carbonboy

Frankfurt, Round 2 of 'Name that instrument cluster'. Porsche Museum in Stuttgart. I nearly walked out disappointed, until I found the workshop downstairs...

Next stop, party central. The rental. Silly self-photo. The Maritime Museum etc. Mmm, coffee.....

PHOTOS!!!!! :D Round 1 of 'Name that instrument cluster. The White Stag Inn in Burley, UK where the wedding reception was meant to be. Instead we just had a beer here. A couple from the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, UK.

I didn't think I would, but you can add me to the VW love club. So hawt right now...

P.S - Another reason to love Europe, beer is cheaper here than plain bottled water is in Australia, go figure.

Update! Frankfurt is the pickup/dropoff point for the hire car as I fly out from here. Pretty much the only reason I went to Frankfurt. Got off the train, beat some beggars off (took me 3 Euro to work out they work in groups) & made my way to the hotel. Was still messed up from Amsterdam so just wanted sleep. Next morning, I picked up the hire car...turns out they haven't had BMW's there for over a year. :( But happy enough with the 'equivalent', not saying what it is yet as it will be part 2 of 'name that instrument cluster'. That & no computer access yet, just tapping into peoples wifi using my phone. :wink: Spent the first hour or so just trying to get my head around being on the other side of the car/road, I still have bruised knuckles on my left hand due to smacking the door everytime a gear change was needed. :lol: Due to time, had to make a call between the Porsche Museum & the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart. Ol' Ferdinand won, but only just. Wandered around the whole place trying to find my all time favourite, the 959 Dakar Rally car only to find it was in the workshop, doh! As nice as Porsches are, I'll stay a Toyota fan, much less pretentious bull$h1t. Don't think they liked me much after I asked where the Le Mans cars from the last few years were... Headed back north-ish (GPS is my best friend at the moment, would be screwed without it) to the Hockenheim Race Circuit. My favourite circuit, even after they changed the layout, was kinda surreal to actually be sitting there. There was a trackday on as an added bonus, the older Mercedes Benz SL500's are freaking LOUD! Dachau is on my agenda, especially since I didn't make it into the Ann Frank House. I think for me to be able to fully comprehend the horrors of the War, I need to actually see it. Reading books/watching documentaries just doesn't quite get it across. Cycling...umm, nope. Flogging rental car, yep! :D Off to Cologne tomorrow, TTE headquarters or bust!

What do you get when you combine 4 Canadians, 2 Scotsmen & an Aussie in Amsterdam? One hell of a night that will never be forgotten, sweet FA sleep & a pounding head. As much as I feared that I'd never leave this place, am about to jump on a train to Frankfurt. Actually, after last night, I'm quite content with leaving alive. :)

RE: Amsterdam....before anyone asks, yes, yes I did. ALL OF THE THINGS!!! :wink: Moving along, those who said a car in Amsterdam would be useless were 100% correct. Would've been the biggest waste of time from what I witnessed. Rented a bike & after a few close calls getting used to the chaos (but it works, would fail miserably in Australia) managed to do a full circuit of the main city area & at least get a photo of places where the lines were about an hour long. Did manage to go through the Heineken Brewery tour though, preferred to see a little of a lot of places rather than a lot of one. Prague is sadly off my agenda due to getting the F1 ticket, but Hamburg is now ON the list. Might have to swap some stories when I get back. :) Using wifi on my phone so no pics yet, heading to Frankfurt tomorrow morning (currently 8pm here). Now if you'll excuse me, I'm catching up with a group of Canadians for a Red Light Crawl.

(internet cafe atm, no usb connection, just a keyboard, mouse, screen & a coin slot) Played taxi driver to drop my Aunty & my Cousin off at the local airport, then my Mum & Dad at the ferry terminal. Dropped rental car back at the airport in Southampton & flew out to Amsterdam. The public transport is awesome & I have my ticket to Frankfurt sorted. Checked in at the hotel (I've noticed why my accommodation was so cheap here...) & after grabbing some dinner, took a walk throught the Red Light District. Holy sweet mother of..... #whathasbeenseencannotbeunseen

