rec.autos.simulators

At 7 o'clock in the morning, my friend picked me up in his Alfa 156
and we went. The weather was absolutely perfect.
It took exactly 4 hours before we were there.
The road to the Ring was allready a great warmup, there are some
beautifully twisty roads there in Germany, sometimes we really got
that Need for Speed feeling.
We left some great skidmarks there for the German people to remember
us.

And then we arrived. First we went to the 'new' track, and looked
around there a little bit. A lot was going on there. Lots of Porsches
and Ferrari's were driving there, beautifull to see. After watching
those cars racing we were really in the mood for some wild driving on
the Nordschleife (the track in GPL) and we went to the entrance of the
Nordschleife.

There was a sign at the gate...

DEAR VISITORS, TODAY THE TRACK IS CLOSED FOR TOURISTS.
PLEASE COME AGAIN TOMORROW.

Do you know that Chevy Chase movie, National Lampoons vacation, where
he and his family had to make this really long trip to Wally's World,
and when they finally arrived, it was closed?
Then you know how we felt.
Last week I got a disconnection while racing in a league race, that
felt bad, but the feeling we had when we saw the gates to the track
entrance closed is undescribable.

We could see some parts of the track, we saw the castle, but we
couldn't drive on the track. That SUCKED!

Completely disillusioned, we left, and went to Spa in Belgium.
That was great! Watching Eau Rouge in real life was really impressive,
what a steep climb that is. We also drove on parts of the old layout
(the masta kink, the old Stavelot part) which is public road now.

After that we went to Zolder, another circuit in Belgium. A short but
beautiful circuit. There were some bike races going on, beautifull to
see.

All in all we had a great day. To finish the day in style we went to
Maastricht, a town in Holland, and had a beer there.
At some point my friend told me to wait and he walked away.
He returned after a couple of minutes with a present for me.
It was a beautiful scale model of Jim Clark in his Lotus 49.
I've been looking for a Lotus 49 scale model for quite some time, and
my friend knew a shop in Maatricht were they sell all sorts of scale
models.

And at the end of the day, my ex-girlfriend called me, and we made up
again.

Sometimes, you have these days which start really bad, but at the end
turn out to be one of those days you'll never forget. This was one of
those days!

PS, I made some nice pictures of the Nordschleife, Spa and Zolder, I
will put them online soon.
And in three weeks we will go to the Nordschleife again, but we will
check if the Nordschleife is open for tourists first next time :)

Andre

Hans-Otto
GPL, GP500 and Super 1 Karting forever :-))

Just wanted to note how bizarre this sounds to me, living in the USA.  I can
look at a map and see to what you refer, but the mental concept of driving
to three countries in the same day just seems alien to me.  I guess it isn't
much different than me driving to 3 different states in one day, though.

Nothing important, just a cultural (or geographic) observation.

~daxe

Hans Otto,

If you want to join a gang going to Le Mans & Goodwood every year from
Norway, just let me know!

They're the best two motorsport-related shows you can go to in a year
without going bankrupt IMO!

Great story Andre, I know how you must have felt..thankfully you got a few
bonuses in the end! Now where's that Zandvoort report....

:-)

 Matt/GPLEA

I went to the Nurburgring a couple of years ago with the same result- it was
closed!  I was really disappointed at the time, but I'll be back one of
these days......

The amazing thing was that there were some bike races going on at the new
circuit, which we just wandered in to watch, walked down behind the pits
etc.  It wouldn't happen in England!

Neil

I live in Belgium and I'm very familiar with all those racetracks.
I have a ride on the Nordschleife every 2 years: its soooo great :)

Francorchamps is also one of my favourites. I often go there and drive the
1967 track. Its really amasing how scary Eau Rouge really is. I got may
video's about F1 in the 60ties, and I can still recognize many spots on the
track.

For me the biggest flaw in GPL (which I play a lot) is that the
graphics-engine makes all distances much bigger/longer/wider.
In real life the nurburgring is not tighter but it LOOKS much tighter. I
don't undestand why they couldn't adapt this to the game. In fact its the
same for all tracks: in real life they all LOOK much
smaller/shorter/narrower. Its just the way that the graphics are presented
on the screen that gives the IMPRESSION that distances are wrong. Once you
drive the car on speed, it FEELS ok though.

5 years ago I visited the old F1 track at NIVELLES (1970-1972). The track
was still there (I got pictures) but totally abandoned. I drove my car
around the track (its cute) but there were some additional chicanes: small
trees and bushes growing through the tarmac...
I think they are planning a new shopping center there...

