carbonboy

Up to much early-this-Saturday? ;) Nice work guys! :y: Crud...solving the mysteries of other peoples attempts at wiring. As above the offer's there, haven't played with a Corolla in a while, supervision could be a good thing. :P

More from Pagani, Rollaclub represent!

Some in cars that probably shouldn't be put through it. Will be fun! :laff:

Not me, but sweet!

Just picked the one who'd have the better morning breath. :D I passed out shortly after logging off last night, woke up about an hour ago. Body clock realignment can be fun. More pics from the National Motor Museum in the UK because it deserves more, so much wow.

100 Euro for twenty minutes, great value & no strings attached... I want the red one... Ask & ye' shall deliver. Might want to re-think the company slogan...

Maybe you do, maybe you don't... Narrows down the manufacturer, I couldn't let this one be too easy. :P Hence the stupid grin on my face & trying to hide the wet patch on the front of my jeans... Random troll at the Lamborghini Museum. Car theft fail. This man speaks the truth, assertive is the perfect choice of word. I saw one person in an Italian plated car use their indicator, pretty sure it was a tourist in a rental. This man also speaks the truth, Melburnians & Italians drive similarly. Except it works in Italy & much less aggression. :lolcry: :yak: Not sure if I'm going to kill my chances of GFOS photos here, but... ;) Had a go at the karts here too, propane powered beasts. Repping Rollaclub, epic keybangers. Being 'adopted' at Spa. Being told to piss off from Spa. Random Lambo's. Dat ass.. Because I'm an idiot. Because racecar. Will it fit in my...don't care, make it!

The hire car has been returned & signed off as ´undamaged´. Fortunately they didnt notice the slight misalignment of the front bumper lip from where I overcooked a bend in Switzerland & buried the front end in an embankment. It was fun digging out the grass/ dirt & mounting it back on on the side of the road. Nor did they noticed the slightly kerbed front passenger hubcap from an over enthusiastic parking manouver in Maranello or the marks on the dash from me scrubbing the duct tape residue off (was holding the stupid, cheap camera mount on). They´ve refunded my deposit & realeased me off liability, not my problem anymore! :laff: At Franfurt awaiting my flight, long haul home here we come!

Left Maranello at about 7pm, really bad fog on the way through Austria so spent about 90mins at a rest area waiting for it to clear a bit. Got into Nurnberg at about 3am, pretty much the same as doing Melbourne to Adelaide except you can't legally do 200km/h...in the rain. :blush: I took shadys advice re: driving in Italy & wow, throwing away any regard for road courtesy has never been so much fun! Must remember to change this once I get home... :laff: Headed for Kronenburg in the morning, making a detour back to Nurburg to see if I could have another go in the Suzuki. Arrived to discover that there was a 24hr ride/run on at the 'Ring & no drives would be possible until the 3rd. Looked into extending my stay by a day, but would've been an expensive logistical nightmare, so not to be. Bugger, oh well, I tried. Headed to Spa yesterday morning for the F1 Grand Prix. Oh the sound....dear lord the sound! Was wearing an Aussie flag as a cape & ended up being 'adopted' by some Poms as their Aussie friend couldn't get his passport in time, so I was him by proxy. :) Had fun post-race sitting on the track at Eau-Rouge drinking beer & discussing our mutual dislike for Vettel & Hamilton, until security told us to . When I upload the photo of the security guard & his friend, you'll see why there were no arguements from us! :yes: The downside was that I was made to exit the circuit near turn 1, my car was parked on the road about 2kms from the entrance near turn 11/12 & could not cut back through the circuit. T'was a bit of a hike along the roads around the circuit, legs are a tad sore today! Returning the hire car today & flying out of Frankfurt at 10pm tonight (local time), I must remember to stop by the Old Jewish Cemetery while I'm there. Have had THE best time of my life & don't want to go home. :( But, just as every saga has a beginning, it also has an end. I think I've done better than Star Wars Episode:1. :wink:

The answer (& more pics) will have to wait until I arrive home as stuck with phone/wifi. I didn't want this round to be easy! :wink: So, while in the area, I tracked down the Pagani factory. Sadly, when I arrived in the morning they told me a factory tour would not be possible as they were closing for the day. The receptionist must've let me into the showroom for 10 minutes because she'd never seen a grown man cry. Once inside...multiple orgasms were had & no, the receptionist was not involved. Didn't need to be. Next up was the Lamborghini factory/museum, like the Porsche museum they do enforce the 'DO NOT TOUCH' rule & ejected an entire family as their teenage son could not comprehend this concept. This MMH, I know it's a little pedantic but it $h1ts me to tears when people disregard the signs & leave grubby handprints over pieces of automotive history/very expensive pieces of hardware that don't belong to them. :) Lastly (for a reason) was the Ferrari Museum, mmm...shiny red Fiats :P Got blank looks from the staff when I asked why there was no FF-X on display, trolling fail. So much awesome here though. While here, took a 430 for a spin, 20mins for 100 Euro?!? Here, take the money & gimme gimme! Chances of me being allowed to/able to afford to in Oz? Zero. Unlike the 'ring, have the dvd of this one. :D

Just a quick one as I have to keep moving, Bonus Round of 'Name that instrument cluster'.

Took these for you philbey, the woman driving was even hotter! :)

Just a giant dished mirror in a fountain...mmm...dish... ;) My experience in Nice was a positive one, one minute I'm drinking beers at the hotel bar. Nek minnut, waking up next to the French barmaid, never underestimate the novelty factor of being a tourist! Monte Carlo at night. The carparks aren't bad either. Drove the route of the Monte Carlo Rallye. Much respect to the people who compete in this not for what position they finish in, but simply for making it alive! These hate me so much right now. This is not just a monument, but apparently the local toilet judging by the amount of paper & 'deposits' laying around. I'm not religious, but even I wouldn't take a dump at a place like this. After passing through the tollpoint coming into Modena/Maranello, got waved over by the local cops. Fortunately, just a simple drivers permit & vehicle papers check. All was in order, except being rather tired, I think I said thankyou in French rather than Italian... :oops: Edit: One more from the 'Ring.

Another from San Bernadino, hard to get photos of the road but will upload the video when I can. The main straight at Monza. Next stop, Monte Carlo.

Finally have internet access again, the wifi at the hotel near Nice was an absolute joke, I could send updates via carrier pigeon faster. REALLY missing my Corolla, I wouldve given an organ, ANY organ for a slightly smaller car as the roads arent exactly wide. Because race car. Fapfapfapfapfap..... Pick an 86, any 86... Shit yeah! Sleeping Beauty Castle in Schwangau. Stelvio Pass, as scary as it is beautiful. The top of the San Bernadino Pass.

As it's late & I'm completely stuffed, I'll just leave this here.... Not a bad place to stop for lunch at all.

That could have something to do with it, though not sure if anyone really 'won', the war just ended as I see it. :( I find it rather saddening that so much technological development/breakthroughs came about from humans inability to just leave each other the fcuk alone. From what I've seen, there's two types of German women. The 'is that a man?' type & the 'ZOMGWTFBBQ I want to marry her & have babies' type. Sadly, more of the former rather than the latter so far. :laff:

Edit: Triple post, dafuq?

Things didn't quite go to plan yesterday. After a quick photo session at the Nurburgring, I headed off on a 550-ish kilometre trip south-east towards Dachau/Munich. Being summer, there were roadworks & banked up traffic on ALL the major roads so was held up by a few hours. Had to make call between an oversized clock (the Glockenspiel) or one of the biggest pieces of WW2 history.... Despite the camp being closed, it was still a very humbling experience walking around the memorial site in Dachau. Germans aren't proud of some of their history, but they accept that it happened & feel remorse for it (unlike some Australians). Continued on to Schwangau, such a beautiful place! Scenery isn't usually my thing, but wow, had an amazing view to wake up to this morning. Breakfast for me used to consist of a coffee & a cigarette but when you're in a country where they don't hold back on the amount & variety available...might be coming back a few kilos heavier! :lol: Half the time I can't name what I'm eating, tastes good so not fussed! Heading up to Neuschwanstein Castle for a few photos once I finish gorging myself, then on to Stelvio & San Bernadino! :D

Edit: Double post, web connection timeout :( Ahhkay, I understand. :) My intent is not to be rubbing anything in, this is still kinda surreal to me. Almost afraid I'm going to wake up in the morning & find that none of this ever happened. :blush:

....??

