Historic GP at the “Misty Hell”

Last weekend was the, by now traditional, weekend for the historic races at the Nürburgring. Last year I found out that Health & Safety had done a good job in fencing of the Nordschleife, as a result of which taking decent pictures without the fence getting in the way had become rather tricky.

Luckily they made a few gaps in the fence through which to point a camera. Combined with the lovely weather this made for a nice afternoon at the races;

After which it was time for the all important BBQ with a few beers. And next morning dawned in true Eifel style, damp and rather foggy!

As a result of which all racing was postponed for the time being. As there was no guaranty that there would be any races that day, and being rather thrifty Dutchies, we didn’t want to spent € 38,- for looking at an empty track. So we headed off to the parking areas surrounding the track in search of interesting cars, which we did find!

A nice old and rather original looking Tatra.

A ferocious dog guarding a by now rather rare Peugeot 204 Coupe.

Best Peugeot ever!

Very nice Triumph Dolomite Roadster.

And to remind us that the Germans are celebrating that, this year 20 years ago,

The Wall came down. Clearly some of the “Ossies” found some employment in the Eifel;

And when we nearly had given up hope, there really were a few races to be watched. Luckily the ticket boxes were closed by now so we could enter the stands without paying;

But all to soon it became rather dark. So we headed back to the campsite to finish of a rather misty day. There were more people who were thinking along the same line!

Like this German camping alongside us with all his friends!

And to cheer ourselves up a little bit we built a small bonfire.

Edited on the 7^th of August 2024: Already 15 years ago that we spent the weekend at the Nürburgring to watch the Historic races at both the Nordschleife and the GP track. It later turned out to be our last weekend there.

Historic GP at the Nürburgring

The second weekend of August is traditional the weekend of the historic Grand Prix at the Nürburgring in the German Eiffel. Contrary to last year there was some action on the Friday. Although it was slightly wet so now and then. But at least there was some visibility ...

The best bit of action on the Friday is always a long(er) distance race for historic sports cars and saloons, which is held on the famous Nordschleife. Sadly though (from a photographers point of view) health and safety struck hard here. They erected a safety fence along the track making it rather difficult to take decent pictures, even with a focal length of 400mm ! But I managed to take some decent pictures nevertheless;

The entrance to “our” camp site, the “Fat Sausage” club.

Corvette over braking into Breidscheid.

E-type in the pouring rain coming out of Eschbach.

More rainy action.

Firing up for the Friday night BBQ and a few beers.

As a result of the beer not everyone looked at his best next morning.

Parking brake German style.

Lotus 7.

And a very nice black ‘Vette.

BRM tuned Lotus Elan.

Don’t mention the war.

Big German in a big German car and an armful of opposite lock.

Into the evening sun.

Fierce Mini battle.

Pondering or wondering what went wrong.

Nice drift.

Fire spitting TVR Griffith.

Getting rather dark during the evening race.

Axed.

A day at the races

Set off for the Nürburgring for the annual Historic Grand Prix weekend last Friday. As the DHC is the car off choice for next month's 10CR it was obvious that I would use her for the trip. This choice was helped by the fact that we didn't take a caravan with us this year and that the water pump on 't Kreng is leaking.

When we arrived at the Ring it turned out to be rather foggy. This sadly resulted in all racing and practicing scheduled for the Friday, including a three hour race over the Nordschleife, to be cancelled. This left us with only one thing to do, return to the campsite, get the fire burning and have a nice little BBQ with a few beers;

And admire the view of some wedges in a dark and gloomy German forest;

Most of us were woken next morning by the guys of the "Autofreunde Sauerland" who were on the camping space next to ours. They thought it a good idea to start the day with a bang, igniting some fireworks ... They even got some response from a rather angry chap in a campervan shouting (in German) "I know you are ass holes but you don't have to constantly remind us of that" The response to that response, of course, was obvious! Otherwise day two started pretty much like day one had ended, rather damp and foggy;

After cleaning up the ravages from the night before;

And a hearty breakfast from our private chef Herbert;

We went off to the circuit to see if there was going to be some more action, which there was. Even the weather decided to make a change for the better;

Although not everyone was enjoying himself;

There were rather old cars;

And more recent machines;

After having watched some races it was time to walk over to the pit lane and the paddock to have a closer look at some of the cars;

The good thing is that there is always a rather relaxed air around this event;

Sadly I couldn't stay for the whole of the weekend due to other obligations, so I returned home late Saturday’s afternoon. As there wasn't much traffic around, I could try out the car a bit more. It must be said that she behaved really well, cruising happily and easily along the Autobahn at a speed of 90 mph @ 3500 rpm. Also the car is stable at higher speeds, comfortable and rather quiet at that speed.

I also found out that the (AC) heater unit in this car works much better than the standard ones, not only for demisting but also as a heater and for ventilation. I am glad I didn't exchange that unit when I ditched the rest of the AC stuff. I intended to, but found out that the one I wanted to replace it with had a leak so I just put the original one back in ! Also the coolant temperature seems to be slightly lower since I fitted the front spoiler last week.

So only things left to do on the car before the 10CR are;

• fit a map reading light for the navigator;
• put new coolant hoses on just to be sure;
• modify the rear silencer box so it doesn't touch the (rear of the) body anymore (although it's become much less than it used to be);
• fit new tyres (as mentioned);
• put some nice lambskin seat covers on the seats for some extra comfort :‑)
• try and find some Castrol SMX S transmission oil for the gearbox.