GERMANY

 

NETHERLANDS

 

BELGIUM

FRANCE

 

My first trackchasing visit to Germany took place in 2005.  That trip covered the country’s of Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and France.  This 19-day trip is covered in a three-part series with tabs above.  I hope you enjoy the touring and racing action from Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany.

 

 

I was back to Germany in 2014.  That trip covered 20 days with visits to Italy, Slovakia, Austria, Netherlands and Germany.  You can see what that trip included including photos and YouTube video.  We also made a special day visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial.  Separately, I stopped at the Classic Remise auto museum in Dusseldorf, Germany.

 

Classic Remise – DusseldorfDon't miss this.

 

 

My current international resume, after my first ever visit to Germany looked like this:

 

RLR – Randy Lewis Racing Lifetime Trackchasing Countries

 

# 1 – UNITED STATES OF AMERICA – Peoria Speedway (Mt. Hawley, oval)   

# 2 – CANADA – Cayuga Speedway (oval) – Track #174, Nelles Corner, Ontario, Canada 

# 3 – AUSTRALIA – Parramatta City Raceway (oval) – Track #180, Granville, New South Wales, Australia

# 4 – UNITED KINGDOM – Northhampton International Raceway (oval) – Track #378, Northhampton

# 5 – NETHERLANDS – Driesum Racetrack (oval) – Track #839, Driesum

# 6 – BELGIUM – Bellekouter oval (oval) – Track #841, Affligem

# 7 – FRANCE – Circuit de Croix en Ternois (road course) – Track #843, Saint-Pol sur-Ternoise

# 8 – GERMANY – Nurburgring (road course) – Track #844, Nurburg 

 

 

Thanks for reading along.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTINENTAL EUROPE – PART 1

 

PEOPLE/TRAVEL NEWS

If you have not noticed, this trackchasing hobby takes me all over the United States and the world.  I most enjoy the trips where there is plenty of time to sample the local culture and sights.

 

Also, if you have not noticed, the racing itself is secondary to the adventure on most every trackchasing trip that I take.  Think of the racing as the match that lights the fire.  If there is no match, there is no fire.  However, I’m not nearly as interested in the match as I am in the fire (adventure/travel).   The adventure includes eating the local food, meeting the people along the way, eating the local food, seeing and doing the things the local people do and finally eating the local food.

 

Several months ago, I received an email from Roland Vanden Eynde.  Roland is the foremost European trackchaser in the world.  He has seen racing in more countries than anyone has ever.  I believe his total racetrack country list is up to 31.  That is one of the most significant records in all of trackchasing.  He has visited 54 different countries in his lifetime.  He has been to 36 different U.S. states.  Yes, this boy gets around.

 

Roland’s initial email was to congratulate me on my 2004 season totals.  It didn’t take too long before Roland was suggesting potential European trackchasing plans.  I told him that I would need to see as many tracks as possible in a weekend trip to make the trip trackchaser cost effective.

 

Roland explained there were three weekends that would be good for trackchasing.  Roland offered to serve as organizer and navigator for a potential future trip.  Two of the weekends Roland recommended were back to back in the month of May.  Based upon the itineraries Roland was considering, I could get 4-7 tracks per weekend.

 

I liked Roland’s trackchasing plans, but I couldn’t decide which of the two May weekends to pick.  Finally, I asked Roland if he would be willing to go trackchasing on BOTH May weekends.  He quickly replied that he would.  Great, we had a plan.

 

Roland’s importance to this trip cannot be understated.  Without him, it would be impossible or at least very difficult to have a successful trackchasing trip.  Much of the signage in this part of Europe is not in English.  Many of the racetrack websites are not in English.  I’m like most Americans; I only speak one language and sometimes have difficulty with that one!

 

After nearly daily emails, we decided on a plan.  Roland lives in Vilvoorde, Belgium.  Vilvoorde’s time zone is nine hours ahead of San Clemente.  When I left an email for Roland, I could expect a reply when I logged on the next morning.

 

This trip will take me away from San Clemente for 19 nights.  The first 10 nights it will be just Roland and me.  Then, Carol will join me for the final nine nights of the trip.

 

Editor’s note:  Roland is now on retainer and is only available to consult Will White and me on European trackchasing trips.  Sorry, but each of you had your chance to enter into an exclusive business arrangement with Roland before I did.

 

I believe it’s important to have a spouse who can operate independently when necessary.  One of the qualifying questions I asked, when interviewing prospective spouses some 33 years ago was this one.  “If I asked you to meet me in Brussels a week from Thursday, could you do it”.  Carol answered “Yes” and she got the job. 

 

Actually, I didn’t ask that question of Carol before we were married, but I knew she could do it.  I believe she asked me, “Can you support me in a manner in which I would like to become accustomed?”  Actually, she may not have asked me that question either.  She already knew the answer.

 

Carol was the one that, all by herself, would bundle up three toddlers, jam them and everyone’s luggage in the car, go to the airport and then meet me in some exotic location.  The exotic location would be the sight of a business meeting I would have just completed.  She did this time and again.  The travel was great exposure for the kids, which is why they will all travel today at the drop of a hat. 

 

My preparation for this trip was much more limited that what I would normally do.  I simply bought an airline ticket and packed my luggage.  Roland and Carol took care of the rest.  That’s my kind of trip!

 

I think I did a good job with the two things I was responsible for.  I’m flying on my favorite long haul air carrier, American Airlines.  Although the fare I paid was not an all-time low, this trip alone will earn me enough frequent flyer miles for a free round-trip domestic ticket.  Flying American to Europe also offers other benefits.  These include being able to use the Admirals Club airport lounge, board the plane first, upgrade to first class for the domestic portion of the trip and get an exit row seat for the trans-Atlantic portion of the trip. 

 

Packing my bags was another story.  I wasn’t sure if I had 19 pairs of underwear, 19 pairs of socks and 19 t-shirts.  I did not want to do any laundry (I don’t know how) on the trip, so 19 of everything was required.

 

We’ll be trackchasing in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.  The first weekend Roland and I will be trackchasing.  Then I will spend four days by myself.  I’ll have a rental car and hope to explore various locations in France.  Carol will then join Roland and me for a weekend of trackchasing.  Finally, Carol and I will spend five days by ourselves touring Eastern Europe, which is where Carol’s ancestors are from.

 

I invite you to travel along via Al Gore’s internet.  I hope I can make it interesting for you.  

 

 

Tuesday, May 3, 2005 

Today is getaway day.  Carol dropped me at the Orange County airport.  I believe this is the most passenger friendly commercial airport of any in the world.  I leave Orange County at 8:30 a.m. and will arrive into Belgium at about the same time one day later. 

 

Since we are nine hours apart in time zones, the actual trip will take about 15 hours.  The flight to Chicago is four hours and the flight to Brussels is eight hours with about a four-hour layover at O’Hare. 

 

The challenge when flying to Europe is trying to get some sleep.  The Chicago to Brussels flight left at about midnight Brussels time.  That would be a good time to go to sleep.  Unfortunately, that is only 3 p.m. San Clemente time.  I usually don’t retire for the evening at three in the afternoon.

 

I will land in Brussels at 8:30 a.m.  That’s 11:30 p.m. San Clemente time, which is usually about the time I go to sleep at home.  That means the first day in Belgium will be tough.  When I land, it’s time to go to bed, but I can’t go to bed. 

 

I will do my very best to stay up until at least 7 or 8 p.m.  Allan and P.J. can attest to the fact that this is somewhat difficult to do.  However, if I CAN stay up until the early evening then I can sleep for 10-12 hours on my first night in Belgium.  The lion’s share of European jet lag will be behind me at that point. 

 

I was seated on the side of the plane with just two seats.  I was on the aisle and a somewhat clumsy “big and tall” woman was my seatmate.  In the past, I’m spent a lot of time wrestling with “big and tall” guys for shoulder space, etc, but never with a woman.  During the flight I received several shoulder butts and a couple of elbows to the ribs.  She just didn’t seem to be a very feminine person.  I was especially concerned when I had my computer out and she decided to transfer the contents of one water bottle into another.  She looked like some mad scientist as I envisioned her spilling both bottles into the innards of my Dell laptop.

 

 

Wednesday, May 4, 2005 

My flight landed on time into the Brussels Airport at 8:30 a.m.  Roland had warned me that we would be going into Brussels for the day.  There was no racing in our plan on this Wednesday.  He also told me there was a dress code of sorts since we would be parking at his employer’s parking lot.  Therefore, my first item on the agenda, after landing, was to change from my very comfortable flying clothes of shorts and a t-shirt to my much more uncomfortable long pants and dress shoes.  I must admit that I can no longer wear dress shoes comfortably.

 

As promised, Roland met me at the airport after I had passed through customs and collected my luggage.  We both recognized each other from photos we had seen previously.  Of course, Roland was much more handsome and erudite than his trackchaser photo indicated.

 

We loaded my luggage into Roland’s automobile.  Roland will do the driving on this trip in his 2002 S.E.A.T. (pronounced say-ot) Leader LDI.  S.E.AT. stands for Sociedad Espanola de Automoviles de Turismo (Spanish saloon car company).  TDI stands for Turbo Diesel with direct Injection.  The S.E.A.T. is a Volkswagen owned brand and the S.E.A.T. is manufactured in Spain.  Roland was proud of the fact the car was made in Spain.  When the car’s CD malfunctioned, he mentioned the CD was the one of the few parts actually made in Germany!  The car is similar to an Audi A4.

 

Roland’s car, like most in Europe has a manual transmission, in this case a five speed.  The engine burns diesel fuel and gets a bit more than 45 M.P.G.  The car is a four door and has a large boot (trunk).  Upon entering the automobile, Roland told me there was one rule for the car, no eating in it!  Since I had just met Roland, I was in no position to argue.

 

The weather today was rainy and cool, about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.  That would make it about 10 degrees Celsius.  I was pleased that we had no racing today.

 

We drove into downtown Brussels and since it was too early for lunch we entered a café for some espresso.  I am not a coffee drinker at all and don’t understand that culture.  Carol is a Starbucks coffee drinker.  I once went into a Starbucks simply to get Carol a cup of coffee.  That was my only visit ever to a Starbucks.

 

I must admit that I felt a little self-conscious sitting with Roland drinking espresso.  First, Roland and I are BOTH big boys.  Secondly, our espresso cups weren’t much bigger than a thimble.  I felt like I was about five years old and was “playing house”.  That’s OK.  The reason I go on trips like this is to put myself in situations that I am either not familiar with or comfortable with or both.  In the end, that’s how you learn to be comfortable with more things in life.

 

Before long it was lunchtime.  Roland was to treat me to lunch at his very favorite restaurant.  The restaurant featured North African cuisine.  Yes, I’m going to be exposed to many things of which I am not familiar!

 

When we entered the Tassili restaurant, the headwaiter greeted Roland like a long lost friend.  They spoke for a bit in French.  By the way, Roland speaks at least five languages fluently including Dutch, French, Italian, German and English.  I believe Roland explained that I was a visiting American and that I should be treated well.  From that point forward the restaurant management treated me like royalty.

 

Somehow, Roland had inserted into the conversation, as we drove into Brussels, that people of Belgium and the Netherlands eat horsemeat.  I made Roland swear that no horsemeat was being served today.  He did.  Roland tells me “Only people of my home town eat a lot of horse meat, it’s even our official surname (Pjeerefretters- horse meat eaters)”.

 

The North African meal was excellent.  The food was served buffet style.  I’m not exactly certain what I ate and for the benefit of all, it might be best that I don’t know what everything was that I ate. 

 

Europeans seem much better equipped to spend a considerable amount of time eating their meals.  The fast food culture has not hit them as it has Americans.  We took nearly two hours for our lunch and consumed a bottle of wine.  This would not be the last time we would take this much time to eat, nor the last time we would consume a bottle of wine.  Roland told me he normally takes about two hours for lunch and the wine helps him deal with “difficult” meetings he might have in the afternoon.  Gee, if only I had thought of that when I was working!

 

Following the meal and our bottle of wine, the headwaiter offered up after-lunch drinks.  This consisted first of some peppermint tea.  He proceeded to pour the steaming tea from a teapot held about three feet over the clear double shot glass.    This was followed by a snifter of a drink that was “distilled of figs”, that seemed pretty strong to me.  The dreary weather looked like a perfect day when I staggered out of this restaurant!  Roland did remind me that the alcohol limit for drunk driving is .05.  That is lower than most American states where the limit is .08 or .10.

 

We spent the afternoon touring the “Autoworld” automobile museum.  This is a huge museum and covers two floors.  It features automobiles from both Europe and the U.S.  This museum was well worth the visit.

 

Later in the afternoon we stopped by Roland’s house.  I love visiting the homes of people from different cultures.  I first had this opportunity with Graham Alexander in Cowdenbeath, Scotland. 

 

Roland lives with his father in their beautiful European home.  He has lived in this home since he was four years old.  That means that on July 12 of this year, Roland will have lived in the house for 47 years.

 

Our next stop was for me to check into my hotel.  I’m staying at the Hotel Campanile.  This simple Vilvoorde hotel is located within two miles of Roland’s home.  It is also located within walking distance of downtown Vilvoorde, which is a classic small and old European town.

 

My room is plain and compact.  The queen size bed takes up most of the space in the bedroom portion of the room.  The TV gets 10 channels of which only two are in English.  If I want to listen to English TV, my choices are EuroSport (sort of like a European ESPN) and CNN.  The other eight channels are all in a foreign tongue, at least to me.  It seems odd to see Tom Sellick and Dustin Hoffman speaking in French and German.

 

When I landed at the airport, I forgot to buy an electrical adapter.  (Editor’s note:  When I returned to the Brussels Airport later in the week, they did not having any U.S. adapters for sale.)  I have five different items that need electrical power.  These include 1) laptop computer, 2) cell phone, 3) video camera batter recharger, 4) digital camera battery recharger and 5) electric toothbrush.  The hotel had an adapter that worked with only one of my appliances, my electric toothbrush.

 

In Belgium there are “Night” stores.  These are roughly equivalent to convenience stores.  I made an evening run to one located near my hotel.  You never know when a case of the hungries will attack.  After purchasing some Kellogg’s “Choco” breakfast cereal, a jar of peanut butter, bags of Bugles and potato chips and a liter of Diet Coke, I was ready to hit the sack on my first night in Europe.

 

I had successfully stayed up until 8 p.m.  I could now sleep about 10 hours and be fully or almost fully acclimated to the Belgium time zone. 

 

 

Thursday, May 5, 2005 

Even though I was dead tired when I went to bed, I was up at 3:40 a.m.  After digging into the Kellogg’s Chocos for a few minutes I slept on and off until it was time to get up at 7 a.m.

 

Roland and I met at 7:30 a.m. for the nearly three-hour drive into The Netherlands.  I will tell you now that Roland knows more about world geography, world politics and world history than anyone I have ever met.  Although a Belgian, he speaks English like an Englishman.  Roland also likes to talk.  Of course, I like to talk as well.

 

I believe it would be fair to say that Roland and I have vastly different political views.  Nevertheless, we had several spirited discussions and held to our agreement that no one would be upset based upon the widely divergent political views we shared.  So far, the only bet on a future political outcome is in regards to Tony Blair.  If Mr. Blair does not serve out his current term, I owe Roland a bottle and if Mr. Blair does make it through his term, I will be drinking on Roland.  (Editor’s note:  Following our wager, I returned to my hotel room.  The first thing CNN mentioned was that Tony Blair might be giving up his position to the second in command, Gordon Brown!).

 

I wish that I could capture all of Roland’s beautiful English phrases used to describe the most common of life’s details.  I learned a lot from Roland in the first day of our travel.

 

When we weren’t talking about politics, we were talking about trackchasing.  When Roland was speaking of Rick Schneider, our number one trackchaser on the limited numbers of tracks Rick could see, Roland offered this ancient Belgium saying, “There is no animal on his hunting ground”.  What a way to put it!

 

Did you know that, according to The Financial Times,  only 12 of the 25 European Union countries use the Euro as their official currency?  Did you know there were 25 EU countries?  Did you know that Sweden switched to driving on the right side of the road in 1967?  Did you know that speeding tickets in Belgium cost $350-400?

 

Soon we made it to our first trackchasing destination of the trip.

 

 

DRIESUM RACE TRACK, – TRACK #839 – DRIESUM, NETHERLANDS 

We would be seeing autocross racing today.  Autocross racing is nearly synonymous with autograss racing in the United Kingdom.  The Netherlands has three paved oval and two road courses.  There are no permanent dirt ovals.  They have about 210 autocross tracks.  Belgium has just 1 paved oval and 2 road courses and about 175 autocross tracks.

 

Therefore, when you go trackchasing in The Netherlands or Belgium, you are very likely to be going autocross racing.  When I first went autograss racing in the U.K., I was told the racing took place in farmer’s fields.  I was surprised to see how permanent looking the U.K. autograss tracks really were.

 

Today’s autocross track was much more primitive than U.K. autograss tracks that I have visited.  The track itself truly was simply a grassy farmer’s field.  The layout was in an oval shape and maybe three-eights of a mile is length.

 

There were 211 racing machines registered to race in today’s events.  They ran about 10 cars in each heat race.  The free program explained that each car would race in four heats and then a feature event.  This is a one-day event.  By my count, with an average of 10 cars in each heat there would be about 84 heat races and then the finals.  The track may start out as grass but by the end of the day, it won’t be grass anymore.

 

The entrance road to the track was paved and one lane wide.  When we came upon a car traveling in the opposite direction, each car had to partially pull off the road so that each could pass.  Admission was 8 Euros (one Euro equals about $1.29) and included a program.  Parking was a free for all in a very damp “meadow” and we nearly were boxed in by some European blended double opponent.

 

By the way, Roland and I may not share the same political beliefs. Nevertheless, he is a proponent of the blended double as most trackchasers are.  For that, I am grateful.  Roland had an exquisite phrase for the critics of the BD.  “You must allow the sun to shine on the water”.  If you want to know more about what that means, ask Roland.

 

Our first stop was at the track’s concession stand.  Here they were cooking up large amounts of sausages and hamburgers.  They had solid steel “pans” that were three feet in diameter.  Each pan held 50 or more hamburgers and sausages. 

 

I asked Roland why the hamburgers in both the U.K. and the Netherlands tasted different from hamburgers sold in the United States.  He offered that hamburgers sold in Europe contained both cow meat and kangaroo meat.  I asked if there was any horsemeat in there.  Roland told me there wasn’t any horsemeat in the hamburgers!

 

The racing was good.  Each race lasted five laps.  The track did not stop the races for spins or even flips.  One driver flipped and only rated a corner yellow flag.  Another driver flipped, rolled back onto his wheels, and kept racing.  There was a lot of racing today and we enjoyed it very much. 

 

There was a complete P.A. system setup with a very active announcer speaking in Dutch.  During the race, he could really get wound up.  At some points, he sounded just like those Mexican disc jockeys you hear on high powered Mexican radio stations that are talking a mile a minute in that Suuuuuuuunday! sing song dialect.

 

Anyone could tell they were watching drivers from the Friesland area.  They had names like Tjeerd Folkertsma, Dicky van Dam, Auke Mink Leistra, Visa Dentelflossin, Appie Bakkar and Jan Jaap Wassenaar!  Actually, I made up one of those names.  First one back to me with the correct fake name wins a $5 gift certificate from longtime RANLAY Racing sponsor, In N Out hamburgers.  By the way, Carol first two guesses in the quiz were incorrect!

 

 

Thursday, May 5, 2005 – continued

Between tracks we stopped in a residential neighborhood to take a look at the road map and get our bearings.  In this part of Holland, local residents proudly display one of two country flags outside their home.  One flag in the red, white and blue striped Holland country flag.  The other is a beautiful blue and white flag with several red hearts on it.  This is the Fryskland/Friesland flag.

 

I stepped out of the car to take a photo of a Friesland flag.  About that time several children walked by.  I said, “Hello” and they were immediately intrigued by someone speaking English.  The children learn English as a second language in school.  They wanted to show off their English speaking skills and we conversed for a few minutes.  One of the boys was celebrating his 11^th birthday today.  

 

We next stopped for some diesel fuel at a Gulf brand service station.  While Roland was filling the tank, I quickly scarfed down a Magnum ice cream bar while outside the car, so as not to violate the “no eating in the car” policy.

 

During our drive, we continually see canal waterways.  These are very picturesque and often accompanied by large traditional windmills common to the folklore of Holland.  We saw commercial fields of beautiful red and pink flowers.

 

We also see a large amount of people riding bicycles.  These are not sleek 18 speed racers, but the old-time Schwinn type single speed bicycles.  Many of the people riding the bikes are older and wearing long pants and winter coats.  This is a very unusual sight to me.  I half expect them to stop their journey, get off the bike and break out into song, ala The Sound of Music.

 

 

AUTOSPORTSTADION de POLDERPUTTEN – TRACK #840 – TER APEL, NETHERLANDS 

Try saying this track’s name five times really fast!  The track today was a paved oval.  I’ve heard of paper clipped shaped tracks before, but this fits that description more than any I have ever seen.  The track is 600 meters in length and I’ll bet the straights are 500 of those meters.  Even though the track was still conducting their heat races, we got in for the reduced price of three Euros from the normal admission of 10 Euros.

 

There were six classes racing today with about 10 cars in each class.  Admission to the pits was included in the overall front gate admission charge.  I was surprised to see that beer drinking was allowed in the pit area.  Roland assured me this was fine as the beer drinkers were German and could certainly handle a brewski or two.

 

There were no bleachers or any fixed seating at today’s track.  Spectators could either stand or bring a lawn chair and sit next to the track’s fence for a close-up view.  We watched each race from a different vantage point as we worked our way around the oval.  This double track visit today was a blended double.

 

 

Thursday, May 5, 2005 – continued 

Following the paved oval race we headed back toward Vilvoorde.  The only time I’ve seen Roland get nervous was when I recommended we stop at McDonalds for a restroom break and drink.  First, Roland thought the parking lot was too crowded for us to stop.  Once inside the restaurant, he was concerned that the three people in line would provide such an obstacle that we would never be served in a timely manner.  I assured him that it would be OK and I was served in less than two minutes.

 

I asked Roland if he had ever eaten in his car.  He said no.  I asked him if he had ever used a fast food restaurant’s drive-through option.  He said no.  I asked Roland if he had ever played golf.  He said no.

 

Roland and I have trackchasing trips planned for Wisconsin in late June.  My twin objectives of that trip on the days we overlap is to have Roland experience a fast food drive through trip and hit some golf balls on a driving range!

 

We finished up the day with a stop at a “Quick” fast food restaurant.  Roland had warned me this chain was not as good as a McDonalds and he was right.  Nevertheless, I had to try it once.

 

We finished the evening in the Hotel Campanile bar drinking a beer called, “The Duvel” (translates as devil).  Roland explained this beer had twice the alcohol content of the average beer.  This made the political discussions even more entertaining.

 

 

Friday, May 6, 2005

We had no tracks scheduled for today.  We spent the late morning walking around Vilvoorde and the surrounding area.  Since this was a holiday weekend there were many people shopping and taking in the sights.

 

At lunch, we had a terrific gourmet Italian meal.  Roland knows how to pick out the restaurants.  This was another two-hour lunch with wine. 

 

As I said, I have never met anyone with Roland’s knowledge of world geography.  In the U.S., he knows the difference between Macon, Georgia and Omaha, Nebraska and San Francisco, California as good as or better than any American I have ever met.  On top of that, he also knows the differences between just about any city in Europe, South America or the African continent.  He told me he has traveled outside of Belgium for a total of 2,280 nights in his lifetime.  Simply amazing!

 

We spent part of the afternoon searching for electrical adapters.  I found one for my Dell laptop.  Now I have the laptop and my toothbrush covered.  I’ve got enough batteries for my digital camera without having to charge my rechargeables.  If I’m careful my video camera batteries might last the entire trip. 

 

I can’t find any place in Belgium to “top off” my Virgin Mobile cell phone sim card, so recharging my cell phone might not matter.  Roland proudly explained that his Seat was a non-smoking car and thus had no cigarette lighter.  That was bad news for me because I had counted on using that power to recharge both my laptop and my cell phone.

 

We spent the evening over at Roland’s house looking at slides of the many European races he has seen.  I enjoyed that.  I also got to me Roland’s father.  Roland’s dad is a look-alike for Jerry Stiller, who played the father to George Castanza on Seinfeld.  By the way, Roland has a strong facial resemblance to Steve Croft of 60 Minutes.  While on the subject of celebrity resemblances, I was again linked with Bill Clinton at a Chinese restaurant that Carol and I visited last week.  I get the Clinton comparison frequently, much to Carol’s chagrin.

 

Roland and I finished up the evening at a fine Italian restaurant recommended by his father.  Roland always offers the phrase, “Have a good meal”, before we eat.  This restaurant earns the famous RANLAY Racing Money Back Guarantee.   We each had individual pizzas and split a bottle of white wine.  The restaurant is named II Casale (02/270.02.63) and serves both Italian and French food.  They even have a website at www.ilcasale.be.

 

 

Saturday, May 7, 2005

Today we had only one track in our race plan.  The weather forecast was for cold and rain.  In situations like this the weather sometimes wins and it did today.  For only the 3^rd time in 24 days of trackchasing this season I was rained out. 

 

Roland and I left the hotel at 9:45 a.m. for the one hour drive up to Beervelde, Belgium.  The area had received a substantial amount of rain leaving the farm fields deluged with water. 

 

The Beervelde autocross location was at the same spot where Roland had seen races a few years ago.  These tracks really are in a farmer’s field and are only temporary locations in most cases.

 

With no racing, we headed back into Brussels.  We dined at one of Roland’s favorite restaurants, a Vietnamese eatery where we ate calamari and crabs stuffed with shrimp as starters before eating some very delicious entrees.  We may be rained on during this trip but we will not starve.

 

Roland had warned me before I came over that Saturday afternoon’s were reserved for time with his girlfriend, Aline.  That was fine and would give me some time to get all of my gear organized for this week’s personal trip into France.

 

I started my afternoon with a walk into Vilvoorde.  When I visit foreign countries, nothing ever works the way I expect it too.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, only commenting.

 

Sometimes the simplest things go wrong.  Carol and I once had a stick shift car in London.  I drove down a road with a dead end.  There was no place to turn around.  It took us both more than 30 minutes to figure out how to put the car in reverse and back out!

 

My cell phone sim card that I bought in the U.K. in March is very difficult to top off in Belgium.  The hotel’s electrical adapter only works with one of my five electrical appliances. 

 

Today, I was looking for an internet café in downtown Vilvoorde.  I thought I had seen an internet store or two in our previous walks through town, but I couldn’t find any today.  I stopped in a phone store and struck up a conversation with the clerk.

 

I told him how I was having a hard time finding a place where I could use the internet.  He was a nice guy and told me I could use the store’s internet connection for a few minutes.  That was great.  I busily went to work typing a message to Carol about last minute prep for her trip to Belgium that begins next week.

 

I looked up at the computer screen and noticed that none of the words made any sense.  Lo and behold, the letters on Belgium keyboards are not in the same place as U.S. keyboards!  Talk about lack of standards.

 

I made my way back to the Hotel Campanile.  I was just in time to look out my window to see it hailing.  The weather forecast is bad for tomorrow.  We may not see any racing then if the rain continues. 

 

 

Sunday, May 8, 2005 

I continue to be amazed by my travel companion, Roland.  Not only can he speak five languages, but today I learned how he came to speak a few of those languages.  He has no formal language training in English.  Yet, he speaks it very well.  How did he learn to speak English?  He picked up English by listening to English music, with the written lyrics in one hand and an English dictionary in the other!

 

He taught himself Italian by reading Italian auto magazines.  I do not think of myself as being behind the curve in too many things.  Roland blows me away in this area.  He has such a big advantage being able to speak so many languages.  This skill, which came to him only by sheer perseverance, is even more useful as a European resident.

 

Yesterday, we were rained out.  Today, we had three tracks on the schedule.  With today’s weather of intermittent rain, cold temperatures and windy conditions, we had no right to get any track in today.  One of our three original tracks planned for today did not take place for us.

 

 

BELLEKOUTER AUTOCROSS – OVAL AND ROAD COURSE – TRACKS #841 & #842 – AFFLIGEM, BELGIUM 

A good deal of the time, Roland does not have a phone contact or website to confirm that a track is racing.  Fortunately, with some trying weather conditions, he had a phone contact for today’s races.  The races were not confirmed until 8:30 a.m. for this morning’s 11 a.m. start.

 

The program is an autocross that is nearly identical to the U.K.’s autograss events.  Again, the course today actually started out as a grassy farmer’s field, whereas the U.K. autograss events are actually much more of a permanent facility with dirt rather than grass racing surfaces.

 

Today’s events are sponsored by the VRCB.  What is the VRCB?  I thought you might ask that.  VRCB stands for Vlaamse Rodeocrossbond van Belgie!  Satisfied?

 

Somewhat incredibly, there are 18 different locations racing under the VRCB banner.  Each of those locations has two countable tracks, a road course and an oval.  Here is the incredible part.  These 36 different countable tracks are all within 40 miles of Roland’s home in Vilvoorde. 

 

Roland has seen racing in more different countries than any other trackchaser.  His current total is 31 countries.  About seven countries are within 500 miles of his home and 19 are within 1,000 miles of Vilvoorde.  Roland adamantly denies that his country achievement is noteworthy because so many countries are located so closely together.  I would disagree with him on that.

 

Admission to the event was 8 Euros.  We also received a complimentary program.  Of course the program is entirely in Dutch, so I may have to call Roland for a translation.  There were probably 50-60 cars in attendance.

 

The signage directing us to tracks in the Netherlands and Belgium has been seriously lacking.  I asked Roland why they could not do a better job directing their customers to the races.  Roland felt the local track members had this perspective, “We are a bunch of good guys, but we don’t want these foreigners (meaning anyone not in their club) to come look at our place of play”.

 

The road course configuration was in the shape of a boomerang.  The oval course used the turns of the road course for its turns three and four.  The oval was about one-quarter mile in length (Roland felt it was smaller), whereas the road course was about three-quarters of a mile in distance.

 

Like our race at Driesum the wet conditions saw the cars quickly tearing up the grass and throwing lots of dirt and mud.  The temperature was about 45 degrees.  It was windy and rained hard from time to time.  I have seen changeable weather in my travels, but the weather in this part of the world seems to change from sun to rain and back about every 10-15 minutes. 

 

The track food came from a mobile trailer.  Roland and I each had bratwursts that must have been at least a foot long.  They also had more French fries in their trailer than any fast food restaurant I have ever seen.  I ordered the fries with a curry sauce, which I find different but tasty.  I was also given a small wooden fork to be used to eat my fries.  That was a worldwide first.

