Spa Italia 2011

Hello All,

As a Belgian De Tomaso enthousiast, please let me know if I can be of any assistance to you.

I'll be happy to help you out.

Thanks - I may take you up on your offer looking to ask your opinion of some of the activities planned to see if you have been there, have heard if they are worthwhile, etc.

Will you be going to Spa for the weekend? Our itinerary will be taking us about 2 hours from your home - you are more than welcome to stop by for a beer and say hi, check out the cars and people..

No problem, let me know what you want to know and i'll look it up.

I'll be the whole weekend on the spa circuit.

I'm planning to stay in my motorhome and invite some friends to join me for some track time in my race pantera which hopefully will be ready by then.

btw the circuit is just 50 minutes from my home (30 in a Pantera I estimate)

Alfa4fun is rather " new " to the DT community, however he alrealdy is deeply addicted and knowledgeable... Ask me why ? He is into racing a GR4 ( may be 2.... ) and we happily met with Kid ( another victim of the DT mania ... poor thing ! ) in Brussels a couple of months ago. I don't more feel left alone !
Belgium is more united when it comes to Panteras than when it comes to politics, luckily ! ( and more intelligently )
Myself, I modestly contribute as a "technical" adviser to Spa Italia ( www.spaitalia.be) with Jean Pierre Magalhaes, the event's owner, on a voluntary basis, and, believe me, it is an honor, as there are no DT clubs in Belgium ! Did you know that since I bought my first Pantera from Phil Stebbings in UK in 2005 ( maybe 2004 ) the local disease has grown, and lately, I have transmitted it successfully to others ! There are now 4 real GR4 owners in Belgium ( which is a microscopic country ! )
out of the 13 in existence
So, join us in Spa Italia on June 4 and 5, there will be A LOT OF FUN + a lot of unusual cars ( Formula 1, Proto's, GR3's, GR4's, GR5 ( the only real ex GR4 now GR5 left !since " Candy 2862) was put back in GR4 trim ...) and so on )
Charles McCall is doing a tremendous ( and timeconsuming) job in organizing his visit up here, and Alfa4fun, Jean Pierre and myself will do the utmost to support his initiative , together with the French Pantera Connection Club from Michele and Stephane Bergeron ! We will have a special welcome from our Scandinavian friends who have to travel a very long way. Let's meet alltogether at the Gala dinner on Saturday night on the Spa Formula One race track. Jean Pierre is organizing a special shuttle for those who don't want to drive under influence ( what a beautiful, politically correct , sentence !)
For those who don't get what I mean, refer to Berlitz please, or Google translator)
Let's CELEBRATE the Pantera's 40th Birthday with the glamour, pride and fun it deserves, with a huge " Hurray"
Patrick

There has been a lot of e-mail traffic over the past few days, and I thought I'd send out a general note to let everyone know that the Spa
Italia event is turning into quite the mega-meeting.

For those sleeping in class again, a description of the weekend may be found
here: www.spaitalia.be <http://www.spaitalia.be/> .

Together with Tomas Gunnarsson, we reserved a block of 42 rooms at the hotel for the weekend, 15 minutes from the event and Spa track. All 42
rooms have been assigned and I have 5 cars on a waiting list. (Note that the Swedes have until roughly the end of February to sign up, and
if they don't use their allotment of rooms then we may be able to asign one or two to the people on the waiting list).

Through the grapevine I know of roughly 8 DeTomaso cars that have reserved directly with the hotel. So we have 50 known DeTomasos in our hotel.

The hotel has 100+ rooms, and is completely booked. It would be entirely reasonable to assume that at least some of the other 50
reservations were made by Detomaso owners. And this hotel is just one of several in the area, so the potential number of cars in attendance is possibly the largest concentration that this reporter has ever seen!

The pre-Spa tour is roughly 2/3 full but could use some more participants after some cancellations. There will be two Mangeese attending - one completely stock and one as far from stock as could be.

Information regarding the pre-Spa tour and the Spa Italia event may be foundhere:
http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/g2_itemId=28686

See you in Belgium!

I agree with Charles, the event seems like it is going to be a huge success.
More than 35 cars are already listed on the sole Spa Italia listing as of today.
I don't know of course, if all the applicants for the Tour have already applied for their cars on the Spa Italia event.? If not, that could possibly mean that already 85 cars are announced ! ! !
I expect 5 or 6 real GR4 cars to be present together on the track, which has never been seen ! The British owned DT Formula One is confirmed too. Some protos are expected...
Jean Pierre, the organizer, has informed me 5 minutes ago that he had secured a shuttle bus from the hotels to the track for the gala dinner on Saturday ( cost of 10 euros per person back and forth)
That will allow all the party animals like Roland and the French connection to celebrate with dignity and without restriction !
BUT we must coordinate better ! May I ask the participants to make sure their car is listed with the Spa Italia event. Charles states there will be two Mangooses, but only one ( from Great Britain apparently ) is listed with Spa Italia.
Gentlemen ( and ladies ) please identify yourselves !
Thanks
Patrick

I've been somewhat late (busy, busy), and actually forgot taking care of things, but only a couple of minutes ago, I got a confirmation of my reservation at Hotel Verviers! I went for a suite - actually, needed to, as nothing else was available

The case is that I half of the time stay in Hotels, but never need to make reservations that far in advance, and so almost forgot about it Now at least I can spend the weekend in the same hotel where most DT enthusiasts/owners will stay

quote:

Originally posted by Candy2862:
I agree with Charles, the event seems like it is going to be a huge success.
More than 35 cars are already listed on the sole Spa Italia listing as of today.

Guess the Spa site is not yet up-to-date, as I only count 21 applications so far. Still need to take care of my own...

I suspect that many people haven't yet signed up on the Spa Italia site. Based on experience trying to organize things for the European DeTomaso owners in the past, they are a really nice bunch but not really very organized ;-)

Kid - I sent you a PM. It would appear that thanks to Pat Hals, we have some extra rooms available if you would prefer a "normal" room instead of a suite.

I have been rather surprised to find limited hotel availability in Belgium in May/June. I reserved the Verviers hotel back in January, anticipating problems finding a hotel for 40 cars. I have read that availability can be a problem in Spa for F1 weekends or any other type of event, so I began planning really early just to be sure. Even so, some of my first choice hotels for the pre-Spa tour were partially booked, despite looking 6 months in advance!!

Charlie,

Any room, of whatever kind, will not longer be normal once I occupy it...

Hotels the size of the Verviers hotel are pretty rare in the French part of our little country. Except for that, it is a holiday weekend in Belgium then - no school from June 2 on, so many people plan a long weekend.

Kid,
Will your toy be ready ?
Pat

quote:

Originally posted by Candy2862:
Kid,
Will your toy be ready ?
Pat

Depends on your definition of "ready"

Still need to get it legally on the road, but that should just be a "detail"

Really ready it will only be after the future planned full restoration - something which I hope will happen in about a two years from now.

Am really looking forward to the Spa event

Hello Kid, car is ready now, but as You, have not legalised it yet, planning on going to Spa for sure

As to my knowledge, there will be 6 members from the Norwegian club going with the Swedes. There will be 3 cars from here I guess, (4 if I manage to get mine registered in time).

quote:

Originally posted by suburb:
Hello Kid, car is ready now, but as You, have not legalised it yet, planning on going to Spa for sure

I'll have to check it out then

Will pm you once I have some spare time...

I will go there just for one day and take my other DeTomaso ;-)

Last call!

Hi all!

As of this writing, there are over 60 DeTomaso cars confirmed at our hotel alone for the Spa Italia weekend that I know of. We will have attendees from Spain, USA, France, Denmark, England, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium – an even 10 countries. The 100 room hotel is full – I don’t know who has the other 40 rooms, but it would be reasonable to assume that at least a few of them will be driving noisy cars from Modena! There are a few important messages to pass along to everyone:


1) The organizers of the Spa Italia event have made their block of rooms at our hotel available for DeTomaso owners (which was really nice of them – we wouldn’t have all fit with the 42 rooms we originally booked). However, they will be releasing any unclaimed rooms TOMORROW, MARCH 1. If you know someone who was thinking of attending, we can only guarantee them a room at Spa up to tomorrow – after that it will be up to fate. There has been tremendous interest in this event, so I would not expect the extra rooms to stay around for long. If they were thinking of attending, they need to let me know by tomorrow or I can’t promise anything.

2) The organizers also commented that the number of people signed up for the Spa Italia event is considerably fewer than the number of people that have reserved hotel rooms! Tomorrow, March 1, prices go up for registration for the event as well. Just in case there is any doubt, if you are receiving this e-mail it is because I have reserved a room at the hotel in your name. However, you must sign up for the actual event, either by filling out the registration forms on-line or downloading the forms and faxing them in. A good place to start to find the registration forms is here: http://www.spaitalia.be/en/registration.html. The form may also be downloaded here: http://www.poca.com/index.php/...ery/?g2_itemId=28648. If you have any questions, let me know, but you are on your own to sign up for the event!
3) There is still room available on the pre-Spa tour if someone is so interested. We have roughly 12 cars signed up to date – I will be releasing unused rooms in the next few weeks. Details may be downloaded here if you haven’t seen it yet: http://www.poca.com/index.php/...ery/?g2_itemId=28686

Reserve now before it's too late!

Hi Charlie,

thanks for the heads up. However are you sure about the deadline for the early registration being the 1st of March? Unless I am not being observant enough, on all the registration forms it says that they can be used until the 1st of April, not March. I haven't really been able to see where it says that prices change after the 1st of March. This would also explain why not everyone has signed up yet. I tried to ring Spa Italia to find out, but only got the answering machine.

Cheers, Tim.

Hi Charlie,
now I have looked a bit more thoroughly, and you are right. If one wants to use the special De Tomaso package, the deadline is indeed today ( http://www.spaitalia.be/all/do...tion11_DT_2011_3.pdf ). However if one wants to register for things seperately, which are the links you refer to in your message above, the deadline for the 'early bird' fee seems to be 1st of April.
Cheers, Tim.

Hi all,
I will ask Jean Pierre to confirm this.
Don't forget to register for the gala dinner at the Eau Rouge. There will be a shuttle bus for those who are (unlikely ) DUI ( driving under influence... ) But it is a well known fact that DT drivers only drink water ( to save money , as the car drinks a lot of petrol....)

Good morning
I had a conversation yesterday with Jean Pierre Magalhaes, owner and orgnaizer of the Spa Italia meeting in now, less than three months !
It seems obvious that we are missing some cars , either on the track, or at the track, or at the Gala Dinner, organized at the Eau Rouge on Saturday night, and for which a shuttle bus has been organized between the various hotels and the Eau Rouge Gala dinner.
Could I please remind all who are interested, to make sure they have well signed up with Spa Italia, for the track access and the dinner !
And, if they're not booked yet, please do it now. If you are like me, I sometimes postpone and then forget... :>)
Thanks, and good w e

51 registrations on the Spa Italia site so far, from which 40 (yep, 40, the anniversary number) Pantera's. I do miss some Belgian Pantera’s to start with, as I know there are more out there…

I'm afraid I'll need the shuttle bus - don't ask why...

I’m aware of at least the following Pantera’s/owners in Belgium:

There is:
Candy8262
ALFA4FUN
Suburb

The Pantera locations map to be found on this forum, also mentions:
Michel
Jean-Louis-France

Other than those, I am aware of 2 red ones, 1 yellow/black GT5 (or replica), 1 yellow/black GTS.

I’ve seen once a picture of a Pantera in a colour similar to the one of Jean-Louis, but with different licence plates, still could possibly be the same car.

If all of those cars are still in Belgian hands - and above mentioned owners do have at least one Pantera (some more) - than together with mine, there should be at least about 10 Pantera’s in Belgium.

Except for Pat’s cars and mine, I only see one other Belgian Pantera registered – way to go thus!

Charles,
Can you call me on 00.32.476.567.898 or send me yr mobile number
Noise has been measured today, and we are WAY BELOW 105 dB, even with my noisiest street car ( candy is 125 dB....)
Pat

77 registrations so far, 63 of them being Pantera's

For such a small county quite some belgians here I just bought a 1986 GT5-S which is on it's way to Belgium. I hope it's in good shape so that I can make it to Spa Italia. She's due on 5th may.... if you can advise goods workshops guys that would be welcome.

Hello Belgian, welcome and congrats with the car I live in Limburg and there is a shop serge power in Hasselt, he works on italian exotics. Hope to see You in Spa Would be a good idea to start a soon as possible with the paperwork because You now this is Belgium . Greetings suburb

Welcome Belgian.

Suprised by the number of Belgian DT owners? As being Belgian, you should know we have a nose for what’s good, at least when it comes to beers and chocolate…

Jaccars in Waregem is one working on (Italian) exotics too. The owner has a nice collection himself, and think he even owns a Pantera. He had two parked recently. As Suburb mentions, Belgium = bureaucracy, so start working on the paperwork asap if you don’t want to take the car on a trailer to Spa (or drive it illegally). Don’t hesitate to contact me if you need tips in regard to your registration. I’ll pm you my contacts anyway in case you’d like to meet once you have your cat

Br,
Kid.

Welcome !
5th May won't leave you much time, because you still have to clear custom, and that can take a while....
Where is the car arriving ? Antwerp ? I have great custom agents.( 6 % VAT instead of 10 + 21.... )

Hi guys

I heared of Qm Developments in Gullegem who did quit some work on DT's and perhaps give him a go. Paperwork is not all that bad. I've imported quit some cars already and all went rather smooth. As it's 25yeas old an oldtimer inspection will do it. It'll perhaps be nipt as I still haven't seen the car. There could important surprises

Remember there are not much DT's, and in that way, there is at least in Belgium no such ting as "did quite some work on DT's".

Any good technician/panel beater should be able to work on your cat's brakes, suspension, body, etc, but I'd leave the engine work to one really familiar with American V8's, ie, a shop dealing with muscle cars for instance.

i now have an ex Claude Dubois chief mechanic in Overyse who now takes care of my Panteras.
He can go blindfolded through those cars...using the " race tricks" used in period. i have tried MANY many others, ( rich and famous, well known, prestigious, British, ...recommended, ex Le Mans drivers, Pantera " specialists" or car dealers, ...blablabla ) and he beats them all ( and does not read those posts ). His workshop looks like a mess, he is not "fashionable", but he delivers top of the art, and at a very reasonable price. Even Claude Dubois and Guy Trigaux ( VIN 2860, twice LM finishes ) have no objection. .
Hez is by far, the one I recommend in total confidence BUT ( huge BUT ) he is slow !

All I know is that I met the guy at Flanders expo where he had a Detomaso he restored. Can look his internet site. Yesterday the guy who organises the shipment that if the car sat for some time it required a shot of gas in the airfilter and that the shifter is stuck so difficult to get in 4th gear. Could be peanuts matters but definetely needs to be taken care off. I'm impatient now to see her in person and now what I'm up against.

Pat's reply was the one to wait for

quote:

Originally posted by Candy2862:
i have tried MANY many others, ( rich and famous, well known, prestigious, British, ...recommended, ex Le Mans drivers, Pantera " specialists" or car dealers, ...blablabla )!

Reminds me of the "issues" I had with my wheels. Took them for a thorough clean-up to a shop ("specialist") everybody recommended me, and only 4 months later after a dozen of calls and visits, I got the wheels back, to find out they were sealed improperly (3-piece rims). Took them apart and resealed as should myself.

The event's new promotional short movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...ture=player_embedded

Great, I love it ! Tks Kid, get the wine ready... it's approaching !

You, that strange guy from Hasselt, and I, will have to talk about the catering

Alfa4Fun, where are you ? Let's talk about catering and pom pom girls

I'm right here doing all the work will you guys are having fun on the forum