I'm off to race in the Nurburgring 24 Hour endurance race

[Billzilla]

Going thru those pics.. anyone noticed the sign in this pic.. Kanagroos???

Yeah there was a couple of Aussies there and they made a great little contruction to watch the race from.
On the Thursday when I was walking around I popped in a for a visit but they were out. Then when Michael went there on race day he found out there was only the two of them, and the bloke had broken his leg.
So I never got to meet them, but I waved nearly every time I went past.

[Dark Orange]

Thanks Bill.

May I fill in a couple of blanks and make a few points and corrections...

Edo: Cal, the only name I get from that is Mal Rose...I'll bet $100 he DNFs

He not only lasted the distance, but finished 64th. Can I claim the $100?

Bigmu: Why the MILF plates? Has one of your co drivers got a hot wife?

MYF - as in Warhurst.

http://www.endurance-info.com/2007_D...bur/08_111.jpg

This is the Aussie enclave on the entrance to the Karussell. Here's a photo from a few steps to the right:



Bill and I went for a wander a day or two before the race to catch up with them, but we just found a drunk German who claimed he didn't know where 'they' were. We left a note saying:

Aussie!
Aussie!
Aussie!
Car 13!

When I went back there for the Sunday am restart, I again found the place deserted. I chatted to some nearby Germans and found out that the Aussies consist of a husband and wife team, and they were still asleep in their tent. But they must be popular because "one of the drivers came to see them the other day!!!"

As an aside, there were some medical attention needed in the gypsy camp in that area. Some local fell off some scaffolding and killed himself, and some camera-woman had some heavy equipment fall on her, with similar results.

In lesser injury news, somebody split their top lip all the way to the nose trying to get their mini motorbike over a rock, and the australian mentioned above slipped on the slope to the track and broke his ankle/leg. Mate, if you are reading this, I hope you had fun. Although in that atmosphere, I am not sure how you couldn't.

PBjore: 4 people were brought to hospital after being struck by lightning (!)

I was on top of the Mercedes building when the lightning started hitting all around, and within seconds there was lots of space up there. The half-dozen bolts at that stage were the only bolts I am aware of, there were certainly none during the 5 hours of fog. Here is a photo of the aftermaths of a strike at the Karussell, the marshalls were at the shiny bit of fence on the right.

What did you think of Paul Stubber and his driving style?

Paul had a ball. Coming in just before the race was red-flagged, the smile on his face gave the whole story. The fog had rolled in at that stage and he was full of stories of people bouncing off the armco after passing him. He also is a smart driver, in that he worked out the difference between the gungho and those drivers with local knowledge, and followed the latter along the clean lines through the soup. At the end of the day, he did good times despite his slow and cautious start.

Nero: amazingly casual for what you hear german motorsport to be

Incredibly so. A grandstand pass will get you into the rear area of the pits, and from there you can just wander out onto the starting grid. Take your dog with you, a lot of other people did. Awesomely relaxed. Since the race was delayed for 90 minutes, it finished 90 minutes late. At the original 3pm finish time, the gate security just left, leaving the whole whole place open. Again, there was nothing stopping you from getting a taste of the winner's champagne. For free. Then the day after, you can just drive through the rear pit area and onto the track and do a nice lap. As long as you don't go like an idiot, nobody cares.

Bill: Yeah it's bizarre all right and I'd like to see some higher levels of safety in pit lane.

It was annoying - you stand back to get a good pitstop photo of an Aston martin or something, and as soon as it stops it is surrounded by people with mobile phone cameras. In the live footage, probably about 9pm local time, there was the live feed of a stop that had a woman with a handbag in high-heels and business suit walk through the chaos. I witnessed several very near-misses, I am suprised there were no 'almost misses'.

And finally, may I say the team made an excellent effort. The guys worked very well and efficiently together, and knew their shit. They got up to position 89 before the fog rolled in, but the resulting 5 hours allowed all the drivable and almost-drivable cars be repaired into pre-race conditions. It effectively removed the 'endurance' aspect of it, and turned the restarted segment into a brand new 7hr race.

To end up 109th after that and a wheel loss is a good finish. *polite golf clap for the crew*

[John]

Dark Orange

Let me be the first to say you have some absolutely fascinating photos in your album there.

J

[St00ge]

blah what a fuckin jip, I had a big post and the dodgy computer in Italy lost it......

Anyway CBF typing it all again but will great to meet you Bill and Michael, had a ball over there. You guys drove a great race and sad that the weel studs went as you were really pushing for a good finish. Maybe arp studs next year but I have to get some DVDs off to you so I can get a copy of the photos. I will also post some more pics when I get back from europe in a few weeks

[Nero]

Dark Orange

Let me be the first to say you have some absolutely fascinating photos in your album there.

J

agreed.
Would love some of the car

[Dark Orange]

How many more of the car do you want?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dark_or...7600386522139/

It is actually a hard track for photography. It takes you ages to get where you want to get to around the track, then you set up and wait. You get one go every 11.5 minutes, and you will almost always miss the first pass. There was only 12 hours of daylight racing, which leaves you very little time to get the shots you want. It's a bitch of a track for the photographers as well as drivers. I was awake for 42 hours straight, and can't remember where the time went. I was pretty much gopher for the team and the support 'support' team, waterboy, and photographer in the leftover time. I even helped during one or two pitstops, but I wasn't really needed. You know how it is, you intend on taking a photo, but see somebody trying to hold a torch as well as doing the job, so you hold the torch for them, and before you know it you are grabbed to do something else, then the next thing you know you are being politely requested to leave the camera behind next time...



I may have one or two more photos of the car, but will probably start uploading photos of the other Aussies (I have a few of the VIP petfoods cars) and the unofficial photographer of theirs may have a few more of the 'rolla.

Will I go back next year? Shit yeah! Money will be the only problem. If anyone intends on going, I have a few tips that may be of use.

[Nero]

tips are always good!

[Billzilla]

What I'm going to do for all my future in-car video camera work is get one of these ->

http://www.chasecam.com/pdr/pdr100.htm

No more boo-boo's ...

(I'm trying to convince myself to go back again next year)



(And equally as hard trying to convince myself that I don't really need to move there and live the rest of my life next to the track)



(maybe)

[Dark Orange]

Yeah, you should move there Bill. It'll be closer for work, and I'll have somewhere to stay when I visit.

That PDR100 looks like a neat little unit. While the FAQ and technical details sections don't exist, and the sample videos have been 'reduced and compressed', it has potential.

I'd get a sample of the raw output before laying down the cash however.

[Zac]

I've taken bikes to a few circuits around the UK (sometimes riding there from the train!) and it's invaluable for getting around when photographing or scooting back to the pits post race. I've no doubt photographing at the ring would benefit from this too! Maybe even a motored bike if they will let it in.

[jesus]

i was there, but i smashed my 911 into a ps3 sign

better luck for me next year

[kwottr0]

Ain't karma a bitch ?...

Short version of a long story : A mate from here was supposed to be doing the race in a Civic. He knocked back a more attractive drive in an E46 M3 to stick with blokes he (thought he) knew, in a team he'd raced with before. They shafted him, and he lost his drive less than 1 week before the race. This displeased him. Greatly.

Anyway, they were heading for a class win, but this is how they ended up on the final lap (just before the Karussell). Did you happen to see this Bill ? Car 229.

Oops

We laughed...
:D

[F|sh]

What I'm going to do for all my future in-car video camera work is get one of these ->

http://www.chasecam.com/pdr/pdr100.htm

No more boo-boo's ...

(I'm trying to convince myself to go back again next year)



(And equally as hard trying to convince myself that I don't really need to move there and live the rest of my life next to the track)



(maybe)

http://hoyttech.com/index.cfm?fuseac...Product_ID=301

This looks good too

[6000SUX]

What I'm going to do for all my future in-car video camera work is get one of these ->

http://www.chasecam.com/pdr/pdr100.htm

No more boo-boo's ...

I have a full ChaseCam set up as follows

• PDR100 recorder
• 2 bullet cams
• SS1000 video processor for PIP set-up
• 4 different roll cage mounts
• triple suction mount for mounting a bullet cam to the inside of the windscreen in the recce car
• remote control
• mounting bracket and retaining cover for PDR100 and SS1000

You get about 15 minutes of footage per GB on the highest setting. I have 2 x 8GB Extreme III cards that I rotate. It set me back about $2000 AUD not including the CF cards.

It had its first run in competition in Beijing last weekend inside Dean Herridge's Impreza. It wasn't in the car that I crashed in!

Check out the customer forum on the ChaseCam site. It has lots of extra information and FAQ's etc.

Send me a PM and I can post you a DVD with raw footage from the PDR100 from China or zap up to Brisbane and have a closer look at it yourself. It might cost you a ride in the clubman though!

[CGRS15]

A lot of the leading targa guys run the XRaceCam setup and the quality is pretty good. http://www.xracecam.com/

I've run a similar setup (2 bullet cams to junciton box, then junction box to regular minidv video camera) and the quality is fantastic. The thing I like about the minidv camera is that the quality is not compressed as is the case with an mpeg-2 recorder (easier to edit later on whilst still retaining the image quality). The good thing about the junction box is that you can plug any video recorder into it, minidv, solid state recorder, etc.

The minidv is fine for tarmac rally and circuit racing (a friend's video camera has survived a few seasons of tarmac and arc), but something like the chasecam setup would be fantastic for dirt rally with the increased dirt/dust/being thrown around inside a car, factor.