 

Finally, the announcer spoke Dutch to the crowd.  The Dutch language sounds like German to me.  Actually, most foreign languages sound like Greek to me but that’s another story.  With the gloomy weather conditions and the German sounding P.A., it reminded me of the people moving around the prison yard in Hogan’s Heroes!

 

Suffice it to say, we were lucky to get in any tracks today.  This double is a same track double.

 

 

Sunday, May 8, 2005 (continued) 

Our second planned location of the day did not materialize.  We drove to the small village where the race was scheduled to be conducted.  We did see a small sign for the autocross as we exited the motorway.  We didn’t see any more signs and we didn’t see any autocross track.  Since we had no more information we could only assume the track had cancelled far in advance.

 

Some readers may think that Roland has a large advantage with an estimated 400+ autocross tracks in Belgium and the Netherlands alone.  I would find it somewhat maddening to drive to a location where the track is supposed to be and find nothing whatsoever.  It seems that for every plus there is a minus.

 

I must admit that Roland felt bad for me that our third track of the day was not racing.  I told him there wasn’t much that could be done about the weather and that he should not feel bad.  I’ve been having an outstanding trip to this point.

 

Roland didn’t want to give up.  He considered another autocross, but concluded that we no longer had time to get there before there program would be finished.  That track was nearly three hours away and we didn’t even know for sure if their races were still on.

 

Belgium has only one paved oval in the entire country.  That track is the Warneton Speedway.  Roland was pretty sure they were not racing, but thought they occasionally have an odd event that does not appear on their website.  Even if they were not racing, Roland thought it was be good to show me the facility. 

 

We drove about 30 minutes to Warneton and they were not racing.  I can see that this track is a premier racing address for this area.  Trackchaser Will White visited Warneton a few years ago.  I was pleasantly surprised to see a large grandstand area of blue bleachers.  This is the first oval track I have seen in Europe or Australia that actually had a good-sized grandstand.

 

Finally, as a last resort Roland recommended we drive over to France.  He knew of a road course there that he had already visited some 31 times.  He didn’t know if they were racing, but thought we should at least give it a shot.  As we drove over to France, which is less than a mile from Warneton, the sun came out and the scenery became beautiful rolling green hills.

 

Then, as if we were being sent a message from God (possibly being overstated, but maybe not!), the road course appeared.  I could hear Roland exclaiming, “They are racing!”  Then, as he looked closer, he said, “No, they’re not.”  Then came his final statement, “Yes, they are!”  We had taken a long shot and it paid off.  I was about ready to see racing in my sixth foreign country.

 

 

CIRCUIT de CROIX-EN-TERNOIS – TRACK #843 – SAINT-POL sur-TERNOISE, FRANCE

What a stroke of luck.  We quickly paid our seven Euro admission, which included a one-page program of events.  Their program indicates the track can be contacted at contact@circuitdecroix.com.

 

We were in time to see all six final events.  From a spectator point of view, this is one of the best road courses I have ever seen, even if they did charge 30 cents to use the toilet.  I’m going to guess the course was between one and one and one-quarter miles long.  There were several elevation changes throughout the circuit.  A spectator can view the action from 10-30 feet from the track for virtually the entire circuit.

 

There were a couple of open-wheel Formula class groups.  There were also a couple of European compact car classes racing today.  The cars raced 16 circuits in each finale.  We saw racing from every angle and also gained access to the paddock.

 

Roland, not a strong supporter of U.S. President Bush, explained that in reality we had President Bush to thank for our lucky track find.  President Bush is visiting the Netherlands today.  Because of the anticipated traffic problems with his visit, Roland considered the Circuit de Croix rather than another alternative.  Thank you, President Bush for your help with today’s track.  Also, thanks for not raising the income tax rate for folks in the highest tax bracket!

 

The track is the second half of a blended double with the road course at Affligem.  We saw features events at both tracks.

 

 

Sunday, May 8, 2005 (continued) 

Roland and I met each other four days ago.  Since that time, we’ve spent several hours together in the car, restaurants and at the races.  We have chatted non-stop and very much enjoyed ourselves.  During that amount of time, you can get to know someone very well.

 

We shared our views and opinions on everything from politics to picnics.  I learned that, for the most part, only the U.K and France write checks.  Everyone else relies on debit cards.  Roland did offer this comment on sharing trackchaser information.  I’ve tried to capture it verbatim.  Roland says, “Why not share your information?  This is a hobby.  No one is being shot for being the last one (finishing in last place).  Not sharing is being an #$%^&@@!”  Roland never said this word again during our entire trip.  I could not agree more.

 

We finished our evening at a Buffalo Grill restaurant.  This is a French restaurant chain along the lines of Applebee’s.  One of Roland’s favorite American eateries is the Subway sandwich chain.  It does not get dark her until about 9:30 p.m.  On the way home, we came across a gigantic rainbow in the sky.  That was only fitting following our three track good fortune today.

 

This concludes my first trackchasing weekend with Roland.  Tomorrow I will head from Belgium into France with the objective on visiting Euro Disney.  I will be in France for four days.  I’ll return on Friday to join Roland, as well as the littlest trackchaser living west of the Mississippi, wife Carol.  I’m looking forward to seeing her.

 

 

 

 

CONTINENTAL EUROPE – PART 2

   

Monday, May 9, 2005 

Today is my first day on this trip without Roland.  How will I do?  I have four days all by myself.  Carol will not arrive until Friday and Roland will be at work in Belgium until Friday. 

 

My overall plan is to visit Disneyland Parc near Paris, France.  I will spend one day at the park and the rest of the time going wherever the road takes me in France.

 

The first step of today’s plan was to take a taxi from my hotel in Vilvoorde to the Brussels International Airport.  Quite often taxis in Europe are Mercedes.  That was the case today.  I paid 20 Euros to ride a very short distance to the airport in a full-sized Mercedes.

 

I am finding that most everyone speaks at least a little English.  Whenever I get a local person who can speak the language well, I ask them questions about the United States.  This trip’s question is, “What do you think of the Iraq war?”  Of course, this is not a scientific study, but more of a discussion with the man or woman on the street.

 

Today’s taxi driver felt we were “getting into another Vietnam”.  He also felt the war was more about oil than anything else was.  Finally, he offered that trying to change someone’s beliefs when they are based on religion is a non-winnable argument.  It’s amazing how this point of view is so similar to a certain segment of the U.S. population.

 

Once at the airport, I made my way to the Alamo Rental Car Company desk.  Renting the car wasn’t much different than renting a car in the states.  They do offer GPS systems for 10 Euros per day.  I’ll be renting another car when Carol comes.  Maybe I will test out the GPS then.  That system could open up Europe for American based trackchasers.

 

My Alamo car is a Volkswagen Polo.  For some unknown reason, there is identification on the back of the car indicating it is a National Rental Car (National is the parent of Alamo).  I am sure that piece of data comes in handy when thieves are trying to decide which car to burgle.  Although I was upgraded this is still a very small European car.  Rental car rates are high in Europe.  I am paying about $70 per day.  I could have saved about $30 per day if I wanted to use a car with a manual transmission.  I figured navigating my way around would be tough enough without having to worry about shifting gears.

 

Roland warned me that France requires each driver to carry a fluorescent yellow vest in the car.  This is required so that if a motorist were to have a flat tire, the oncoming traffic would be alerted.  He said there is a very stiff fine to be paid, if this vest is not kept in the interior of the car.  Luckily, for me, Roland told me about this law and loaned me the vest he carries with him.

 

Getting out of the Brussels airport and into the French countryside was a breeze.  Maybe trackchasing in Europe, by myself, wouldn’t be as hard as I think.  But, then again, maybe it would!

 

I’ll still trying to find a retail location where I can “top off” my cell phone and add extra minutes of usage.  So far, I have completely struck out in trying to find a store that works with Vodaphone and Virgin Mobile.  Actually, I’m turning this negative into a positive.  I’ve probably talked to more than 10 Belgium and French nationals today trying to get help with that phone.  No luck so far, but I won’t give up.

 

When I was at the Belgium airport getting the car, I stopped by a business center and used the internet.  The charge was 4 Euros for 15 minutes.  I still can’t believe the computer keyboard in Europe has the typing keys in different spots than the U.S. keyboard!  I type bad enough as it is without having to use the “two fingers” method of typing.

 

It’s spring and the French countryside is beautiful.  There are gently rolling hills and green farmlands with plenty of yellow wildflowers.  I stopped in a couple of small towns just to see what I could see.  I do see many satellite TV setups.  The buildings are old.  The people of Belgium do not seem to use cell phones while the French use them a lot.

 

During my drives in the country, I have seen the French bullet trains several times.  These babies pick ‘em and lay ‘em down!  I was traveling down the motorway at about 120 K.P.H. and they blew by me.  I would estimate they travel nearly 200 K.P.H., which is around 120 miles per hour.  I would really love to ride on a bullet train.

 

The drive from Brussels to Paris is about four hours and four hundred kilometers.  That distance used up a tank of petrol and the refill came out to about $60.  Gas in Europe goes for about $6.50 per gallon although it is sold in liters here.

 

Just as I was nearing Disneyland, I came across a large modern shopping center.  I stopped to explore.  I had a good time talking with the personnel at five different phone stores.  My opening line is always, “Bonjour, no parlevue France”.  Roughly translated, that means, “Hello, I don’t speak French”.  They can probably gather that after just the “Bonjour” part of my speech!

 

Anyway, no luck on the cell phone front.  That being the case I stopped in a Carrefour retail store.  This is a large food superstore comparable to Wal-Mart superstores.  I get a kick out of visiting grocery stores since I did that so many times in my business career.  Of course, today I was the only one in the store wearing shorts and carrying a camera around their neck.

 

I ended up buying a bottle of French white wine.  I also bought a huge piece of Brie cheese and two loaves of French bread.  I’m planning to have a party in my room tonight.

 

Just a few miles from Disneyland Parc, I came across a “Hotel 1 Premier Class” hotel.  This is a modern American looking hotel.  Actually, I was looking for a little French hotel with a castle motif, but this is a suburban looking area so I had to settle for what there was.  The rate is only 34 Euros and an additional 4 Euros for breakfast.  That seemed more than reasonable.

 

The room itself is quite small.  The sleeping area can’t be more than about 10 feet square.  Two single beds in the room take up most of the floor space.  The TV is about 10” diagonally.  The ENTIRE bathroom is made of molded fiberglass.  Still, the price is right, and the location is great.  Disneyland is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow.  I’m looking forward to seeing how it compares with the Disney properties I have visited so many times in California and Florida.

 

 

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

I checked out of my hotel this morning at just before 10 a.m.  I went over to the hotel restaurant just as they were closing down.  I was in time for croissants and juice.  I could have also used the egg cooker, but would have felt more comfortable if Carol was here to do it for me.  That is not a chauvinist remark, I’m just untrained.

 

Checking in and out of these hotels is a snap.  In the states, they need your name, address, driver’s license number, car license plate number among other things.  Here they simply take your credit card and ask your name and that’s it.  You don’t have to do anything at all to check out.  I like this efficiency.

 

The plan of the day is to visit Disneyland Parc.  I believe this resort used to be called Euro Disney, but there are no signs to that effect now.  The park was built in 1992.

 

Carol and I have a long history of going to amusement parks.  We honeymooned in Orlando, Florida back in 1972.  We went to Disneyworld, which had only been open for three months at the time.  I can’t remember if we went to any tracks in Florida or not.  It was Speed Weeks, maybe Carol remembers.  I was home on 10 days leave from my United States Marine Corps boot camp training.

 

The park is open today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.  The weather is the best of the trip so far.  I have nearly clear blue skies and temperatures in the low 60s.  It’s a bit windy and I could stand it to be warmer, but I’ll take what I can get.  I only saw a person or two other than me wearing shorts.

 

I was curious to see how similar the Disney Resort in Paris would be to the American Disneys.  After they charged 8 Euros (about $10) for parking, I knew they were going to be very much the same!

 

There are two separate parks at the resort.  There are also several large Disney hotels for the guests who want to stay within walking distance of the park.  A one-day admission to one park is 41 Euros for adults and 33 Euros for children.  You can buy a “park hopper” pass that allows an adult to see both parks in one day for 49 Euros.  That’s what I did and I recommend it.  Signs are in both French and English, so navigating the park is very easy.

 

I started with the Disneyland Parc.  My first stop was at Space Mountain.  For those who have not tried this ride at one Disney location or the other, I highly recommend it, if you like roller coasters.  There was only a five-minute wait, which is unheard of.  I must be getting bigger or the seats are getting smaller, because my knees and shoulders barely fit.  At the end of the ride, I felt like I had done several endos in a sprint car at Knoxville.

 

I really enjoy observing people.  Disneyland is a wonderful place to do that.  There were many young families.  I did not hear an American accent during my entire stay at the park.  Everyone seemed in a good mood and having a grand time.

 

The typical family was mom, dad and two kids.  The men seemed rather stoic and non-verbal.  The women seemed to give the directions and explain the family’s park strategy.  The kids were generally well behaved.  When it was necessary, both mom and dad gave the children direction regarding good behavior.

 

Remember, these are generalizations.  There is nothing wrong with generalizations.  Generalizations do not mean that everyone behaved the way I describe.  They simply mean that the predominant method of behavior was as I described as I observed it.  You can use this definition whenever I generalize about anything in the Trackchaser Report.

 

By the way, I think the French have a bad reputation with Americans for being rude and refusing to speak English, even it they know it.  This could not be further from the truth based upon my experience this week.  Everyone I have talked to in hotels, the small towns I’ve visited and at Disney have gone out of their way to be helpful and friendly.  In addition, everyone has tried to speak English back to me to the best of their ability, which, for the most part, has been very good.

 

The lines were usually short and made my visit all that more enjoyable.  I have had a few Disney visits that weren’t that great when the crowds were too big.  I did not observe today’s Europeans buying that much in the way of souvenirs.  By the way, souvenir sales are almost non-existent at European racetracks.  I would guess the Europeans spent a lot more with they visit American Disney Parks.

 

I spent the afternoon at the Walt Disney Studio Park.  This one of the two parks was the most crowded.  I think the Walt Disney Studio Park has fewer attractions than Disneyland Parc.

 

I just happened to be walking by when I noticed a long line beginning to move into the Moteurs….Action!  Stunt Show Spectacular.   This was one of the best attractions I have ever seen.  They pulled off some outstanding stunts with motorcycles and automobiles.  They had several ramp-to-ramp jumps, motorcycle wheelie stunts and car chases.  One of the highlights was a motorcycle rider crash where the rider slides through a pool of fire, gets up and runs away while totally on fire!  It was a very worthwhile 30 minutes.

 

I finished the late afternoon with a visit to the gift shop.  This is a Lewis family tradition.  After buying postcards for all the folks on the post card list and buying a little something for the kids, it was time to shop for the littlest trackchaser living west of the Mississippi.

 

Carol is always hard to shop for.  What I bought for her will be a bit of a belated Mother’s Day gift.  I was drawn to the lingerie section of the Disney store, but hey, that’s just me, you might be drawn to some other part of the store.  There was a little black number with her name on it, which will fit the bill.  Before your imagination begins to run away with you, remember this is Disney, my selection couldn’t be too racy, or could it?

 

Being out in the cool fresh air for the entire day, made me decide not to drive very far tonight.  I elected to go back to the same hotel where I stayed last night.  I was familiar with it, it was new and good value for the money.  I am still trying to decide tomorrow between the Chateau Versailles, a French bullet train ride or a trip to the beaches of Normandy.

 

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 

This morning I talked with the hotel desk clerk and he convinced me to visit both the Chateau Versailles and the beaches of Normandy.  I do not have to be back in Brussels until Thursday night so this should be doable. 

 

In the world of trackchasing, there are trackchasers that have tried two, three or even more times to see a certain racetrack.  Usually they go to the racetrack only to be rained out at the last moment.  Each trackchaser has that problem track that seems to always elude them.

 

The Chateau Versailles, also referred to as the Palace of Versailles falls into that category for me at least as far as tourist attractions go.  Years ago, the family and I were vacationing in Paris.  We had heard about the opulent palace in Versailles and decided to visit.

 

Our trip was on a Monday and we were going to drive from downtown Paris to Versailles.  The distance could not have been more than 10 miles.  Let me point out that finding the Palace of Versailles is not like trying to find the Wal-Mart on the edge of town surrounded by an open field.  My European guidebook offers one piece of advice about Paris; do not drive in the city.

 

Nevertheless, we started out and became lost almost immediately.  I am the type of traveler that will stop every two blocks for new directions if I need them.  Men, in general, have the reputation for never wanting to stop for directions, but not me.  The French people tried to be helpful, but it was difficult to understand their English.  Two hours after we started, we found ourselves in the same place we started.  We tried again and found Versailles, only to find out they were closed on Mondays!

 

The Chateau Versailles owes me.  I tried again today.  The drive from my hotel was only about 20 miles.  I was lost for a short time, but then found the way without too much trouble.

 

I had not had breakfast so a quick stop at a brasserie across the street for two chocolate crepes and an O.J. were in order.  Paris can be a bit on the expensive side.  This meal cost 11.50 Euros or about $15.  The crepes were not very big either, although they were tasty.

 

Next, I had to wade through the souvenir sellers offering cheap trinkets.  I strode up to the ticket window only to be turned away.  It was 10 a.m. and the entire building has just closed unexpectedly.  The French workers had gone on strike!  They would decide at 2 p.m. whether they would reopen or not.  Was Versailles going to get me again?

 

With time on my hands and a still partially empty stomach, I headed for the Chateau Versailles Le Café.  There I had a small ham and cheese sandwich and a bottle of Coca-Cola Light.  Another 7.30 Euros, ca ching.  Two crepes, a ham and cheese sandwich, an O.J. and Diet Coke had just cost me $25!  Do these folks not realize I am a retired pensioner without any guaranteed retirement payment to my name?

 

I was in a difficult situation.  If I left Versailles now, I might not have another opportunity in the near future to return.  It was a long drive to the beaches of Normandy.  I could not leave now and spend any time there today.  I decided to hang out and hope the strikers would open the place at 2 p.m.  The gardens of the palace were open to the public.  They went on for as far as the eye could see and were captivating.

 

Luckily, for me, they did reopen the chateau at 2 p.m.  Admission was 7.50 Euros, a reduction of the 20 Euro price since part of the palace was not open.  There was an additional 4.50 Euro charge for a video headset, that I highly recommend.  This all went along with a 9.00 Euro parking charge.    

 

The palace was decorated between 1671 and 1681.  The rooms are huge with 20 and 30-foot high ceilings.  All of the woodwork was painted in gold and there were paintings as large as 30 by 30 feet on the walls.  The ceilings also had complete paintings on each of them.  To say the work was stunning would be an understatement.

 

King Louis’ the XIV, XV and XVI occupied the château from the late 1600s until the revolution of 1789.  At that time, the king’s formerly loyal subjects overthrew the palace and destroyed much of the furnishings and the palace itself. 

 

After a couple of hours, I had seen all that was available inside at the Chateau Versailles.  If you would like to learn more about the chateau, go to their website at www.chateauversailles.fr.

 

Getting out of Versailles and on my way to the Normandy region in Northern France was challenging.  Maybe I am smarter in my old age, because despite some minor wrong turns I made it without any trouble.

 

I still have not been able to “top off” my cell phone.  I have been carrying around three British pounds worth of time with me for more than a week.  That will buy me about three minutes of talk time.  Carol leaves for Brussels tomorrow.  I saved that call until today so we could cover any last minute details.  The cell phone connection went through immediately and the call clarity was as if she was across the street.  Next time, I will learn the details of topping off so I can have the convenience of a cell phone.

 

I must admit that I am not accustomed to touring such major sights without Carol.  I would not want to make a habit of it, but this time there was not much alternative.

 

The drive to Northern France was pleasant.  There was very little traffic.  The geography could have easily been mistaken for the rural Midwest or East.  The tolls on these roads can really add up.  I estimate that I paid more than $20 in tolls for the 150-mile drive.

 

The reasonable cost of hotels, so far, has made up for the cost of food and tolls.  Tonight, I am in Caen, France at a Villages Hotel.  Yes, trackchasing can take one all over the world.  The hotel rate is only 30 Euros.  This hotel is similar to a Motel 6.  It does have one unique feature.  I have a six-digit security code.  The code must be used to get into the parking lot and the exterior hotel door after 9 p.m.  It must also be used to enter my hotel room itself.  I have no key.  I pity the poor traveler with a bad memory or who is a little “tired” from consuming French wine at dinner.

 

 

Thursday, May 12, 2005 

I have always had a keen interest in World War II history.  For a long time I have wanted to visit the Normandy region of France, the site of World War II’s D-Day.  Today, I finally got my chance.

 

I had heard at one of my stops yesterday that I might be able to get a guided tour beginning at the Memorial in Caen.  The Memorial itself is a huge museum dedicated to World War II as well as the Cold War era.  This museum is very worthwhile but I wanted to see the beaches where the Allied soldiers came ashore on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

 

I showed up at 9 a.m. when the museum opened its doors.  I figured I might be able to snag a last minute reservation on a guided tour.  I was in luck.  For 55.20 Euros (about $70), I could have a spot on a five hour tour that was leaving in 10 minutes.  That might be a bit expensive to some but it took me 56 years to get here and I did not want to miss the best part.

 

I figured the tour would include 40-50 people on a comfortable and modern motor coach.  While the tour guide was telling everyone what happened more than 60 years ago, I could relax and listen when I wanted too and zone out when I wanted too.

 

Just then my thoughts were interrupted by a young woman asking, “Are you Randeeee?”  I would like to say I get this a lot from young French women, but then you know I don’t.

 

The young French woman was going to be the tour guide.  She said the tour was leaving now and that I should follow her.  Great, we’re not wasting any time.  We strode outside and I asked her where the rest of the tourists were.  “You are it, Randeeeee; you are my only customer today”.  Wow! 

 

As we talked about earlier, most everything comes with pluses and minuses.  I’m going to get to spend the next five hours with a very beautiful French woman in a part of the world I have wanted to visit for a long time.  That’s the good part. 

 

What’s the bad part?  My hope of sitting in the back of the bus and just relaxing and enjoying the day is gone.  Now I will have to listen to every word the tour guide says, and be prepared to ask intelligent questions.  My day just went from sitting in the peanut gallery to having a one on one, let’s make good eye contact personal interview.

 

Actually, being one on one with the tour guide turned out to be great.  The young woman’s name was Kellie and she was 24 years old.  During our time together, she provided a complete textbook explanation and discussion of the Normandy invasion.

 

I learned quite a bit about her background.  We also had plenty of time to discuss world politics.  Kellie was born to a French catholic father and an English protestant mother.  She still lives at home with her parents and two sisters.  She speaks to her father in French and her mother in English!

 

She has a university degree from the University of Berlin in Germany in English and World history.  She has lived in Germany for 10 years of her life, but now lives in a small French village near Caen.  Her tour guide employment is ending in August and she hopes to visit the U.S. after that.  She expects to settle in France, but is still exploring her options.

 

She describes herself as a Socialist politically.  I have many conservative friends, who would think that statement ranks right up there with her saying she was a communist.  I asked her what being a socialist meant to her.  She said it meant free schooling, health care and defense to everyone.  OK, that’s not too far off from what we have in the states.

 

We talked about the Iraq war.  Her opinion was pretty much the same as everyone I have talked too over here.  She thinks President Bush is a sincere and honest person, although a bit misdirected.  (Editor’s note:  I am not trying to put any spin whatsoever on the feedback I get from locals I speak with.  I am only trying to convey to you, the reader, the intent of what I was told). 

 

She felt Saddam Hussein was a bad man.  She also said that since we had not found the weapons of mass destruction, maybe our invasion (her words) of Iraq was no longer called for.  She, like everyone else, felt that Iraq’s oil was the real reason for our being there.

 

She did give America credit for trying to spread world democracy.  She was concerned that a country with the power of America might someday use it for a bad purpose. 

 

Since we were touring Northern France and learning about an American activity that ultimately freed France from the control of Germany in WWII, I mentioned the fact that France might owe the U.S. a bit more gratitude than they have shown us recently.  She said that was a much stronger feeling among older French people than younger folks.

 

I told her that even if we were in Iraq for the oil that might not be such a bad idea.  If Iraq had all the oil and would not share it with other countries at a reasonable price, maybe a powerful country should go and make sure the oil was shared.

 

I offered this analogy.  Let’s say one family in her village controlled all the farmland for producing food.  This family would only sell the food to their neighbor’s for very high prices.  Would that be fair?  Would it be fair for a stronger neighbor to do whatever was necessary to convince the neighbor with the food to sell it to everyone for a fair price?  Kellie said that was a good point and that she had never thought of it that way.

 

To be clear, I am not trying to start a political discussion here.  My trackchaser reports are meant to tell you about the people and places I come across in my travels.  I thought the majority might be interested in my discussions with a very well informed and educated French person.

 

The tour of Normandy’s beaches was fantastic.  The enormity of the effort is overwhelming.  Nearly anyone who fought in that war is now over 80 years old. 

 

The D-Day assault began on the evening of June 5 and the morning of June 6.  The allied forces, made up of British, Canadian and American soldiers among others, chose the shores of lower Normandy because they were less well protected by the Germans.  Between the hours of 0630 and 0730, 135,000 men and 20,000 vehicles went ashore.  I find those numbers simply unbelievable.

 

The allied forces attacked on five different fronts with an objective of building two artificial harbors and defeating the Germans at all locations.  For the most part, they were successful, although the Americans had a very tough struggle with many casualties at Omaha Beach. 

 

The obstacles of attacking these beaches were many.  In addition to the heavy German artillery protected by tons of concrete, the beach was covered with mined obstacles and huge concrete stakes that were immovable and blocked access inland.  On top of that were cliffs near the beach that averaged 135 feet in height.  

 

The Germans had very heavily fortified concrete bunkers that shielded their huge artillery and troops.  I actually was able to go down into one of the bunkers.  You’ll see pictures of this at www.ranlayracing.com.  The area is somewhat build up with residential housing today.  It is especially eerie to see gun encampments built into the hillsides just yards from people’s homes. 

 

On the morning of the attack, the seas were so rough and the winds so strong, that the boats attacking Omaha Beach were blown off target by nearly one-half mile.  Several boats turned over and the soldiers had to use their helmets to bail water.  One ship launched smaller boats carrying 29 Sherman Duplex tanks.  With the rough seas, 27 of them sank!

 

During WWII, several military units included friends from the same area of the country who had enlisted together.  The town of Bedford, Virginia alone lost 23 people on D-Day.  One unit lost all but 13 of their 188 men in the first 15 minutes of fighting.  In total 3,500 American soldiers died on D-Day, before the Allied forces won out.

 

Overlooking Omaha Beach is the American cemetery that contained the graves, each marked with a white cross, of 9,387 fallen soldiers.  As you stand at the gravesite, the crosses seem to go on forever. 

 

We also toured the German cemetery.  This cemetery contains the gravesites of 21,500 German soldiers.  The German grave markers are made of dark stone and stand in stark contrast to the bright white American crosses.

 

As you can read, I was quite taken with this visit and would highly recommend it to anyone.  I was able to take several photographs that I will share with you on my website.

 

The four-hour drive back to Brussels was uneventful.  Gasoline for the rental car averaged about $6.77 per gallon.  The VW Polo, with its 1.4-liter engine got nearly 45 M.P.G.  Even though the cost of fuel was sky high, the gas mileage made the cost per mile not much higher that what I pay at home.

 

I must comment on the cost of road tolls.  I did not keep track but would guess I paid nearly $30 in tolls on the way home.  I have never paid this much in tolls in my life.

 

 

Friday, May 13, 2005 

This morning Roland and I are to pick up Carol at the Brussels Airport.  Recall I mentioned that Carol is perfectly capable of traveling all over the world on her own.  Unfortunately, this morning we were not capable of picking her up at the airport.

 

Carol’s flight arrived at 9:15 a.m.  Roland and I were at the arrival area to pick her up before the flight landed.  Our plan was to get her, hop in the car and make our way up to Germany.

 

Ah yes, I am always amazed at how the simplest of plans can go awry.  Somehow, Carol slipped past our security net even though the arrival area was quite small.  I guess Roland is entitled to a pass with regard to this subject, since he had never met Carol and only had a description from me to go on. 

 

The problem was that we did not know Carol had already arrived.  We kept looking for her to walk through the narrow opening as all of the other arriving passengers were doing.  We waited for an hour looking for her.  No Carol. 

 

We then started checking alternative locations.  I went to American Airlines and asked if she had made the flight.  Although it is there policy not to confirm that someone is actually on the flight, my platinum status helped me confirm that she was on the flight.  I went to the information desk and convinced them to page her.  The Brussels Airport is a “quiet” airport and they do not do pages.  The attendant felt sorry for me and made an exception.  No Carol.

 

It was now two hours past her arrival time.  If we didn’t get going soon we would miss our only trackchasing event scheduled for today.  Next, I went to security.  I had them check the baggage claims department and customs.  Soon word came back.  No Carol.

 

Finally, my security contact got the National State Police involved.  While all this was going on, I continued to do a visual search of the entire airport.  We had American Airlines looking for her, the Information desk paging her and the security people checking with customs and the police.  Still, no Carol.

 

It was now three hours after she had landed.  Even though it was 3 a.m. in the morning, I called home to see if she might still be there.  No Carol.  I really didn’t think she had made the flight.  American kept telling me she had, but when someone says there is a horse in your front yard and you look out and don’t see one, you just don’t believe.

 

We couldn’t wait much longer for her and still make our race.  Roland and I had decided that we would leave for the track and leave a message for Carol at American Airlines telling her we would be back at 8 p.m. that evening. 

 

I know this may sound harsh to leave Carol unaccounted for in a foreign country and go to the track.  For anyone who does not understand then they have obviously not met the likes of trackchaser Ed Esser nor do they understand the underlying competitiveness of the trackchasing world.

 

Just as we walked over to security and were about to leave the message at American and then depart, I saw Carol!  Part of the last three hours she had been waiting for her baggage, part of the time standing outside in an area we didn’t see and part of the time standing inside, also in an area we did not see.

 

I’m sure each of us was relieved to find the other was OK.  I thought that possibly Carol had jumped out of the plane half way over the Atlantic.  Carol thought I had been involved in a car wreck and she was figuring out how to spend her newfound estate.  Once we saw that each other was OK, I think we were both a bit “cross” (Roland’s phrase) with each other for creating the three-hour delay.  Needless, to say, this was quite a way for Carol to meet Roland.

 

Once we got this behind us, we were on our way to Carol and my first ever track in the country of Germany.

