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Spa trip

noquarternoquarterMember
I was going to tell you about my morning encounter with the police and me contemplating outrunning them. And I was going to tell you about my arrival at the track where Johan greated me with a parking space and a glass of champagne. And about the hospitality suite overlooking Eau Rouge where Group C cars went by in anger. But the events of my track session makes these things seem not that important...

We as a group got a free track session Friday by the arrangers by driving some VIP employees from the sponsoring company and their guests, Richard Mille. So the plan was to get a passenger, drive one lap, new passenger. 3-5 times. So we started doing that.

Here I should mention that every time I go on a track in my own car, I first have long negotiations with myself. Drive carefully. It's not a race. You have 1000km home. You just got it painted. Etc. And I end up promising myself to enjoy it, but to take it easy and of course not race anybody. It's not a race.

I was first in the line for some reason, based on how we parked, so I went on the track first. Had to get used to the track again.

But I'm sure my passengers were not just polite when they said it was an experience. If I had sat next to me at that speed, I would have been freaking scared! When the 3rd passenger got in, there was massive traffic on the track. So I drove slower, did a little overtaking, based on HP, not cornering skills, didn't want to be on or go near the edge. Still, I think they had fun.

After 5 passengers, I was told that we could now drive alone on the track for approx 10 minutes. With no pace car! Hhmmm. So I went out on the track, plenty of traffic, managed to overtake a few, especially after the chicane and down towards Eau Rouge. Hit the apexes pretty good, but kept a safety margin towards the slower drivers.

Then came trouble. A dark blue GT40 overtook me. That's like a red blanket to a bull. I don't like GT40s (sorry, I know they're popular here), primarily because they often outrun Panteras...

So I said to myself, I would not have any of that, I could go as fast as him. My self-agreed caution was out the window. So I set my sight on the GT40.

That wasn't as easy as I had thought. First of all, annoyingly I had nothing on him in straight line acceleration. He was exactly as fast as me (in honesty I was probably a little bit faster, but the elastic band effect of the car exiting a corner first made us equally fast). So I knew I couldn't just accelerate past him, frankly I wouldn't be able to pass him unless he made a mistake. But I would glue myself to his tail lights for sure.

He was fast, but he didn't hit the apexes as well as I did. So he couldn't shake me. We were by far the fastest in the group on the track at time, overtook plenty of cars.

But then it went haywire. We were about even on acceleration, I was better on the racing lines IMHO, but he was better than me on one thing: negotiating traffic. At Double Gauche Pouhon a slower car changed his mind, so my line suddenly was more challenging than I had traction to handle. I'm not sure what speed we were at there, probably 100km/h+, but the rear end stepped out.

I've had the rear end step out on many a musclecar earlier, always caught it pretty easy. Not this time. I corrected it, but as soon as the rear tires regained traction, they bit so hard the rear end stepped out to the other side. And that happened again, so I was fishtailing at speed with smoke from the wheels. All this happened while I had left the beaten track and was on the run-off area, nearing the tire wall.

Thankfully they had listened to Jacque Villeneuve who always advocated tarmac on the runoff areas, not gravel. So I was on the black stuff, and had a little control. The small corrections I made were all to keep me off the wall. In the end I spun 180 degrees, and came to a stand still. Tire smoke all around me. 5 meters to the wall. Marshalls running towards me. Engine had stalled, so I started it, turned it around, and entered the track again, looking to catch that GT40. Which of course I never did...

So no damage to my car. Could have been quite different. Annoying I wasn't able to catch the rear end. Stephane Bergeron was nice enough to tell me that tires and the slow gearing of the steering could be the reason. It was like riding a bull for a second or two.

I think it was quite spectacular, maybe we'll see it on youtube from people's in car cameras. One guy that drove behind me came up to me and said that he almost had a heart attack. Many smiled at me...

So what have I learned? Well, I can't trust myself and what I've agreed with myself. And that a good Pantera can play with GT40s. And that I need more practice in negotiating traffic...

Another track session is ón Sunday, this time probably in the rain...
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M marsredMember
quote:
well there may be a lesson in here somewhere for us all.


Poor Impulse Control? Smiler Just kidding. Reminds me of myself on skis.

Great story. Sounds like Sunday could be even more fun.

I've spun mine out once under hard acceleration, and I agree that it happens lightening quick. I couldn't catch mine. Glad to hear there was no damage.
M mikedrewMember
All other things being equal, a GT40 replica will weigh about 1000 lbs less than a Pantera. Or, roughly 1/3 less. That is a BIG difference! A well-driven GT40 will therefore run away and hide from an equally well-driven Pantera, again, assuming similar tires, overall level of preparation etc.

