope I get to know my car as well as you obviously know yours. Still can't believe I took it round the ring (8 times) after only owning it for less than 3,000 miles! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jspec Germany Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Steve - you'll be faster than me around the ring with any practice. You've already done more laps than me. Honey - I'll take you up on that offer when the time comes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveR Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Kate and I arrive back at the hotel late Saturday night and I set my alarm for 07:25; 5 mins to snooze, 10 mins to get up and dressed, 10 mins to drive to the track, 10 mins to check the car over again and then it would be 8am and the track would be open...., would I have it all to myself?? Surely not? That thought kept me awake long after I should have been asleep, anyway My alarm went off and I felt like a 5 year old at Christmas who'd slept for days - I was so awake and excited!! Trying to curtail my excitment until I'd at least got out of our hotel room (Kate wanted to sleep, so I said I'd return for breakkfast), I got up and ready in double quick time! Tom, Mike, Ian and Lucy has said te night before that they'd meet me ta the track 8am, but after a healthy session in the bar (not for me of course as I had to drive back to our hotel) only Ian and Lucy were strong enough to make it (sorry Tom & Mike ) and even then the text I recieved from tham said that they needed a brew to wake up and then they'd be there for about 08:30... On the way to the track, in the cool dense air I notice my stock TT is boosting to 0.9bar... ooh, hasn't done that before... niiiice So I'm there, at the track, car ready, the ticket in my mit still valid for 2 more laps... track open... very few cars around.... time to kill.... well, there was only one thing for it wasn't there!! I reversed out of my parking space and trundled round to the barriers like I owned the place, lol! This is awesome I'm thinking - no-one about, all the locals had literally driven straight there and onto the track and now the place was almost deserted. woohoo!!! Hold on though... maybe it's quiet because the track isn't up to temp at this time of the day and maybe there is a load of condensation on the fast corners round the back as they're shaded by trees.... dammit, better take it steady.... ish 11 minutes later and no 'scares' I'm back in the carpark and grinning like a loon, I pop the bonnet to let heat escape and get back in the car. Ian and Lucy pull up next to me but I'm distracted by the smoke coming from my engine bay!! BUT a few seconds later Ian points out to me that it's not smoke, it's heat haze catching the light and causing a shadow. Pheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwww!!!! Encouraged by the conditions , the still relatively quiet track, and the fact that Supras are just fecking awesome and haul @ss - we head out again, Ian opting to follow me as I'd already done a sighting lap. Lucy says that she'll film it from the passenger seat of Ian's car (sneakily becuase it's not allowed), but I try to put that to the back of my mind so I don't push myself - after all, it only takes one mistake, doesn't it. We set off towards and through the ticket barriers and I think to myself, keep yourself in check Steve, but fecking go for it lad The lap felt great; easily the fastest I think either Ian or I had done so far but it wasn't just (relatively) quick - when you 'hook up' a corner just as you know it should be done (from guides and from watching the experts) it feels fantastic - especially as there are nearly 200 bends to try to remember! Huge grins all round once again. I look forward to seeing Lucy's video (again!) Bonnets up back in the car park as usual, time to chill for a few minutes before I had to head back to the hotel to get Kate up & have breakfast. Approaching 9am it was getting busy now and spaces quickly dissapeared. I felt priviledged to have got two laps in before every man and his horse(power) turned up and invaded 'my' track Just as I was about to set off a slightly hungover and thirsty Mike and his good lady wife got to the track so I gave them my space and said hello/goodbye quickly - I'd see them again in about an hour after I'd collected Kate and we'd eaten. At breakfast I felt like a king, lol, anyone would think I'd just done a 5 minute lap, not a 10:something. It really does become addictive, you forget what day it is, what else you had planned... all you can think about (apart from Kate of course) is the track! You forget to eat lunch, you forget what lunch is! After what felt like forever but was probably 30 minutes we headed back to the track for the photoshoot (NB: sorry Aron I thought you meant the morning one had replaced the 4pm one!) With a little help from Mike and his 'Bug n tar' (and an old sock of his!!) I scraped the 3" deep dead moths, flies and anything else I'd collected at 100mph off the front of my Supe. Everyone else made an effort too, plus we were joined by a few German Supra owners (red, MSB and that unique flip green one) and we lined them up - and you can see the results on the Nurburgring trip picture thread. There is more to the story, but that's for later, for now I'm off to bed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbeh Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Hehe a great write up Steve, a lot of that sounds familiar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJI Posted July 7, 2006 Author Share Posted July 7, 2006 everytime I saw you Steve you had a massive grin on your face. I could tell you were enjoying the track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveR Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 everytime I saw you Steve you had a massive grin on your face. I could tell you were enjoying the track. Hell yeah, it rules!!! I was saying to some of the people at work that if I suddenly found myself a multi-millionaire I'd have a house and a few cars at the 'Ring. This place looks ideal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainhead Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 Hello, thought you all might be intersted in this, as you have just returned from the ring. I was there the weekend before but was the only supra there. http://ringbunny.fotopic.net/p31320746.html http://ringbunny.fotopic.net/p31320743.html http://ringbunny.fotopic.net/p31320747.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honey Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 Lovely pics. Thanks a lot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveR Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 Get in there - check us out Convoy... http://ringbunny.fotopic.net/p31320771.html http://ringbunny.fotopic.net/p31320772.html http://ringbunny.fotopic.net/p31320773.html http://ringbunny.fotopic.net/p31320774.html http://ringbunny.fotopic.net/p31320775.html More of Aron who was catching us up... http://ringbunny.fotopic.net/p31320776.html http://ringbunny.fotopic.net/p31320777.html http://ringbunny.fotopic.net/p31320778.html http://ringbunny.fotopic.net/p31320779.html http://ringbunny.fotopic.net/p31320780.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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