Near Life Experience 2011

[Roy]

So getting off the Eurostar at around 11pm on a Friday night I gassed up the Cossie and ran up the coast the short drive to Bruge where I was glad to check into the hotel. I had to pick Jarrod up from Frankfurt at 8am on Sunday morning so had to be on the road at around 2.30am Sunday morning. So figured the best thing to do since I had an early drive was get on the cans as early as possible Saturday morning.

So come 10am was on the Belgian beers, cheering Cadel Evans on in the final time trial of the Tour. Was cool because I met two Swiss guys and a guy from Luxemburg at a pub. It was a bit of a UN of mug sports punters as they cheered on Schleck and me Cadel Webber also put it on pole in Germany so was a good day, even though I was sound asleep by 7pm

So got on the road early, but my god it was pouring rain. What made it worse is the little Cossie with its 35 series tyres loves to aquaplane and track all over the road in the grooves.

I had a genuine moment where a rut in the road had some standing water and the car pulled into it and I went sideways through two lanes and almost collected an armco where an off ramp started So after that I dropped the speed back, stopped changing lanes and ended up picking Jarrod up two hours late

So at around 10.30am i rocked up where a surprisingly awake and chirpy Jarrod awaited. The site of the Cossie made him laugh, where as me...I was baked and exhausted having driven for about 8 hours in horrible conditions in a car that was trying to kill me

The is the pic Jarrod snapped as I pulled into the airport to pick him up

So the car and I had bonded, we both had survived...and new steering rack bushes had been added to the list of things the old girl needed.

[fatz]

you still out there ugly

beer?

[Roy]

Nah, home unfortunately.

So after picking Jarrod up from Frankfurt we headed down and spent a few nights between Strasbourg and Zurich. My first time spending any real time in Switzerland and I have to say I love the place. I love the Alps, but even the cities are amazing. This trip and Zurich has me back sending resumes to Roche etc trying to get a gig in Switzerland/Belgium

On the boat cruising the lake started to get pumped about the next days driving up the Alps that could be seen in the distance

[Roy]

But enough of being romantic about cities and girls who I wanted to do lovely things to...one of the points of the trip was for me and Jarrod to get up into the Alps. Jarrod was responsible for navigating ... and truth is he did a great job.

But I couldnt help myself with my last night in Zurich being a beer fueled trip which saw me lacking sleep for the trip up into the Alps...and ok perhaps I was a little quick to have a brain fart at whatever was going on around me .

Didnt stop me giving him so much sh1t...but you get that If anyone ever goes and drives Stelvio Pass then make sure you drive up the main side and back down. Because we were doing three passes in one day we happened to go up the back of Stelvio Pass and my god...dirt roads, motorhomes, cyclists and rolling backwards doewn hill as often as we were driving up...

So despite Top Gear raving about Stelvio Pass, I think Flüela Pass pass was the better drive. More flowing and not so stop go with all those tight hair pins. Crime was half way up the Alps my in car camera dies so no footage of the drive But suppose that means we have to go back next year, and truth is you dont want to drive through France due to tolls so best get a little but more east and head south through the Alps

Amazing roads and unlike Grossglockner Pass in Austria, the traffic wasnt too bad and you could get a good head of speed up. The only crime is we were only up in the Alps for two days as we had to keep headign east...as a thirsty Austrian was waiting

[Beer Baron]

great pics bris. i just got word I will be back in europe at some point next year so looks like count will be back at spa and the ring getting in the way of germans in porsches in 2012... join me or perish!

[OLLIE_NZ]

Looks good mate, I hope you've had a chance to open the Cosworth up

I had one before I sold it for an E30 M3 and then I sold my E30 M3 after I bought the GTR.

[PHaT MR30]

Hey Roy is this yours?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cosworth800px.jpg

[R32Big_boy]

[Roy]

And before anyone else jumps in...yes I have piled on the kgs the past 12 months. Part of the terrible project I have been on since coming back to Aus

Anyway, car stuff. We ripped through Austria over a number of days and then arrived in Budapest by Friday, ahead of the weekends GP. I have to say, the feel of Budapest is GREAT, I realy liked the city and will beback there to spend more time holidaying. It helps that girls are pretty amazing looking, and the really good looking ones??? Scary good looking!

But some pics of the GP...

About two laps later Hamo dropped it right in front of us...

The boys flying the colours...

End of race grid walk

Also some great pics from Jarrod at http://www.jrmphotography.com.au/

[ordinary]

I'll be driving those alpine roads in less than 12 months time! Hopefully in a Ferrari 575M manual if the Aussie dollar continues to perform well

Keep the good times rolling!!!

