A cold, cold day in the Eifel...
- Details
- Parent Category: Old projects
- Category: MX5 Turbo
- Created on Wednesday, 16 November 2011 16:57
- Last Updated on Tuesday, 24 April 2012 22:04
- Published on Wednesday, 16 November 2011 16:57
- Written by Dale
After gleefully blogging about the Indian summer we have been experiencing this year, Mother Nature decided to get her own back on us. I've been excited about the Speed Industries trackday for over a month and every weather forecast looked better than the last. After a week of closures and late openings due to fog, the weather report finally promised clear skies and no fog...
Me, Joe and Jamie were completely ecstatic. Clear skies! Bright sunshine! Trackday of the year! Trouble is, clear skies and 2000ft of altitude in November mean only one thing: COLD temperatures.
Having a trackday in jeopary is a worry for anybody - but for Joe and Jamie it was terrifying. Joe is the new owner of my blue MX5 turbo. The whole point of him and Jamie driving 1200kms was to drive the mighty muxer on the Nürburgring before taking it 'home' to the UK...
Despite heavy hearts under those smiles, we set off on an impromptu tour of the Nürburgring while we waited for the official verdict...
After examining the track at various locations, the official phone call from Ralph at the Rent4Ring office was really no surprise at all. By this time we'd seen so much frost it looked like a light snowfall. There was no way the low winter sun could reach every icy spot. Trackday cancelled.
This is the old entrance to the Nordschleife - since the 'new' entrance on Döttinger Höhe was built this has only been used for industry testing, RCN, GLP and the occasional private booking.
Joe was getting optimistic in the photo below; he'd discovered the gate was open to the Nordschleife!
But we had to do the honorable thing, and abandon all efforts to drive the Nordschleife in real life. I value my job and position here at the 'Ring. No ilicit laps for us...
Instead we went and drove a passable VIRTUAL version at the new RaceRoom in the RingºBoulevard.
Here you can race with up to 24 competitors at a time on pretty much any racetrack in the world. We met up with Tobias from Speed Industries and a few of his customers for a 9-man race.
€10 each (yes, you can use your vouchers from this years lap tickets) gets you a 25 to 30 minute session. We chose the Nürburgring VLN course, WTCC cars and a 3-lap sprint to the flag. Somehow I ended up with a virtual Lada. Really.
Didn't stop me winning (good race though Jerry!). I'd have much preferred to have been in the MX5 on a real Nordschleife.
But after a spot of lunch at Pinocchios, there was nothing left to do but wave goodbye to the mighty Mux and my new friends Joe and Jamie. They will be back next year to try and drive the 'Ring...
I will close this chapter of my life in another article, but right now I just can't believe that this car belongs to somebody else... :(
Comments
(The awful mustache is for Movember!)
uk.movember.com/mospace/2121178/
we will come back next year for sure! up for another battle in the race room! :)
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