Wow, I'm late to posting this, but in my defense, after 2 weeks of blasting around Germany and then flying to California, I wanted to sleep and spend time with my family more than I wanted to write a long post and upload photos!
So without further ado, here's my view of the events that weekend.
***Day 1***
Me having completely forgotten that we were supposed to meet Thomas and DereKip` at the hotel, Adu and I arrived at the main entrance to the ring around one or two o'clock (we were a little late due to riding on a steam train in the morning). After calls to various Germans, we headed back to the hotel, met the aforementioned German and Dutchies, had a quick lunch, and headed out to Br?nnchen to wait for the others and maybe catch a glimpse of DanRoM on the track.
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_4994.JPG
There are many things that driving the Ring in videogames can't prepare you for. One of those things is how many goddamn Porsches you see everywhere. The first hundred Porsches you see are pretty special, like the above GT2, but once you're on the 200-500th Porsche seen, the charm kinda wears off.
Luckily, I was able to spot a car that was
very rare that weekend: a running Saab!
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_4995.JPG
Less rare: a Dutchie. 'Ring was crawling with 'em that weekend.
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_4996.JPG
Adu trying out his new gunmetal gray front wheels:
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_4997.JPG
Opel meet in the Br?nnchen parking lot. Hey, at least they weren't Porsches!
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_4998.JPG
Walking to the "stands" with Mrs. Adu, Mr. Adu, and Derek. I love how the N?rburgring is smack in the middle of a forest, because it looks like this pretty much everywhere:
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5000.JPG
No! Bad Thomas! Ferraris are friends, not food!
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5022.JPG
So after watching a whole bunch of cars go around, D-Fence, his friend, and DanRoM's friends showed up, we saw a DanRoM take a Suedschleife around the 'ring in a Focus, and decided it was time to head to the entrance and do some laps of our own. Kip` and I got our free lap tickets (thanks again, D-Fence!
) and I--Oh look! A Lada!
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5026.JPG
So we headed down to the grass parking lot to get the Saab and...they closed the track. So we just hung around for a bit, drinking Kip`s water and wondering how good of a bench the hood of the rental Audi A6 TDI next to us would make. After a while, we decided that walking back to the entrance would make the 'ring open up again (it did!), and we hopped into Kip`s Saab to do a lap! And waited in line! And got diverted to the longer line by track officials! And had a Focus cut in front of us! Finally, we got on the 'ring to do a few balls-out km before the Saab`s engine decided to use air instead of oil for lubrication and ultimately left us parked on the side of the track right before the very last turn. Since we weren't the only car to break down, they closed early and we got to walk on the track and have a nice picnic, and Kip` and I *technically* still got to complete a full lap in his Saab`, because we sat in it while the tow truck took us to their garage.
After the eleven of us met up at the garage to
point and laugh at Kip` console Kip` and give him some moral support, him and D-Fence filled out some efficient German paperwork and tried to figure out how to get a British Saab` back to the Netherlands, D-Fence and his friend left, and the rest of us headed back to our hotels/parking spaces before going to Pinocchio's for dinner. At our hotel, Thomas and I got a little more of the 'ring spirit by snapping a few pics of this Citro?n SM:
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5027.JPG
Causing the owner to pop out of the hotel bar and start chatting us up about it (and receive a few digs from us for his car's cross-eyed headlamps
). He said he takes it on the 'ring, even though the soft suspension makes it a hilariously bad handler, and made a point about it having a Maserati engine. After that nice little diversion, we headed to the restaurant.
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5031.JPG
A Thomas!
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5032.JPG
A Derek, a Suedschleife, a Mr. Adu and a Mrs. Adu!
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5033.JPG
A DanRom and a stranger!
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5034.JPG
15% of a Thomas, a sad` Kip`, and a chauffeur!
The dinner was excellent, we said goodbye to Suedscheife, DanRoM, his friend, and The Adus?, and headed back to the hotel bar so Kip` could drink` his sorrows away. There was some AMAZING music playing on the radio, and we wanted so desperately to stay up, just to listen to it, but alas, we had to wake up early the next day to catch the Oldtimer race (yes, just like the main meet. This one was smaller and organized by the local ADAC, though).
***Day 2***
Thomas and I woke up just in time to see someone leaving the hotel, and whose car was blocked in by a Porsche and Thomas's 1-series, so we headed downstairs to move it, met up with DereKip` for breakfast, and checked out of the hotel. The lady at the front desk even said we could keep our cars parked there, since they weren't full that night, which was very nice of her, so I left my car there and we went in Thomas's 1er and Derek's dad's diesel
DA6 to go watch the Oldtimer race.
Driving through the Eifel (the long way to Br?nnchen) was great. Even if you can't drive on the 'ring itself, the roads around it are totally worth the trip out there.
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5038.JPG
Freakin' green
everywhere.
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5040.JPG
And, since it's the 'ring, freakin' cool cars everywhere!
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5042.JPG
Derek seemed so happy that weekend, once Kip`s Saab` was out of commission...
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5045.JPG
Sad Kip` is sad`. Not even bright blue Oldtimers can cheer him up.
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5255.JPG
Br?nnchen.
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5266.JPG
Highlight of the Oldtimer race: an M1!
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/M1.gif
Now, given that our picnic was at a different location, you may be wondering how I got my name on the 'ring:
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5281.JPG
That's because I had a little help!
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5282.JPG
Joking aside, the above pics were from when we were walking from the bridge above Adenau (just a short walk from the hotel!) to another turn, so we weren't taking photos from Br?nnchen all the time. The 'ring being what it is, however, meant we couldn't stay there for long. In the morning, the weather was all warm and sunny, by the time we were walking to the other turn, things were overcast and looking like this:
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5284.JPG
And after a few minutes, they started getting chilly and looking like
this:
https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2010/09/22/IMG_5327.JPG
Me having left my jacket in Thomas's car, and the weather not looking so good, we decided to get some currywurst in a nice, warm restaurant by the bridge. Our timing was perfect, and it rained while we were inside, and temporarily eased up just after we finished eating, giving us enough time to get back to the cars before really coming down as we drove home (which caused me to curse at the German owner's manual for my rented 318i station wagon as I tried to figure out how to make the damn rear wiper go faster than intermittent).
All in all, an awesome weekend, and I'm
definitely going to do my best to make it to the main meet next year!
More and larger pics to follow soon (I took loads of photos of the normal cars and the Oldtimers racing).