The fact that you could stay with him speaks highly of your car and your talents (or, perhaps speaks poorly for his car and his talents, either way....)

I'm glad things ended with a benign, albeit spectacular-looking spin, rather than something more violent. Remember that Patrick Hals got seriously crossed up in the Candy Car at Spa a few years ago when he got the Radillion all wrong and wound up banging both sides of the car into the walls...
markcharltonmarkcharltonOld enough to know better and still young enough not to care. My '71 Pantera
Mikael,

Like Mike said, that you could keep up with the GT40 speaks volumes of your car and skill level. I can say with confidence that neither my stock, nor my modified Panteras are a match for my GT40 in either acceleration or handling, so you did very well. Losing the back end of a Pantera at that speed must have been beyond scary. So glad it was just an awesome story and not a sad epitaph for either you or your car.

I'm pretty sure that you can achieve a similarly pant-moistening experience in the GT40. I am way too chicken (and know my skills are weak) to try. Kudos to you for having the skills AND luck needed to survive that unscathed!

Mark
noquarternoquarterMember
So, back to day 1. Thursday. I left home around 10 am, planning to reach the Dutch border around 5 pm, and then relax at a hotel. But after 3 hours of constant rain, and the weather forecast for Friday a lot better, I went off the highway early, looking for a hotel. I had to look at a few, because I’m quite picky, especially about parking. That’s one of the advantages on Charlie’s trips, he’s always thinking about our parking situation. The fourth hotel was fine, so I got a room, a schnitzel and a beer. I checked the forums. And went to sleep.

Day 2. On the road, just got on the highway. I was cruising at 130km/h, no more until the engine oil heated up. I was overtaking a row of 4 trucks when an annoying Touareg filled my mirror. Normally on German highways the traffic morale is very good, the fast going cars don’t go too near (unlike in Denmark), so it was the first time on this trip it happened. I gently showed him my brake lights. No change. OK. I continued with my pace, turned into the right lane after overtaking the trucks, and as he passed I gestured to him what I thought of his driving. That’s something I very rarely do, especially since years have matured me, but that day it seemed like a good idea. But then he showed me something even better. Just like at poker when you think you have the best hand, and then you don’t. He took his blue flasher unit from the dash and waved it in the right window so I could see he was an undercover traffic cop. Hhmmm, not good. And then he pointed to the exit advertised 2 km later, making it clear I should exit. Double-hhmmm.

Damage control. So what were my options. A) was to do what he told me, I’m sure I would hear harsh words. But could he impound the car? Keep me there for a day? I hadn’t done (much) illegal, but I must have pissed him off. I was ready to apologize for my gesture, it was a bit childish, but I was going to tell him my view of his driving for sure, regardless of the consequences. Wonder why? See the movie Dogville… Option B) was when he left the highway, I would just drive on. Play stupid. And then floor it. And then I came to think about option C). Why not just outrun him? Haven’t we all had the immature dream of outrunning the police? I had the weapon to do it. I had a no-speed-limit highway with good driving conditions and not much traffic in front of me. So if ever there was a possibility to do this, it was now. Should I? Why not?!

Well, then the bonus pater took over. This was not worth getting myself deeper into trouble over. I chose option A), following him off the highway. When the Ausfahrt came, we entered the right lane, but just when we were both committed to turning off, he made an illegal move and reentered the highway. I could have done the same, but chose the legal “get away from this jerk” move and exited the highway. Why did he do that? Just to annoy me I guess. Genuine 100% certifiable prick with a badge!

My pulse went back down and I entered Holland. I was going to Galleria Brummen where they have 150+ classic cars for sale. A nice place with a great building, salesmen in suits, that come up to you to help if you want and leave you alone if you want. Last time I was here was on the way to pick up my current Pantera. Now I was driving it!

BTW, forgive me didn't bring my good camera

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noquarternoquarterMember
Then it was time to drive to Spa. 2 hours IIRC. I got to the entrance, I had no tickets. The Bergerons had not arrived yet, but the EAP organizer and very nice guy Johan came out to me in his M5, and gave me tickets. We drove in, he showed me the EAP reserved parking with one Pantera and lots of Ferraris. And we went to Hospitality Suite 5 overlooking the track, where I was welcomed with a glass of champagne. That’s the way to visit the tracks! Also free chips, candy, wine, soda, lunch, Saturday night dinner. Great arrangement.

