UltimateStreetBays 2500 Mile Round Trip to SCC 2009

[Jesus]

This is as much my own log and reminder for myself as it is a thread for everyone to read

I'm sure Chris, Lee(Monkiboy) and Kim will be on at some stage too and can correct/amend my facts

So on Sat 8th of August

I got my van packed up, Collected Lee from East Croydon and headed out to Clackett Lane services on the M25 where we would catch up with Chris and Kim.

On arrival at Clackett Lane my first bit of maintenance appeared, The Rear right Drum was just catching a bit too much and was getting a tad warm, so after grabbing a bite to eat, Lee and I got this backed off a bit and we were good to go. Once Chris had managed to fight his way through the joy that is the M3 and M25 we got on our way down to Dover.







We arrived that evening @ Dunkerque, after a lil matter of me almost taking us the wrong way round the first roundabout, DOH! We headed off into europe and plowed through as many miles as we could till it seemed sensible to stop, This got us to near Eindhoven in Holland at a motorway services.

Sun 9th August

We awoke in a services in Holland with a Coach load of German school girls parked up next to us, They proceeded to enjoy staring at me baby wipe showering, brushing my teeth etc, it was like a Hobo version of the diet coke add's 

We had an easy day of driving as we planned to stay outside CSP in Germany that night.

so after a few fuel stops





We arrived to what we thought was a deserted CSP being a sunday night and all.





Now when we went exploring we found it was not empty at all,



The T34 Racecar was being worked on round the back,

Not only did we get a guided tour of the place, we got it while they were busy working on the car, which we really didn't expect. What lovely people. They were also perfectly happy for us to stay out the front.

After our tour etc, we thought it best to get out of the way and let them continue, There is a nice restaurant just up the road from CSP which we then descended upon.

After dinner, We suffered our first major bit of rain, but this wasn't an issue as Frank Hoffman turned up in his Coach so we invaded the German and sat in the dry in his coach having a beer and a chat.

Monday the 10th

After a supermarket trip and a fuel fill, we left Frank and plowed on up through Germany and Denmark,

By this stage we were almost a whole day ahead of ourselves!





After some more fuel stops and services we were well into Denmark, and where thinking about finding a nice place to camp up for the night. By pure chance, when we got off the motorway to explore a little we saw signs of a Auto Museum. When we pulled into the car park, this strange bloke with a tache, quickly shut the door locked it and then went into his house which was attached 

This place was in the middle of nowhere he looked like he hadn't had a visitor in months and when he does was too weird to let us in and look about 









and over the fence in the bushes we spied





So we got back on the road, and headed for a coastal bit of the island before our major bridge crossing.

We headed for Kinterminde, but found a lovely spot to park up on route







Thinking we should find somewhere to park for the night and some food we continued on a little, till we found Kinterminde town centre, We never quite got that far as Chris's Throttle linkage under the peddle had  a weak weld that snapped. Once again God was looking down on us, he broke down on a bridge Lee pushed him right at the set of lights and then right straight into a car park that we now called home.









We deffo's had someone watching over us this whole trip, not only had we a convenient place to park the vans, we were in a local dock and right by the centre of town, after walking for about 3 mins i heard someone walk past the other way speaking in english, After a quick ask and a trip to the marine biology centre they were working from we had been told where the local blacksmith was. We had a lovely wander around town (to make sure we had found the blacksmith) and then went and had a lovely meal followed by an even LOVELIER Ice Cream from the local palour which seemed HEAVING busy.











Tuesday the 11th

We got straight round the Blacksmith's and asked him to weld Chris's linkage back together, when we asked if he spoke english he said maybe, and his hands where the shakiest things you have ever seen, this was a tad worrying but he told us to come back in a just over an hour so we left him be and went off.

Finally we got it back from the blacksmith and got it bolted back on the van by about 11am.



At this point we still had time in hand so we took some arty shots of the vans in the dock and also visited a porpoise and seal centre.

























On the way out of town we went and said thanks to the blacksmith,



Chris has a pic on his camera of him with the bloke!

Then it was onto the bridge.















Now i'd made it 1000miles without any burnouts, but now i started to get bored, the bridge toll que and the centre of Coppenhagen got abused slightly!

It was then the final dash into Coppenhagen for our overnight ferry to Oslo,

we weren't the only classics on this ferry







Coppenhagen is just an ODD city with ferries seemingly sat between housing blocks,



Now Lee and I after much careful investigation are certain we were on the same boat that James May and Richard Hammond were on when they raced against Jeremy Clarkson in the SLR Maclaren on Top Gear!





