Discussion
Hello everyone,
I wanted to share with you all a trip that me and my friends began this time last month. Nothing too glamorous, but more things ticked off the bucket list! The plan was, set off down to Dover, cross the channel into France and then spend a night in Belgium. The next day, we had a trackday at Spa Francorchamps. After that, we would move on to the 'ring where we would be spending 6 nights, and hope to beat our times from last year.
Overall, the trip was a great success. I'm not sure how much longer I'll have the DC2. I've had quite a few cars over the years but the DC2 has always stuck with me. I just love driving it!
[u]PART 1[/u]
Anyway, before we went we were required to fit fire extinguishers in our cars, which was fun. Look dad I'm a proper race car now!
I decided to take 2 sets of wheels, the RSRs on my black Spoon wheels had plenty of tread so they'd be doing most of the work, but I've really grown fond of the A048s on my Gold Enkeis despite how quickly wearing they are. They were right on the legal limit so thought it would be best not to drive on them!
Anyway, soon came the day to leave. I believe it was the 31st of March. 4 of us were meeting at mine in West Yorkshire for about 5am, meaning the other guys had to leave the North East at 3am... lovely night's sleep then. In Dover we were meeting up with Steve and his Mrs, who also has a DC2, and the next day we'll meet Filip the crazy Belgian, at Spa.
Kurt (STIFree on here) was on hand to take some beatuiful pictures along the way, so I'll be using mostly his pictures. If you like what you see you could always give his Flickr a follow or search his page on Facebook
So, 5am Day 1:
Integra by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Filling up the cars... and the 20L jerry cans we had all brought. There is a fuel station at Spa, but it's always good to have some spare on trackdays as the Spa machine can be a bit tricky at accepting cards sometimes.
Here you'll see my DC2, Andy's Polo, and Dan's Amarok towing his Ibiza. The Ibiza would have been perfectly driveable, but my DC2 can be a bit troublesome at times so the trailer was pretty much just insurance that we would be able to get home.
Fast forward 6 hours, we were somewhere down south about an hour out from Dover. The Dartford Crossing was closed due to winds and it had made the journey that much more fun in a stripped out car... not. We had to detour through London and back out the M20.
Into Dover:
At the dock!
On the boat
Cya England!
Now we were into France it was time to take the 4 hour trip to our bed and breakfasts in Belgium. For some reason, we all ended up at different B+Bs, but as they were all close enough together we decided to convoy across. This meant Kurt could get some good pictures of the cars on the road.
Certainly better than my attempts
Dan certainly had the best seat in the house for the journey:
Amarok & Ibiza by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
I dare say me and Steve got the short straw, though at least he had a passenger for company
Integra by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Integra by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Integra by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Integra by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Integra by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Andy's car is a mixture I guess, but certainly more towards the comfy side. He'd lost a lot of interior from the rear but still had a few creature comforts such as a radio, speakers, seats with cushions...that sort of thing.
Polo by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Unfortunately, it was all going too well. The Integra had developed an odd sound from the rear brakes, so I had to stop over and check it about 90 minutes from our destination.
Integra by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
What I found, was a very nearly f
ked rear brake pad. Only on one side though. I wasn't sure at the time what was causing this, and thought my hand brake might have been sticking. I swapped the pads from inner to outer to get me to the B+B. This was something like what the pad looked, although it is not the actual pad. I'll go further into this later.
Anywho, after a quick pitstop and a white Kit Kat Chunky we were on the road again, and eventually arrived at the B+B.
I knew my brakes weren't fixed, as I could feel the heat coming from them when I had parked up. I didn't know enough about how brakes work at this point though, I was still thinking my handbrake might have been stuck...
Anyway, I wasn't going to let it ruin the trackday... I had high hopes, and with our Belgian mate Filip meeting us there I was hoping he'd be able to get me some pads sorted from a local shop or something. Surely someplace near Spa must stock some pads? Well not quite, we got some, but they were from Brussells and wouldn't be in the local shop until 2pm. I still went out in the morning, my brakes didn't feel that different if I'm honest.
We arrived at Spa bright and early and met up with Filip in his Fiesta ST.
I had some pads fitted by 2pm, the morning was pretty wet anyway but I still got plenty of sessions in.
