Lotus on Track trip to Folembray and Abbeville

Surprisingly my wife, Jane, agreed to come with me on this trip but not to attend the track days!

We were staying at a nice hotel in Albert which is mid way between Folembray and Abbeville but close to Amiens and Arras.




We had an uneventful trip down, but a problem emerged whereby the expansion bottle would overheat and water would escape out of the cap :-( just keep an eye on the temperature and kept topping up the water at petrol stops. also carried a couple of big bottles of water in the boot, just in case.






The car is a Lotus Elan SE Turbo - which is a fantastic little sports car. It is easy to get in and out through conventional doors, the seats are very comfortable (but being leather are very slippy in hard cornering), the windscreen is a long way away giving the impression of more cabin space and the boot is a decent size (two peoples bags for the weekend, some tools, the water bottles, helmet, racing boots/gloves, spare wheel, oil, camera, wind break) this is because it is FWD! the only one Lotus ever made.







On the Saturday Jane and I went to visit the Medieval walled city of Laon which is on the top of a very large hill. The views on a clear day must be fabulous but when we were there it was a bit misty but very hot about 26 degrees.








Had to put on sunscreen and a hat - fair skinned and burn and end up like "roast beef" as the French affectionately refer to us. Also gave me a chance to wear my Lotus on Track cap - which my wife loves - NOT!



Took loads of photos of the views and the medieval streets which I wont post on here, but the cathedral is breathtaking and I will post a couple of those. It is worth visiting Laon just to see the Cathedral.














Now my previous impressions of France had been that lunch was a long drawn out affair which coould last into the late afternoon? However, in Laon everything is over by two and all you can get is a snack! albeit in a very friendly bar with some other "roast beefs". Every other establishment gave you the mad British look - you want to eat lunch now? You sometimes get this look in the UK too :-)


Here are some pictures of the outside of the cathedral which was equally as fascinating.





















and yes !that is a hippopotamus on the building - there were lots of strange creatures on the walls of the cathedral.















Next day I went off to Folembray to the trackday and Jane went off by train to Amiens for a tourist day and some shopping.


Folembray is a lovely little circuit hidden away in the middle of a forest at the back of the town. It is short but quite challenging and loads of fun. There were obviously a lot of Loti there but only two Elans; mine and Monty's (from the Forum - Lotus Elan Central). The Folembray sign and entrance gate can be seen in the background.
















There was a contingent of fellow Scots who had come down in a few Porsches and a couple of Loti - one of them a Honda VTEC powered Exige - Wow.


It was a lovely sunny day with temperatures in the high twenties again - so time for the suncream and hat :-)




Monty's car is a bit special, lowered, adjustable suspension and a very "bling" engine bay - looks and goes really well. Dico his friend was there, but was a bit off colour from the night before - enough said!












Here are some of the other cars there on the day













The first one had come over from Belguim for the day.






There were even two BMW's and one of them an E30 M3 like mine and in Shwartzmetallic - also like mine.























Unfortunately, the expansion bottle problem got worse and a blown head gasket was the general consensus of opinion :-( and in addition the Hall Sensor was giving problems along with the fact that the two coils are underneath the expansion tank and were being soaked. Boo Hoo as children say - needless to say this put an end to my track day and I cancelled going to Abbeville the next day opting to spent the time with my wife sightseeing on the way home.



Unfortuantely it rained all day and after looking around Arras for a short while and having a marvelloous lunch just off the main square - we headed off to Dunkirk to see if we could catch an earlier ferry.

Unfortunately the ferries were full so we had to wait around Dunkirk for hours - not the best place to spent 3 to 4 hours in my opinion, but I did get a new battey fitted to my watch.

Apart from the car problems it had been an enjoyable weekend - good food and wine and very good hotel.

Easter at the Ring

Winter is over and it is time for the first trip of the year to the "Ring" excitment is growing day by day - like Xmas when you were a kid :-)



Wake earlier than planned - car all prepared and packed the night before - head off to catch the ferry. No problems with traffic but got a front wheel wobble so when I arrive in Dover early I call into a tyre place and they balance one of the front wheels.