Wednesday the 12th

This saw our Arrival In Oslo, Norway.





Our own private smoking deck from the night before.

[Jesus]

Now our Hosts took over,

Jan Holm qualified for the USB last year and was the one who had asked Chris and I to come over. Jan and Espen met us literally at the mouth of the port, which saved us getting lost in Oslo, we drove straight through the city centre with another burnout or 2 to Jan's home, which became our own very QUICKLY. Frank who was already at the track in the coach, rolled out the race car and drove into Oslo to meet us. After jan had served us Bacon and Egg's (what a legend jan is) we went on a lil boat trip round Oslo Fjord in Jan's Boat.







After some Fuel and Battery power we were soon on our way,











We even got to see the ferry we had rolled in on from VERY CLOSE UP







As we discovered amongst Jan's neighbours and friends his home is always open,

Ernst popped over with his Awesome Euro 68 Deluxe, (I LOVE THIS VAN)









Jan topped the evening off with some lovely dinner, He Hunts Moose, so we had a Moose stroganoff which was DAMN Tasty, hence all the empty bowls   Frank and I even managed to beat Espen in for seconds 



Thursday the 13th

We had a messy night at Jan on wednesday so eventually we all stumbled about got organised and headed out to Slackers Garage (there local Club HQ) where we met up with some more slackers to load up the van's and head for the Track to get set up.

there was some cool projects inside too.





oh and a small sound system they would be taking too,



They seem to love a big Stinger,



There are two of the most original fire busses i have ever seen amongst the club too, one with ladders, one with hoses,





apart from Jan's bus it was an early bay bonanza















Frank being German and needing to get there first so he can lay his towel out made a dash for it, but i gave chase







Setting up camp was the order of the day, Kim and Chris then went back to Oslo with Jan and the Slackers, I stayed at Gardermoen Raceway as i wanted to be out in the woods rather than camping under street lights for another night.

Mags was kind enough to take Lee and I to meet Øystein "Austin" Asphjell and to see his amasing collection of cars,

His Heb inspired Coupe Project is probably my fav, the metal work is OUTSTANDING

















Friday the 14th

The Show Starts HERE  

The rest of Slackers Garage Turned up and the pits/camp was sorted, Sofa's, Coffee table, Carpet, Lighting, Sound System, Projector and screen, IT ROCKED!!!!







Oh and did i mention the track is next to the airport





Friday was great as we watched an empty show fill up,























Now the show was so exciting that i kind of failed to take any more pics really,

Saturday 15th

After getting through tech inspection the previous day, we got lined up after the drivers briefing and managed to get one pass done before we got greeted with a downpour which lasted most of Saturday afternoon and evening. I ran a 17.4 which i was reasonably happy with, Sorry Chris will have to update you on his times as i'm not sure what he ran when!

I'd heard a lot about this SCC spirit but it wasn't till saturday that i truly understood it. As people got a bit disheartened by the weather, some of the slackers started to plot, By Early evening 2 DJ's had turned up with a car full of gear and had started setting up 



in the green mac is a chap called Richard who had riven out there with his wife an 2 kids in a barndoor all the way from the uk 

Our pits soon turned into the local RAVE, it was the most sureal evening of my life.





IDA from the fireflies (Yep that's her name, How cool is that!) took lots of awesome pictures at the Slackers rave they can be found: http://bilder.firefliesvwclub.com/#3.0

The following three Photo's are copyright of SCC an Arlid Dyrkorn

[Jesus]

Sunday 16th

We awoke to Sun and the track crew had been out prepping the track since 4am,

Gardermoen Raceway truly is a special place 

I ran a new PB run of 16.783 @ 128.36 kmt and a 60ft of 2.219

I Knew i could get a better 60 ft so had one go at backing up my 16 and sure enough it worked,

I then had a backed up PB of 16.735 @ 128.92 kmt with a 60ft of 2.177

I was tempted to keep running and push my times further down the 16's but it's a long way home so i decided to be sensible and became Tow car for the rest of the day for Joe in The Sting and Russel driving the Inch Pincher car

Not many race cars get towed about by a semi racer I did feel a bit sorry for Joe in a roofless car faced with my stinger

Below is the link to the YOUTUBE clip of it

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/dku4WlAevtc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/dku4WlAevtc</a>









Ernst Our New USB member qualified with his 2332cc powered van, It was his first time on a track and managed a 16.3 PB if my memory serves me right.