 

 

NURBURGRING, – TRACK #844 – NURBURG, GERMANY

The Nurburgring track is a 5.4-kilometer road course.  It is home to a world Formula 1 race each year, so that should tell you something about the quality of the track.  Today the local Porsche club was sanctioning the event.

 

Only two races were on the schedule with the majority of the weekend’s races following over the next couple of days.  We watched some practice and each of these two races.  The last race was excellent.  They started about 40 cars with about 20 of the cars being high performance Porsche automobiles. 

 

There is a very large amount of permanent grandstand seating at the track.  Like many road courses, you can’t really see much of the racing on the track at one time.  We also had full access to the paddock area.  We were able to see the indoor garaging area used by the Formula 1 teams. 

 

The PA system was good, but as you might expect all of the announcements were in German.  I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, but Roland was there to interpret. 

 

We had a late lunch of bratwurst and French fries.  There was no admission for today’s event.  The weather was not very good.  It was maybe 50 degrees, with wind and a little bit of rain.  The longer I am here, the more I equate the climate of the places I have visited to that of Seattle. 

 

I’m glad we found Carol.  I’m glad we were able to see a new track in a new country.  Overall, it was a good trackchasing day.

 

 

Friday, May 13, 2005 (continued)

Following the race, Roland raced down the German Autobahn at about 100 M.P.H.  He does not like Mercedes automobiles.  He was quoted as saying that the “Mercedes is the car of a man committing fraud in Europe”.  I’ll let you decide what that means.

 

We drove for an hour after the races until we found a small hotel in an equally small German town of Bruhl.  We walked across the street and down the block and enjoyed a fine German meal of steaks and fries.  We also hoisted a few local brewskies before we headed back to the hotel.

 

On the walk back, we happened across an Italian ice cream shop.  Roland talked us into trying a sample.  I saw something I had never seen in my life.  The Italian ice cream clerk pressed the ice cream though a spaghetti machine and the ice cream came out into a perfect plate of pasta looking noodles!  A little chocolate syrup was added and we were eating what looked like chocolate covered spaghetti.  Ah, Europe.

 

 

Saturday, May 14, 2005

I believe that Roland, Carol and I were the only guests staying overnight in our small German hotel.  It was a quiet place and only interrupted by a very loud group of German revelers who left the bar at a very late hour.  As they yelled and slammed car doors and then sped out of the parking lot, I could only hope that Roland’s car was unharmed.  It was.

 

Breakfast was included in our room rate.  It was a breakfast fit for kings and queens, but we got to eat it.  There were at least 8-10 different kinds of meats, cheeses, bread, cereals, etc.  They had enough food for 15, but it was just for us three.

 

The drive to the first track was 236 kilometers.  It rained steadily for the first half of the trip and I feared the worst.  Then as we got closer to the track, the skies cleared and there was no more rain.  The temperature was still cold, about 50 degrees, and it was windy.

 

 

LOPIK, – TRACK #845 (OVAL) AND #846 (ROAD COURSE) – LOPIK, THE NETHERLANDS

This was another autocross operation.  The first races were held on a small oval, about one-third mile in length.  The second countable track was what Roland and I agreed to call a road course.  This was an oval about twice as large as the first oval, but with a very small chicane down the backstretch.  It reminded me of the somewhat controversial road course at the Trail-Ways Speedway in Hanover, Pennsylvania.  Some might count it as an oval but we went with the road course designator.

 

We paid one Euro to park and ten Euros per person for general admission.  We entered the track and in no time, trackchasing Englishman Spike Rixon and his lovely Linda greeted us.  By the way, Linda always refers to Spike as Steve.  Spike was adorned in his Volunteer Speedway race shirt (a track I have not attended) and Linda was wearing an Ohio State sweatshirt.  She was surprised to learn she was supporting the Buckeyes of OSU.  Their friend Darin was also here to view the races.  Darin is a big Formula 1 stock car fan and has been to about 70 tracks.  By the way, Roland was wearing his newly gifted Sonny’s Pizza and Pasta t-shirt from San Clemente and Carol was wearing her British racing green Jaguar t-shirt.  Her shirt was a possible foreshadowing of our meeting with Spike, Linda and Darin.

 

We watched several races with our U.K. friends.  This was the first time for Roland to meet these folks and I was pleased with that.  The U.K. folks really like to follow the F1 stockers.  I agree this is one of my favorite classes.  They put on the best race of the day when all of the cars in their class, about 20 cars started and ran on the small oval.

 

This track had a first for anywhere I have visited in Europe.  Like some tracks in New York, in order to get any food, you first had to exchange your money for tokens.  The tokens were then presented to the person making the food and you got your sandwich.  Tracks do this to control the flow of money as a theft deterrent.  We dined on hamburgers and bratwursts.

 

We broke away from Spike, Linda and Darin to take a walk through the pits.  We hope to see them all again on Monday.  There were about 100 cars in the paddock area.  We watched every car in the place race before we left.  Each class was running three races today, with points from each race being totaled to create a class champion for the day.

 

Getting two tracks for the afternoon was great.  I could get used to this European trackchasing.

 

 

Saturday, May 14, 2005 (continued)

Next, we drove 214 kilometers to Ten Boer for another single-track autocross show.  

 

 

TEN BOER AUTOCROSS, – TRACK #847 – TEN BOER, THE NETHERLANDS

Ten Boer is located in the most northern province of the Netherlands, which is Groningen.  North meant cold today.  It was the coldest of any of the tracks we had visited.  This track was also the most downscale of any we have seen on this trip.

 

We were not charged any admission to enter.  There were about 5-6 classes racing with car counts of only 8-10 per class.  The best class at Ten Boer was the same as at Lopik, the F1 stock cars.

 

The oval track was made of dirt and about one-quarter mile long.  It was a bit dry from the wind and sun.  The P.A. was robust with an active Dutch announcer.  We ate hamburgers and French fries and drank Heinekens. 

 

We were able to see several preliminary races along with each of the finals for all classes.  Getting three tracks in one day was all part of Roland’s master plan. 

 

One of the very best things about continental Europe’s trackchasing is that virtually every track races only during the day.  Roland told me he has only seen one night race in his life in continental Europe (that means Europe without the U.K.) and that one occasion was in Italy.

 

Not being at a racetrack at night meant we ate very well at some excellent local spots.  Tonight we dined at an Italian restaurant in Haren/EMS.  The town looked exactly like it might appear at a Disneyland resort.  The Italian food was suburb.  We enjoyed ourselves very much. 

 

Our hotel in very unique.  We are staying in a house with seven small hotel rooms attached.   A very hearty German woman greeted us at the entrance to the hotel.  She had a booming voice and a firm handshake that might bring Arnold Schwarzenegger to his knees. 

 

Carol and I have a large amount of luggage.  Carol has a large suitcase that I sometimes see her wrestle with as she lugs it up and down stairs, etc.  I will always help here after I have stowed my own considerable amount of luggage.  Today, I was too late.  As Carol struggled with her big bag, the huge German frau grabbed her bag, threw it over her shoulder and delivered it too our room.  This is the reason drug testing was mandated in the Olympics!  In all seriousness, this lady handled the big bag as if it was a couple of foam rubber pillows.  She was very welcoming, gracious and friendly like everyone has been on our trip.  We always receive the strongest of hospitality everywhere we go in the world.  I think people just like helping Americans.  We love that aspect of world travel.

 

 

 

 

 

CONTINENTAL EUROPE – PART 3

 

 

 

Special congratulations to Jim Sabo for correctly picking the made up name of Visa Dentelflossin in the first continental Europe trackchasing report.  Jim has a background of selling Crest toothpaste, so you might have expected him to get this one.  A $5 gift certificate to In N Out Burgers in winging its way to Jim’s home in Florida.  He plans to use it next month on a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada.

 

 

Sunday, May 15, 2005

 

Our morning began with breakfast in our German bed and breakfast.  The breakfast room was as quaint as one could possibly expect.  We were the only folks in the room just as we were the morning before at our first German B&B.

 

Breakfast consisted of a selection of rolls with butter and jelly.  We were served an assortment of meats and cheeses along with a soft-boiled egg.  There was coffee and orange juice to drink.  The breakfast was included in our hotel rate of 60 Euros for our double room.

 

The room itself consisted of two twin beds.  The room was small as it looked just like a secondary bedroom of a typical house.  Carol and I have a lot of luggage, although I left some of mine at Roland’s house before we headed out into the countryside. 

 

When we checked out, we entered our host’s actual living room.  This is definitely a ma and pa operation.  No credit cards here.  As we said our good-byes to the strong German woman, I had her pose for a photo with Carol.  She shook each of our hands as we left.  Her hand was massive and I HAVE NEVER shaken anyone’s hand that had a stronger grip!

 

 

RENNPLATZ “CASPER GERD”, – TRACK #848 – RUTENBROCK, GERMANY

When we left the hotel, it was raining, just like the day before.  With this amount of rain there was no guarantee we would see racing.  The track was only 15 km from the hotel.  We found it quickly and saw many cars parked along the road near the track’s entrance.

 

The track itself was black dirt (as black as Iowa dirt).  The shape was an oval with a minor chicane, so I guess we are calling this a road course.  This is a permanent track as they race horses here.

 

The racing surface was extremely wet and muddy.  If today’s program were in the U.S., we would have a rainout.  There were several classes of road cars and sprinters (similar to dune buggies).  Admission to the track was 7 Euros, which included a nice program.  Although the track only races cars once a year, this is the 39^th running of the event.

 

The starting time was delayed as each class ran a few practice laps on the waterlogged track.  Following practice, they brought out several farm tractors to work the track. 

 

While this was happening, Roland and Carol had coffees for just one-half of a Euro.  Later Carol and I had a bratwurst that was at least a foot long.  The bread it was served with was about three inches long.

 

The racing was OK.  It would have been better if the track had been in better shape.  With the point system they used and the number of classes, each race was a feature event for each class.

 

 

ZUIDWOLDE AUTOCROSS, – TRACK #849 – ZUIDWOLDE, THE NETHERLANDS

It was 70 km over to Zuidwolde.  This track was again about one-half mile in length with a minor chicane going into the first turn.  That would make it a road course.  The admission charge was eight Euros.  This track had the largest crowd of any we have seen so far.  Most of the crowd was made up of “twenty somethings”, so this must have been where things were happening in Zuidwolde today.

 

We also saw our first ever set of grandstands at an autocross race today.  Although they were only five rows high, they were packed.  It was also five-person deep standing room only in all of the spectator locations. 

 

The track was extremely rough from the wet weather.  Imagine having a race in a recently plowed and wet farm field.  If you can do that, then you will see the racing surface at Zuidwolde.

 

There must have been 200 cars in the paddock area.  We watched a few heats and a feature event.  I only saw road cars racing today.  Zuidwolde becomes the second half of a blended double with our autocross in Rutenbrock.  Again, we saw feature events at both halves of the BD.

 

 

 

MIDLAND SPEEDWAY CIRCUIT, – TRACK #850 – LELYSTAD, THE NETHERLANDS 

The Midland Speedway Circuit is the second half of a traditional double with Zuidwolde.  As we approached the speedway, we saw racecars leaving the direction of the track on their haulers.  That was a bad sign.  We knew this program started at 1 p.m. and it was now nearly 5 p.m.  Maybe we had missed the show.

 

We pulled into the American style parking lot to find an American style oval.  Since it was so late in the day, we passed by the admission building and did not have to pay to enter.  We were in luck.  There were still two features to run on the quarter mile flat oval.

 

We saw a road car race won by an Alpha Romeo.  There were several Fords and VWs in the race.  The final race was a Formula 1 stock car feature.  They ran 11 cars non-stop for 15 laps.  If we had shown up 15 minutes later, we probably would have missed the entire show. 

 

The weather was sunny and the temperature as warm as it has been since I have been in Europe.  It was maybe about 60-65 degrees.  This track is only about five years old.  They had several different grandstands.  We sat in one that was five rows high.  There were permanent restrooms and even a lap counter.  Fans sit a little way back from the racing action.  Although this was only my second paved oval of the trip, it was my favorite.

 

 

Sunday, May 15, 2005 (continued) 

We finished our very successful trackchasing day by finding a classic hotel in the seaside resort of Enkhuizen that reminded us of home.  This could have been Dana Point in a heartbeat.  We had a delicious seafood dinner overlooking a harbor with a couple of hundred large boats.

 

Following dinner, we ventured into a bowling alley and considered bowling a game.  We decided to find a bar instead.  We finished the evening watching Carol drink the famous “Duvel” (devil) beer with its double the amount of alcohol content.  She handled it well.  I went with Roland’s recommendation of Ireland’s Jameson whiskey.  We all walked back to the hotel with a smile on our face.

 

Tomorrow is the last day of our trackchasing effort.  Everything has worked out perfectly and Roland has done a great job.

 

 

 

Monday, May 16, 2005 

Today marks the last day of trackchasing.  Following today, Carol and I will split off from Roland and begin our touring of Eastern Europe.  Before that touring takes place, we wanted to have a splendid trackchasing finale.

 

Following our hotel breakfast, which again offered a selection of cold meats, cheeses and even Corn Flakes, we were onto the trackchasing road.  Our plan was to see an autocross event that was located in Andijk, the Netherlands.  We thought that race would begin at 11 a.m.  When we showed up at 10:40 a.m. we learned the show was not supposed to begin until 12 noon.  Since this was an hour later that planned, Roland, with our agreement, totally scrapped our existing plan for a new one.  The new plan called for an autocross and a paved oval. 

 

 

AALTEN AUTOCROSS, – TRACK #851 – AALTEN, THE NETHERLANDS 

Today’s autocross event took place on an oval about one-half mile in length.  The track rests in the most rural location of any we visited during this trip.  I would estimate there were more than 200 bicycles ridden to today’s races.  Surprisingly, none of the bikes was chained or secured.  This was the greatest number of bicycles I have ever seen at a racetrack.

 

Admission to the track was eight Euros and a nice program, in Dutch, was included.  There were seven classes of racers with more than 100 cars in attendance.  The racecars included mostly road cars along with a couple of classes of sprinters (similar to dune buggies).  The sprinters are really the fastest class of autocross cars that I have seen including the Formula 1 stock cars.

 

Since we arrived at the track around lunchtime, we had to sample the track’s cuisine.  We all settled on the Shoarma sandwich.  Maybe you have never eaten a Shoarma sandwich.  I know I had not.  This is an offering made first with a bread roll, some lettuce, a huge portion of loose beef meat and some special sauce.  I would not call it the best food I have ever eaten but it was different.  One of the benefits of trackchasing is being able to eat and observe the unusual.  That was the case with a Shoarma sandwich. 

 

Another unusual item that existed concerned the environment.  The track, like many others during the trip, served beer and soft drinks in glass bottles.  When you finish your drink, the track expects you to simply toss your bottle on the ground.  There are ample supplies of children roaming around waiting to collect those bottles.  When they return five bottles for recycling, they earn one-half of a Euro.  We had some very entrepreneurial young folks circling our feet as we finished our drinks.

 

Yet another very, very unusual item was the outdoor men’s bathroom facilities.  Essentially, any male could use this toilet.  You just walk up and pee against a hard plastic wall with your backside exposed to the public.  Amazing stuff.

 

Aalten is just 7 miles from Germany.  It is 220 kilometers from this morning’s hotel.  We arrived about 1 p.m. and stayed for nearly two hours.  I could not understand the announcer who spoke in Dutch.  Roland told me we had seen several feature events.  The drive to our next track was about one hour over a distance of 90 kilometers.  The Aalten Autocross event will be the first half of a blended double.

