[jai-uno-t]

after last years trip to the nurburgring, some friends and myself have decided 2010 needs to be amped up a touch, why do one great track in europe, when you can do two?!

so an open invite to all those heading over to the EU mid-june, 19-20th we can be found here:

https://www.spaitalia.be/index.html

where in amongst drooling at all sorts of the best italian hardware, whilst every now and the venturing out onto the legendary F1 circuit for a couple of sessions. ferrari passenger rides are being done as well as full bore race drives, should be a great weekend.

then we leave spa, and burn two hours over the border to the "widowmaker",

http://www.nuerburgring.de/en.html

this will be for three days, hopefully incident free, but a lot of fun.

if you can make it out to either and can find me, i'll be the one in the beat up little white fiat uno hooligan car - i'm more than happy to offer a passenger rides!

[jai-uno-t]

a bump and a quick reminder to any who happen to be in the area on the dates in question, there are going to be about 20 of us on this trip, you are more than welcome to tag along or pop in for a lap or three if you trust us!

[McLaren Rulez]

Great way to fill your holidays man! Have fun

[jai-uno-t]

more photos and fuller report to follow, been a little hectic lately...but spa was a blast, despite the damp conditions on the first session, the track was everything i hoped it would be, fast, flowing, needing some bottle on eau rouge. the car felt great, really stuck down hard on the r888 tyres, and took a bit of bullying through the hairpin, which helped surprise a much more powerful abarth grande punto!! never saw me coming or going.

anyway, after all that fun, the rest of the trip was a bit of a bust. gearbox blew on the way from spa to the ring, so the uno was left at a fiat garage, and is being transported home across europe to arrive at the garage on friday. spares are being sourced for a rebuild, and unfinished business at the ring will be taken care of next year.....

as for the ring itself, i ended up with a seat ibiza rental, a very old tired rental, which was thrashed to within an inch of its life, 4 up, round the track on several laps.

btw: that 8c spider? if you're going to buy and track a big, powerful fast car....drive it like one! i was all over it!!!

[nitrous]

Awesome. Can't wait for the full story, Jai.
Whats the ambient temperature at Spa like?

Originally Posted by Jai

gearbox blew on the way from spa to the ring, so the uno was left at a fiat garage

Too much Engine braking?

[jai-uno-t]

been a little preoccupied, and not updated the thread as i should have, so the car was delivered back to me from belgium about 6 weeks later, thankfully everything was in place, all the equipment, spares, wheels and tyres were as i left them. I am forever thankful i took the euro breakdown and recovery option on my insurance, as the total cost of recovery to the garage, inspection, storage, transport back to the uk, loan car can to well over £2000!

so, what was the problem, not the gearbox, it was the clutch, the high performance, heavy duty, track biased clutch had popped its springs, locking up the mechanism......hardly what i would call a quality product, considering the previous 20 plus year old item had taken a series of beatings at 5-6 trackdays, i was not impressed. still,i bit the bullet, had the clutch replaced, and the drivetrain lockwired for more strength, more trackdays were planned, and i had no intention of breaking down again.

so a few weeks ago it was off to cadwell park, east englands "mini nurburgring", with the fearsome mountain section, i can't say i wasn't a little apprehensive, but a few minutes out, and the session started to flow:

was a cracking day, at an awesome track, and put me at ease with the work done to the car, coupled with a 6 hours round trip, she held it together fine.

to the point where i decided i would go ahead with another trackday in north wales, the very fast and technical angelsey:


as you can see the wife had a go to, and for a first timer, really got stuck in, again the car took the abuse and punishment perfectly, however the tyres took one hell of beating!


so what's left? a return to bedford gt in december, then the season's over for me, the uno goes back into hibernation for a little work, some cosmetic touch ups, and prep for 2011

nitrous: spa weather...in a word "changeable", one end of the track would be dry, then you turn a corner, it's damp, the a stream going across, before it's dry again, makes full on commitment hard to....commit to! i did have a massive wobble coming down to pouhon, backed right off, and she straighten up a treat. next year, will wait for more heat in the r888s before i commit so hard..

[jai-uno-t]

oh, and what did i get as a loaner to take on the mighty 'ring? that's right, an ancient seat ibiza 1.4.....there was only one thing for it, that's right, 3 or four up, and redline the hell out of it all the way round, it's surprising how many extra BHP pure anger and frustration will get you.....