MGF Treffen 2002 day 3

Up reasonably for the day's events and the 10:00am start. Today was split into 2 parts with a trip to Burg Eltz and the Eltz castle in the morning followed by a run down to the Nurburgring ready for the 5:15pm opening (late one today for some reason). Mike Satur had some work to do today so he opted out of the castle visit (surprise, surprise!) but he would be joining us later for the 'ring. Dieter and Rosi arrived in their Platinum Silver F and after a brief hello, produced the replacement calliper bolt and David reassembled his nearside brakes!

Thus 11 Fs set off this morning for the castle visit. We paralleled the river Mosel for the initial part of the journey this morning, the sun was shining and if it wasn't for the camper vans holding everyone up the day would have been perfect. Still it wasn't long before we left the 'tourist route' and headed in land towards the castle leaving the
annoying campers behind. Some nice roads and some not so nice road works later and we arrived at castle Eltz. We parked up and set off on foot towards the castle through some woodland when we were treated to a vista of the castle itself from a high vantage point overlooking the valley. The castle sits on a rock pinnacle in the middle of the valley and is quite spectacular, as is the walk downhill to get there (yup, I wasn't looking forward to the climb back up to the car park!) Eltz castle has been in the same family for around 800 years, and although it has been extended through the generations, is largely untouched by the ravages of time. We had a guided tour (in English) and wandered through some fascinating rooms learning about the architecture and lifestyles of the time – good stuff. We stopped for lunch at the castle (they have a café), I had a superb bit of cheesecake, but was soon to regret it as the daunting prospect of a climb back up to the car park reared it's ugly head. I had my 1.50 euros ready for the taxi when Vyv twisted my arm and route marched me up the extremely steep path! Well, I am quite pleased with myself as I made it, all be it seriously out of breath!!

We grouped by the cars again and then set off for the Nurburgring.

Ted was having trouble with his GPS, but he eventually managed to sweet talk it into taking us on the right route to the 'ring, where we visited the museum before meeting up with Mike Satur and heading for the Nordschleife (North Loop, the F1 circuit is the much smaller, and barriered off, southern loop) for the evenings' entertainment! Mike and Vyv had been having a running verbal battle about the 'ring for ages now, Vyv (whose car the Trophy is) was dead set against it going out on the track, but peer pressure won in the end and she was convinced to go for a lap. They were still married on the return so I guess she became a 'convert' somewhere out in 'the green hell!' this was the first of many laps for her today. :-) I on the other hand had Richard Tookey as a passenger for my first lap, closely following Dieter, who in turn was following Stefan. All three Fs made it safely round and so I accompanied Richard in his F for the next lap (got it on camera too). Erik accompanied me on my third lap (in Scarlet, filming for me) and I co-piloted with Mike Satur for my final run of the day (again camera in hand). This is a new JVC P5 camera bought last week especially for the Treffen, I am hoping to figure out the software and
download the (edited) footage to a CD, from there I can pick out highlights for posting on the 'net – well, that's the plan anyway, with my (lack of) IT skills it may never happen…
The 'ring never fails to impress and, despite the proliferation of lunatics on motorbikes we all made it back to the 'pits' safely. The cars on the other hand did not fare so well – I had a very minor overspill from my expansion tank, but Alex was having a noticeable power drop after 4500 rpm and Erik and Fran's misfire had returned. Mysteriously (and thankfully) both problems disappeared on the return journey.

A superb meal this evening was followed by the 'usual' banter and joke telling before I retired to my room to type this lot up. It is just gone midnight and I have been unsuccessful in bodging an Internet connection from this Hotel (I hate switchboards!), maybe I shall have more luck in Wernigerode tomorrow, our stop for the next couple of
nights.

SF

Treffeners of this day
Ted Newman
Andrew Phillips "Scarlet Fever"
Patrick & Ann Beet
Mike Nunn & Viv
David Smith & Jackie
Richard Tookey
Mike Satur
Arthur Jacks
Stefan Gibney & Jenny
Allessandro Faccetty
Erik Baekelant & Fran
Dieter Koennecke Rosi

Visitor of the day
German F'er, MYK-??? BRG car with lots of MS mods :)