Club Arnage

I wonder if our Club Arnage members are having fun at Spa ? Must be great with the fog and rain !

PS. J M Gounon, has just stuffed the Playstation Audi whilst under a safety car period. Destroyed the front end. ::)

Cold and foggy -

Yes J-M had a brain fart at the bus stop.

Sorry to hear about the crap weather guys, I kinda thought scheduling a race at Spa in mid-April was a bit optomistic but what the hell, any day at Spa is a god day.  Hope the show is a good one.
Fax

Hey John, as you can't make the main event this year, maybe a trip to one of the LMES races this year might be a cheaper/easier alternative??

I'll tell you what, you do a race in Europe, and I'll do The Petit!!!  ;)

There's a challenge John!

Yes, is was cold. And foggy. And it didn't half rain on saturday. And I suffered from food poisoning because of some dodgy sausage.

But I met Robbo and Smokie and a few more, and we all got steaming last night ;D

The only Vette this weekend competed in the Belcar, and it hit the armco about two metres in front of me.

We didn't hang the flag in the end, because we thought it would be of no use in the fog...

It was cold AND wet, especially for a chap called John Nielsen. See attached picture...  ;D

...and foggy...

(http://www.autosportphotography.com/los/lmes3.jpg)

Ferrari drivers with their foglights on again, it's always the same with them, me, me, me, me...

I just had Fun and Sun at LM this week end !!!!!  :P 8)

Morning Guys,
God knows I'd love to do one of the LMES rounds, as soon as the money pit stops falling down around me, my bags are packed and I'm on a bird for England.  Le Mans is still the only European venue I've made it to, but Monza and Spa have been on my "must see" list for a long, long time.
Fax

We had a great time. Got very wet and then very cold on Saturday, so quenched ourselves by drinking a bar almost dry that night in Liege.

The racing on Sunday was fantastic. Wins in 3 out of 4 classes made the long trip home very worthwhile.

I enjoyed it too. Got there on Sat evening and met up with all and sundry, then back early doors Sunday to see some racing. HGB borrowed a Team entry pass for me from one of the drivers! But it was still only a paddock ticket...

So, after watching some stuff early, I blagged my way into an admin office opposite the grandstand and watched the start and first few laps from an open window...  :)

Then I went up the top of the building where a gruff old boy told me to clear off.

So off I cleared - down the steps into the pit lane. No-one checked the pass, so I zipped up my coat over it, and had a great time standing by pit crews as their cars came in, taking lots of pics. I would have stayed longer except I ran out of memory and I thought I'd missed the drinking appointment...

Finally met up with HGB to return the pass (thanks mate!) and, true to form, left a good few hours before it finished.   ::)


En route to Frankfurt I pit stopped, and the car wouldn't restart. Had it once before. leave it 20 mins or so and it's OK (heat related problem...). Then it ran fine for 200 very fast miles to Frankfurt. Went out later for a quick trip round the sights, got there OK but on the return leg the car wouldn't go more than about 3 miles then cut out. It wsas a late night (03:30).

It's in an Opel dealer now, suspected crankshaft sensor thingy, part on order, to be fitted tomorrow. Hope they are right, otherwise it could be a very slow trip back to Calais on Wed...  :-\

Apart from the mist (or was it fog?) I enjoyed Spa. Oh, and forgetting my jacket so having to buy one in Carrefour. And the additional £35 Seafrance charfged me for wanting to get an earlier ferry...and, of course, the motor...

Well, never been to SPA, and i have missed out.

Wow. What a place, fog or not. No wonder the drivers love this one. My GA ticket gave me and Rich ( CHef ) entry in to everywhere. We were at the RML pits when they dropped the car and generally saw as much as possible.

Managed to get a press only location by looking very proffesional with ou camera's and generally loved it.

The place we stayed in and ate on Saturday night was ace, and thats all doen to a Belgian MG owner and the power of the internet.

Enjoyed a few beers wuith Smokie, and then a few more later in the pub with the Dutch " We are the champions"  ;D

Parked up, and Rich UK left his motor near mine - TOP REG PLATE.