You just cannot get away from the Mazda MX5 on a trackday no matter how far you go. To be fair to the lad driving this he wasn't so bad compared to most
The weather at Spa was crazy. We knew it was going to be less than desirable but we did not expect snow, sleet, hail, rain, sun, snow, sleet, rain, hail, sun..... absolutely mental.
Spa by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Integra by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Ford Fiesta ST by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Seat Ibiza FR by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Honda Integra DC2 by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Integra by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Seat Ibiza FR by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Honda Integra DC2 by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Honda Integra DC2 by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Ford Fiesta ST by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Here are some pictuers of other cars from the day, as per usual at Spa there was a wide variety.
M3 by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Evo by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Honda Civic by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Radical by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Impreza by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
TVR by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
911 by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
911 by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
911 by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
Andy didn't fancy Spa as well as the 'ring, so him and Kurt spent most of the day travelling the grounds taking pictures. If you've never been to Spa, the grounds themselves are like no other circuit I've been to. Simply superb, you can easily spend hours just exploring!
Polo by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
I wont post all the pictures as there are 95, but the rest are here if you would like to see them:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kurt_blythman/sets/7...
Squad picture before leaving:
Spa by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr
(no idea who's the SL is, it was there all day!)
I made a trackday highlight video for the day, mostly sliding about in the wet in the morning but towards the end there is a good battle between me and Dan in his Ibiza: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vaqYw2ecvY
After the trackday, we ventured into Spa itself for some food, before heading towards Welcherath which was about 90 minutes away.
So that's the first two days covered. The next few days at Germany saw us all beat our Nurburgring PBs, we got to drive the GP circuit as well as the Nordschleife, Pistenklause was visited twice and we got up close and personal with the carousel. I'll have to finish the write up another day though, as I'm leaving work shortly. Part 2 coming soon!
Cheers,
Dan
I wanted to share with you all a trip that me and my friends began this time last month. Nothing too glamorous, but more things ticked off the bucket list! The plan was, set off down to Dover, cross the channel into France and then spend a night in Belgium. The next day, we had a trackday at Spa Francorchamps. After that, we would move on to the 'ring where we would be spending 6 nights, and hope to beat our times from last year.
Overall, the trip was a great success. I'm not sure how much longer I'll have the DC2. I've had quite a few cars over the years but the DC2 has always stuck with me. I just love driving it!
[u]PART 1[/u]
Anyway, before we went we were required to fit fire extinguishers in our cars, which was fun. Look dad I'm a proper race car now!
I decided to take 2 sets of wheels, the RSRs on my black Spoon wheels had plenty of tread so they'd be doing most of the work, but I've really grown fond of the A048s on my Gold Enkeis despite how quickly wearing they are. They were right on the legal limit so thought it would be best not to drive on them!
Anyway, soon came the day to leave. I believe it was the 31st of March. 4 of us were meeting at mine in West Yorkshire for about 5am, meaning the other guys had to leave the North East at 3am... lovely night's sleep then. In Dover we were meeting up with Steve and his Mrs, who also has a DC2, and the next day we'll meet Filip the crazy Belgian, at Spa.
Kurt (STIFree on here) was on hand to take some beatuiful pictures along the way, so I'll be using mostly his pictures. If you like what you see you could always give his Flickr a follow or search his page on Facebook
So, 5am Day 1:
Integra by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrFilling up the cars... and the 20L jerry cans we had all brought. There is a fuel station at Spa, but it's always good to have some spare on trackdays as the Spa machine can be a bit tricky at accepting cards sometimes.
Here you'll see my DC2, Andy's Polo, and Dan's Amarok towing his Ibiza. The Ibiza would have been perfectly driveable, but my DC2 can be a bit troublesome at times so the trailer was pretty much just insurance that we would be able to get home.
Fast forward 6 hours, we were somewhere down south about an hour out from Dover. The Dartford Crossing was closed due to winds and it had made the journey that much more fun in a stripped out car... not. We had to detour through London and back out the M20.
Into Dover:
At the dock!
On the boat
Cya England!
Now we were into France it was time to take the 4 hour trip to our bed and breakfasts in Belgium. For some reason, we all ended up at different B+Bs, but as they were all close enough together we decided to convoy across. This meant Kurt could get some good pictures of the cars on the road.
