PHers please the Armed forces
Discussion
A unique day Saturday. Myself and a couple of mates off Pistonheads were invited to attend an Officers' mess ball in Cambridge to provide "the supercar experience" as part of the ball entertainment. The base has a large airfield that was mechanically swept and patched and opened up for our use for the day. So we all pitch up, headed out around the track to get a taste and learn the lines and generally spend the afternoon hooning. The runway down the middle wasnt quite Bruntinthorpe length but Rods in his RUF 996 was still hitting over 170mph.
After an afternoon of hooning and learning the track we washed the cars and parked them outside the officers mess on display and retired to our hotel to change into black tie. We were picked up and taken back to the ball where we had a superb dinner, albeit rushed so that by 8.30pm we were queued outside the main door where other guests had ticket numbers for their hot rides. The doors were opened valet style and the guests hopped in, driven through the camp to the air base and then hooned around the track. All of them thought the elise was fantastic, and it managed to hold its own in what was, to me, humbling company. After a few laps we returned them to the base and picked up the next passenger and, apart from brief cooling down periods/fag breaks, we did this until 10.30pm and then called it a night and got on the lager until 5am. The next day was comical. I wish I had got some pics ;) you know who you are....
Dunno about the rest of you but the amount of "so are you a hired company?" or "so are you guys all professional drivers doing this for money?" was incredible. We must have looked the part chaps. Oh, and not forgetting the "can I have your number?" which seemed to be a common line from the wenches that we took out.
Great to meet a few more people and hope it was enjoyed by all.
[pic]http://home.btconnect.com/Cloud9/ph.jpg[/pic]
[pic]http://home.btconnect.com/Cloud9/ph2.jpg[/pic]
Excellent.Yep a big thanks to all of you that were there, I think it's safe to say we certainly stole the show. For me personally the hi lights were being able to drive into the "dark" on circuit le mans style, the sight of the two 996's lighting up their disc's bright red was awesome. All I would say is that we didn't get a couple of things quite right, one was although they'd gone to a lot of effort to sweep and patch the track up for us by the end of the night we'd trashed it and the surface was litterally coming apart under our wheels and two was the lighting and marker boards, none of us had any experience of setting out a track for night driving and we certainly didn't have enough lighting towers or glow in the dark markers, it is certainly not the best practise to use marshalls hi viz vests as markers because if they'd moved I'd have followed them across the field 
However as shnozz says it was a really rewarding experience for us, to take people out give them the full on flat out and sideways round the corners thing and give them a bit of an insight into all things petrolhead, these were normal people with who have often never even been over 100 miles per hour.
All in all well done to all the lads, thanks for pulling it off incident free, and thanks for making it a night superb night.
Cheers guys
However as shnozz says it was a really rewarding experience for us, to take people out give them the full on flat out and sideways round the corners thing and give them a bit of an insight into all things petrolhead, these were normal people with who have often never even been over 100 miles per hour.
All in all well done to all the lads, thanks for pulling it off incident free, and thanks for making it a night superb night.
Cheers guys
Twas good fun indeed, although I never got asked for phone numbers....just as well really as most of occupants were blokes.
The passengers did seem to enjoy the rides..some were laughing, some talked through the whole experience, only to shut up big time when I said I needed to concentrate as I couldn't actually see where the next bend was (as we approached at 120
).
Would like to see the pictures taken by their trackside chappie. And to echo what Mel said about the Porsche brakes.....OMG....Rods' just lit up the sky when I whizzed across the end of the runway as he was finishing his run....simply staggering.
The track does need some serious attention if I'm to return, as I'm missing lots of paint. Haven't looked underneath the car yet
But a lot of fun, and a pleasure to support you Mel. Fantastic people, and their machines. Dinner was incredible, even if rushed. Our ladies all looked stunning, and as always great to catch up.
Look forward to another one, so long as it doesn't really a rally car
All the best,
LB
PS. As for lighting and marshall positioning, Mel you're right in that we weren't sure where to position etc. My thoughts for next time would be either coloured cats eyes like the red and green ones you get on motorway entrances and exits placed every 15m at the edges of the track, or at least reflective cones along the whole length of the circuit along with some big marker boards showing distances to the next corner, to use as some sort of reference point for braking. Just my thoughts.
>> Edited by luca brazzi on Monday 25th July 15:07
The passengers did seem to enjoy the rides..some were laughing, some talked through the whole experience, only to shut up big time when I said I needed to concentrate as I couldn't actually see where the next bend was (as we approached at 120
). Would like to see the pictures taken by their trackside chappie. And to echo what Mel said about the Porsche brakes.....OMG....Rods' just lit up the sky when I whizzed across the end of the runway as he was finishing his run....simply staggering.
The track does need some serious attention if I'm to return, as I'm missing lots of paint. Haven't looked underneath the car yet
But a lot of fun, and a pleasure to support you Mel. Fantastic people, and their machines. Dinner was incredible, even if rushed. Our ladies all looked stunning, and as always great to catch up.
Look forward to another one, so long as it doesn't really a rally car
All the best,
LB
PS. As for lighting and marshall positioning, Mel you're right in that we weren't sure where to position etc. My thoughts for next time would be either coloured cats eyes like the red and green ones you get on motorway entrances and exits placed every 15m at the edges of the track, or at least reflective cones along the whole length of the circuit along with some big marker boards showing distances to the next corner, to use as some sort of reference point for braking. Just my thoughts.
>> Edited by luca brazzi on Monday 25th July 15:07
Bloody hell!, is that Kevin costner in the blue?
Squaddies are the biggest petrol heads i have met. Indeed some of my non ranking mates had some very nice rides indeed.
The mess can be quite intimidating once you catch eyes on the regimental silver but you lot look like you fit right in.
Realy dig that swagger!
Squaddies are the biggest petrol heads i have met. Indeed some of my non ranking mates had some very nice rides indeed.
The mess can be quite intimidating once you catch eyes on the regimental silver but you lot look like you fit right in.
Realy dig that swagger!
ThatPhilBrettGuy said:
luca brazzi said:
....just as well really as most of occupants were blokes.
mmmmmm.... strange, I had the opposite
Same here
Same here.
Top weekend,cheers Mel.
Flasher as the safety car driver,married life is obviously bringing out the responsible side in him.
Dropped my car off this morning new brakes,tyres and clutch required,oh well it was fun.
Good laugh, "interesting" circuit. 1st few people were disappointed to be getting into the Honda, by the 4th run the word had spread and people were looking forward to an enjoyable ride Who says you can't powerslide an NSX
HOW MUCH DRINK was gotten through on Saturday night though??? Felt like death warmed up Sunday morning All good fun, and nice to meet you guys: cheers for the cigar Mel 
circuit. 1st few people were disappointed to be getting into the Honda, by the 4th run the word had spread and people were looking forward to an enjoyable ride Who says you can't powerslide an NSX HOW MUCH DRINK was gotten through on Saturday night though??? Felt like death warmed up Sunday morning
All good fun, and nice to meet you guys: cheers for the cigar Mel ThatPhilBrettGuy said:
luca brazzi said:
....just as well really as most of occupants were blokes.
mmmmmm.... strange, I had the opposite
Same here
I had a fair mix of extremes, I went from an old guy in his sixties who bored me stupid about how was a stoker in the navy for 20 years, to a guy who claimed he wasn't at all nervous as he used to co pilot rally driving but then went all quiet.....to some stuning totty who was wearing next to nothing and worried about her hair, at 130 with no roof on she gave up holding the dress and hair and simply hung on, shame it was too dark by then and I was concentrating on driving as I guess I'd have had a right eye full, followed by a right ear full no doubt
The quote of the night must still be the bloke who critised Maddi's driving lines.......I still can't believe he didn't throw him out there and then.
And it was funny that people kept asking who we worked for and that it must be a great job driving super cars all day. They simply couldn't believe we would inflict that on our own toys for fun
Also just for info for the boys that were there, I've just had a phone call from Alistair expressing his extreme thanks and gratitude for what we did for them. He has also confirmed that they were serious on the offer made on the night and that is that they would love to have us back on a saturday in the near future to return the complement and give us and afternoon hooning on the in field off road in their vehicles !!!!!! That means which of you fancy a day driving massive great big pieces of green plant and machinery ???? A days digger racing sounds on the cards !!!!!!!!!!!!! The colonel has also been making noises today sober about resurfacing the entire second half of the perimeter road (the bit we were using for the 2nd lap) and the main runway, and a return invite for next year sounds inevitable...
Thanks for organising that Mel! I think our boys put on a bloody good show, and had a huge laugh to boot. Great bunch of people we were passengering too, and some totally stunning. I think my favourite was Kim; 25, gorgeous, blonde and a fighter pilot "I like speed so this better be fast". Thank you God. Who says there's no wood in a Ferrari.
Definite highlight was seeing Flasher in such good spirits. Safety car my arse!
Kev
Definite highlight was seeing Flasher in such good spirits. Safety car my arse!
Kev
A couple of class comments from the weekend…
Flasher to stuart "Why is it I havent seen any men as passengers in your car?"
When the squaddie who had driven us to and from the hotel advised that someone had left a rucksack in there the night before. When Mel asked what it contained and I replied "some marzipane, wires and a map of the underground".
And the best one yet that claire told me…
Alison to the squaddie that drove the girlies back to the minibus in the afternoon. Apparently he was trying to be all impressive towards the girls and was saying about how he could run over all our cars with the big stuff he drives for the army and how they squash cars for fun etc… When they got back to the hotel Alison asked how to open the sliding door on the van. He told her to pull the lever and alisons reply
"oh, we are only used to pressing a button".
stole the show with that one Alison, and your comment to Flasher upon your arrival was equally impressive, "so what are you doing here? you dont own a nice car..."
pure quality
Flasher to stuart "Why is it I havent seen any men as passengers in your car?"
When the squaddie who had driven us to and from the hotel advised that someone had left a rucksack in there the night before. When Mel asked what it contained and I replied "some marzipane, wires and a map of the underground".
And the best one yet that claire told me…
Alison to the squaddie that drove the girlies back to the minibus in the afternoon. Apparently he was trying to be all impressive towards the girls and was saying about how he could run over all our cars with the big stuff he drives for the army and how they squash cars for fun etc… When they got back to the hotel Alison asked how to open the sliding door on the van. He told her to pull the lever and alisons reply
"oh, we are only used to pressing a button".
stole the show with that one Alison, and your comment to Flasher upon your arrival was equally impressive, "so what are you doing here? you dont own a nice car..."
pure quality
Gassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff