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Spa Italia trip (as I remember it...)

noquarternoquarterMember
Spa trip 2011

Again this year McCall European Custom Tours had put together a great week for us DeTomaso fans. There's so much to tell, here's a subset that I wanted to share...

And I was fortunate enough to participate for the whole week. I had planned (actually that was what kept me going through the winter in my unheated garage) to participate in my new Pantera. It had worked perfectly, even the quite powerful engine seemed settled and happy in the engine bay. No temperament, just started and drove well as soon as it was warm enough. But 8 days before parting, I took the last test trip, planning to park it when I got back, wash and wax, and put a cover on it so it would be ready. As those of you who have followed my post called “Dropped a valve” know, that trip ended in tears. Dock-dock-dock etc.. I spent most of the next week trying to get it fixed on time, the local machinist came through, but the normally reliable FedEx boys got confused by a strike in France and sent my package with parts from the US onto Stockholm etc. It arrived 3 working days too late, and too late for my trip to Spa.

Fortunately I have another DeTomaso, I think everybody should have two… So it was time to get the Longchamp ready. Since it’s my daily driver, getting it ready meant filling it with gas, and maybe check the oil. Trunk space was a problem, there’s so much that things would move around, so I brought some extra tools and a camping chair, rain coat etc.. And lots of CDs to amuse me while cruising in style, speed and luxury across Europe...

I was supposed to leave early Sunday 29/5, but my son won all his tennis matches the day before, so I stayed home to watch his semifinal Sunday at 8:00. Priorities, priorities… So I left at 9:30, drove right onto the Denmark-Germany ferry, hardly touched the brakes.

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noquarternoquarterMember
I had a good trip to our first rendezvous on the France-Belgium border. 1050 km, should have been 1020, but I wasn’t paying attention at some road works and got in the wrong lane. Arrived at 21:30. Great to see the team, most faces very familiar, and a few new ones. The familiar faces looked just like last year, the wear and tear of a year’s DeTomaso ownership had not made its mark, fortunately. I wasn’t exactly popular when I arrived, because I had left my wife at home. Isn’t it strange, you always end up forgetting something, don’t you? Well I won’t go into the reasons why she didn’t come this time, involves son and school and work and time and money. But she’s promised to participate next year if McCall Tours can be persuaded to redo his magic for LMC. We had a beer, and off to bed.

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noquarternoquarterMember
The next day was seeing a museum on ww1. When you’re lying there on the garage floor getting dirty and cold and frustrated at something, seeing how people faced up to real challenges like fighting in the trenches makes you think… Nice lunch, and a little more walking around. Then the nice Gordon Smith party and I drove to Tournai and saw a cathedral and a church. I won’t go into too much detail on the sights, others will do that very well.

Stayed at a nice Comfort Hotel in France. Highlight of the evening was video from the McCall’s wedding, in Vegas, dressed as Tinkerbell and a roman centurion. I should point out that Charlie was the centurion. The Elvis impersonator (not part of the married couple) was actually quite good.

I didn’t get as much sleep as expected because the TV turned itself on, and we had a 6 o’clock alarm call from one of the Panteras, the alarm went off for at least 10 minutes…

Tuesday morning we drove to a monastery where they make beer (why else would you…). Lunch was a cheese plate of great variety and some monk beer. We made good time on the roads, though it must be said that the speeds of the country roads of last year was nowhere near being achieved. Everybody has gotten a little older and wiser maybe. Afternoon was falcon/eagle/vulture-show, quite impressive. They teach them to fly centimeters above the spectators’ heads.

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noquarternoquarterMember
I drove on my own to the hotel because I wanted to find an automatic car wash, hadn’t seen one in Belgium or France. But in wealthy Luxembourg they had one, €6.90, worth it. Also drove for gas, suddenly I had to go cross a small mountain, hairpin roads. On the picture you can maybe se the wine growing on the slopes in the background.

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noquarternoquarterMember
When coming back, I missed the car so much I decided to re-adjust the idle, when you’re the author of www.tuningmadeeasy.com, you do that sort of thing as a recreational joy. It got a lot better, the secondaries had been open too much, creating not a nice 4 corner idle, but also a vacuum leak of sorts. Closing them just to the point where they don’t stick, and then readjusting the primaries’ idle screws with a vacuum gauge made a big difference. I even had George Gordon Smith help me, but when I asked him, just in case when I adjusted the idle in drive and the handbrake on, to stand between the car and the wall to cushion the blow if the handbrake wasn’t up to it, he refused. Help goes only so far apparently. To apologize for his lack of help, he bought me a beer. Or maybe I bought him a beer, can’t remember now.

Dinner was Tapas, which is a nice word for getting rid of left overs, handy for the restaurant. But seriously, it was good, everybody got something they liked. Some got a lot…

Thursday started in Trier, world’s oldest town. After some challenges finding the right place to park, we had a 2 hour guided tour, with a very enthusiastic young lady, very good. After that, sitting in the shade was a priority.

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noquarternoquarterMember
On to the next hotel where we met up with the Nordic group, many Swedes, some Norwegians complete with TV crew, apparently they’re following and filming one of the Norwegian cars, and of course some fellow Danes. Strange to be able to talk and think in your own language again (and in the strange Danish dialects called Norwegian and Swedish).

This was truly a memorable afternoon/evening. Seeing all the cars, meeting the owners for perhaps the first time in a year. “Tearful reunion” as Charlie’s itinerary promised, not quite, but close. We stood for hours in the parking lot, sharing kill-stories, bragging, tech’ing, listening to “almost didn’t make it” stories (including my own “didn’t make it in the Pantera” story). A few had beers in their hands, from the hotel bar. I drank a Blond (that’s a Belgian beer!), and since there was no more driving that day, it was relaxed. Sun was hot.

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noquarternoquarterMember
Then the good Norwegians brought forward a camping table, with 4 different sausages (including reindeer), two bottles of Linieakvavit (45% alcohol), and last but not least, Danish beer. Free for all. And they really meant it, the small glasses for Linieakvavit were distributed, and refills were offered many times. Some took that offer, I only had one, didn’t want to get too drunk. Don’t remember why not… Then dinner and more stories, and some stayed up quite late I believe.

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noquarternoquarterMember
Friday was caves, 3 km of walking and some of the caves bigger than my garage. Seriously, worth seeing. Lunch was dragged out by too little staff, so we waited to be waited and waited and waited etc. Off to the last hotel where we would be 2 days. Big dinner, our own little hall, I believe Charlie said 96 people. Lots of tire kicking.

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noquarternoquarterMember
Amazing track, as people had told me Eau Rouge is so much uphill it can’t be seen on TV. DeTomaso was the honored brand, so we parked in the paddock, had DeTomasos all around the main stage where people would present their cars. The F-cars and the others had to walk a little from their slightly remote parking areas. As it should be! Many DeTomasos, mostly Panteras of course, but when you can see 3 Mangustas, 6 Longchamps and 2 Vallelungas in one place, then you know you’re witnessing something big.

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noquarternoquarterMember
It was time to do track laps. This was what I had looked forward to doing all winter, in the Pantera. With its power, handling and new Michelins, it would have been great. In the Longchamp, might I be a rolling chicane? Would it be fun at all? It turned out to be a lot of fun, the Longchamp that I’ve always claimed handles very well proved itself. I overtook 2 F-cars and lots of others. I ended up all the way in front, just after the pace car, and when I in my “no I haven’t read the d… rules, when you only hand them out in French and Flemish”-naivety wanted to go past the pace car, I got some hand signals clearly saying that that would not be appreciated. I had 6 fast laps, I timed one of them with almost no traffic to 4:25. Then the tires (an unknown number of years old) started to get a little mushy. I looked for the radio to tell my pit crew that I would have to come in for new tires, but I couldn’t find it. So I backed off the next 3 laps, and then called it a day. When I got off the track I saw that the tires were scrubbed a bit, but ok.

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noquarternoquarterMember
How about it? The Longchamp was probably the heaviest car out there, and the 70 profile tires were probably the highest as well. And still it overtook a lot of cars. I know the F-cars could probably have done more with a braver driver, but they didn’t. The Longchamp had good acceleration, pretty good brakes that didn’t fade at all, and despite tires and weight it was easy to hit the apex every corner. And all while I sat there in ivory Alcantara seats and with fully functioning A/C. Best damn car in world? For the money, yes! And Charlie, automatic transmission cars can go fast…

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noquarternoquarterMember
So last evening together. Again three good courses, and as yesterday a fixed price for drink and drink all you want during dinner. That made any financially responsible person drink a little more of course. We concluded that the week had been about driving and of course sightseeing, eating and drinking. And in our state, we concluded mostly driving and drinking. I suggested a line for the Spanish DeTomaso Club: “Drinking and Driving”, but it had a bad ring to it, I think. And of course nobody did these two things at the same time during the week.

On the track again the next day, still beautiful weather. More of us on the track, but I only had Saturday pass, so I took pictures. I left at 11 to drive home. Panteras negotiating Eau Rouge:

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noquarternoquarterMember
Quite uneventful drive home, as you’d like it to be. It helps to have tank capacity for 100 litres.

On the ferry a Skoda Roomster kid-container parked right next to me, a potential nightmare. And yes, the children thought they were big enough to handle the doors themselves, and the parents probably considered any other people than their children a nuisance. The father did help the son manage the door when they parked. They came back 45 min later, I was in my car. I think the father asked the mother to help with the door, but she couldn’t be bothered, why would she cramp the boy’s style? So she just got in the car, let the boy open his door, and bang, into my front fender. I got out with my camera, and told the father that was still outside the car to use his brain, he could have foreseen that happening, and this was going to be expensive. When I examined the damage, actually there was almost none. Luckily the door had hit the black grille on the fender, and that’s hard enough to not be impacted. I could of course have continued yelling and screaming anyway, but when he in a very soft voice asked his wife whether he should drive or whether she preferred to, I understood the dynamics of that family, and felt sorry for him. Wife and children had totally taken over his world, and he was their servant, trying to keep up with their demands. Shame. The husband has no life, the children grow up to be pains in the a.., and the wife wants a divorce soon, because she has no man anymore, just a servant. But I digress…

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noquarternoquarterMember
So back at my house. Good to see the Pantera and the rest of the family again.

Many adventures richer, a few friends richer as well. No more enemies I think...

Strangely enough, even though my wallet was for sure lighter, I weighed more coming home...

The Longchamp drove perfectly, on and off the track. Thanks DeTomaso.

And thanks Charlie and Amaya. applause

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kidkidMember
A very enjoyable read Mikael!

I’ve met some very nice people at Spa, but missed some too (which was partly my bad).

As a whole, I think the event itself was a success, especially Saturday a lot of people and cars showed up, good weather, great atmosphere! Because of the Sunday forecasts, I guess a lot of people preferred to show up on Saturday instead of Sunday. Yes, there were some miscommunications – I for instance missed the DT exclusive parade, whereas I know some were asked to join with their cars, and I was not even allowed to join – there were some issues with the shuttle bus etc, but then again, a gathering with so many DT cars will not very likely happen any time soon, and I am very happy I was part of it, and so I hope all others who took part, feel likewise.

If Charlie would ever again feel like arrange some kind of trip again, I after reading your story Mikael, and if the cat shows to be reliable enough, sure will do all to join.
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C charliemccallMember
Mikael - thanks for the write-up and pics - we had a fantastic weekend and it made great reading.

Pat - 100 cars. Quite the event. Very professionally run. Didn't you feel odd that half the cars in the "court of honor" were yours ;-)

Kid - sorry we didn't see you more. I don't know how we got separated, but with that number of people and things of interest it was easy I suppose.

Somehow the DeTomaso Club of Spain's motto evolved to "Drinking for World Peace", thanks to the Norwegians aquavit, the French wine, and the Swedish creativity. I don't really remember why, but it sure made a lot of sense at the time!

Back at work and haven't even had time to look at our photos, but we'll post something when we do
C Candy2862 (Guest)
Ah ah , Court of Honor ... No, not odd, but I felt priviledged to be the temporary custodian of those beautiful machines :>Wink)and being able to show them to as many enthusiasts as possible. ( Did you know that Spa Italia has beaten all admittance records since it was created.) Thanks to Jean Pierre Magalhaes and his team, and all our fellows enthusiasts, it was the largest DT event in Europe ever ! To me, the most important thing was to show bits and pieces of the ADA 9628 LM GT1 car, that has been in the shadow and dust for so long. Can't wait to sit down in it and do some laps in Spa ( or maybe the "Free rides" at Le Mans Classic next year.
kidkidMember
quote:
Originally posted by Candy2862:
Track photos are on www.gbphotosports.com and should be on the web as of this Wednesday night


Thanks Patrick Smiler

Found mine already Cool

quote:
Originally posted by McCall Tours and adventures:
Kid - sorry we didn't see you more. I don't know how we got separated, but with that number of people and things of interest it was easy I suppose.

I can imagine your wife misses me Big Grin

I know, I know, you folks bumped in to others, and so did I... For sure we'll meet again sometime Smiler
C Candy2862 (Guest)
I think you're right Charlie !
Too bad, as we had a blast ( Lori and I ) ... There were so many tourists on the track, probably taking pictures of the countryside, as they were so slow ! and no pace car. It was just like a video game ( ask Lori Albino, she'll tell you ! )
Charlie, it's time for you to go to work and start planning Le Mans Classic 2012 ( 6-7-8 July 2012 ) See my post on the " event" section
Best to you and Madame :>Wink)
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