Just another Saturday in June, at the Nurburgring.

[BAPhotowerks]

Apologies for this thread's heft... trying to manage the size of these files, with nothing but Mr. Gates' tools, is enough to make a grown man cry! The plan is to upload these and more to my site, but that will have to wait until I return home and sit in front of a real computer.

The weather called for Grand Prix White with patches of yellow and black.
Believe it or not, my gold Opel Astra was passed by this monster on track. For my eyes, three GT3s in a row is cause for celebration; when that occurs at the Nurburgring, one nearly loses it.

[BAPhotowerks]

I wandered around as if in a daze,
feeling sorry that my family and I couldn't make it to Emory's Campout, instead I'm spending an afternoon away from them in the Eifel Mountains. But that's not what you came to hear. For those interested, tickets for a lap cost 15 euro a pop, and I took two. One with a co-pilot and one without; he wasn't feeling well anymore. You can drive anything that's street legal, and they sell season passes for 750 euro.

And there, out of the corner of my eye, I spied Randy Wells jockeying for his place in line; why you old dog I thought!

It wasn't to be and that isn't Randy's car; it was a '70S with a blacked-out decklid grill, deep sixes, and a early S spoiler. Nice sport seats too. Friendly gentleman, seemed to want to exercise his English, but his passenger arrived and there was no more time to waste! Great to see the car being appreciated for what it is.

[BAPhotowerks]

Of course, all the front engine cars were there too.
Count them. 1... 2... 3... 4... 5 E30 M3s. And that's just the ones who parked together! The bright 968 looked like it could be a lot of fun! Of course, if you wanted a an early M3 in your stable, you'd probably want an Elise too. That black beauty is a TVR; I'll give my respect to anyone who can name every car in that picture!

[BAPhotowerks]

Poor fool.

I was trying to explain to my buddy and business associate Brian, who was now driving, how uncommon it was to see this supercar, built to celebrate 40 amazing years of automobiles. And Furthermore, how insane it was to see it on the road...... anywhere but in Monterey..... no less in traffic outside Maastrict, NL. He looked at me with a face that could only say Bad Jet Lag.

Of course, if you look closely through the bugs on the windsheild, you can see the motor basking in the afternoon sun. Later we saw a pale gold 612 Scaglietti tear up an interchange ramp, much too quick to get a photo. Looked more handsome in person... and at speed... than in print to me, and then it was gone.

Soon after that a Panhard passed: never seen one of those on the road, either. As I described the engineering novelty of integrating a brake drum into the back of a wheel, I realized what a bummer it would be for your wheels to be wear items... and how few there must be available these days.

And along came a heavily modified Beatle, that sounded absolutely perfect. I really liked the car, and they were having a blast.

[911s911rs]

Great pics!

Hate to say it though folks, just another day in Deutschland...

[Turbo Dave]

Wow, the Panhard looks just like an NSU Ro80- I would have confused it. Great lineup of pictures, lets here about the laps on track!

[Rennsport]

[B]
It wasn't to be and that isn't Randy's car; it was a '70S with a blacked-out decklid grill, deep sixes, and a early S spoiler. Nice sport seats too. Friendly gentleman, seemed to want to exercise his English, but his passenger arrived and there was no more time to waste! Great to see the car being appreciated for what it is.

I know him, he`s a friend of mine and from Sweden. He uses to be on the ring quite often, most in his 964 RS.
Once a year he brings his 70 S.

[BAPhotowerks]

I know him, he`s a friend of mine and from Sweden. He uses to be on the ring quite often, most in his 964 RS. Once a year he brings his 70 S.

Now I feel even more priveleged! Thank him again for me.

As for the driving, I should first mention that I drove the ring a couple times in March 2003, so I am not a complete rookie. The most difficult aspect, besides my relative unfamiliarity with the bends, humps, and dives, is staying out of faster traffic's way. They appear out of nowhere and pass whenever and wherever they find appropriate. Which is no big deal, provided you know they are there! I have a fair amount of track experince back in Seattle in my '70E, so watching my mirrors and being passed is nothing new...

My favorite sectors were:

• That steep downhill that bottoms out and all your blood rushes to your seat at 190 kph, then quickly uphill to two rights and an unforgiveably tight left.
• The Caroussel. What can you say? Drop in, jam it in 2nd, yank the wheel, and give all it's got. Not necessarily in that order.
• That other downhill run with the decreasing right and lots of spectators. Its easy to go wide on the exit, but if you get it close to right, it feels pretty cool!
• I love the little section that goes through the town, with all the fans cheering me on behind the fences, but the exit is so steep it nearly stopped the Opel in it's tracks!

I would recommend the experience to anyone, and being only ~4 hours from Amsterdam, where work takes me at times, the trip is undeniable!

[pwd72s]

Hmmm, the wide wheels, the negative camber on the VW ragtop makes me wonder what it really is... An obvious Q ship, but what's he running???

[BAPhotowerks]

Paul,

Sounded like a flat-four to me, but quite possibly the most exquisitely tuned four I have witnessed. I have seen a lot of excessive camber over here, as well as in the states lately. I figure it's a new way for the kids to demonstrate their deep pockets, by wasting tires!