watched the web cam for a week before going over to the 'ring for xmas and all i could see was snow, not looking good . so arrived on Monday 22nd and got settled in at the hotel-wilhelmshoehe (best in the area) then first thing Tues. morning , well maybe later in the morning, up to the ring gates , guess what ...closed. said it was open but not ( found out later bad track conditions) so went a run out to the Remagen bridge. not to be thwarted back up wed morning ,,,your right closed again. dont take as gospel ANY times the ring produces, i dont. so down to Detzem to load up with wine for the coming year, this ring trip is getting more expensive by the day. xmas eve after 2.30 this area of germany closes down so back to the hotel for more food.

xmas morning got up, opened presents quickly then down for breakfast, finished by 9am so what to do in a place quieter than death valley.......... your right go up to the ring and sit at the gates and dream of the tall stories to tell back home.

now you can sense the shivers going through my body as i approach from the castle direction and see.....a car....not a marshals car........but A RRREALLL PAYING PUNTERS CAR ON THE RING.

yes there is a god and he works on xmas day!!!!!!

down through the gates. opened like the welcoming loving arms of mother earth , passed the car park with FIVE, YES FIVE other cars, no time for posing or chit chat, the barrier could close at any time, straight up to the barrier and stuck in my spare ticket, left over from my last trip to encourage 'just one more visit' you know its a man thing, always carry a small something just in case.

dam. dam, wont take it....no ...must be wrong way , five times i tried it still would'nt work....oh god there is another car comming to go through, was i to be the cause of a ring traffic jam, would they call the police and have me carted away for loitering with no intent?? or worst still was this giving them a reason to close the track????

OMG!!!. SORRY GOT TO CLOSE THE TRACK SIR,THERE IS A SCOTSMAN ACTING SUSPICIOUSLY,A HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUE SIR (they don't look heathy and with that facial hair, he doesn't look safe.

my god, i had to reverse from the barrier and hide my head in shame as i wandered off into THE OFFICE.

possibly one of the nicest marshalls working at the ring was on duty and quickly exchanged my duff one for a 'goodun'. wandering confidently from the hallowed ground it suddenly dawned on me........ was he waiting until i got back in the car then back to the barrier before caling 'RING CLOSURE' ??? no time to lose !!!!!!!

so as quick as my 61 year old body would carry me ( and that ain't quick believe me)i jumped into the car, up to the barrier with the ticket.....the machine swallowed the thing, waited a lifetime ( just like my first time ,,,will she, will i, with my history, can i ?) woosh up it went like a you know what and i was away.

got up the the f1 track junction,turned right ,heard a first scream and then i remembered my wife was with me, under duress ( we started out looking for some nativity thing but i reckoned that this was nearer to my god than any stable thing and stability never was my strong point).

the second scream i think was her way of letting me know that i was driving her skoda fabia 1.4 tdi and not goldenwheels, oooopsv mind you the slides ( or controlled power drifts as you guys would describe it on this forum) that followed would have soon brought me around to this relavation.

one full lap and i can honestly say on this forum, not one car , bike, bus or ice cram van overtook the little fabia 1.4 tdi ( know to its owner as the 'silver slug' ,you know, small and slippery,shape changing, clings to anything and leaves a silver trail up the road )

what a fabulous day .....what a fabulous present ....clear track, one full witnessed 'non' overtaken lap of the ring, with my wife riding shotgun, 122 life years between us and still doing the 'ring, it never gets better ....or does it?????. :?

boxing day came and i needed to get some brownie points with my wife.

'so dear i know Germany's is closed for their holiday, but it is YOUR holiday as well so i will try my upmost to fill your request and find something opened today' (are you catching my drift ) 8-)

' i know you think you passed that castle yesterday but in germany there are many castles'.