 

Carol liked the food and was amazed at the number of bicycles taken to the track.  She was also surprised to see that the track’s racing surface never really became packed down.  Even toward the end of the program, the dirt was as loose as you might plan to find in a recently plowed farm field.  She also likes the idea that “we can roam the pits” at European tracks without any extra cost.

 

 

CIRCUIT de PEEL INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY, – TRACK #852 – VENRAY, THE NETHERLANDS 

The Circuit de Peel (I’ll call it Venray for short) was an outstanding race facility for the Netherlands.  This track is a flat three-eights miles paved oval.  There are only four paved ovals in the Netherlands and I saw three of them on this trip.

 

We arrived around 4 p.m. and saw the completion of the hot rod final.  We were then treated to some fine racing and spinning in a saloon type racecar class.  This was followed by a Formula 1 stock car feature and a Formula 2 stock car feature.

 

The saloon type cars started about 25 cars, the Formula 1 group raced 17 cars and the Formula 2 stock car group had the largest field for their final with 29 cars.  The great thing about this is that we didn’t have to pay anything to see all of this racing, because they were not collecting money when we arrived.

 

This track has several large, for this geographical area, grandstands.  We sat in plastic molded seats in stands that were about 20 rows high. 

 

After seeing a road course, several autocross tracks and her second paved oval, Carol felt today’s track had a lot in common with what we had seen in Australia except “they had grandstands”. 

 

Venray also qualifies as the second half of a blended double, with features at both tracks, for those who are counting.  Venray became my 852^nd lifetime track and Carol’s 186^th lifetime track and her 18^th of the season.  Carol hopes to surpass the 200-track mark later this season and become a fully “listed” trackchaser. 

 

Carol is about to achieve another significant trackchaser accomplishment.  When she becomes a listed trackchaser, she will have seen trackchasing in more countries than any other known woman trackchaser has.  She has seen tracks in the United States, Canada, Australia, England, the Netherlands and Belgium.  That’s six countries and no woman can touch her in this category.  Unfortunately, until she reaches the 200-track level she will not be a listed trackchaser.  None of her records “count” until she reaches the 200-track qualifying level.  As this is being written, Carol ranks number 4 in the 2005 trackchaser standings with 18.

 

 

Monday, May 16, 2005 (continued) 

I can’t believe I have been here for nearly two weeks.  Because of Roland’s fine strategic planning, I added 14 new tracks to my total.  Carol added nine news tracks to her list.  From a trackchasing point of view, the trip has been a huge success.

 

Believe it or not, the primary success of the trip was not about trackchasing.  First, Carol and I were able to meet Roland and he was able to meet us.  Roland and I probably spent more than 100 hours together.  During that time, we talked about so many topics that I could not recount them all here, although it might seem like I have tried.  We argued and discussed and when we were tired of that, we discussed and argued the logic of our points.  We found that we have many, many things in common.  Our strategic way of thinking is strikingly similar and only differentiated by our cultural backgrounds.

 

Despite all of our banter, teasing and logical arguments, we finished all of our conversations with a smile and a respect for the other’s point of view.  In the end, I was never able to convince Roland to let me eat in his car and he was never able to convince me not to drink white wine with beef.

 

We finished our final evening back at the II Casale restaurant.  This eatery earned a RANLAY Racing Money Back Guarantee back on May 6.  The food was again superb and the wine and conversation interesting. 

 

Roland, drive safely and enjoy your meals.  Carol and I hope to see you somewhere along the road during your trip to Wisconsin next month.  We will also keep our eye on Tony Blair to see where we will drink our next bottle of wine.

 

 

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Today is the fourth section of my 19-day trip.  The first three sections included 1) racing with Roland, 2) touring France by myself and 3) racing with Roland and Carol.  The next six days will be for Carol and me to tour Eastern Europe.  Both sets of Carol’s grandparents were from Czechoslovakia.  We hope to spend a couple of days in the newly formed Czech Republic.  The city of Prague is our ultimate destination.

 

Today is also the first day of our “hunt and peck” method of touring non-English speaking foreign countries.  We have traveled extensively.  We have found that everyone goes out of the way to help Americans even when there is no common language.  Nevertheless, we will pretty much go where the wind takes us and enjoy every minute.

 

Last night we stayed in Vilvoorde, a suburb of Brussels.  We took a quick taxi ride out to the airport this morning to pick up the rental car we will be using for this part of the trip.  This is the last element of the trip where I will be able to exert some control.

 

I had prepaid for a car reservation with Alamo/National Rental Car Company.  I had reserved the smallest compact available with an automatic transmission.  Most car rentals in Europe come with a manual or standard transmission. 

 

I had the taxi driver drive us into the bowels of the Brussels Airport parking garage.  This is where the rental cars are located.  We are carrying a large amount of luggage and this meant we would not have to lug our bags from the rental car counter inside the airport terminal to where the cars were located.  This saved us both time and labor.

 

When we showed up, they did not have any cars with automatic transmissions.  The car rental agent offered to upgrade me to the largest Volvo station wagon she had, but with a standard transmission.  I considered it but declined.  The station wagon would not provide the security for our bags that I was looking for and although I could handle a standard transmission, I preferred not too.

 

I looked around the cars in the National parking area.  I saw one car sitting all by itself at the end of the garage.  It looked like a large car and it looked like a Cadillac.  I had not seen a Cadillac being driven in Europe at any time during this trip.  Upon closer inspection the car was a Cadillac CTS, their full-size four door model.  This car was nearly twice as long as the Volkswagen Polo I rented a week ago here.

 

I told the agent, “I’ll take that silver one down there, it has an automatic transmission”.  She replied, “But, sir, that car is a 5 class upgrade from what you reserved”.  I reminded her that I was a member of the National Car Rental Emerald Club as a V.I.P. member and soon Carol and I were loading our luggage in the Caddie.  Like I said this would be the last time I would be in control of much before we set foot back on U.S. soil.

 

The car has only 6,000 miles on it.  It is very well appointed with a gorgeous leather interior.  One of the best features is the car has a GPS navigational system.  Not all parts of all European countries are in the system, but it helped us stay on course on the way to Prague. 

 

The car has a couple of downsides.  First, it does not keep out road noise very well.  This car is no Lexus.  Secondly, I learned it takes a crisp 95-dollar bill to fill the gas tank!  I always say if you buy a car and can’t afford the gas, you bought the wrong car.  Same theory applies to rentals.  By the way, regular gas is about $6.70 per gallon.  And you thought two bucks a gallon was pushing it!

 

The route from Brussels to Prague was about 600 kilometers or 360 miles.  The drive was mainly along motorways.  We did stop at a motorway restaurant for breakfast.  I have not seen anything in this part of the country that rivals the U.K.’s Welcome Breaks.  Our ala carte breakfast for two this morning cost about $28.

 

In mid-afternoon, we did something I almost never do.  We ate at a McDonalds in a foreign country.  It is true that McDonalds dominates the fast food business in most foreign countries and especially Europe.  My view is I can always eat at McDonalds back home (although I rarely eat their sandwiches) so why waste a meal on them when there are so many unique choices available.  Our afternoon snack was typical McDonalds and I regretted eating there.  Although we got what we ordered, the counterperson did not speak any English at all.

 

We were hoping to stay overnight in the Czech Republic.  We were just 20-30 miles or so from the border by 7:30 p.m.  It was drizzling and beginning to get dark on a cloudy and rainy day.  I wasn’t sure what type of accommodations lay ahead, so when we saw a sign for a “Hotel and restaurant” in a small German town, we took it.

 

We pulled up the Hotel Gruner Baum in Stollberg, Germany.  This was a “ski lodge” type property.  We walked in the door to find the proprietor talking with two motorcycle riders and another man.  We tried to explain we needed a room.

 

With all three men trying to help translate between the owner and us, we secured a room key.  All the owner asked from us was our name.  He gave us a key to room #15.  We didn’t know how much the room cost for the evening.  (We later learned it was 71 Euros, which includes breakfast for two).  We stored our gear in the room and came down for dinner.

 

The dining room was very German with fresh flowers on each table; everything was quaint and neat as a pin.  We looked at our menus and they were in German only.  We could make out a few words, but not many.  The proprietor ordered our beers for us.  He chose, Radeberger Pilsburies.  Carol selected, by pointing, the Pilzpfanne and I ordered the Rinder Filet.  Both dishes were delicious.  We had survived our first day of “hunt and peck” tourism.  We can’t wait for our entry in the former communist controlled Czech Republic tomorrow.

 

 

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 

This was one of those up and down tourist days.  It started out good, had a bad middle and finished on a high note.  The overall plan was to get to Prague by about noon and sightsee from there.

 

We started with a leisurely 9 a.m. breakfast at our small town German B&B.  We enjoyed the basic menu of meats, cheese and bread along with juice and coffee.  The meal was served in the same dining room as dinner last night by our German only speaking proprietor. 

 

We were not very far from the Czech Republic border, maybe 20-30 miles.  The weather was cold and foggy with a solid rain drizzle.  It was not a great day for sightseeing.  We would be driving on two lane local roads in a very rural area.  We got lost a time or two but the real problem did not start until we approached the Czech border.

 

The Cadillac GPS system does not have detailed mapping for the Czech Republic.  The CR is only represented by a large white spot on the navigational map.  We could tell we were getting very close to the CR.  When we were about two miles from the border, traffic stopped.

 

The German police drove slowly past the stopped cars and gave everyone the word over their loud speaker.  Since we do not speak or understand German, this announcement was of little value to us.  In hindsight, I guess he was telling everyone there was going to be a huge delay.  How would I know that?  We waited three hours to go two miles.  That rather put a dent in our day.  After traffic had been stopped for a while, first one motorist and then another left their cars and disappeared behind the nearest building.  Shortly, they would return to their cars, with their load a bit lighter.  I delighted in seeing the women make their pit stops. 

 

There was some road construction just on the German side of the border.  There was no way this amount of construction should have caused this amount of delay.  In today’s world, when folks drive from one European country to the next you do not even have to stop. 

 

This was not exactly the case when we drove over the German border into the Czech Republic.  I could see the German officials checking people’s passports as they entered Germany.  The Czech representative was just waving cars through until he came to us.  I guess he does not see too many space age looking Caddies roll through.  After a brief look at our passports, he stamped them and waved us through.  We were happy to get the extra passport stamp as we collect them!

 

It was now past 2 p.m. and the first thing we saw was a Czech gas station/convenience store/ bistro.  We were hungry.  We stuck strictly with Czech food.  I had a Pepsi Light made in the CR, Carol had a cappuccino.  Our meal consisted of Bohemia brand potato chips and a Czech salami and cheese sandwich.  It was not the best of lunches but met the need after being in the car for so long.

 

When we crossed into the CR, we could have imagined ourselves being in Tijuana.  There were rows and rows of statues, blankets and other tourist souvenirs.  The unusual thing about these large merchandise displays was the fact that all the merchants looked to be Asian.

 

We drove a bit further on our two-lane road until we came upon a young woman on the side of the road.  We were probably traveling 35 m.p.h.   The woman motioned for us to slow down.  I could not tell if she was having car trouble or what and felt badly that we didn’t stop to help.

 

About a mile up the road, we came across two more very attractive looking women in their twenties.  They too motioned with their hands to slow down and pull over.  What was going on here?  They didn’t have a car near them so I knew they were not having car trouble.

 

Finally, another mile or two down the road, we came across another woman.  This woman was dressed rather suggestively exposing an amble supply of soccer balls stuffed in a two sizes too small blouse.  She again motioned for us to pull over.

 

Now I don’t know for sure but I can only guess what all these ladies might have been up too.  It was 2 o’clock in the afternoon on a public highway for goodness sakes!  They were either doing what I suspect they were doing or just trying to drum up business for the PTA car wash.  You be the judge.

 

We passed a couple of random police stops where the police were making passport checks.  The landscape is decidedly downscale compared to our earlier travels in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.  We see lots of graffiti and the buildings are older and not nearly as well kept.

 

In the other countries, we could make out a word here and there, but the road signs and billboards are almost totally not capable of being understood by us.  The traffic isn’t too bad, but we still had a hard time finding downtown Prague.  For a while we were out in the suburbs.  This can get very frustrating after a while and especially so with our earlier traffic delays.

 

Finally, we stopped at a gas station.  The clerk did not speak English but we were able to point and nod to the point that we found we were going in the wrong direction to get to downtown Prague.

 

Finally, when it was past 4 p.m. we made it into downtown.  Downtown hotels in Prague are expensive.  Everything we looked at was about $200 or more.  Finally, we found a great hotel for a little less than that.  They only had space available for tonight though.  The hotel had parking, but it was valet parking of sorts.  I never like to valet park because I always carry valuables in the car and don’t trust the folks that park the car.

 

Here I was required to let the valet parking attendant park my Cadillac rental car.  We have a travel system set up where we leave several bags in the car when we check into a hotel.  The last thing I saw this afternoon was the valet attendant driving my Cadillac down the streets of Prague with several of our bags in it.  I hope we see everything again some time soon!

 

Once we checked out our penthouse level hotel room and got our bearings we headed out to tour the city.  We scheduled a three hour guided city tour for tomorrow.  We always think this is a great way to get acquainted with a new city and make sure we see the major sights.

 

We found a delicious local café for dinner.  We began with two large Krusovice’s, the popular Czech beer and finished with a delicious multi-berry dessert served in a vanilla cream sauce.

 

The rest of the evening, we strolled the streets of Prague.  We tried to use McDonalds for their restrooms.  We were charged for the privilege.  The bathroom (called toilets in Europe) charges varied, but averaged about 30 Euro cents at each location where we were charged.  I estimate I have paid about $100 on this trip for Cola Lights and $10 to use the local toilets!

 

The weather has improved and there is no more rain.  Prague is spelled Praha in the local language.  To us, Prague reminds us of Amsterdam.  There are so many narrow streets and alleyways to discover.  We walked all over until we became lost from our hotel!  Not to worry, we simply kept strolling around until the hotel reappeared.  It has been an up and down day, but finished on a good note.

 

 

Thursday, May 19, 2005 

Today brought double good news on the touring front.  First, the weather was the best of the trip so far.  It was 65 degrees and sunny.  Secondly, we inquired at the front desk about staying over an extra night.  There had been a cancellation and we could stay a second night.  This will permit us to spend a full day in Prague and have time for a nighttime activity.

 

Breakfast at the hotel was our best of the trip.  We had our first taste of scrambled eggs since we have been in Europe.  The restaurant had the full gamete of Europeans breakfast foods as well.

 

At 10 a.m., we were met outside our hotel for a three-hour city tour of Prague.  Our tour included a tour guide and about 15 English-speaking tourists.  Prague was the capital of Czechoslovakia until the fall of communism in 1993.  Prague remains the capital of the newly formed Czech Republic.

 

The tour gave us a nice overview of the city, although our tour guide spoke his English with a dialect that was difficult to understand.  There was a surprising amount of tourists in the city centre of Prague.  I would have thought it was too early in the year for the crowds to be this big. 

 

There are significant amounts of college-aged students living in Prague.  Prague is home to 10 universities and 90,000 students.  The diversity of language that we hear in the streets is constant.

 

The highlights of our city tour were a walk across the Charles Bridge and touring the Prague Castle was memorable.  It was much different from the Chateau Versailles in Paris, seen earlier in the trip.