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noquarternoquarterMember
The racing was going on, training and qualifying. Group C’s in anger down the straight outside our windows, champagne glass in hand…

Soon it was time for the track session. That’s been described earlier, but I’d like to add that my Pantera behaved perfectly. No overheating, no brake fade, no lack of power at any time. In fact I didn’t use a tool on the whole trip, just added half a liter of Royal Purple and fiddled with brake light wires to clear up a bad connection the day after. I did have to use tools when I got home, but more on that later.

After the track session where we had given these people a track experience, we had one more task to do. We should pick up one person from the hotel just outside and drive them to their restaurant. So we did. I got a Dane in my car, he was invited by the sponsor Richard Mille. An ok guy, owned an Alfa, so did appreciate our cars. Most of the 25 kms were in woods and mountains, uneventful, just talking cars. He took notes in a little book. But when I saw that I had gotten a little behind and a straight opened up, I put it in 2nd and floored it. Without warning him. He laughed heartily for a while after.

We left them at their restaurant, and had to find our hotel. The Bergerons, Philippe (Porsche 911 track car, is building Group 4 replica) and I. I was the one with a GPS, so I led the way. We got to the wonderful hotel in Verviers, whose parking lot always is full of interesting cars. Two years ago DeTomaso was the celebrated mark at Spa, this year it was TVR, so plenty of those. Dinner and to bed

Day 3, Saturday. Being a morning guy, I stood up, washed the car, fixed the brake light, and drove to the track. I entered the hospitality suite, where we on Sat and Sun had a nice hostess. Since I was the only one there, we talked a bit. She said she was studying to be a translator and wanted to learn Danish. I thought to myself, she must be hitting on me; nobody in their right mind wants to learn Danish! But then I thought that no cute 22 year old in her right mind would be hitting on me, so it was probably the Danish language she was after. And it was…

I spent most of that day walking around on the inside of the track. To Les Combes where you can’t get very close but there’s an abandoned bridge where you can stand and see the cars from behind as they race towards Les Combes. Wish I had been here when Hakkinen overtook Schumacher on that straight, with a backmarker in the middle of the track, the best "move" in racing history IMO.

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noquarternoquarterMember
Best view was at the double apex lefthander where I had my off the previous day. Hills you can climb to get a really good view. I was looking for my tire marks from the day before. I think I found them (there were plenty, I was not the first), and they were approx. 400 feet long, including the start where I just tried to regain control. Until now I’ve not seen any pictures of my off, nor youtube. I’d like to. Or a picture of me and the GT40 racing down the straight, side by side, my front wheels besides his rear wheels. No luck yet.

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noquarternoquarterMember
Got a mail from Michéle Bergeron that it was aperitif time. I should say that they took very good care of me. Even though everybody else spoke French and I didn’t. Some spoke English, and they were very nice to both keep me informed, and also just shoot the breeze. Some of the French people were no better at English that I was at French, so our” conversations” were probably quite fun to overhear. More champagne.

It was time for the Bonhams auction. Around 50 classic cars, all levels. I went there just to experience it. And made sure not to wave my arms… One Pantera for sale, an often raced factory Group 3. Sold for €80k. A Miura factory rebuilt and “endorsed” by Balboni went for €500k. And a Ferrari for €730k. This must be the closest I’ve been to rich people…

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noquarternoquarterMember
Watched some more racing from the hospitality suite, further helping the young hostess with her Danish pronunciations. Then it was time for the gala dinner at the Restaurant a few meters from Eau Rouge. (Just a word about Eau Rouge. You cannot imagine the change of elevation until you get here. It’s fabulous. And it’s a corner I admit I don’t think I ever got right. I think I can go through much faster because the car is glued to the asphalt, but I just don’t dare. Best corner in the world IMO). Very nice arrangement, with great dinner, live music, dancing girls (who insisted on having their picture taken with me).

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noquarternoquarterMember
Famous people there. Definitely the place to be Saturday evening. I saw some great classic racing pictures, one I like special was showing a Lola from the rear being fueled and the background was the straight and Eau Rouge (back when there was no concrete wall to separate the pits from the track). I wanted to buy a copy, I thought €50 in a pipe so I could frame it when I got home. Nope. It said limited edition, €1300! I should have taken a picture of it.

Entertainment with Frank Sinatra-like singer and dancing girls.