Ladies & gentlemen, we have a winner! I'll have to send you your prize when I get back. :y: (back to phone & wifi, so no photos yet) Small confession: I'd never driven a car with semi-slicks & I'd never driven on a racetrack before. Just to add to the fun, when I arrived in Nurburg, it was pi$$ing down rain. This wasn't just jumping in the deep end, this was a coffin drop with a runup. Then again, what better way to learn? I had four laps booked, the first two were very wet so it was do one lap, take a break, do another & rest again. Each time I got out of the car I was shaking like a leaf, probably half fear, half excitement. The next two I did in succession as most of the track had dried out a fair bit, so was actually able to push it a little. For anyone who might be curious, going by the dash clock my laptimes were about 15-16 minutes in the wet & about 11-12 minutes in the dry-ish conditions. Had several (okay, many) 'OH FCUK' moments but managed to return the car in one piece & undamaged. Nor did I over rev the engine according to their data-logger, which was good as it cost 150 Euros for every 200rpm you went over their stipulated limit. Two important things: Gran Turismo/Forza etc are useful for learning the general track layout, that's it. Laptimes, corner speeds etc are completely irrelevant. Second, anyone who thinks nothing is better than sex needs to get out more. I don't care if it's a room full of Playboy bunnies, chains, leather straps, melted chocolate & whipped cream, it simply pales in comparison to the pleasure I got out of today. I'd hoped to grab a taxi-lap after my laps so I could film it, but the track closed after my last lap. Sadly, the one place that hires out video cameras was closed today (yes, they were still checking for personal cameras & I saw a guy in a GT3 get booted off for having one), seriously pi$$ed off! Even more so when I was chatting to a guy who parked next to me afterwards & discovered he worked for RaceLogic & could've rented me one. Will be checking out few 'Ring photographers websites to see if there's any pics of me, if so, will order all of them! :) The driving academy here has a whole fleet of GT86's as well as a a special exhibition that required a pass to get into. Luckily, a kind hearted security guard saw me drooling from a distance, decided that the Toyota F1 jacket I was wearing would suffice & let me in (after checking that noone else was around). I have some photos that make up for not being able to get into TTE. :D If I believed in heaven, today I died & went to it.

I did have time, but was pretty buggered by this point so just did a walk around, took heaps of photos & took off. Was disappointed to not be allowed into TTE, but yeah, I get why. Seriously jealous of you now, cheers for digging some pics up! :y: *ding ding* 2012 Peugeot 208, which has quite possibly the worlds smallest factory turbo. :lol: However, it was really nice to drive & had USB connectivity so I could plug my phone in & listen to my music instead of the local radio stations. I managed to go god-knows how long in Australia without hearing that Call Me Maybe song, start the car & guess what was on the radio? Scared the living bejeezus out of me. I'll let you keep working on the second one, as a hint it's niether Audi or Skoda. One more shot from the Kart Centre, I reckon I could make it fit in my Corolla. Just gotta work out how to fit it in my suitcase... :hmm: Another of Cologne Cathedral.

From Stuttgart, continued onwards as I needed some time to meditate. I don't grow up, I just get older. Made it to my hotel somewhere on the side of the autobahn & crashed out. This morning (loving German breakfasts by the way) I headed north to TTE Headquarters in Cologne & although I wasn't allowed inside, the security guard was nice enough to take a photo for me. Still in Cologne, went to the best go-kart centre ever, a 600m indoor track & a 710m outdoor track. Got one shot at the outdoor before it was booked out, best lap of 55.28 seconds. Glad I went karting today, am very sore & have several bruises from tagging the wall at the end of the back straight (you can take it flat, but takes a few laps). Never thought I'd want a seatbelt in a go-kart until today. Hey coln72, you don't happen to recall your laptime do you? You probably went faster than me, just curious. ;) Cologne Cathedral, I see why this took so long to build. The amount of hand-carved detail is mind boggling. This brings us up to date photo-wise, heading south to Nurburg tomorrow. Oh, I had my first butt-puckering moment on the autobahn today! I was in the left lane doing about 190km/h (160 is a actually a really nice cruising speed) when a Seat Leon pulled out in front of me going much, much slower. On the picks HARD, slight tyre screeching then the ABS kicked in & did it's thing, followed by a torrent of abuse from me towards the Seat. Made a mental note to never be that person.