Board the ferry and go to the quiet room for a nap. All good so far, but off the ferry at Dunkirk and the wheel wobble is worse :-( Nothing for it but drive to Germany at slightly higher speeds than planned - makes for a smoother ride the faser the wheels turn around.....


However, after two hours of this I have had enough and RSI is developing in my hands so I stop and switch the front wheels to the back and vice versa - it is a bit better.

Arrive at the hotel at 730pm park the car and wander down to the Pistenklause to see who is around - the place was heaving and I joined a table with Steve, Jochen, Rich, Dave, Dutch Bob and Rich's mate Mark. Had Steak and Chianti and then off to bed for an early start in the morning.


In the Ring car park for 8am only to find it was not open due to fog at Adenau.........














Spent the time looking at cars and talking to people. Rich's Honda conversion had been done really sweet it looked like it had always been there and the noise it made was even sweeter.

A stag party arrived in convoy - one of them with an MDF spoiler on the back and a Colonel Boogey horn :-) you had to laugh as they were all dressed in Tux's.


Took an age for the Ring to open but then got out for my first slow lap - new wheels and tyres , brakes and carbon fiber air box......steady as she goes. No issues, everything performing ok so about to set off for a second lap when Rich's mate Mark asks if he can have a pax lap. Sure no problem was the reply but you need to wear a helmet - I had a spare in the boot and it fitted so off we went.





After a few laps I drove over to Ring Racing to drop off the road wheels for balancing and to see if they could get a better spacer for the journey home - also to say hello to Manu and Uwe the brothers who run it.

Then it was back to the Ring and more lapping now that the tyres had heated up - the carbon fiber airbox sounds fabulous and the extra power is just intoxicating .......... boys and their toys.


The car park got busier and busier until you could hardly move - very few incidents and almost no closurers - excellent. Went for a pax lap with a few friends in thier cars and other friends came out with me - some just to hear the airbox :-)

I had met some young Irishmen in the carpark of the hotel and offered to take them out to show them the lines - they turned up in a monster 500+bhp Skyline. One by one I took them out and in usual Irish terms they enjoyed the "crack" and could not believe the grip and poise through the corners of the M3.




The weather was fantastic - blue skies, virtually no clouds, but a cold wind. Everyone was in good form and there were no incidents - could life get any better...

Next I noticed a real exotic in the car park a Porsche Carrera GT in silver with an appropriate UK number plate - they only made them in LHD which confused a number of people - the same happens with the E30 M3 - they were only made in LHD also.


It is a lovely supercar as you can see from the photo - the rear tyres are massive 335 breadth - I would not want to be the one paying for their replacement!









The owner turned out to be a guy I know through another friend - James who has a Porsche also - a 968CS. Steve agreed to give me a passenger lap in the Carrera GT - Wow was I pleased - never been round the Ring in such an expensive supercar before. He said he would be back later in the day when it was quieter.


James and I had both done the BMW Car Club Faher Training at the Ring - back when James had a similar E30 M3 but his was a rare Sport Evo. He now has the 968CS in a very attractive shade of Racing Blue. We agreed to go out in my M3 with James as a passenger and then he would follow me in the 968 and then I would have a passenger lap in the 968. All in the cause of science you understand - the science of the petrolhead that is :-)

Well later Steve came back with the Carrera GT and gave me a passenger lap. with a car like this you could not be a "shrinking violet" everyone crowds round and wants to take a photo and ask questions. I had my camera on me and took some shoots from inside the car my favourite is this one - out the passenger window capturing the rear view door mirror with the rear haunches of the car extending backwards and some blurred images of the cars trying to follow!



Steve was being very circumspect around the corners and giving the car and it's vast power a lot of respect, but on the straights the acceleration and power was mind bendingly fast.

However, I am not a great lover of the engine noise - it is very mechanical - chains, gears, pulleys etc all wirring and clattering just behind your head. A BMW V10 sings when you rev it but this is very different - you do get a sense of great power and strength but it is not an aurally captivating noise. Indeed, Steve said when he gave his Dad a lift in it for the first time - he asked was it broken :-) LOL

Later that afternoon I had a problem manifest itself with the new brakes - lots of juddering under heavy braking. so off I went to Ring Racing to see if there was anything they could do? We had a look and the disks when hot were just touching the calipers - yeuch!!!!