Currently in Burley in the UK catching up with family who are also over here for the wedding that is no longer happening. When I finally managed to get to the hotel from the airport, I'd been in the country for 5 hours & sitting in traffic for 4 of them...summer holidays coupled with a bank holiday meant gridlocked freeways that make the Monash in Melbourne in peak hour seem like a breeze. On the upside, as I had a spare day I ended up at the the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu. So much awesome! There was also a James Bond exhibition there, if there was a vehicle from a Bond movie, it was there. From the Union Jack parachute to the Aston Martin DBS stunt car (yes, it was trashed but they had a 'before' model next to it). Sadly, as I'm on a borrowed iPad at the moment, I can't upload photos, probably best as I took several hundred of them. Flying out to Amsterdam tomorrow, should be good. P.S - Uncle Shady, when I can upload photos again, I have a game of "Name that instrument cluster" for you. All I'll say for now is its not what I booked, I wouldn't buy one, but am quite happy with it. :wink:

All good for you Tume, for me it's a bit of a hike to get to that part of the countrfy :P But roads like the M1 from Melbourne to Geelong really needs a higher limit, took many a bend in the motorway here at 120 that were sharper than any on the M1. :( Yeah, dash is simple but boring. On the upside, no flashing traction control lights when you give the clutch a workout.

;)

Pics!!! The 1.2 litre engined beast, obviously not the fastest car but is comfortable & handles quite well. St Patrick's Cathedral - Dublin Because sticker-bombing cars has been done before. Doing this speed is legal here. Taking a photo whilst doing so, maybe not so much. Selfy at Blarney Castle.

Drank way too much Guinness last night, methinks I'll stick to Heineken. Traveled down to Blarney today to do the touristy thing of kissing the Blarney Stone, went for a grope as well but it didn't want a bar of it. Continued on down to Cork, where the back roads are awesome but those stone walls are a little close for comfort. Had no luck tracking down the location of a former family owned farm, so up North to Limerick it was. Can't upload photos at the moment as my cameras memory card doesn't want to play ball with the PC, or vice-versa. Will do when I can.

So why not take the next step of avoiding as much body damage as possible, avoiding subjecting the car to borderline mechanical abuse, avoiding massive tyre bills, get traction & go fast instead? I don't understand it, if you're spinning the wheels, you're not going as fast as you could be. I'm not bagging drifting here, so don't involve me in that one. I have no interest in it, therefore I ignore it. P.S - What I would like to see is someone like Lloyd Smith or Matt Harvey in a rally car on a non-tarmac stage.

No matter where in the world, there's xE7x love.

I suppose I'd better update this hey? :wink: The stopover in Dubai was a head-spinner, the airports f*cking huge! It was also 38 degrees Celsius...at 4am. Despite a severe lack of boarding calls, I made it into Dublin alive & well. It was a 45minute wait to be served at the counter to get my hire car, then they tried to give me a new Nissan Micra.....I requested the 2 year old Opel Corsa instead. :lol: Not sure what I'm falling in love with the most here, the buildings, the countryside or the women. The 120km/h speed limit on the highways might have something to do with it too. AUSTRALIA NEEDS THIS!!! P.S - Saw an Astra rebadged with a Chev badge within an hour of driving around. *facepalm.jpg*

Normal... :laff: Your car's looking awesome man, loving the blue/black & wheel combination.

I think I want excuses as much as I want a kick in the bratwurst.....not at all! :P The 'last-minute-panic' has already started... :lol:

A.....crash course? *winces* A good point, the aim is to keep it on the tarmac, shiny side up & stay the f*ck out of the way of faster cars. :yes:

I had an E7...can I still join up? :) The mirrors look cool, way better than the nasty-cheap things you see on eBay. Electric adjustment is an added bonus!

Slight revision due to confirmation of a ticket to the Sunday of the Belgian GP, Vienna & the trip to the Czech Rep aren't happening. Instead, I've included visits to the Mercedes Benz & Porsche Museums, stopping by Toyota Team Europe & adding Lamborghini into the factory visit-list. Also, a small dilemma....#firstworldproblems...The 'Ring rental race car, I can get a slightly better version (an extra 11bhp, upgraded suspension & 6spd instead of 5spd gearbox) BUT it's only available in LHD. Considering I'll have less than 30 hours (compared to 10+ years in a RHD) driving a LHD car at this point, would I be better off in the slightly lower-spec RHD? The listed Pro-Lap Times they have only show a 5 second difference, worthwhile?

FORE!!! Congratulations Tom & to your partner too. Sounds like you have a busy few months coming up!

Zaklee's are worth it, they have the brass inserts for threads rather than the threads being tapped into the plastic. Handy if you're pulling them off occasionally. Great work on getting the tachometer to function & your final output, especially on a ??? condition engine! That's exactly what I'm looking for right there, please forgive me if it will appear that I've copied everything you've done. :laff: Good luck with your parts chasing! :y: