Friday morning starting with a nice breakfast in the hotel, à la french style. Today we have a bit shorter ride in front of us, just under 350 km, so we are not in an extrem hurry in the morning. However, we were supposed to cross over Paris, with the risk of some trafic there. Getting packed and putting the bags in the car again, I realize that some guys are actually cleaning their cars, hmmmm… being on my first official road tour, I wonder if I’m supposed to the same?!? After considering it for a few milliseconds I don’t! I might reconsider when in Le Mans.
The trip for the day:
Visa större karta
Time for the co-driver to take the wheel today, and the ride to goes without any big problems. It looks that the potential gatekeepers strike yesterday was a one-day-thing, cause today there is no free ride on the highway. Today time the GPS takes on directly on our target Le Mans Race Track, it even went fluently through the Paris traffic.
Again arriving to the destination before everyone else, (again except the Bentley guys 
). This feels strange since we never went to the extreme speeds, and later hearing stories from the rest of the guys, that they sometimes along the way went really fast. My guess is many coffee breaks…
Here’s a short video from driving through France, and don’t be fooled by the speed difference between us and the trucks… (the must have been very slow, since we didn’t go over the allowed limit 
Yeah! time for some tent building. Maybe I didn’t mention that earlier, but the two nights in Le Mans were supposed be in a tent. First picking out a good spot for the tent, since the weather forecast was dark we really needed to make sure we didn’t place the tent where all the water would end up. Oliver brought the tent, so he was the “inside-guy” who knew the details of setting it up. Not surprised, just minutes later the tent was up.
Now the rest of the guys starts to arrive to the Corvette Camp, which is just next to Alain Prost’s go-cart track. Being all ready with the tent building, we can focus on the socializing part, trying to disturbe everyone else us much as possible while they’re building their tents up 
.
Time to do some checking in with the organizers, getting all the tickets etc. Some moments later we all take a walk up to the commercial area to take a look around, and maybe we’ll find some snacks or beer as well, dinner will be served in the camp later on.
Back in the camp we can notice that one of the stars of the weekend just arrived as well. The newly restored Car No. 3 wich won the Le Mans 24h 50 years ago. And this car will this weekend be driven a lap around the track by one of its original drivers John Fitch, today 93 years old. How impressive isn’t that. You can read more about this on www.stillracing.com. Here’s a short move of when the car is later in the night loaded back into safety on the truck.
In the evening a nice dinner was organized in the huge camp tent, where we also were entertained by some french can can dancers, who also “dragged” two very very voluntary dinner guests. I think we end the Day 3 story right there. Back soon with Day 4.
Enjoy some pictures from the day, just click on the image bellow and navigate with the left and right arrows to see all the pictures:
While the majority of the swedes on the trip got ready to unload the ferry in Travamünde, I was still enjoying a breakfast in Hamburg. Todays plan was a ride from Hamburg to Reims.
As soon as Oliver managed to drop the kids of to kindergarten, we went off to meet up with the others at Stillhorn, just south of Hamburg. Arriving to Stillhorn we see start to see quite a few Corvettes so it’s understood that we are the last ones. After entering the little Café we soon realized that we were just minutes behind. Not too much shame there
Comparing the routes everyone have planned, we see that our plan is the odd one. We planned to go south on the A7 from Hamburg, and the majority planned for the A1. The inside info from the morning news was that A1 was full of construction places, and would most likely take a longer time. Many had their routes printed out, so it’s understood that it’s not that easy to change route. We also got info about two others that never stopped at Stillhorn. They went ahead directly, was that maybe because they didn’t drive a Corvette . I would gladly change seats since they drove a brand new Bentley GT.
In the end we stick to our Route along A7 south, since the both routes anyway will join up a bit south, just by Dortmund. But… on the choice for A1 or A7, we ended up being the unlucky ones anyway, this due to an accident, (not easy to plan for). A truck had broken down, and of course it broke down in an construction area so the three lanes had to become one lane.
Arriving to Dortmund around lunch time, we make a call and check the status of one of the other cars. Being in an unfamiliar region and driving at the same time as speaking in the phone, we didn’t really understood if we were behind or in front. Hungry as we were we aimed for the next Ratzenplatzen, (excuse my german . Just rolling in to the parking we notice another corvette, and we quickly notice that we found a friend… It’s Jan-Erik and Christel in their -91 ZR1. It was nice to have some additional company during lunch. The food was probably not the best we would experience this weekend, but it fulfilled it’s task and we were no longer hungry.
After lunch we just let the GPS lead the way, and even though it wasn’t planned, we would meet up with Jan-Erik and Christel two more times during the day, what are the odds on that?
Hmmmmm… About letting the GPS leading the way… Maybe not always the best idea. Liege in Belgium was a city that we were supposed to just pass. However the GPS thought it would be a good to take us through the city center. Time wise maybe not the smartest move, but at least we got to see a bit of an industrial town in Belgium. Finally out of Liege, it was straight south heading for Reims, France.
Traffic in Belgium was really OK and the ride went smooth. This giving us time to mentally prepare for the expensive French highways. However, when finally in France, it must have been a strike or something, since we were let through all the toll gates without paying. Closing in on Reims we got to experience the other side of GPS tech… we arrived straight to our target without any sightseeing this time. And you know what! We were first, (not counting the Bentley guys, who probably went through Germany cruising in 280 kph). The Hotel had nicely arranged for some VIP parking for us. While getting settled in the room, the others starts to arrive about an hour behind. Well, it’s not a competition, and they probably saw more along the way.
Since we now were in the Champagne area of France we of course needed to start the evening with a glass of… yeah, you guessed right, a glass of Champagne. This followed by a very nice dinner with good company.
Click on the image bellow to see a few pictures from Day 2. Use the Right and Left arrow keys to navigate through the pictures.
The time has finally come, the time to start the trip to Le Mans, France. Le Mans as in the classic Le Mans 24h Race. We are 10 corvettes from Club Corvette Sweden going down to Le Mans to support the Corvette Racing Team. Meeting up in Le Mans are even more likes from throughout europe, all together about 50 cars.
My fellow swedish members will initially take another route than me. They are all meeting up in Trelleborg in the south of Sweden to take the night boat to Travemünde. Me, I’m this day driving all the way to Hamburg, where I will visit and pick up my co-driver for the weekend, Oliver.
Today’s route:
Visa större karta
The plan for the day is to drive to Hamburg, going over the ferries as Helsingborg-Helsingör and Rödby-Puttgarden. As much as I like the bridge from Malmö, it’s nice with a little “forced” breaks on the ferries. The ride went without any problems and I stopped in Gränna for some fuel and a short break. Arriving to Puttgarden, Germany, there were very gray clouds in the sky, and it wasn’t the most fun driving. At a few points the rain was extreme and the visibility very low. When off the Autobahn I actually consider to stop driving for a moment, but traffic was anyway going rather slow. After 10 and a half hours I arrive safely to the house of Oliver’s. Enjoying a calm rest of the evening with the rest of Olivers family.
Click on the image bellow to see a few pictures from Day 1. Use the Right and Left arrow keys to navigate through the pictures.
Lördagen den 17:e oktober 2009 tog jag mig till Eriksdalshallen för att titta på årets upplaga av Stockholm Kendo Open, även kallat SKO. Precis som oftast hade jag med mig kameran även denna gång. Här är ett axplock av bilderna jag fick med mig hem. Klicka på bilden nedan för att se övriga bilder.
A couple of weeks ago I visited Team Formsvacka, (swedish for team out-of-shape , during this years edition of Stångebroslaget, (The Battle of Stångebro). Unfortunately I could only stay for the first race during the saturday, hence the lack of pictures from the other races. Admiring all of you that have the strength to do this kind of activity in the “muddy” conditions. Remember last year when it was so dry. What is better or worse is not for me do decide, but as a spectator I think I like the muddy conditions better . I hope all of you TF guys are content with your races.
Please enjoy the pictures in the gallery, just click on the image to open it up.
PS. Don’t be a stranger, please leave a comment.
I’ve moved my images for the 2008 Gotland Grand National enduro event from the old location to here. To view the gallery, click on the image.
I’ve moved my images for the 2008 Stångebro enduro event from the old location to here. To view the gallery, click on the image.