 

We lunched at an outdoor café, like those you see in European movies.  Carol went for the local Czech dishes.  Her mother and grandmother have prepared these same foods over her lifetime.  I am not a big fan of Czech recipes, so I passed on the “grey” food.  One of the items on the menu was “Old Bohemian rabbit leg with spinach and potato dumplings” for 246 Czech crowns.  Following lunch, we walked about the city to the point of exhaustion.

 

Since we were staying over one more night than planned, we wanted to choose an exotic evening entertainment activity.  Prague had both an opera and a ballet performing tonight.  Since most of our good clothes are locked safely away in our rental car Cadillac and we do not know where the car is at this point, we passed on these choices.  Anyway, we wanted to try something new and we had already seen the opera at the Sydney Opera House in Sydney and the Bolshoy Ballet in Moscow.  To put it in trackchaser terms, those are the Knoxville and Eldora of opera and ballet.

 

We settled on a program called, “Image”, being performed at the Black Light Theatre.  This is a performance of pantomime and modern dance.  This show’s content would be difficult to describe.  Try a Laurel and Hardy pantomime skit with a modern dance troupe performing exclusively with black light.  It was an unusual combination but entertaining.

 

I sat next to a young woman who had just finished her three-year Peace Corps assignment in Tunisia.  She is now pursuing a Masters degree at the University of Missouri in Columbia.  She is traveling Europe by backpack and train.  I told her about the Cadillac.  Her comment, “How can you afford the gas?”  Bud, you can’t get anything past these Missouri students.

 

The show ended around 10 p.m.  This was our last night in Prague and we still had not eaten dinner.  Even at this hour, the streets are crowded with people, people of all ages.  Although not nearly as large as New York, several of the neighborhoods, resemble New York City.

 

We settled on a Italian pizzeria.  We made a good choice, as our meal was as good as any we have had on our entire trip.  If you ever get to Prague, there is a RANLAY Racing Money Back Guarantee at the Pizzeria Corto, Metropolis s.r.o., P.1 Havelska 15.  The pizza was thin crust and overlapped the plate.  We also had a dish of spaghetti carbonara that was excellent.  We have not gone wanting for food at any point on this European adventure.

 

I would be remiss if I did not mention that Carol is an excellent international banker.  Somewhere along the line, she accepted the responsibility to manage all foreign currency during our trips.  She is the one that makes certain we have enough local currency when the plane lands and that we do not have too much left over when the plane returns home.  The Euro will make her job easier, but we are dealing with the Czech koruna currency in Prague. 

 

Currently, the exchange rate is one U.S. dollar to 24 Czech korunas.  Our pizzeria meal cost 566 koruna as an example.  The easy way to approximate the value in dollars of anything priced in korunas is to move the decimal to the left one place and divide by 2.  For the above meal, the 566 korunas become 56.6 and then dividing by 2 gives us an approximate total of $28.  The formula errors a bit on the high side, which is probably good.

 

Tomorrow I hope they will give me my Cadillac back.  If they do, we will have two days to return to Brussels.  On the first day, we’ll drive casually and explore what there is to explore in the rural Czech Republic and Germany.  The second day, and our last full day in Europe, will be spent completing our journey to Brussels.

 

 

Friday, May 20, 2005 

For the most part today is a travel day.  The objective is to leave Prague and drive as far as we want on our way back to Brussels.  We’ll stop somewhere in Germany overnight.

 

With the hotel checkout not until 12 noon, we had time to do some more sightseeing of Prague on foot.  Each day the weather has been better.  This morning there is not a cloud in the sky and it is warm.  During our two-hour walk, I took some great pictures of the Charles Bridge and the Prague Castle.  Soon it was time to part ways with the city of Prague.  We had a very enjoyable time exploring the city and seeing the sights and the people.

 

When it was time to check out of the hotel, it was time to see if I still had a Cadillac.  When I asked for my car, the front desk clerk volunteered to go to the “garage” and get our car.  In broken English he said, “You’ve got the Cadillac, right?”

 

In a few minutes, he showed up with the car.  In hindsight, I wish I had recorded the odometer mileage.  I thought I left the car with just less than a half of tank of gas.  When I got it, there was less than a quarter tank of gas remaining.  I cannot swear how much gas was in the car when I last saw it.  If I had to guess, I would say either the car was driven some distance or the tank was siphoned.  We will never know.

 

I was worried about getting out of Prague.  I have had some bad experiences trying to drive out of European cities in the past.  The helpful desk clerk told me I would begin to see signs for our near term destination Pilzen in the city center.  I should follow the signs until I was led to a motorway.

 

Pilzen is a good distance from Prague.  It might be as far as 100 miles.  I told Carol it was unlikely we would see signs for a city that far away in the middle of Prague.  Peoria, Illinois is a similar distance from Chicago as these two cities are apart.  You would NEVER see directions to Peoria in downtown Chicago.

 

Nevertheless, just as the clerk had said there were several directional signs to Pilzen.  We followed them and in no time, we were out of Prague.  It could not have been easier.

 

We did stop for gas on our way out of the Czech Republic.  I would have thought the Caddie needed premium gas but that is not stated anywhere.  I have been putting normal or regular petrol in it.  We paid 1,774 korunas for a tank and 27.90 korunas per liter.  The 63.6 liters cost about $74.

 

I must compliment the European drivers in the countries I have visited.  They have been excellent.  They are much better than American drivers are as a whole.  No one dawdles in the fast lane at a slower than needed speed like they do in the U.S.  Everyone uses their turn signal to change lanes and drivers turn on their emergency flashers when slowing for a traffic jam.  Roland was an excellent driver.

 

On the German Autobahn, just as foretold, some drivers put the peddle to the metal.  I can be driving 150 k.p.h. (about 93 m.p.h.) in the fast lane and passing a slower car.  I will look in my rearview mirror and see no one behind me as I complete the pass.  The next second I look up and there is a car closing on my rear bumper at record speed.

 

Today I had a Mini Cooper push me out of the fast lane and I was doing 170 k.p.h.!  Another car passed me at a high rate of speed.  I tried to follow him but at 185 k.p.h., he was still pulling away.  That is about 115 m.p.h.  The Mercedes, BMWs and Audis are kings of the road here.

 

Our car gets four bands of radio.  We have searched and searched and cannot get any English speaking radio.  On the first day, we did get the BBC for a short time, but that’s it. 

 

European radio does have a unique feature.  Most of the time we have driven with the radio turned on but the volume turned down.  Reception of an individual radio station does not last long.  Even with the volume turned down, if a traffic alert is being given, the sound comes on and we hear about the traffic problem.  Of course, it’s in German so we don’t know what they are saying or where the problem is. 

 

We pulled off the motorway into several small Czech Republic towns.  One such town was Bor.  It was about 2 p.m. and the high school kids were just getting out of school.  It wasn’t like most U.S. high schools where it looks like Los Angeles rush hour with every student driving a car.  Here everyone walked and several girls were hitchhiking.

 

We ended up our driving day by finding a small hotel in Fulda, Germany.  The reception woman asked us if we wanted a shower and breakfast with our room.  We said yes to both.  She then directed us to a restaurant high on a nearby hill.  The place looked like a castle and served the best German food in the area according to her.

 

The food was very good.  We enjoyed our Pinot Grigio (ala Sideways) with Carol’s schnitzel and my pferrer steak.  The server did her best to help us understand the all-German menu.  We have eaten well on this trip.

 

Following dinner we took a long walk along a walking path and then into a local residential area.  The weather was most pleasant and we enjoyed the exercise and time together.  The trip is winding down but everything has been great.  We’ll drive into Vilvoorde tomorrow.

 

 

Saturday, May 21, 2005 

Our last German B&B breakfast was a good one.  This B&B, like most of the others, accepted cash only.  Following breakfast, we paid our 70 Euros and were on our way.  Recall, when we checked in, we were not required to provide any information to the owner.  We did not give them our name, a credit card or anything.  Nevertheless, if you are ever in Fulda, we can recommend the Hotel Keiper.  Ask for room #1, it has a beautiful view.

 

Today we had about five hours of driving back to Vilvoorde.  I did make my third fill-up of the less than fuel efficient Alamo Rental Car Cadillac CTS.  The 65.91 liters ran a total of 76.45 Euros.  At a $1.29 exchange rate that comes to $98.62.  I tried to create my first $100 fill-up but could not squeeze any more petrol into the tank.  I remember just a few months ago having my first ever $50 fill-up for the Lexus.  I thought that was extravagant.  It just goes to show that everything in life is relative.

 

Lunch on our travel days has usually been at the petrol station convenience stores.  Surprisingly, these outlets have several selections of hot foods ranging from BBQ ribs to breakfast sandwiches.  It continues to amaze us that we have to pay to use the bathroom.  We’ll appreciate that freebie when we return home.

 

Another surprise has been the total lack of police on the motorways.  I don’t believe we have seen one car stopped for speeding during the entire trip.  Considering more than half the cars on the road have been speeding, and some by a wide margin, I cannot believe the police do not have more of a presence on the roads.

 

We arrived back into Vilvoorde at about 4 p.m.  This will be my fourth separate stay at the Hotel Campanile.  This has been a good home base for our return trips to Vilvoorde.  We called Roland to see if he was available for dinner but he had a previous commitment for the evening.

 

That being the case, we drove over to nearby Grimbergen for dinner at the II Casale.  This was my third stop of the trip at this RANLAY Racing Money Back Guarantee restaurant!  I have been to my share of Italian restaurants, but none better than this one.  With a starter of Shrimp Croquette Crevettes and entrees of Linguine Vongole and Saumon Ciboulete we continued to eat well.  My exercise plan has taken a back seat to my eating plan on this trip.  Maybe the exercise plan isn’t even on the bus.  That will have to change in the very near future.

 

We spent the balance of the evening in our room trying to put 100 pounds of clothes and purchases into bags capable of holding 80 pounds worth of stuff.  This activity would have made a great travel planning video.

 

Our last activity for our last full day in Europe was a walking tour of Vilvoorde, Roland’s hometown.  Carol had not seen Vilvoorde up close so I gave her the tour.  Roland and I had spent a good deal of time in the town before Carol joined us on the trip.  Tomorrow we’re out the door for the last time and we return to the little Spanish city by the sea.

 

 

Sunday, May 22, 2005 

I think the older I get the easier long distance travel becomes.  Granted the more first class type options available the better, but I think it has more to do with time management than anything else does.  Years ago, I had a couple of corporate training seminars on the ABCs of time management.  What was my one major take away from this training?  Give yourself more time to get things done than you think you need.  This way there is no rush and you can think more clearly, when you are not in a hurry. 

 

Carol and I departed Vilvoorde with plenty of lead-time for our 11 a.m. flight back to the John Wayne Santa Ana Orange County Airport.  As is our common practice, I drop Carol with the bags at the arrivals area and I return the rental car. 

 

Returning the Caddie was a snap.  I got the car for the compact car rate of about $60 per day.  In the U.S. that would be expensive for a compact and inexpensive for a luxury car.  In Europe, that price would be very good for a compact car and an absolute unheard of steal for a luxury car.

 

Of course, there was a small price to pay for our luxurious mode of transport.  That would be petrol.  I drove the car 1,386 miles.  The total petrol expense was $317.  That comes out to about 22.8 cents per mile.  That is about twice what the fuel cost would be in the U.S.  The car did get 26.5 miles per gallon, which was better than expected.  The fuel itself was about $6.10 per gallon.  The fuel charge was lower in the Czech Republic and that helped lower the average cost per gallon. 

 

When we checked in, we found we had been upgraded to Business Class from Brussels to Chicago.  These upgrades were the last ones from the four that American Airlines had given me for going over the 6 million frequent flyer mile threshold.  Heck, a few upgrades are the least they could do for that amount of flying.  It may take me a while before I get to the 7 million mile mark.

 

Business class is the top level of service for American’s overseas flights.  There is no first class section anymore.  Recall Carol was upgraded to business class coming to Belgium while I flew coach.  Now if you have finished drying your eyes for the tears you have shed for me as a coach passenger, let me tell you about the amenities of business class.

 

First, the legroom is tremendous.  I have to undo my seat belt in order to bend forward to retrieve my briefcase.  Of course, this limitation may have something to do with the amount of food I have eaten on this trip. 

 

In addition to boarding the plane first, all business class flyers get their own personal DVD players complete with Bose speakers.  We are also given a small goodie bag.  The bag contains an eye shade (for those who want to sleep), socks (so you can remove your own shoes and socks for comfort), a box of tissues, a set of ear plugs (can be used on a future trackchasing trip) Temple Spa products including moisturizing lip balm, dry shower, moisturizing balm for hair, body and face, soothing balm for aching limbs and feet.  Finally, a breath mint and toothbrush with Rembrandt extra whitening toothpaste.  All of this is provided in a custom reusable leather pouch.  The final touch is that all alcoholic drinks are free!

 

Yes, if you are going to fly to Europe, this is the way to do it.  Round-trip business class seats go for about $6,000 per seat.  If you have the resources of some unnamed trackchasers, this may be well within your means. 

 

The one-way flying mileage is 5,886 miles.  Round-trip is 11,772 miles.  As a lifetime platinum American Airlines flyer, all mileage I fly is automatically doubled.  That means this round-trip will credit the frequent flyer account with 23,544 miles.  A free U.S. round-trip ticket requires 25,000 miles.  Therefore I have earned nearly another free U.S. ticket for future travel.  I will need it in my quest to keep Ed Esser behind me in the trackchaser standings and gain ground on those six traveling souls who rank above me in the standings.

 

 

BACK HOME!

This morning was my first day back at the golf club in nearly a month since I left for Europe.  Several of the golfers are members of the Trackchaser Report distribution list.  The moment I walked into the clubhouse, they had lots of questions and comments.

 

One person asked, “What does Roland do?” (He works for the Central Bank of Belgium).  Another told me he enjoyed the first European report so much he is having his wife read it.  Another fellow told me he started to print the report so he could read it later and ran out of paper!  Yes, that could happen.  Trackchasers should know that many members and employees of the Pacific Golf Club are enjoying our hobby.

 

 

SUMMARY

Our travel adventure went exactly according to plan.  Some might think the trip was only about adding 14 tracks to my trackchasing total.  Anyone who thinks that has missed the point by a wide margin.  I’ve been gone nearly three weeks.  I could get 14 tracks, more or less, back in the states during this period and hardly break a sweat.

 

The real value of this trip was getting to meet Roland Vanden Eynde.  Roland and I have so much in common with our trackchasing interests.  It was fun to see how someone, with a similar interest, goes about enjoying the hobby some 5,000 miles away and via a different language and culture. 

 

I am in debt to Roland for the time and effort he took to chauffer first me and the Carol and me around continental Europe.  Roland’s plan was outstanding and we saw all kinds of trackchasing in all types of locales.  He shared his very best restaurant ideas and used his linguistic skills to smooth the way for our travels.  Thank you, Roland!

 

In addition to our time with Roland, I spent four outstanding days in France seeing some world-renowned attractions.  Carol’s and my visit to the Czech Republic will be remembered forever.  Our time in Prague was the travel highlight of the entire trip.

 

International travel for Americans is very expensive nowadays.  I am 56 years old.  The IRS life expectancy tables say I have a 50/50 chance of living to 83.  My thinking is I will enjoy the travel better at 56 than 83.  There is nothing like doing something today rather than tomorrow.  If you do it today and like it, you can do it again tomorrow.  I am sure if I run out of funds by the time I’m 83, my loyal readers will come to my aid!

