I'm back, safe and sound. What a hectic weekend!
My mate John and I left UK on Friday afternoon and headed for Leuven for Friday night. Leuven is best known for being the home of Stella, but it is a very lively university town. There is a main square which is surrounded on each side with bars, which just get busier and busier through the evening with students (and others!). I asked one barman what time they close, he said whenever the last customer leaves, often about 6 am on a Sunday. We didn't last quite that long. I'd recommend Leuven as a stopover.
Went shopping for supplies Saturday morning then headed for Nurburgring - arrived much later than planned due to navigator error. HGB met us outside, and came with us in my car down to the campsite. As they would not let him on site he waited for ages while we put the tent up before he could get a lift back. We spent a little time at the track in the early evening, meeting Paddy and the DfH guys (what a great crowd they are...) then after dinner (canned stroganoff and bread...) went drinking in the campsite bar. The campsite is highly recommended too - go as far through it as you can, then it is a 5 minute walk into the track, down by the west end (whatever that's called).
Due to circumstances beyond my control (mainly to do with my legs and head) we were a bit late getting going on Sunday but managed to get to the driver signing session and I had my CA t shirt re-signed by Mr McNish ( Mrs S had washed out his one from Sebring). We'd omtted to listen to HGB when he was saying where the 10 am meet was, and my phone had run out of battery (new phone, no charger)so I didn't pick up the message - sorry we missed ya Werner & hgb!
We went back to the west end of the track to watch racing, and I saw more racing than I have watched almost anywhere else. My mate John was keener than I though he'd be, and that end of the track is great spectating.
Some of the DfH guys had done the Norsdchleif on Saturday, so John and I tried it on Sunday during the race. Although it was shut when we got there due to a recovery (including ambulance
) it re-opened on about half and hour. We let the queue die down before going on. Once again I was cautious, I find myself spending a lot of time watching my mirrors as there are some absolute lunatics out there. Suffice to say that only maybe 30 cars had gone out before us, and we came across three accidents on the track during our lap - didn't help my lap time! None looked too serious, but there was an Audi TT which probably would never recover... I also got some good snaps of Sabine and the RingTaxi.
Went back to watch the end of the race, very close and exciting finish. Then broke camp and we headed to Frankfurt where I wanted to get to Walmart to buy a fridge which I'd seen on offer 5 weeks ago. Spent the evening drinking Guiness in an Irish pub, till v late.
I bought the the fridge (didn't realise it's only a "cooler" till I just unpacked it, but it should be OK). On the autobahn we were having a great journey until we were about 15 cars behind a multi vehicle pileup, including a lorry, which shut the motorway and delayed us for two hours. There must have been nearly 20 emergency vehicles, plus helicopter, wreck trucks and road works vehicles.
Anyway, the Nurburgring is yet another fantastic venue with great viewing. Recommended!!