Certainly better than my attempts
Dan certainly had the best seat in the house for the journey:
Amarok & Ibiza by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrI dare say me and Steve got the short straw, though at least he had a passenger for company
Integra by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrIntegra by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrIntegra by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrIntegra by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrIntegra by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrAndy's car is a mixture I guess, but certainly more towards the comfy side. He'd lost a lot of interior from the rear but still had a few creature comforts such as a radio, speakers, seats with cushions...that sort of thing.
Polo by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrUnfortunately, it was all going too well. The Integra had developed an odd sound from the rear brakes, so I had to stop over and check it about 90 minutes from our destination.
Integra by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrWhat I found, was a very nearly f
ked rear brake pad. Only on one side though. I wasn't sure at the time what was causing this, and thought my hand brake might have been sticking. I swapped the pads from inner to outer to get me to the B+B. This was something like what the pad looked, although it is not the actual pad. I'll go further into this later.Anywho, after a quick pitstop and a white Kit Kat Chunky we were on the road again, and eventually arrived at the B+B.
I knew my brakes weren't fixed, as I could feel the heat coming from them when I had parked up. I didn't know enough about how brakes work at this point though, I was still thinking my handbrake might have been stuck...
Anyway, I wasn't going to let it ruin the trackday... I had high hopes, and with our Belgian mate Filip meeting us there I was hoping he'd be able to get me some pads sorted from a local shop or something. Surely someplace near Spa must stock some pads? Well not quite, we got some, but they were from Brussells and wouldn't be in the local shop until 2pm. I still went out in the morning, my brakes didn't feel that different if I'm honest.
We arrived at Spa bright and early and met up with Filip in his Fiesta ST.
I had some pads fitted by 2pm, the morning was pretty wet anyway but I still got plenty of sessions in.
You just cannot get away from the Mazda MX5 on a trackday no matter how far you go. To be fair to the lad driving this he wasn't so bad compared to most
The weather at Spa was crazy. We knew it was going to be less than desirable but we did not expect snow, sleet, hail, rain, sun, snow, sleet, rain, hail, sun..... absolutely mental.
Spa by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrIntegra by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrFord Fiesta ST by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrSeat Ibiza FR by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrHonda Integra DC2 by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrIntegra by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrSeat Ibiza FR by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrHonda Integra DC2 by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrHonda Integra DC2 by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrFord Fiesta ST by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrHere are some pictuers of other cars from the day, as per usual at Spa there was a wide variety.
M3 by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrEvo by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrHonda Civic by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrRadical by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrImpreza by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrTVR by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr911 by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr911 by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr911 by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrAndy didn't fancy Spa as well as the 'ring, so him and Kurt spent most of the day travelling the grounds taking pictures. If you've never been to Spa, the grounds themselves are like no other circuit I've been to. Simply superb, you can easily spend hours just exploring!
Polo by Kurt Blythman, on FlickrI wont post all the pictures as there are 95, but the rest are here if you would like to see them:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kurt_blythman/sets/7...
Squad picture before leaving:
Spa by Kurt Blythman, on Flickr(no idea who's the SL is, it was there all day!)
I made a trackday highlight video for the day, mostly sliding about in the wet in the morning but towards the end there is a good battle between me and Dan in his Ibiza: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vaqYw2ecvY
After the trackday, we ventured into Spa itself for some food, before heading towards Welcherath which was about 90 minutes away.
So that's the first two days covered. The next few days at Germany saw us all beat our Nurburgring PBs, we got to drive the GP circuit as well as the Nordschleife, Pistenklause was visited twice and we got up close and personal with the carousel. I'll have to finish the write up another day though, as I'm leaving work shortly. Part 2 coming soon!
Cheers,
Dan
seismic22 said:
Just watched your ring lap time youtube video and though the car is obviously set up/handling very well, you can definitely drive. Pretty refreshing to watch somebody drive so smoothly and holding the gears perfectly.
Thanks mate thats really nice to hear! I've got some more videos to upload when I get time!I'll probably be able to finish this write up next week when I'm back at work, flat out this weekend!
Dan
ST150HB said:
MrBarry123 said:
Nice write-up OP.
And I'm guessing, given the lack of evidence to the contrary, that the R8 didn't get past you?
Haha I think I let him pass!And I'm guessing, given the lack of evidence to the contrary, that the R8 didn't get past you?
I'm pretty sure that was my first or second lap as I've still got my black wheels on, I switched to my Gold Enkeis after that as the Federal RSRs were starting to let go after Bruncchen and giving me no confidence!
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