You can check the opening times here:
http://www.nuerburgring.de/eng/angebote/sf_n_01.htm

To make sure its open you can call the starting gate hut, not sure of the
number, i suspect its the one here
http://www.nuerburgring.de/eng/frame_02.htm that reads 'Drive your car
through the legendary Northern Loop'

--
Cheers,

Robin Lord - Trance DJ & Sim Racer.

http://www.oppositelock.co.uk

Nrburgring and Grand Prix Legends

| Today was THE day, I went to the Ring!
|
| At 7 o'clock in the morning, my friend picked me up in his Alfa 156
| and we went. The weather was absolutely perfect.
| It took exactly 4 hours before we were there.
| The road to the Ring was allready a great warmup, there are some
| beautifully twisty roads there in Germany, sometimes we really got
| that Need for Speed feeling.
| We left some great skidmarks there for the German people to remember
| us.
|
| And then we arrived. First we went to the 'new' track, and looked
| around there a little bit. A lot was going on there. Lots of Porsches
| and Ferrari's were driving there, beautifull to see. After watching
| those cars racing we were really in the mood for some wild driving on
| the Nordschleife (the track in GPL) and we went to the entrance of the
| Nordschleife.
|
| There was a sign at the gate...
|
| DEAR VISITORS, TODAY THE TRACK IS CLOSED FOR TOURISTS.
| PLEASE COME AGAIN TOMORROW.
|
| Do you know that Chevy Chase movie, National Lampoons vacation, where
| he and his family had to make this really long trip to Wally's World,
| and when they finally arrived, it was closed?
| Then you know how we felt.
| Last week I got a disconnection while racing in a league race, that
| felt bad, but the feeling we had when we saw the gates to the track
| entrance closed is undescribable.
|
| We could see some parts of the track, we saw the castle, but we
| couldn't drive on the track. That SUCKED!
|
| Completely disillusioned, we left, and went to Spa in Belgium.
| That was great! Watching Eau Rouge in real life was really impressive,
| what a steep climb that is. We also drove on parts of the old layout
| (the masta kink, the old Stavelot part) which is public road now.
|
| After that we went to Zolder, another circuit in Belgium. A short but
| beautiful circuit. There were some bike races going on, beautifull to
| see.
|
| All in all we had a great day. To finish the day in style we went to
| Maastricht, a town in Holland, and had a beer there.
| At some point my friend told me to wait and he walked away.
| He returned after a couple of minutes with a present for me.
| It was a beautiful scale model of Jim Clark in his Lotus 49.
| I've been looking for a Lotus 49 scale model for quite some time, and
| my friend knew a shop in Maatricht were they sell all sorts of scale
| models.
|
| And at the end of the day, my ex-girlfriend called me, and we made up
| again.
|
| Sometimes, you have these days which start really bad, but at the end
| turn out to be one of those days you'll never forget. This was one of
| those days!
|
| PS, I made some nice pictures of the Nordschleife, Spa and Zolder, I
| will put them online soon.
| And in three weeks we will go to the Nordschleife again, but we will
| check if the Nordschleife is open for tourists first next time :)
|
| Andre

Cya,
Hans-Otto

Andre

On Sat, 6 May 2000 13:22:34 +0100, "Robin Lord"

I hope I'll find out in 3 weeks when we go again :)

At a certain point, while searching for the entrance for Spa (the
signs to the track were driving us crazy, there really was no logic
there!) we drove on the Masta. I allready saw some Stavelot signs, so
I knew we were in the vicinity of the old track, but when we drove on
Masta I immediately reckognized the track.
On one side it felt great, driving on the old track again, on the
other hand I felt sad that the old track is public road now, and that
many people who drive there haven't got a clue that they are driving
on Holy Ground :)

GPL does have a fish-eye viewpoint, so you're right. You especially
notice this when driving slow, but when driving full speed on the Ring
or Eau Rouge I completely forget about the fish-eye look.
What I really miss, after I saw Eau Rouge in real life, is the depth
in the tracks. I don't think they could have done much better,
considering the 2d screens, but it was only after I saw Eau Rouge in
real life yesterday that I realized what an amazing corner this is...

I never heard of that track, but I think it's a shame that old tracks
with some history are being wiped away. Take Riverside for example,
such a beautiful track with a rich history, or the old Spa layout..
shame shame shame.

Did you ever visit the Museum in Spa by the way? We didn't have time
for that yesterday, but is it worth visiting?

Andre

Andre

I live in Nijkerk, in the centre of Holland. It took exactly 4 hours
to drive to Nurnburg, in Germany. It took about an hour to drive from
Nurnburg to Spa, about an hour to drive from Spa to Zolder, and from
Zolder to Maastricht is about half an hour.
These tracks are geographically so close to each other, I think the
average state of the USA is a lot bigger to drive!

Funny to see the difference between the countries, the part around
Nurnburg is really German, lots of beautifull woods, and lots of
castles on the mountains, Belgium has a completely different style of
houses, and when we got back to flat Holland I really felt home again.
That's one of the nicest things of Europe, each country really has
it's own culture and architecture.

Andre

--
Tiger Stadium R.I.P. 1912-1999
Own Grand Prix Legends?  Goto  http://gpl.gamestats.com/vroc

Never argue with an idiot.  He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
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All those tracks are THAT close to each other???  Cool!

I'm glad you got SOME enjoyment out of the day... :)

Eldred

--
Tiger Stadium R.I.P. 1912-1999
Own Grand Prix Legends?  Goto  http://gpl.gamestats.com/vroc

Never argue with an idiot.  He brings you down to his level, then beats you
with experience...
Remove SPAM-OFF to reply.