Jan and his brother racing jan's daily drivers 











That crazy ambulance is powered by WBX engine and ran a 12.8

















Slackers Garage won the best club award and well deserved it was too 

The show flew past so fast and suddenly it was time to pack up and go, in fact by the time i realised this almost everything was packed down around me. Only my pile of stuff was left.





I must be the only person using race weight Erco's on the road and BRM's on the track, but it's the only way things work out with tyre sizes and wheel offsets.

Lee was over the moon as Espen asked him to drive his Fire Truck back to HQ as he couldn't drive both his vans



I deffo's think thanks to this trip in my van and Espen letting him drive such an original van we have managed to turn Mr Manx to the way of the Early Bay.

Sunday Night saw Lots of iiirkesklem (Manly Hugs) as we dropped the sofa's off at HQ and went our seperate ways,

We ended up at Jan's getting pizza and all looking like we needed our beds.

Monday 17th

We had Breakfast at Jan's and then took a stroll around Oslo,

finding a few interesting things along the way,







We were enjoying ourselves so much we almost missed the ferry, Luckily Jan's neighbour escorted us to the port on his motorbike with two bays schreeching sideways round corners and roundabouts trying to keep up  (I'm pretty sure this is how i added a crack to my race weight erco's  HEY HO, you live an learn! )

Jan, Slackers, and the SCC crew had been so amasingly welcoming, we felt like kings. They really looked after us and made it such a special trip that i will never forget. I forgot to say that first night we were at Jan's house he went and slept at a neighbours house leaving 6 strange english people in his home alone, not many brits would have done something like that. I feel indebted to all of them and am seriously looking forward to when they come over some time in 2010 so i can do my best to look after them as well as they looked after us.

Monday evening we sat on deck watching our boat pull out of Oslo, Feeling sad to be leaving mates behind but excited about the journey and getting home.

Tuesday 18th

We awoke as the boat arrived in Coppenhagen, The plan for the day was to DRIVE and that was about it, the further we got the better!





The bridge was much tougher on the way back in fact the whole journey was as the wind was very strong!

Somewhere into southern Denmark, maybe Germany Chris came over the CB and got me to pull over, I had a puncture in my rear right, so off came the Erco's and back on with the BRM's, Problem Solved. This did mean we hit rush hour traffic in Hamburg, but this was pretty much the only traffic we had suffered on the entire trip.

We Plowed on and got the miles tumbling down, we left Coppenhagen at 10am and by 10pm we had covered well over 500 miles and were 20km from a place called Deventer in Holland. We needed to stop for a rest and provisions and at this point decided to head our seperate ways, we only had 280 miles to go to get to Dunkerque. Chris and Kim headed for Arnhem so they could enjoy some more time and see something else, where as Lee and I Pushed on as i have to go to work this friday and wanted to get home and recover before i do.


Wednesday the 19th

By 2am the mist came down and i could now only see one or two white lines ahead, i was getting worried about something plowing into the van from behind so pulled into the next services and slept for a few hours. The bugageddon that might from driving was crazy, i have never seen so much splatter on the front of a vehicle before.



We were only about 80 miles from Dunkerque now, so when we woke up we got on with it and managed to get there by 9:30am, we weren't booked on till the 23:58 ferry but they just slipped us onto the 10am crossing which was ACE, Once again we were being looked after from above.







After dropping Lee at East Croydon Station and emptying the van I sat down at home about 1:45pm.

[Jesus]

This was the most EPIC Adventure, for anyone thinking they can't drive round europe in an old van, TRUST ME, you can, it's much easier than going anywhere in the UK thats for sure. Also I can highly recommend SCC if your into your Drag Racing, it's an AWESOME event.

There are so many people to thank so i wont name any of them, they all know who they are, This really was a great trip and i can't thank the people i traveled with and met enough for making it such an awesome adventure.

This is just a small selection of the pics the entire content is on my facebook: Alex 'Jesus' Leiserach

You can support Ultimate Street Bays or find out more info on our facebook group and our website!

http://www.ultimatestreetbays.co.uk

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Ultimate-Street-Bays/110597968362?ref=ts



Once again I know i've already said it, but the hospitality we received and the kindness from everyone was so unexpected but yet so welcome, we truly were made to feel at home, for that i can't thank ALL of you enough

[Lee.C]

I miss norway 

[JS]

I miss norway 

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/OJrSyFpK3iQ" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/OJrSyFpK3iQ</a>

[Lee.C]

I miss norway 

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/OJrSyFpK3iQ" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/OJrSyFpK3iQ</a>

Shhhhhhh

[BeetleBug]

What a great trip! Thanks for sharing your amazing story and the pictures. See you all next year.