'yes your right dear there are not a great deal of one way toll roads in germany but there's probably a few so enjoy ,oh yes and not many with entry barriers, however enjoy the view,my dear i said i would find you something opened today'.

boxing day on the ring , beautiful sunny day, dry track and again only a handful of cars at the car park.

passed only once by a flying bmw who looked quite perturbed at the pair of senior citizens on uk plates, driving a skoda, yes your right, fabia 1.4tdi. maybe he thought we were looking for a place to have our picnic, no we were DOING THE 'RING.

thats the great thing about xmas and the 'RING, both bring people together from all over the world with the same thing in mind.....PEACE AND DO YOUR LAPS WITHOUT HURTING ANYONE.

a good new year to all and a special greeting to those alone at this time

himself.

a few more

there is nothing on earth quite like the ring,i get the same buzz evertime the barrier goes up

i really must go with my mate... show him a mapped fabia can trounce him in his hybrid through the twisties

good pics

i have been really lucky this year, got out 3 times with 3 different vehicles.....

That made an interesting read - I'm glad you had a great time.

What's next?

Good effort mate, entertaining read and a different way to spend xmas

I'm off to Lemans in the new year and i hope to go over to the ring and across to the swiss alps while i'm across the channel, but it's going to take alot of planning and expense so i'm praying i can pull it off.

That made an interesting read - I'm glad you had a great time.

What's next?

We really did have a great time and the fabia was great. you dont need 'fast modded car' to do the ring....just the urge and four safe wheels. my other car is a heavly altered mgf with a 235 bhp uprated civic k20a drive plant built with the 'ring in mind, but i had as much fun with the fabia's slides and suspension as i did with the mg.

what next , well next year we are going to the jim clark revival races in may, we were lucky to meet one off the organizers during our Grand Tour 2008 of europe, who invited us back in may. and then another long european trip in september, maybe this time i will take the fabia..........it has trully impressed me.

Good effort mate, entertaining read and a different way to spend xmas

I'm off to Lemans in the new year and i hope to go over to the ring and across to the swiss alps while i'm across the channel, but it's going to take alot of planning and expense so i'm praying i can pull it off.

in september we did a run through europe. it took 10 months of planning and took in 9-10 countries. we saw more in 14 days and 3,500miles than many drivers see in a lifetime. we visitted the normande beaches >down to lemans and ran the track> did race lines thro arnage corner and down the 'M' straight, did the grand hotel hairpin at monaco ,at hockemheimring we flew around sachs kurve then sat in race control and planted a heather at jim clarks memorial ( we have got an invitation to next years jim clarks revival 4 day race meeting), watched two fully loaded 6.5 mustangs drift past a porsche at zandvoort , saw spa in all its glory, drove over the milau bridge , talked to 'Bonaparte' at waterloo (the battle field not the underground line, although the underground has seen a few skirmishes in their time )and walked thro the deserted town of oradour sur glane where 642 men women and children were killed on 14 june 44 and many many more, . we wentup over stelvio then back over the fluelapass where we had a snow storm in september . the 'ring for 3 nights at a great hotel owned by lovely people. onto mechlen in belgiium at the caralus for a few final beers then home to be put out to pasture like a old retired horse.

this is a link to pics we took on the trip in order of the days

MobileMe Gallery

hope the link works, if you are on a mac no problem

if you want any info or hotels , the good ones and the ones to avoid just ask.

one place to visit is the Technical museum at SPEYER in germany near hockemheimring it is trully amazing there are 2 so try for both and the people at thehockemheimring are so friendly.

we did 3500 miles in europe and had a ball the costs for two people for everything was about £1.00 per mile with the euro at 1 to 1.35.

Edited 1 January, 200917 yr by silverslug
spelling

I have geat memories of blasting down the ( unaltered ) Mulsanne straight at absolute maximum speed in the very early hours ( many moons ago ) in my Citroen CX GTi Turbo.

It was probably very silly, but I will remember it forever.....

Ahhh, the good old days, when even surly French policeman appreciated a great French car, driven stupidly by an English idiot...