Only slight annoying time was the SeaFrance action at Calais, so driving like a bat out of hell to get an earlier ferry didnt really work.

Work at 0700 this morning was tough though.

Will be going again, regardless if foggy or not.

Piccies will be on the SPS site soon.

Woo hoo, spotted in Spa :)

We were suprised by the number of UK cars there, considering that three of the cars that came with us didn't make it out of the hotel car park that day!

I was the idiot with a hammer, banging a steak into the ground when you arrived.

You should have introduced yourself!

I was the idiot with a hammer, banging a steak into the ground when you arrived.

Hi Robbo,
                Is this a new  BBQ method ??? ;D ;D
Canada Phil

 ;D ;D ;D  Seem to remember a story from last year, one of our number trying to drive a metal tent stake into the ground with a glass beer bottle.  Ring any bells???? ??? ??? ???

Oh yes,  ::)  I still have the scar  :'(

Ahhhh, yes Mr Brown, it all comes back now.  I'll have a club hammer with me, borrow that.  By the way was the bottle empty? :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*

No excuse really, i pressumed you would have wanted to get out of the car first before some hung over union jack toting muppet bundled you.

Whilst I do prefer to be bundled by 19 year old women upon exiting my car, I do occasionally allow hung over union jack toting muppets to do so at race tracks. :)

In the pits at Spa during the race...

and another...

and another

For hgb, the man in the brown hat.... (some kind of adjudicator...). He's the one I thought might throw me out, but we ended up on nodding terms... :)

Almost forgot this one - those pesky windscreen wash blokes get everywhere...

Got to look after the drivers...in every way... ;)

Doesn't show too well, but this tyre was absolutely steaming. Looks like his tracking is out a bit - dry on one side!

Did we say there was a bit of a nip in the air?  :-X

I was wondering why so many similarly dressed babes were queueing for me before the race...  :P

This was how they scored my performance...out of 100  ::)

some mixed reactions then!! ;)

Did you talf to 96? she must have kliked you ;D
Canada Phil

The hat man is a fine chap. Smokie, any chance of getting the Rollcentre pit stop in full glory ?

I have 9 reasonable pics during the Rollcentre pit stop but in full size they are about 400k each. Shall I mail them to you, three at a time? To the address in your profile? Or your other address?

Thanks very much.

rather a lot of bum shots  ;D

Fantasic photo's there.

We must have walked past each other a couple of times.

Speaking of pictures... Smokie, that's your entry ticket man a bit too hefty into La Source on Friday during the free training session. He's one of the guys of Jens Petersen Racing (JPRacing is a privateer team not to be mixed up with the USA Petersen Porsche). He's a Porsche chap and has been driving in the USA before (Porsche Club USA). He successfully showed his rear side to Kevin Bukler. ;D Just to add, they finished 19th out of 47. :)  Luckily, he's working in he same office building as I am.  Do you see th GT-Eins sticker. That's the German equivalent to CA (www.gt-eins.de). Werner (I met him just before the podium ceremony) is one gt-eins member (and the world record holder for the longest trip to LM (from Vietnam)).

Great photos Smokie, you must have been wearing an invisibility cloak the type that everyone gets whilst dying of thirst trying to get a pint in a busy bar.

Whats the score with Spa, camping access to town or bars etc,.
've fancied going for a while now as its a  short hop from Newcastle to Brussels then hire car to Spa, I believe there is a 24hr Porsche event later this year when the weather should be better.

I took a look at the F1 prices but I could take the family on holiday for a week for that type of money!

There'll be the 24 Hours at Spa at the end of July (July 28-31) which is a FIA GT event. So, not only Porsches. Full entry (including paddock) should be around 50 Euros.

Nice pics Smokie - very atmospheric pit pix - a classic venue, even when the weather is in the shithouse.

Me and my mate paid 25 Euro's for our B&B which was 6 miles down the road in malmedy. Cheap food and Beer in the local pub which was open much longer then i could take.

Entry was 25 euro and the track side food was good.

Best circuit for viewing motorsport, even if it was a little foggy.

Wait to you go to Sebring!  ;)

Wait 'til you go to Road Atlanta!

Hmmmmm !!  :-\