Here comes my story.
As the 7 was not completed in time, I had to fly to the meet. And to make it less painful being there without the car again, I reserved Lotus Elise rental for a few laps. Sadly, it rained on Sunday, so I couldn't do it
I'm not too disappointed though, as it would be a lot of money after all, and the weekend was great anyway.
I had a flight to D?sseldorf, where D-Fence was picking me up, provided that his Seat's seat was fixed. Flight was in 2 parts, with a changeover in Riga. The second part was in a very old MD-87 without any livery, with spanish speaking crew and the least-giving-a-fuck steward I've encountered. And their (non-free) coffee was crap. And the paint was coming off the ceiling panels.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-1.jpg
Narrowly avoiding the first meet-breakdown, we landed, and D-fence had his car fixed!
I didn't take my camera out of the bag on Friday, so the next one is from a Saturday morning. 9 am. A german camper wakes up, starts up his petrol-powered lawnmower and starts mowing the grass in front of his "house", producing an incredible amount of noise and smoke. Completely normal.
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Meet-up point at the grass parking at the ring. Damn, we grow in numbers from year to year!
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We barely walked out of the grass parking, as this thing appeared, causing an other sort of ring-accident.
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Haven't seen those outside museums so far.
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With that kind of dedication, DanRoM is seriously underequipped camera-wise
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Damn you by-passer, ruining my photo.
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Oh no! Dust on wheels!
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It runs on water!
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-16.jpg
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Seriously?
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-18.jpg
We had a brief discussion, where opinions were stated, that Z8 is pointless and not very pretty with it's outdated futuristic looks, but I still like it. So I took 2 photos.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-19.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-20.jpg
Rrrring, ding ding ding ding
...
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That's rather cool
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https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-23.jpg
Oh. My. God. Another accident.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-24.jpg
I love everything about it, including the silly rear-view mirror.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-25.jpg
And the stains on the hood glass from the trumpets.
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It seems his head is a bit above the roof level
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I didn't see how they managed to close it, as they drove off with the doors open. Naturally, without opening side windows, the cabin might get a little bit hot, I imagine
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-30.jpg
Ginetta.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-31.jpg
I like the spare wheel
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-32.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-33.jpg
Everyone has a picture of it, so do I
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-34.jpg
Another mandatory picture. I think the kids were asleep
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We've seen quite a few of those trucks doing a lap. At least 4 withing couple of hours, iirc.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-36.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-37.jpg
Nobody is driving the TVR!
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-38.jpg
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Choppers were flying back and forth all the time.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-42.jpg
Choo-choo!
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-43.jpg
Oooooh... I need to pack more pants next time, really.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-44.jpg
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-45.jpg
I told you I saw a Vel Satis near the ring, thomas!
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-46.jpg
Look, a tv celebrity.
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The Russian Lambo that overtook Kip. You can tell you're at the ring, when you're shooting a Lambo, and a Ferrari and a Porsche ruins your shot.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-50.jpg
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Some bikers and.. a cyclist.
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That thing was freaking menacing.
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Eye-Q doing some final laps before The Challenge.
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Someone had a whoopsie.
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Back already?
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Start of The Challenge, envelopes are handed out.
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Kip foolishly chose me as a navigator. We took some even more scenic routes than planned, but managed to arrive eventually. On the picture we're at the fuel station, this is when D-Fence called to announce that people got bored waiting for us and started leaving
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-65.jpg
At the pizza place. For my starved mind that seemed very funny at the moment
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-66.jpg
After everyone else retreaded, we went to Br?nnchen to see cars fail at this weather.
Sued displaying his first breakdown, something fell off the Polo.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-67.jpg
The ring was eventually opened, and people started doing laps. I was expecting to see a lot of action, but everyone was taking it very carefully.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-68.jpg
SERIOUSLY?
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-69.jpg
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Still waiting for someone to kick the rear out...
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Balls. Of. Steel
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Ah, a little bit of action.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-79.jpg
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Almost a traffic!
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He tried some power oversteer on the exit.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-87.jpg
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A battle of the vagons.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-90.jpg
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Nugget?
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-92.jpg
Espada.
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A little more tail action.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-96.jpg
Well, it was a bit boring, so shortly we retreated.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-97.jpg
Aw, look how happy they are.
https://pic.armedcats.net/m/mx/mxm/2010/08/16/Ring2010-98.jpg
After having lunch and sorting out the hotel for DaBoom, we went our ways. D-Fence was bringing me back to D?sseldorf where I had a hotel booked to wait for my plane on Monday. With plenty of time to kill, we went to look at some massive mining sites on our way. The rain and fog made it hard to see, and even harder to film, so following pictures were photoshop-raped to give at least some idea of the scale.
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And this concludes my report. The meet was great fun, all the credits to the planning team! And thanks to D-Fence for making it a lot easier for me to attent. I had my doubts on whether it's worth spending money on planes and attending carless once again.. But it just is. No regrets
See you next year!