The next stop had to be Goodwood House. Because the Festival was about to begin (in 3 days) I wondered if I could get us in. The small backroad I knew from our previous visits was still unguarded so I speeded the M through the mud and ended up at the lawns behind the House (where we once played soccer with a drunk JayKay). The next step was to get past the guards at the gate where you enter the place where The Cartier Style et Luxe is held. Those 3 guys were amazing; ‘how the hell did you get in!?’. I told them I wanted to show my girlfriend around the place I had visited for six times already with friends. ‘So why not buy tickets? It’ll start in 3 days!’ I pointed them the big pregnant belly and the started to laugh. ‘Alright my friend, I haven’t seen you!’ and they all turned around laughing even harder. That’s how we got in and could drive around the place:

If you haven’t visit the Festival yet and you are a carnut, then shame on you! The atmosphere is great, as are the cars and the drivers!

After a good drive up the hill and back to the starting line we left Goodwood House at the entrance gate. From here on we drove all the way to Wareham in Dorset and found a horsefarm with a big room available. The owner was a 65-year old guy called Tom and he was great.  Because the weather (and the farm) was so nice we stayed here for 4 days of which 2 days we spend at the beach at Lulworth Cove (amazing scenery!).

The last day we went to Monkeyworld, the largest rescuecenter for primates and apes in the world. Dorset is beautiful, simple. The last home of Harry Patch in Wells was the next stop. That meant we had to drive north. Not much of a problem with the BMW. Since my girl was now a bit used to the power and speeds I could drive it harder every day! Wells and the nearby city of Batch are both characterstic English towns, very nice. 

The next stop was Porlock in Exmoor Somerset. I once read a Colin Forbes novelle which played partly in this area. It’s a cute little village with a small harbour at the Bristol Channel from where you can see the contours of the Welsh Coast. Even better is drive up to Dunkery Beacon, the highest point of Exmoor, from where you have a great view over the Moore and the Channel.

The next stop was Croyde with it’s giant wide beaches. You have to see it in real to believe how overwhelming wide the beach is. There’s a narrow road starting in Braunton that leads you high up alongside the beach to Croyde.

There we found a B&B farm again of which the lady of the house rented rooms for over more then 55 years! We had a very good meal in the local pub (unlike all the prejudices I must say that in general the pubs serve very good meals) and the most quiet night ever. From the north we then drove to the south, the next Moore, Dartmoore, home of the Hound! This area must be the one with the most narrow roads in Southern England, miles for miles singletraffic lanes with high hedges on both sides. At least we had the roads almost entirely for ourselves. Again we found a beautiful farmhouse with again a lovely old couple that gave us a warm welcome. From our room we could see the English Channel, what a view. The next two days were our last and we decided to take the central route passing Stonehenge on our way to Folkstone again. After exactly fourteen days we arrived in Haarlem tuesday july 6th at 20.00 Hours, just in time to watch the semi-final Holland vs Uruguay!

The Z4 M Roadster was fantastic. We could drive it with the top down every day, luggage space was sufficient, we even came home with a lot more then we started our trip (we now have a decorated babyroom and well-filled drawers full of baby cloths!) and it is made for trips like this. Even fuel economics were not too bad! On top of this it is absolutely very exclusive. Since I have it I never saw another one, only two Coupe’s. I don’t know if I want to sell the car, only if somebody will pay a normal price I will let it go. It is just too good fun to sell it at a bargainprice!

Speedchills Le Mans 2010

The next day the weather was cleared up and we decided to check out the circuit. The atmosphere was great, so many petrolheads together doing crazy things with cars (like driving over the ankledeep muddy fields in Murcielago’s for example) and entering the paddock and the circuit was great.

The next day was saturday so we decided to treat ourselves on a nice set of grandstand tickets. The Speedchills organisation had a few of those tickets uncollected and after 5 minutes of negotiating and € 20,- each poorer (what a bargain!) we mist the start in 2 minutes (suckers!). In another 2 minutes the drivers past the starting line again and I was deaf for the rest of the race; those Lola’s were absolute screamers! After an hour the grandstand became a bit boring and we decided to see other parts of the circuits (glad we didn’t paid full price…). My favorite part was at the Porsche Curve after midnight. Seeing the cars approaching at very high speed out of the black woods into the lighted curve with red glowing brakes is a sight I’ll never forget.

The next day our companions wanted to hit the road early (they already have kids…) so we mist the finish but were back in Holland before dinner. In two years we will be back for Le Mans Classic, that’s for sure!

Oh, if you wonder why the car still isn’t on the blog with pictures, I will try to make nice ones this weekend!

