SpecRacer.com

Hey all,
I had the chance a couple of weeks ago to go on a true bucket list trip: F1 Monaco, the 'ring, Spa, and WWI/II tours over a week. It was downright spectacular.
I went with fellow SRF'ers Keith Verges and Tim Blakeley and about 8 other great folks, all of whom enhanced the experience.
As you can imagine, I ran multiple cameras as I was not going to miss a moment of my 'ring and Spa experiences.
When you're bored, here's my best lap of Spa in a Lotus Exige 240S (I even had a very excited passenger with me!). It's an amazing track and while I'm not completely enamored of the Exige based on overall balance (fixable?), it was a very fun car to drive over all though it left me seriously wanting on the looooong Kemmel straight.

So enjoy the first in a 2 (or maybe 3) part series, "A Road Racer's Bucket List"... this one is Spa-Francorchamps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u1e4-HXgX4

Very cool... Supremely jealous...

Wow Denny. That track looks like a lot of fun! I'm wondering how you fit into an Exige with a helmet on. I can't fit into one without a helmet and I'm only 5'9"

Kurt, it really wasn't that bad but you'll notice in the video that I had to do insane amounts of "shuffling" on the wheel in right handers. That was because of my seating position. I couldn't rotate my right arm around on the wheel. In left handers I could go full-on lock (see the exit of the chicane) but not in right handers. It was very odd in that way, actually.

Part 2, the Nurburgring Nordschleife

"Wow. Just wow." You can actually hear me say that at the end of the video, and that about sums it up.
I'm pretty sure there's nothing on earth out there like the 'ring. I sure I hope I get to make it back out there some day.

If you get the chance, work with RSR Nurburgring and rent the Renault Megane RS265. What a great little car. I chose to go FWD for safety in case it rained and it turned out to be the perfect choice. Over 10 laps I had : wet, soaking wet (full wiper laps), very damp, damp, 1 drying, 1 semi-dry, damp, wet again. What an absolute blast! I wouldn't have had it any other way.
This video is of my best lap of the day, 8:39 Bridge to Gantry (how they measure laps on tourist days) complete with damp spots and traffic. I had a more exciting lap on my last one when the track had worse damp spots, I had a 6'6" passenger, and I was pushing harder. I may post that one as part 3.

Enjoy, and trust me... put this on your bucket list because if you follow the news, your time to run it wide open and carefree (relatively) like I did may be dwindling.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQZho9jRUCg