Best rgs
BB

[Jesus]

Sharing is always a PLEASURE 

and Johny notice he went very quiet, I think HIT, NAIL and HEAD

[Lee.C]

Sharing is always a PLEASURE 

and Johny notice he went very quiet, I think HIT, NAIL and HEAD

Ah come on give me a break guys - I have been single for 5yrs 

[roland]

Great report alex, looked like a great trip!

i just came back from mine, it was ok I guess... you'll see the pics

[Lee.C]

" it was ok I guess... " Understatment of the year dude - That looked like a truly AWESOME adventure 

[Fastbrit]

Ah come on give me a break guys - I have been single for 5yrs 

Is that why you've turned bay-sexual?

[holmsen]

Ah come on give me a break guys - I have been single for 5yrs 

Is that why you've turned bay-sexual?

Don't let it get to you Lee,, bay -sexual is a ok thing to be

[Lee.C]

Ah come on give me a break guys - I have been single for 5yrs 

Is that why you've turned bay-sexual?

  sure have honey

[jamiep_jamiep]

Sounds like a great trip guys. Cool pictures too!

[Lee.C]

Sounds like a great trip guys. Cool pictures too!

It sure was a trip to remember and I also have ALOT of new friends - ps a few of those pic's were taken by me (driving shots )

[Jesus]

Lee couldn't have done it with out you dude 

Oh and i'm proud that 11 days in a van with me has turned you bay Lee

Roland was a plaesure to meet you and i'm looking forward to seeing your photo's

[Jesus]

Here is a few of Chris (Maddog's) Photo's along with a few of his comments taken from the earlybay.co.uk forum

T'was an awesome trip, weather was kind to us, the buses behaved very well concidering the mileage covered and the show was the BEST ever. Top racing, beautifully countryside and the kindest, most friendliest people i've ever met at a show!!!

Thanks again to ALL the Slackers Garage, especially Jan and Espen for looking after us all so well!! 

I covered 2,600 miles with a bus fitted fully with solid mounts.......ears have only just stopped ringing

I ran three 16.7's and a 17. Not bad considering my tyre choice was pants as i had problems with too much wheel spin plus the NOS wasn't working properly (over fuelling). Was hoping for better times but it was still a great time had by all.

On the last day we left Alex to head back to the ferry and we spent a day exploring Arnhem in Holland. Great town and alot bigger than i thought. The WWII stuff was very interesting too and we even had time to take a look around the war graves of all the brave heroes that flew in for operation market garden.






Chris with the Blacksmith





apparently its the 2nd biggest suspension bridge in the world!!?











The man himself......Jan......the best host EVER



even in a boat you need to stop for fuel





























I'd quickly like to Thank RICHIE WEBB, without whom i would have driven a long way not to race as my lid failed tech inspection, Thanks for lending me your helmet Fella, UBER APPRECIATED 



Our Final Drink in Norway





  BYE

Chris and I split up in Holland and this is the end of his trip:

We had a whole day before having to drive the last 250 odd miles to the ferry so we spent the day looking around the town famous for 'A bridge too far'.

Arnhem













Visited the heroes from Operation Market Garden





Then the drive home, Chris also suffered from BUGAGEDDON





On The Middnight ferry



One holiday never to be forgotten!! 

[Jesus]

http://www.ultravw.com/

Thanks to Keith Our Little Road Trip to SCC features in The February and I believe also the following issue of Ultra Vw Magazine

[Jesus]

Thanks Keith Once again, Looks awesome am well Chuffed 





I for one can't wait for next month's installment!

[Fastbrit]

My/our pleasure! 

[Lee.C]

My/our pleasure! 

COOL cheers dude - Looks like I get double props this month (Rob's feature  )

[Jesus]

Yeah I noticed Lee, i read the mag cover to cover the other night!

[Jon]

Great writing Jesus, looks good, apart from some mix-ups on where the pictures were taken.... can't wait until the next one!

[Jesus]

Yeah to be fair Keith had very few pics to use till we got to Denmark, as before that we were on a bit of a mission, and Thanks  I'm off to a mates tonight who's gonna do a better scan of it for me.

[Jesus]

Here are some better scans of the pages, not high enough res to read it tho as i wouldn't want you not to go out and buy a copy      Don't want an upset Ultra VW team!

[Jesus]

The Second and Final Installment of our SCC Adventure is in the latest Ultra VW!