Testdriving the car was for me a really strange experience since it felt like I drove a democar from the local BMW-dealership. The suspension, tyres, brakes, clutch, everything felt so thight! The leather seats are still in a matt finish and the steeringwheel and gearknob look like they’ve never been touch before. Driving a classic styled Roadster with the famous screaming six-in-line and the softtop down gives such an adrenalin kick; accelarating out of corners and rev it ’till 7.500 rpm deaffens not only the ears but also the mind…

Allright, it has little use to write more about my latest project since I cannot enjoy it very long. Why’s that? That is because I have a girlfriend that surprised the hell out of me with the announcement that I am becoming a dad; very unplanned but very wanted! And since a Roadster has got only two seats and very little luggagespace it unfortunately already has got to go. I secretly hope it doesn’t sell that fast because me and my pals have planned a roadtrip to the 24h of Le Mans (me and my brother in the Z4 and the two friends in a black E46 M3 with CSL Competition Packet) and my girlfriend and I have planned a holidaytrip of three weeks through the south and west of England!

Why do I need a pc-mouse and an LCD-flatscreen for adjusting my ride to the circumstances faced ahead? In 10-fold? And why do I need 600+ horsepower and 8 gears to catapult me to a limited 250 km/h?  A speed that Juergen in his all red lettered tdi white van can reach (almost). The supersaloons and supertourings of today can compete with cars that find themselves in the supercar-league. In fact, they even share the same engines!

To me this race to ever more power and electronic ‘who needs ‘m?’ gadgets feels as a race of the dinosaurs. The’re growing and becoming more heavier each year just to tell the world that it isn’t as much fun without them, that they cannot be ignored, that they are the greatest and that we need them! But we all know the real dinosaurs extinct because they didn’t fit anymore, they in fact killed themselves and left the world wonder, millions years later. Will history repeat itself, as far as the car world is concerned? Will future generations look back and wonder what the hell was going on in the beginning of this second millenium? I wonder, already now I do.

But, now I still haven’t got an E46 M3! And therefore I will continue my search for just that one immaculate low-mileage example with a manual 6-speed in Estorilblue! And am I willing to let the B10 go to another enthusiastic fanatic!

The car is from its second owner and left the garage only once in a while. Therefore the speedo indicates a mileage of 98.000 km. Ofcourse it is equipped with all the possible options (black extended Nappa leather, sunroof, no roofrails etc.) and absolutely free of accidents.

I am quite happy with this purchase and will share some pictures with you as soon as possible. In the meantime you can read here more about this iconic car!

We woke up heavyheaded ’cause of the German beers but eventually found ourselves walking in the dark Eifel woods. A Wiener Schnitzel, a couple of beers, 20 km’s and 6 hours later we ended up in the local Chinese Restaurant.

The next day was Nürburgring-day, or ‘die grune Hölle’ as the Germans call it. After a heavy breakfast and a scenic ride we arrived at the entrance of what must be the craziest Racing circus in the world. For only 1 euro per km you can kill yourself in any of the 176 blind corners! First things first, so we popped the hood and checked the oil and other fluids. Then the tyres and brakes and then at last the ticketbox. Gentleman start your engines, through the gates of hell and off we went! Only about 9 minutes later (yes, I know…) we made it out alive! I think I drove like a girl but it was my first time, it was slightly wet, cold, pimped Civics and Corsa’s were passing me by both sides and I definately wouldn’t want to crash the M5 (that is externally AND internally).

On our way home we discussed our round at the Ring and what kind of ‘daily’ car is best suited. My M5 is not the one, that’s for sure. Cruising the German Autobahns is what he does best (easily pulls to 250 km/h on the Nav) but in tight corners he has to admit he’s fat. We decided that the E46 M3 comes close to the perfect allround ’supersaloon’ and therefore I will pick up my search for a manual, low mileage, blue M3!

At first Alpina introduced the B10 V8 with a slightly modified 4.0 V8, producing 315 Hp, in April 1993. Although the 4.0 was a fast but comfortable saloon it could not fill the gap Alpina created when they took the worldfamous Biturbo out of production early 1994. Therefore it was soon overshadowed by a stronger brother which was fitted with the 4.6. Besides a 6-speed manual gearbox Alpina also introduced the car with an automatic 5-speed gearbox from ZF that could also be shifted wth the novelty ‘Switch-tronic’ (not to be confused with Shift-tronic). More interesting is the fact that Alpina decided to produce the B10 V8 not only as a saloon but also in a Touring version! And this one was only produced 19 times of which only 4 times with the manual! And one of them is for sale and it only drove a little over 100.000 km!

So, there’s something for me to think about. Feel free to share your thoughts with me but be quick, an Alpina like this is not going to be on the market for a long time!