Without the right shims there was nothing they could do :-( so I had to put up with it. Unfortunately, this eventually warped the disks and the problem got worse. I eventually ended up using the brakes less and less and adjusting my driving style to cope with this by doing cadedance (is that the right spelling?) braking. This somewhat took some of the fun out of driving.


John from Munich agreed to take my car out and we would do some tuning of the Alpha N now that the Carbon Fibre airbox was fitted. After 2 hours of going up and down the same hill he had completed the remapping. By the way Jake was going up and down the same hill as he had to have two large washers welded into his exhaust to bring his noise level down from 104dbs! in order for him to get back on the Ring.


After this the M3 was running even sweeter so the brake problem was even more of an issue I took it to another garage on the Sunday afternoon, one that Eric (an American Air Force guy) who lived in the area knew of. We were able to fit shims in the Calipers so this meant the disks were no longer touching them, but the warping was still there at high temperatures. There is always something isn't there.

The Ring is a road which demands great respect and things can go wrong very quickly even with modern super cars with all the latest electronic "gizmos" on board. For example this BMW M6 is having a bit of a problem in probably one of only a few areas where there is runoff. The driver "collected" the car adroitly and did not touch a barrier - Phew!!!!!




However, some people were not so lucky - there were about four Golfs which had terminal contact with armco - fortunately all the drivers were OK.







A more expensive contact with the Armco in Briedshied Bridge was had by a driver of a Porsche 911 GT3 - the driver was OK but the car was dead.


One of the Golf's belonged to a friend who has been very philosphical about it and is already planning the build of his next Ring car.....

You get lots of exotic cars turning up at the Ring including about five Ferrari 430's arriving together - all red of course. A 360 turned up during the day as well but unfortunately he contacted something on the way round and smashed the nose and one of the front radiators - ouch!

On the Sunday night the Nothloop forum (http://www.northloop.co.uk/) had organise a massive dinner event in Adneau and about 50 - 60 people turned up. I had paid my deposit to join the festivities but after a long day on the Ring - it competely slipped my mind and I wandered aimlessly down to the Pistenklause where I bumped into Steve and James and joined them for dinner and Italian wine fest. So I paid for two dinners that night but only ate one of them :-(







I spotted a car I had never seen before - a new Opel convertible - it looked pretty good from the front and the rear as can be seen from the pictures.

I particularly like the rear view with the flying buttresses behind the driver and passenger roll hoops.

























On the Monday - everyone seemed to go mad - and there were stoppages all the time - but no one was seriously hurt. At one point going round the Ring I counted 6 seperate incidents with all the recovery vehicles on the Ring at the same time...... There was even a stoppage for a BBQ which had gotten out of hand at the side of the track :-)



The day ended with a ride in another Steve's BMW CSL and the final lap was in Jake's BMW 320is which he had rebuilt in a mamouth effort shortly before coming out. We got round to Briedshied Bridge when the petrol light came on (you do not want to run out of fuel on the Ring!) so we came off filled up with fuel and then rejoined to finish the lap....



A final meal and drinks with some buddies down the Pistenklause and early to bed for a very early start in the morning ----- 630am yawn......................



Uneventful drive to Dunkirk - well that was apart from the freak accident in Belgium! A white van had crashed into the central concrete barrier - entirely demolishing a whole section of concrete. A Volvo estate with three bikes on the back which had been following the white van spun around while trying to avoid the carnage. It then went backwards into the hole in the concrete and landed up off all four wheels on top of the hedge in the middle of the two rows of concrete blocks! The white van had jumped the concrete and was in the fast lane of the other side off the motorway facing the oncoming traffic. Nobody seemed to be seriously hurt, but what a bizzarre accident.



I arrived at Dunkirk on time for the 1200 ferry only to be told I was not due to be on the ferry until 1000pm that night? I got on though and had an uneventful drive home through England.



Now all I have to due is get the car ready for it's next outing next week at Pro Drive, but that is another story.

M3 Upgrades

M3 Upgrades February/March 2007

Well the Carbon Fibre Airbox arrived and has been fitted as you can see from the picture.