[Roy]

A big V12 Fezz would be awesome up in the Alps. I would stay away from Stelvio though in such an expensive car. You will struggle with ground clearance and turning circle. Best do the more flowing Passes

[Roy]

So after the GP we dropped across the border into the Czech Republic where we were pulled over by Police. After a small delay and explanation of why an Australian owned a UK registered car and was about to drive down a country pass full of hookers (i had no idea at first what these girls at bus stops were doing wearing so little in the middle of the day waiting for a bus...but after another few hundred metres the penny dropped ) ... we on our way to Cesky Krumlov

Definitely a cool little town to spend the night.

Anyway, up early in the morning we had a big 11hr drive to Amsterdam where we were going to spend a few nights before heading to Zandvoort for a track day in the Caterham R300

So get the Cossie fired up, get it on the Autobahn

And if we were going to get there in decent time, we had to do parts of the 11hr drive at full wack

The old 87 bus felt pretty good at 200km/h. Better then it did in the wet at 80km/h on the same roads. I started to get a bit of confidence back that in a weeks time, the Cossie could be a good thing around the Ring

[Roy]

I had watched cars race at Zandvoort on old classic F1 races, and of course watched what I could find on youtube, but I truly did not know what to expect. Truth is I was keen on doing Zolder in Belgium, but timing didnt work out. So Zandvoort was a bit of a 2nd option, which WAS A BIG MISTAKE on my behalf. Its a beach side track, which meant that every session I had to wipe the lense of the on-board camera otherwise it was all clouded over with sea spray....

The real surprise is the gradient change, how tight the place is and how most corners are either blind and or quick with no run off. So first few sessions had me hating the fact that I hadn't paid more attention before getting there about understanding the track layout. But thankfully Jarrod and I were tag teaming the car which gave you a chance outside the car to get your head around the layout. Stoked that by the end of the day to just circulate in the little Caterham, lap after lap with no probs. Such a great fun little car.

Was greeted at the track in the morning with bad news that the R300 we had hired was binned at Eau Rouge on Tuesday, the other ran off and damaged its fuel tank....so we were given a part refund and handed the keys to a std Caterham SV Superlight. With only 120hp it didnt really matter as I think the effort to climb through the cage of the R300 race car meant I actually enjoyed the std one more. Though being the SV, it is a larger chassis for tall guys like Jarrod so I had trouble with pedals etc, but it didnt take long to get comfortable with a few pillows in the seat to push me forward to the pedals

Jarrod about to go out for his first session...he looked absolutely HUGE in the lil Caterham

The fleet of cars that were brought to the track for hire

This is the car we should have been driving, but there is always next time

[Roy]

Some more pics of the other cars in attendance...with only 120hp I was thankful there wasnt as many Juno and Radicals at there was at previous occassions with these guys. The bias of road cars meant you were actually quicker with the lil 120hp giant killer

We bumped into the lads at the track and on the highway to Germany the next day. We sat and talked Cossies early in the day as he had a mint (far minter then mine) Monnstone Blue Cossie with black Compomotive wheels. He had the shits as mine had 6 pot APs whilst he only had 4 pot APs on his Cossie. I laughed and pointed out the fact that his track car was an AWESOME sounding and performing M3...which had 6 pot APS

Wickedly fast R500 that had a sequential box and was the quickest car on the day. Quicker then the GT4 458 on slicks...lol the Caterhams really are giant killers

Tyres were well used as after being tag teamed by me and Jarrod all day

And the joys of track days in Europe...harassing 997 GT3s with a 120hp Caterham. It truly is amazing how quick you can go when there is no weight...other then my gut

And the only footage I have been bothered to format and put on youtube to date...

[Roy]

I sooo wish I could have hung around for this... http://www.bossgp.com/news/54/1/jan-lammers-and-tom-coronel-race-against-each-other-in-formula-1-cars

But was off catching up with friends in Ireland. In hindsight, should have hung out in Europe longer

[Beer Baron]

nice, no pics of the Czech hookers is a bit disappointing though...

[chuckie]

looks like you havd fun Roy,

Roy do try to get too Cadwell park some time,

should try being at Zandvoort on wet & very windy day

hope the cossies been good nice

and to give the old girl a workout on autoroutes,

its great as you can sit on 140mph+ with out wankers in outside lane

love the hand signals too

[tweety bird]

wow, looks like alot of fun.

[NickR33]

umm isn't the rollcage supposed to be higher than your head!?

I suppose if you roll one of those things your in trouble even if your not tall

looks like a blast... +1 on the hooker pics;)

[ordinary]

Damn that's big boost! good old Cossie is taking it well...