Svan goes racing
- 14 Jun 06, 07:54 PM
HEIDELBERG - We've had two heroes on our blog journey today, Herr Schacher, whose magic fingers helped get Svan up and running this morning, and Sib who suggested we head to the Hockenheim Grand Prix circuit to test out the repair.
Quickly confirming that this was en route, we hit the road and headed south from Frankfurt.
The orginal idea was to head to the legendary , but they are holding a 24-hour race there over the next couple of days and I don't think Svan, or ourselves, would last too long in that.
So with the sweet sound of a working ignition ringing in our ears we hit the motorway to the home of the German Grand Prix, 20 km south-west of Heidelberg.
A private booking by a motorcycle club meant we couldn't get onto the track until after six, but once we'd been escorted through the paddock and into the pit lane we had the run of the circuit.
With so much tarmac at my disposal it felt natural to put my foot down after negotiating the first corner.
Expecting a long straight to stretch away ahead of me into the forest I was surprised to encounter a corner after about 300 yards, this unfortunately was not the full Grand Prix layout of old but a in use since 2004.
Still, the second straight was long enough to get Svan right up to an astonishing 70mph - yes folks, 70!
As I started to find the racing line and remember my computer game tactics, Fletch was becoming more and more uncomfortable.
His 'slow down' hand signals reached their frantic peak as the fridge door flew open in the back sending the bananas skidding onto the floor - the beer stayed intact though so it couldn't have been that bad.
Taking the wheel himself, Fletch immediately made sure his mirror was properly positioned, with an empty track behind him, and executed a three-point-turn so he could show me exactly how he thought the hairpin should be tackled - gingerly.
Even though Svan doesn't even begin to resemble a racing machine, and I don't even begin to resemble a racing driver, it was still a buzz to wind through the incredibly narrow stadium section and pull away down the start-finish straight.
I struggled to stick to the laws of the road on the way back, seeing evey corner in terms of an apex and exit. I think Fletch had better do the driving over the next few days, while I continue to try and persuade him that we should take a spin around the Nordschleife on the way home.
You'll be able to check out the video of our visit to Hockenheim in the morning, and if anyone has any more tips for us while we're out here just let us know..
We've found a for tonight, it's nicely positioned on the banks of the River Neckar, although that probably means we'll get bitten, and Fletch has headed into the old town to find a restaurant.
Another challenging evening ahead for your favourite 大象传媒 bloggers...
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O.K... I am a little disapointed at 大象传媒 censorship. My insightful suggestion after seeing the football focus advert for Fletch and Ricco was to point out that the taking the van around the Nurburgring would be a great thing to do.
This was almost TWO WEEKS AGO... no mention was ever made nor reply posted... suddenly the comment (it was number 22, carry on campervan) has disappeared and now what are you up to????
Oh, coincidentaly racing Svan around Hockenheim... I feel used! Is there a conspiracy to take good idea's modify them slightly and then offer them up as interesting anecdotes!? I want my T.V licence money back!!! And remember, stealing good ideas doesn't pay... Look what happened to Vanilla Ice!
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My tip:
Auto & Technik Museum Sinsheim
Directly on the route next to the autobahn. Maybe a detour of 1-2 km.
The only museum where a Concorde and her Russian sister, the Tupolev TU-144 is on display.
And - just for the case you are not yet aware of this - Thursday is a public holiday in some German states. E.g. in Baden-W眉rttemberg and Bavaria.
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2nd tip
Can be easily combined with Sinsheim.
Approx. 10 km upstream from Heidelberg-Schlierbach (your campsite) is the small 4-castles town Neckarsteinach.
I was there once at Corpus Chritis (the holiday on Thursday) and remember the really nice flower carpets they put up there for this day's procession.
From Neckarsteinach back to Neckargem眉nd and from there the federal road B45 to Sinsheim.
Sorry - it was not my idea to name half of the towns along the river Neckar.
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Sorry - it was not my idea to name half of the towns along the river Neckar(something).
(The system killed the angle brackets I used before at the end of the above sentence.)
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Oops.
Richard - don't get too upset, we admire your brilliance as well.
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O.K..perhaps I was a little touchy... It's the damned stress of watching the Germans yet again produce the goods with a below par team. They are like an antibiotic resitant bacteria when it comes to tournament football, no matter how feeble their squad looks they just keep on grinding the results out.
I'm glad Hockenheim was a buzz, but Svan doing 70 mph...woah their horsie... next thing you know Erikson will be making alarmingly structured substitutions and Hargreaves will be wearing the golden boot.
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Camping on the banks of the Neckar at Heidleburg - how well i remember - wait for the morning when the whole campsite, tents, caravans etc are covered in the fattest sliiest slugs you have ever seen - such sweet memories!!
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What, no inline skating?! Cowards.....
Tip for the future - if you get the chance to visit Bayreuth, don't pass it up! The place was gorgeous - but scarily clean.......some composer was from there - Wagner? Nice place, nice people.
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Here's another tip lads. Don't keep your bananas in the fridge.
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Richard,
For the record - no censorship, just a mistake I think. I've gone back into the system and found your post - the original entry (carry on campervan) was blitzed by some idiot trying to sell ringtones so about 50 mass comments got deleted and yours appears to have been mistakenly included. I have re-instated it so you at least have the satisfaction of knowing you were the 1st!
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Quote Richard Burnell: "It's the damned stress of watching the Germans yet again produce the goods with a below par team. They are like an antibiotic resitant bacteria when it comes to tournament football, no matter how feeble their squad looks they just keep on grinding the results out."
Ooops - somebody already scared of meeting Germany in the next round? Or just generally hating Germany?
For us Germans it's amazing to see, how we can celebrate a festival with pride and hosptality, our team entertaining (so far at least and definitely better than in many years), and huge favourite England winning luckily and undeservedly by an own goal. Well, I know, it was hot, this year surprisingly the World Cup takes place in summer, who would have thought. ;-)
(Not to mention that Brazil, Netherlands, Portugal all didn't play with spirit or nearly at their predicted level but still won - nobody ever seems to care about that; but if Germany win deservedly and should have won maybe 4:0 against Poland, who caused a lot of trouble for England in the qualification..... think about it!)
Who says things never change? Maybe England will defeat us in the penalties....
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Germany V Poland
Please,please,please having just awoke from 12hrs sleep caused by the monotonic,negative Mr McCarthy ex Sunderland and now 大象传媒`get yourself to sleep`commentator, please remove him before he sends most of the 大象传媒 viewers to bed.
No wonder Sunderland were relegated prematch talks must have been a hoot and half time chats only taken with laces out of the boots.....
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I've been to Heidelberg on a couple of occasions. Check out the massive barrel in the castle.
Sure Fletch will appreciate it!
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Ive been to that campsite in our camper van a few years ago(an old VW, looks lot more like the icon that your actual trendy van!), Nice town, nice site, and first nite we had a hot air ballon land! get yerself down to the lorelie!
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Max, (post 11)
Ich liebe Deutschland, und Glaube dass Sie eine fantastiches manschaft haben.
Leider kann ich nicht mehr sagen weil mein Deutsche furchtbar ist!
Es tut mir leid!
Your Englsih is magnificent and I do hope our nations meet in the final with, as you so sumblimely put it, an England "win in the penalties."
No hard feelings old boy, well done for the Poland match and good luck for the rest of the tournament
Schreib bitter bald!
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Well done Edward Junger for the post on Mick McCarthy. I thought I was the only one riled by his depressing tone.
While I am not a fan of Roy Keane, it is becoming apparent why he couldn't stand the ex-Sunderland boss anymore!
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Svan鈥檚 race is getting pace as fans are waiting to watch goals by their stars. If Beckham, Owen and Cole are Sven鈥檚 steering then Rooney may be his fourth gear and the golden cup is definitely his last lap of his success.
Sven is, no doubt, in a race where he in control.
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Hello Richard,
your German is not at all bad from what I can tell.
Did you ever notice that especially young Germans love England and the UK? And English football for sure. That would be a dream final. I guess we can avoid each other in the 1/8. In this tournament England are playing like Germany always used to. Not well but successfully. From all my experience with World Cup competitions since 1974 I know that this is promising.
And for Martin more tips for the Heidelberg area:
Ladenburg (small quiet nice old town between Heidelberg and Mannheim)
Speyer (only 5 miles from Hockenheim on the other side of the Rhine with a famous cathedral and another Technik Museum similar to the one in Sinsheim)
Deutsche Weinstra脽e west of Speyer along the foothills of the Pfaelzer Wald (many nice towns, i.e. Freinsheim, Bad Duerkheim or St. Martin, plenty of wine, the white wine has a great quality, the red is enjoyable)
Try Welde Braeu Weizenbier
And eat asparragus from the region - it's the season for it right now and it's famous. Did you see the Hockenheim water tower? It symbolizes an asparragus, believe it or not.
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Thanks max, I have a strange feeling that we may meet in the 1/8 after todays results... it would be too soon if it did happen but hopefully we will both top our groups and go on to to the final.... see you there!
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Is it Heidelberg that has the student prison. I went on a school trip there and we climbed all the way to the top. Great way to get exercise and a wonderful view too. We stayed in the Youth Hostel there which wasn't bad at all so if Svan gets too ripe, you might want to consider stopping there on your travels.
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