The picture is of the car on a rolling road so that we could tune the car's engine to take advantage of the new bhp and torque.

The CF Kit comes with a new brake master reservoir which needs to be mounted on the strut tower - that is the white bottle with the black top in the photo. the power steering reservoir needed to be moved as well.

The rolling road is registering 201bhp! :-( which is disappointing and I cannot believe it - I am not in denial it is just that the car keeps up with similar powered cars on the track. I will check it out over the coming months.

The performance is better than before and it makes a glorious noise - off to the Nurburgring over Easter so will post on how it performed after that trip.

The other upgrade that I have just completed is the bigger brakes - 6 pot calipers and 13" disks. This was not straight forward either as it involved people from Montreal, California, Kent and Berkshire in the UK! It also involved buying two sets of new wheels to fit over the new brakes - he ho....... here is a picture of the new brakes fitted to the front

Awesome don't you think - the stopping capability is unbelievable.

Here is an example of one of the sets of wheels I bought to fit arount the Big Brake Kit - as you can see there is not much room around the caliper.......

And here are the other wheels Team Dynamics Pro Tech 1.2's with R888's fitted and in the car ready for the Ring trip - don't they look the Dog's Dangleys :-)

With the other two in the boot.

Excels at Donnington

Have a look on Google via the link below - a group of Excel owners off the Excel site below decided to meet up - as the numbers of these cars is diminishing and there are even fewer left on the road. someone posted on one of the forums recently that they had got the information from the DVLA that there were only 50 road registered in the UK! :-(

Google link

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4872620939630019590&hl=en-GB

Lotus Excel web site

http://www.lotusexcel.net

Fame in the land of the ether

On one of my trips to the Ring back in the summer I was interviewed by a video crew working for BMW USA. They wanted to get info on the Ring and why people come there and what do they get out of it!

They did about 20/30 minutes of an interview and we talked about the ring my cars and my passion spilled over. I was on two months gardening leave from one job before I started my new one so I was in a daft T shirt with "Dolce & Banana" on it with a large banana. I hadn't shaved for about two weeks and as I had been on and off the Ring all morning wearing my helmet - I had what my daughter calls helmet hair :-) Needless to say I was looking my best.....

Yesterday I received some emails from buddies saying the video has been posted on the BMW USA website, but it is 270Mb - Wow. I downloaded it straight away and was "gobsmacked" by how much of the interview that they had used in the video.

Today in the post I got a copy of the video on a dvd from Karen Jacobs of GSD&M www.gsdm.com the Executive Producer of the video. I have to say Karen I think you and your team have produced an excellent video which is virtually accurate in all it portrays of the Ring.

If you would like to view the video it can be got on the following link

http://www.nurburgring.nl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3655

but remember it is 270Mb.......so be patient when downloading :-)

I was in my Lotus Excel on that trip which Karen and her team did video but as the video was for BMW it did not appear :-( so here is a picture of it coming through Brunchen one of the fast sweeping corners of the ring. This is the biggest spectator area on the Ring and crowds gather here during the day and this is where a lot of the mistakes are made. I made one here for the first time in over five years - I came in toooooo fast and drifted over the rumble strip onto the grass got very very close to the armco but kept it under control and got back on the black stuff - a buttock clenching moment :-O

I've had my 5 minutes of fame with the BMW video so I need to get back to the Ring next year to practise what I preach - when you are driving the ring it feels like all your nerves are jangling and buzzing - you feel 100% alive. There really is no substitute and as I said in the video and I really meant it. The Ring is unique there is no other place like it in the World. But and it is a big but you need to treat it with the utmost respect or it will bite you like it did to one of the guys in the video and he got off lightly !!!!

Brands Hatch BMW day with Performance BMW

Meet up with my buddy Grant at 6am at the petrol station to head down to Brands Hatch for a day on track. Weather forecast was good and it looked like it would stay dry.

Arrived at track in plenty of time, lots of E30 M3's already there. We found an empty garage and dumped all the gear out of the cars.

Then we went to sign on and get a cup of tea and say hello to a number of friends. Track briefing was next and then the sighting laps to get to know the racing line and the circuit features for those who had never driven there before.