 

If you’ve read this far, thank you for your interest.  Beginning next week, I will return to my traditional Trackchaser Report format.

 

 

LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE (as of May 25, 2005):

 

The battle for positions that could change in the near future is as follows: 

5.  Guy Smith, Effort Pennsylvania – 954

6.  Jack Erdman, DePere, Wisconsin – 872

7.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 852

8.  P.J. Hollebrand, Webster, New York – 806

9.  John Moore, Knoxville, Tennessee – 787

10. Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 770

 

 

 

2005 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS

1.  Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 43

2.  Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 42

3.  Roland Vanden Eynde, Vilvoorde, Belgium – 26

 

 

CUMULATIVE TRAVEL DISTANCES:

 

San Clemente, California-Brussels, Belgium air miles – 11,772 miles

 

Roland Vanden Eynde automobile miles – 1,550

 

Total trackchasing travel miles – 13,322 miles

 

 

TRACK ADMISSION PRICES: 

Driesum Race Track – 8 Euros

Autosportsdadion de Polderputten – 3 Euros

Bellekouter Autocross – 8 Euros

Circuit de Croix en Ternois – 7 Euros

Nurburgring – Free

Lopik – oval – 10 Euros

Lopik – road course – above

Ten Boer Autocross – Free

Rennplatz “Casper Gerd” – 7 Euros

Zuidwolde Autocross – 8 Euros

Midland Speedway Circuit – Free

Aalten Autocross – 8 Euros

Circuit de Peel International Speedway – Free

 

Total race track admissions – 59 Euros

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,

Randy Lewis

Trackchasing’s #1 trackchaser of the 21^st century

 

That’s all the news that’s fit to print from San Clemente where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, all of the children are above average and the real estate prices are way above average.

 

 

 

 

Day 16/20 – Friday, May 30, 2014

 

I woke up in the De Bussellaar Hotel in Sevenum, Netherlands.  I went to sleep at Hotel Garni St. Michael in Euskirchen, Germany.  This is what the day looked like.

 

 

Today was an off-day from trackchasing.  I didn’t have far to drive.  I began the day with a powerwalk all over Sevenum.  It was again notable to see so many local people of all ages riding bicycles.  I had no idea if they were going somewhere (I think they were) or just out for the exercise.  Nobody wears helmets.  After being hospitalized after a very nasty Mexican road race bike crash (I woke up in the ambulance) I wouldn’t ride a bike anywhere without a helmet.  The funny thing about my bike accident that occurred near Ensenada, Mexico is that I WAS wearing a helmet.

 

 

I didn’t have far to drive to get set up for tomorrow’s racing in Germany.  I would be driving past Dusseldorf, Germany.  I did a quick Google search to see what there was to do in Dusseldorf.

 

 

The boys and girls over at Tripadvisor.com listed some 84 different attractions in this German city.  The #1 rated attraction was just up my alley.  What was it?  It was something called “Classic Remise Dusseldorf”.

 

 

This was an antique car museum of sorts.  Actually almost all the cars there were for sale.  If you are into antique foreign cars you will really want to check out the photos from this visit.  I took a picture of just about every car in the place.

 

 

I spent a few minutes chatting with “Richard” an Englishman who owned about 20 cars on display.  He told me the market for these types of cars is really heating up and being driven by demand from the U.S.A.  He had a Ferrari listed for sale at 337,000 euros.  That’s about half a million for us Americans.  Richard told me if he could see any car collection it would have to be “Jay Lane-o’s” as in comedian Jay Leno.  I would too.  I spent nearly three hours in this place.  I don’t think I missed a thing.

 

 

For the second consecutive afternoon I showed up at my ma and pa run B&B and nobody was there.  However, there was a note on the door that read, “Randy Lewis from the U.S.A. please call XXX, Thanks.”  At least they knew I was coming!

 

 

However, my phone does not work as a telephone in Europe unless I have an internet connection.  How could I get in touch with these folks?  There is a solution to every problem.  I walked a block or two into town.  There I noticed a local bakery.  The young woman running the place made the call for me.  However, when no one answered, all she could do was leave a message.

 

 

I walked back to the hotel, which was really a residential house with about six rooms for rent in it.  I waited in the driveway.  It wasn’t too long before the proprietor showed up.

 

 

He was most apologetic.  It turned out his friend had passed away and they were attending the funeral when I arrived.  I assured him he had caused me no hardship and shared my sympathies.

 

 

A little bit later I asked the woman from the “ma and pa” establishment for a restaurant reco within walking distance.  She didn’t speak much English.  However, she did get her point across.  She told me I just needed to walk “900 meters” about a half mile to a good place to eat supper.

 

 

A little bit later I started my walk.  When the sun goes down here it get gets noticeably colder.  There was no way my walking distance was only a half-mile.  It was a mile if it was anything.

 

 

 

Nevertheless, I found a very Dutch/German looking building with a bar, patio and indoor restaurant.  Mind you nobody speaks much English in these places and you’re lucky to get a menu written in English.  Nevertheless, I had more schnitzel with French fries again smothered in pepper sauce.  Of course, they only accepted cash.  My Euro supply was dwindling.

 

 

With the sun setting it was a nice walk back to my hotel.  This had been a VERY good day.  I didn’t have far to drive.  I had seen a wonderful Trackchasing Tourist Attraction (Dusseldorf’s #1 attraction!) and had a fantastic dinner.  I guess these are the rewards for working hard and saving my money. 

 

 

 

 

Day 17/20 – Saturday, May 31, 2014

 

Today’s Racing Activity

 

 

Nurburgring, Nurburg, Germany

 

 

 

Extertel Autocross, Extertel, Germany

 

 

I woke up in the Hotel Garni St. Michael in Euskirchen, Germany.  I went to sleep at the Mercue Hotel Zwolle in Zwolle, Netherlands.  This is what the day looked like.

 

 

If you are a race fan you are likely familiar with the Nurburgring race facility.  This track dates back to the 1920s when they used to race on a track more than 12 miles long.  The “whole” course is more than 17 miles in distance!  The track is widely considered to be the most demanding and difficult purpose-built racing circuit in the world.

 

 

They used to race in these parts on public roads.  Even 100 years ago they figured out that was too dangerous.  That’s why the built Nurburgring and opened it in 1927.  They started with motorcycles.  A lap around the track, used in the early 50s for F1 racing, was nearly nine minutes in duration!

 

 

Later they learned that tracks of this distance were not safe for what seemed like a less than obvious reason to me.  The danger was created when it took the safety equipment so long to get to the scene of an accident.  F1 racing would return to the Nurburgring on a much shorter track.

 

 

I had several correspondences with a Nurburgring contact.  I sensed we really weren’t on the same language “wave length” but it was the only contact I had.  There was just one race on the weekend agenda that would be held on the longer Nortschleife course.

 

 

I was there bright and early for what I hoped would be a morning race.  However, it turned out to be just a practice session.  The actual race would be later in the afternoon.

 

 

I had a decision to make.  I could stay at Nurburgring and “see” a race on a 12-mile course or head over to a more northern portion of Germany and take in some German stock car racing on a permanent dirt track.  There was really no “decision” to make.  I was going German dirt track racing!

 

 

However, after paying five euros to park and 29 euros to get into the massive grandstand and paddock area I felt obligated (no ripped off) to stay for a while.

 

 

After all it WAS the “Historic Trophy Nurburgring” weekend.  There were ALL KINDS of old time racecars on hand.  You won’t want to miss the photos from Nurburgring.

 

 

After I had walked every inch (not really) of Nurburgring and taken a photo of just about every racecar at the track (really) it was time to head some 326 kilometers up to the small town of Extertel.

 

 

The scenery began to change from the quaint little village are of Nurburg.  The scene up near Extertel reminded me of driving in rural Northern California.  I was seeing gently rolling hills, lot of large trees and bright green fields and farmland.

 

 

However, I was using my rental car’s built in navigation system at this point.  That was a lot easier than either my Garmin GPS or my iPhone GPS.  However, in advance I didn’t know I would get a car with it’s own GPS system.  In point of fact I was seven days into the trip before I noticed the car HAD a working navigation system!  I can’t recall ever having a rental car with that option before.

 

 

Racing had not yet begun when I arrived.  Nevertheless, I had to park in a farm field and faced a long walk along uneven ground to get to the track.  Admission was a reasonable seven euros.

 

 

Racecars and their haulers were parked all over the now drying from the past rains fields.  You could tell folks were camping for the weekend at Extertel’s two-day racing show.  The whole situation reminded me of going to the Oktoberfest races in Lacrosse, Wisconsin.  It was a family affair.

 

 

I hadn’t had breakfast.  That made the first item on the agenda getting something to eat.  That was easy.  These folks were ready for me!

 

 

 

I began with a freshly made waffle with ice cream, Nutella chocolate and powdered sugar.  How could I go wrong with that.  This was followed by a bratwurst with fries and a Diet Coke.

 

 

I found a tented area to enjoy my German delicacies.  What a perfect place to relax until the racing started.  By the way to order my food I had to purchase “food tickets” aka “chip kasse” to exchange where the food is ordered.  What would the world do if everyone were honest?  So many systems to defeat dishonest people would no longer be needed.  It would cause economic devastation throughout the world!

 

 

I soon found out why the huge tented area was here.  It wasn’t for my personal enjoyment.  It was for the driver’s meeting!  Soon about 100 or more racecar drivers and their friends were filling up the building.  My quiet eating area was no longer.  I figured I might as well finish off the rest of those French fries and listen in.  That was easier said than done.  The entire conversation was in, what else, German.  I did see that one driver was clearly miffed on something being talked about.  Don’t miss the video on this one.

 

 

It was a beautifully clear day with lots of racers and their fans.  All of the announcing was done in German.  That meant I didn’t really know what the program was going to be.  However, my advance contact had told me there would be racing in the afternoon after having had qualifying in the morning.

 

 

The track would be classified as a road course because drivers had to turn both right and left to get around it.  However, it was awfully close to being an oval track that had been pulled hard on at both ends.  The straights couldn’t have been much more than 40 meters apart.

 

 

I enjoyed a nice afternoon of racing.  When it was time to leave I was headed back some 250 kilometers westward to Dalfsen, Netherlands.  I stayed there a couple of nights ago but had mistakenly taken my hotel key with me.  I would return the key.  The stop only took me 5 km out of the way.  When I got to the Hotel Haersolte I again met my young buddy Rhett.  He and fellow colleague Ilga had treated me so well a few nights ago.  Rhett told me he had been checking me out at www.randylewis.org.  “You’ve been a lot of places” he told me.  Rhett was right.

 

 

From there it was just 16 km over to the bigger town of Zwolle.  I would be staying in a “real” hotel for the very first time on this trip.

 

 

The place was called the Mercure Hotel Zwolle.  It had most unusual architecture.  The Mercure also had “ladies” only parking.  I want to know where the “white male only” parking spots are in this world!

 

 

The hotel was on the outskirts of the city.  It was getting late and I had not eaten dinner.  I’m not much for eating in hotel restaurants if there is any other easy choice.  Tonight there was not.

 

 

I sauntered down to the hotel bar.  The desk clerk had told me they served the same menu as the hotel’s restaurant.  What she had forgotten to mention was that the cheapest entrée offered began at about $30 U.S. 

 

 

I decided to forego a traditional dinner.  I went with the “yellow” meal.  What did that mean?  I had a “blonde” beer, vanilla ice cream and crème brulee.  It tasted as good as it sounded.

 

 

I have just one more trackchasing day on my agenda.  If all goes well I will have seen 10 new tracks during my 20-day visit.  Considering that all but two of the tracks on my original schedule were canceled that’s not bad before or after this trip began.

 

 

I’m beginning to think back on the trip, even though I still have three days here, and consider the various observations I’ve made.

 

 

Spending euros doesn’t seem like spending real money.  Maybe when I get my credit card bills it will!

 

 

I love European drivers.  I don’t believe American drivers will ever get out of the passing lane when they are not passing another car.

 

 

Many of the European rest areas we visited were super nice.  One even had a golf driving range.  However, 50 cents to pee is just over the top!!

 

 

Having to have a sticker to drive in certain countries, i.e. Austria, Slovakia sucks.  It’s especially true when the fact is not advertised well.  I’m sure the method behind that madness comes back in the way of huge fines for not having a sticker.

 

 

If I could have my GPS capabilities in the form of a car’s built in navigation unit I would take that every time.

 

 

I love the European racing approach to rain.  For the most part they just “go on”.  If only American racing could do that.

 

 

People bike everywhere over here.  Is it because of the cost of fuel?  These are not the latest bicycles on the market either.  They don’t wear helmets.  People much older than me, who have probably been riding on the same roads for decades, are still riding today.

 

 

I’ve never been the only person to stay in a 48-bed B&B.  That was cool.

 

 

TripAdvisor.com rocks.  Without it I never would have found the Classic Remise auto museum in Dusseldorf.

 

 

I love the “Postagram” app on my iPhone.  For 99 cents per it lets me take any photograph I have and send it in a postcard to any location in the United States.

 

 

Manual transmissions are good for these trips.  Renting a car in Europe with an automatic transmission would cost an arm and two fingers.  However, I’ll stick with an automatic for my everyday driving.

 

 

I used my USA Today iPhone app to keep up with the goings on in the world.  I don’t mind being “out of touch” for a few days either.  Nothing in this world is going to stop just because I don’t know it happened.

 

 

Why is stuff so expensive in Europe.  I stopped at a McDonalds to use their free Wi-Fi.  A 0.51-liter soft drink cost about $3.50 U.S.  I can buy a drink twice that size for a dollar at a U.S. McDonalds.

 

 

The neighborhood bakeries I stopped at were located everywhere.  Each visit yielded friendly servers and a bakery delight.

 

 

Luckily, once we left Italy we never had another road toll.  Our two days in Italy set us back about $100 U.S. in tolls.  I will end up spending more on gasoline during this trip than for 12 days of B&B stays.

 

 

Who knew that a single ATM withdrawal would yield 700 euros or about $1,000 bucks!  It was like playing a slot machine in Las Vegas….almost.

 

 

No one spoke much English in any of the places we went.  No one understood all that much English.  Nevertheless, everyone we met was friendly and we didn’t starve.

 

 

I am happy with my decision never to put much effort into learning a foreign language.  I can “get by” just well enough on any and all of the trips I’ve ever made internationally just speaking English.

 

 

I wish I had gotten a diesel-powered car.  They get better mileage that autos powered by gasoline.  Diesel is cheaper in Europe as well.

 

 

I believe that the Netherlands and Belgium will become my new “England”.  There is a lot of trackchasing “business” to be had in these two countries.

 

 

I saw one Lexus automobile during this entire trip.  What’s up with that.  Just because Germany has Mercedes, BWM, VW, Audi and Porsche they can’t let Lexus in?

 

 

 

 

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Nurburgring – 2014

 

 

Extertal Autocross – 2014

 

 

 

I’ve been wanting to learn more about World War II concentration camps that existed in and around Germany for some time.  Today, we took a tour of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial.  It’s located just outside of Munich, Germany.  The tour began at the train station in Munich.  Our five hour tour had us first taking a train and then a bus out to Dachau.  Our guide did an excellent job of explaining the history of this place and answering questions.  Much of the original buildings from this “prototype” camp no longer exist.  However recreations of the barracks, as an example, seemed to replicate the original.  Other areas including the mass toilets and crematorium were intact.  I believe it’s important to study the past so the future can be improved.  I highly recommend a visit like this if the subject is of interest to you.

 

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Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial – 2014