Jonathans Blog » fun

Trip to the Nurburgring…

Jonathan — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 19:51:00 +0000

Some friends and me are thinking of making a trip to the Nurburgring in Germany. We’ve all got Porsches (theirs are Boxters but can’t be picky…). Sounds like a drive of around 650 miles from Devon via the Tunnel. The real issue may be the insurance costs, and the results that could happen if we don’t drive too carefully!

Apparently they close the circuit in rare situations; at a cost of around £1700 per hour. There are several other costs that could be interesting, the recovery vehicle is around €175, presumably just to add injury to your crying whilst you see your prize car being towed away in a state of dis-’repair’!

For my money the 8 lap (£73.62) ticket sounds just about right. 1.5 days to travel there, 1 days racing followed by 1 days drive home. May be a bit ambitious but would be fun. My son showed some concern after I bought the Gran Turismo game for the Playstation (it has the full Nurburgring circuit – very accuratly portrayed), only to crash the RUF Porsche several times before exiting the starting post… a purchase of the steering wheel addon for the PS things did get make things better, but he still managed to beat me consistently. I think you can see from this link that the reality is pretty good compared to the actual circuit, so I had better keep practicing! I guess the aim is to get the Porsche around looking something like this?

Total costs look to be around £600:
Channel crossing: Varies, but say typically £120
Petrol en-route: Typically 2 x £50 = £100
Petrol there: Say £75
Bed-and-breakfast per person: £20 per night x 2 = £40
Food: 2 x dinner, 2 x lunch, food en-route, beer = £80
Ring tickets: Say 2 x 12-lap tickets = £216
Total = approx £616

Which will probably be the end of that! I know my son is keen to go even if it means a long drive there. In fact his driving in the PS game is so much better than mine, it may be better for him to drive once we get there… anyway one last video the whet the appetites. I guess it’s one of those trips that you have to do; at least once.

The Booze Cruise….

Jonathan — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 20:40:00 +0000

Len, John, Martin and myself all set off at 11pm for the overnight ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff in France. The weather was fine although they had forecast a high tide due to the Equinox. Martin took what we grew to know as the ‘packhorse’ (VW Passat Estate); there was going to be some heafty haulage going on. John R took his Porsche Boxster so we wern’t going to get a lot in there, but for John and I it was a good pose!

The crossing as calm, as a precaution the sea sick tablets were taken and washed down with the required 3 or 4 pints of lager, once on board. The cabin was, to say the least, small. In fact there was really only standing room for one. The bunk beds were ok and after the lager and the bar were closed, the engines and rocking had the desired effect; we all managed at least 3 hours sleep.

Once over in sunny France the roads were nice and clear. Martin knew the area well and we stopped for some breakfast at Morlaix (The town of the 19th Century viaduct built with pink granite, see link to pictures). What a beautiful little town this was. With its roots to the 12th Century, it’s designed around a majestic central promenade, city hall, and Abbey Church (1238-1250) adjacent to the Museum Des Jacobins. The market was excellent, although Martins obsession with Vegetables started to worry us; even John R bought some tomatoes (we are still wondering why? perhaps he was swept away with the shere ambience…).

After refreshment and food we set off to stock up the cars with Wine (plus spirits for Len of course ). The roads in France are always empty, which is just as well as we were driving on the wrong side of the road; even worse John R was driving… Martin was very considerate and even took us on a few detours just to show us how easily he can turn the car around…

3 supermarkets later, we were knackered and broke. Time for Lunch just before the Ferry took off. We stopped at Roscoff for a sandwhich. Time was tight for the ferry and Len gave us our marching orders 10 minutes before boarding was due. All seemed ok…

When we arrived at the Ferry, Martin and Len went past customs, etc. without a hitch and lined up in due fashion. Then it was our turn… John’s Porsche obviously went down well with the Ferry Customs police as they decided to stop us and have a closer look. After 10 minutes of searching (they did wonder why we were on a shopping trip and only had ONE bottle of wine in the boot!), we eventually set off and boarded the Ferry. Len and Martin seemed very concerned…

We were all tired. Len (‘SuperLen’ to his friends) dozed off for a quick 30 winks. It was beautiful weather and the sea was calm. We were calm. At least until Len made an observation about the seagulls and how they managed to fly without flapping their wings. That was it. Argument (discussion if we must) followed. I guess we must have been quite loud as there were guests on deck when we started ‘discussing’ this issue. After 10 minutes it was just US on the deck! All except one man who looked on bemused at our discussion, not sure if he should comment. He did. It didn’t help. We all decided to change the subject…

After a refreshing meal in the Restaurant it was almost time to hit the shop on the boat, we needed to spend even more money…

Back to blighty around 8.30pm – tired little boys. Then a quick trip to each house to drop off the contents of what seemed like a portable off-license.

All in all, if anyone’s interested, a BRILLIANT couple of days with some really good friends, I’m looking forward to the next excursion to pick up the discussion about the ‘aerodynamic properties of seagulls’….

Lastly – if you havn’t clicked the links to the photo’s yet click here.

Willy Wonker and the Chocolate Factory

Jonathan — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 14:48:00 +0000

Obviously the best film produced of all time. Gene Wilder plays the character of Willy Wonker with such ease; a True Willy Wonker, not like the modern day incarnation of a trumped up teenager pretending to play the character. The plot of the story; to find a successor is where the new remake falls down. How can anyone believe a plot that is inherently flawed. A film in my opionion that did not need a remake – along the same lines as Chitty Chitty Bang Bag; if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. They should have taken heed to this saying – it holds as true today as its always been.

Aprilia, RSV Factory

Jonathan — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 20:43:00 +0000

My dream – come true

This is my Aprilia, and it’s wonderful! Always had Japanese bikes before (Mostly Kawasaki), so thought I would have a change, an Italian beauty. It’s a 1000cc V-Twin and pulls fantastically from extremely low revs, and corners superbly. I can see why it did so well. It can be a bit of a pig around town at low revs, the engine either wants to either GO or STOP and not much imbetween; that is until you get onto the country roads, and then it glides like a dream.

This comes from the Aprilia site that is kind of bias I guess

The impossible? Aprilia has done it! Aprilia has broken through the furthest frontiers of technology and performance to set previously inconceivable standards with this uniquely sensational motorcycle. Surpassing yourself is what the Aprilia racing spirit is all about, and exactly what Aprilia’s top supersports, the RSV 1000, was conceived to do. The RSV 1000’s design is being constantly refined technically and stylistically by ideas from Aprilia’s world championship team and the dedicated racing division. The RSV 1000 is already a dream come true for thousands of passionate riders, a machine with all the smoothness and pulsating power needed to guarantee success on the world’s circuits and roads.