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noquarternoquarterMember
Day 4, Sunday. Shitty weather. Cold, rain and fog. Settled the hotel bill, drove to the track. New hostess, called herself Joy. Not interested in Danish language. But we talked politely. She wasn’t sure what was expected of her. I told her what the hostess yesterday had done, serving champagne, keeping chips bowl full, arranging lunch. No big deal. She said she could handle that. And I mentioned the 2pm striptease that she would have to do. She looked worried for a second, then laughed, she wasn’t sure she would do that, she said…

I looked at the race for a few hours, in the rain. These cars didn’t back off, they went by fast. I saw two Group C-like cars, same color and shape, race down towards Eau Rouge, the second car was so close it had the front end in under the rear spoiler of the car in front. And the spray made it hard to see anything. Brave guys.

I had track time later, but the parade cars on track that day were all with a pace car in front that (probably quite sensibly) drove very slowly, so I decided to skip it and go home. The forecast said I would have rain all the way, 960 km.
noquarternoquarterMember
I left at noon, and the first part was in fog and with a windshield that wouldn’t clear (I have no heater). Not fun. Soon it became better, all in all I “only” had rain 2/3 of the way. Stopped twice for gas, and once for Burgerking. Since there was all that rain and I had had my fun racing I never got over 150 and most of the time I drove 120-130. 960 km took around 9-10 hours. With no heater. And I’ve turned on and off the wipers at least a hundred times. The car felt like it was losing a bit of power…? Or was I just getting too sensitive? It didn’t feel 100% right. When I got home I looked at my vacuum gauge at idle, yes all over the place. Hhmmm? Why? Had no energy to check, would look at it Monday.

Monday. Pulled the plugs. Two were quite black, looked in my book on plug reading (sorry for the advertisement). That’s a problem with these semi-race engines, they’re set up rich and use race plugs. And a whole day of low rpm top gear driving had produced a misfire. Cleaned the plugs. I also did a compression test. Not that I thought anything serious was wrong, but the plugs were out, why not do it, and if something more serious was wrong, I could clean plugs and tune for hours without it helping one bit. Compression was good. I put the plugs in, started it, adjusted it according to my book (sorry), and problem was gone, a nice four-corner idle at 900 rpm, the best that’s possible with that kind of cam I think. All that‘s needed now is to clean it, that’ll take some hours tomorrow.

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noquarternoquarterMember
Final comment on Spa Classic. How was it? Simply great. Up there with Le Mans Classic. Of course Le Mans is…Le Mans, it’s special. But the Spa track is better, and while Le Mans is getting too big and crowded in a way, only the real enthusiasts come to Spa Classic. A track full of maybe 20 Austin Healys slowly crusing down Mulsanne while wify films hubby, that's not seen at Spa. And it’s more fun to see the cars every 2 minutes instead of every 4 minutes. Not my last Spa Classic…

A great Merci to Michéle, Stephane and Johan
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markcharltonmarkcharltonOld enough to know better and still young enough not to care. My '71 Pantera
Mikeal,

You are a good story-teller. I felt as though I was along for the long, cold, wet ride. I'd have loved to see the look on "Joy's" face when you told her about the 2:00 striptease! I definitely would have preferred viewing from the bridge your "spin" instead of being in either seat of your Pantera. Great adventure. Next time bring a proper camera! Big Grin

Mark
1973ufo1973ufoTeam Pantera Participant at Sandhills Open Road Race - August 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, & 2013
Kudos to you Mikael on your most excellent description of your Spa adventure. It kept me glued in front of my monitor until I had finished the entire story. BTW, I had to really concentrate hard on that picture with you & the two beautiful girls in order to actually see YOU!! Big Grin I know it was a dark & dirty job....
but somebody had to do it.....right??

Bob
garth66garth66"When speed is the only thing that counts"
Great write-up Mikael! Thanks for sharing. I'm very glad your racetrack adventure had a happy ending - I was nervous reading it sensing that imminent tragedy was just around the corner.

What ignition are you running on your Pantera? Would an electronic ignition mitigated the fouled plugs?
noquarternoquarterMember
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K
I've been awaiting the pro pictures. Well this time the guy stood at top of Eau Rouge, and since we had to enter the pits along the straight every time with the passengers, we didn't go through Eau Rouge until the free session, and then the camera man apparently couldn't be bothered to take any more pictures. So not a single decent picture from the track, only these two of me entering the track after Eau Rouge Frowner

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noquarternoquarterMember
Merci Beaucoup Philippe.
I look forward to you building the Pantera you talked about, will be awesome.

BTW, sat and saw Indianapolis 500 delayed. Lot of guys there that couldn't catch the rear end when it starting sliding. They caught it, but then it slid to the other side and ended in a spin. Exactly like me! Feel a little better now... Wink
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