If I'm in bed by 10pm on a Sunday night, I'm either very ill or I've had an
exhausting weekend of sun, speed and beer. I'm happy to say I suffered from the
latter ailment this weekend.
Having
gathered together 30 cars for our trip to the Folembray circuit in France we
lined up at the docks in Dover ready for the off on Friday evening. A healthy
variety of cars was present with everything from bike powered Locosts to Tuscans
and Cerberas via Caterham Superlight, Exige and M3. The hordes of French school
children streaming off their coaches homed in on the Tuscan at the front of the
queue and - after a little goading - crowded round as Andy Moore started it up
and gave it a bit of large. The sight of 100 kids cheering on of Blackpool's
beauties would have been the envy of many a car manufacturer!
A quick trip across the channel and PistonHeads invaded France again. Clear
blue skies hinted at the gorgeous weather to come and we set off in convoy to
Arras. It's always fun travelling in convoy, but with empty French dual
carriageway and our little queue of exotica it was an absolute blast. The French
V8S owner who pulled onto the motorway looked suitably confused at his 'rare'
car being passed by a dozen more TVRs! I won't elaborate on the Honda Civic Type
R pulling away from the Chimaera 4.5 at an indicated 155mph...
Friday night in Arras was spent sampling strong continental lager and getting
to know our fellow travellers. As is usually the case when a load of PHers are
together, the first introductions involved revealing real names, but more
importantly Gassing names which are the key to recognition in our little virtual
world! I don't recall much more about Friday night thanks to my in depth
research into Belgian beer...
Most of us were up at 8am on Saturday eager to get started. Breakfast was
consumed rapidly and we set off for the track. The first group of ten cars were
briefed and we were out on track mid morning. And what a track it is!
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Don't lend your car out...!
(no damage done) |
Leaving the pit exit and moving out onto the perfect surface you large it up
the hill towards a sweeping left hander, the fastest part of the circuit. A
gentle right hander leads into a third gear chicane and a slow right hand
hairpin at the top. Squeealing around there with the back end twitching you put
the power down and head down the hill. Medium right-hander, quick left hander
and then a chicane that really tests your bottle. Get your line right and you'll
exit at well over 80mph. Get it wrong and you'll have a very nervous time as
your unbalanced car teeters on the limit of adhesion.
Up the hill
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Bottom of the hill
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Out of the chicane and you've got a quick blast down to a longish second gear
right hander. Powering through this bend, many of us had our tyres squealing for
mercy before flicking it through the final chicane and back up the pit straight.
Pikey's pocket rocket
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Andy Moore's Tuscan
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"Buster's" Cerbera
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I'm delighted to say the level of driver courtesy on track was unprecedented.
I've never had the joy to be on a track day without at least one knob tailgating
or holding up traffic but on Saturday the courtesy and consideration shown to
other drivers - whatever their car - was heartwarming! No brand snobbery here!
After the initial 3 sessions we operated an open pit lane all day and
although the track closed at 6pm, by 5:30 everyone had enjoyed so much track
time they were heading off to the bar!
Saturday night was spent in a superb lakeside hotel. Dinner, prize giving and
beer ensued along with a viewing of some of the superb in car footage shot
during the day. Luckily the hotel shut the bar at some point in the morning or I
think I'd still be there...
A brief stop at the old Reims Grand Prix circuit
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Sunday was once again a glorious day (thank god we paid the weather
supplement) and a convoy of 25 cars tootled off through the countryside to a
Champagne house for an hour's distraction. That was followed by a cruise back to
Calais and we were home in time for tea.
A big thank you to Mike Field for organising the trip and thank you to all
those who joined us. The people are what make trips like this a pleasure or a
pain and fellow PistonHeaders made this a fabulously funny and hassle-free trip.
It was also good to see Gassing Station resident 'Thom' who joined us for the
day. In true Gassing spirit, everyone kept him very entertained all day with
rides in TVRs galore. We look forward to seeing the hundreds of other pictures
of the weekend that everyone took.
And in answer to everyone's question - yes we do plan more trips like this!