The weather was holding and the track was drying quickly. I decided therefore to put on my R888 Toyo's (stickys) which just give you so much more grip it is unbelievable.

Track dried out nicely and with the car, tyres and brakes warmed up it was time to do some quick laps. Came in to check the tyre presures and put some more air in the tyres. With the E30 M3 you need to check the oil and make sure it is just above the top mark as the engine can suffer from oil starvation when pressing on round some bends.

Most of the guys and girls there were from the BMW Car Club www.bmwcarclubgb.co.uk and the S14 board www.board.s14power.com and the Bavarian Board www.bavarian-board.co.uk

Some of the guys have fitted carbon fibre airboxes and Uwe had dynoed his car before and after to prove that the addition of the airbox gave 20 bhp more at the wheels!!!!! This convinced me I had to get one of these as a Xmas present - spoke to John in Munich and put my order in :-)

John tells me it will be here in 2 to 3 weeks - could be just in time for Xmas?

Only had one moment on track when at the bottom of Hill bend I went wide as I could see another car coming up my inside fast and thought I might have to take evasive action if he tried to overtake me mid corner - in the end.... I went on the painted white strip at the edge and of course it was still wet and slippy. Front and then rear wheels slipped causing a buttock clenching moment but then I had it under control and back on line. I could see John's face in his M3 behind me and I could see him thinking don't go on the grass....

Chased a new M3 CSL and after a few corners he let me through - sheer horse power is not a benefit at BH as demonstrated by me following a new M5 for a couple of laps until he let me through ( he was on road tyres).

An excellent day was had by all and only 2 stoppages for off's - one was Mark in his newly acquired E30 M3 not pretty the whole side was scraped and dented - he took it bravely :-(

Performance BMW did a photo shoot so you can see some pictures of the 50 or so BMW's that turned up for the day, it should be in their January 07 edition.

As the light was fading another E30 M3 went off Paddock backwards into the kitty litter and that was the end of the day. Time to change the wheels and tyres to the road wheels pack the cars and head home - only 2 hours round the M25/M3....yawn.........

Snetterton

Snetterton

A fellow Lotus Club member offered his place at a track day on a sunday at Snetterton for a big discount - was I interested? do bears relieve themselves in wooded areas?

I was off like a shot in the M3 - 2 and half hours drive up to the track at 6am sunday morning :-( not so good that bit). The Weather looked good and the forecast was good but because of all the rain the track was waterlogged.

The event was organised by BAT http://bookatrack.com/-pX?3142 and you can see some pics of the car on this link.

The rain came and went for most of the day so the track remained slippy and greasy all day, which meant very careful and controlled driving was the order of the day. Some people never got the hang of this and one Cosworth with a big turbo came up behind me on the pit straight so I pulled over and let him by in the proper trackday manner - indicate right, move off the racing line, lift off the throttle, when the car has passed move back on line and back on throttle. Well he got round the corner but then "nailed" his throttle and pirouetted off onto the grass......

Later on I was behind him on his tail for every corner for a couple of laps....if this is the case and the car behind you has less power then the car/driver combo behind you is the quicker car on the track. The correct procedure is to do as I did in the last paragraph, unfortunately the driver of the Cossie was having none of it and on every straight bit he floored his throttle and pulled away and every corner I caught up with him! :-( Bored with this silly game I peeled off into the pits and had a coffee and then went out when he was not on track.

Thoroughly enjoyed the day and made my way home.

Sadly the journey home was 5 and half hours in the dark and rain and not very pleasant. In addition to this when I stopped at South Mimms on the M25 for a coffee and danish a Volvo coupe when parking scrapped the rear bumper and wing - while I was sitting in it :-( he has admitted liability and I am getting quotes for the repair which I will email to him..........

Paul (the Volvo Coupe driver) has decided to put it through his insurers......so hopefully we will get it sorted before too long :-( It is looking like a £500 repair for some small scrapes a bit of broken bumper - the bulk of the cost is labour.

Paul has changed his mind about putting it through his Insurers and has transferred the money to my account - what a nice man he is :-) Now all I need to do is book it in to get it fixed! On the last Nurburgring trip I scraped the front splitter on the trailer so I will probably get that repainted at the same time....