Got a few photos but its such a pain to get them on here, I havent bothered.
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Its a long read, so those who just want the basics, who, what did you beat, who was fastest etc see below:
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tubby 1
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m5 1
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tubby 1
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Porsche GT2 1
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tubby 1
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The first time I went a few years back was with the missus where as this time was with some other car enthusiasts, and was a different story!
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Got the dfds ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam over night, arriving early the next morning.
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Making the trip with me was my trusty mr2 turbo all polished and prepped with a full service, new tires, yellow stuff pads and a new double din sat nav system to help me find my way to the ring in Europe.
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Amongst us was GtsChris with a standard Subaru Imprezza wrx sti
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Arriving in Amsterdam to rain was a bad start, with us all thinking
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After picking up a friend at Amsterdam airport it was off through Holland and onto the autobahn for convoy fun!
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Although higher than ours, there was limits in Holland but no signs or even a
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However after doing my research I knew the
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First was the m5 and imprezza side by side, me behind from about 40-50mph ish.
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It seems the m5 was toying with him, and even forgot to set it to
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The mr2 did slightly better with the m5 from about the same speed, but the m5 really is in a different league.
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However because the other guys also own Mr2 turbos
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The ring.
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Because a friend didnt have a car he had booked up to hire a track car from the ring.
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Anyway we knew we had a 2 hr track slot that night from 5.30pm to 7.30pm so made sure we were at the entrance early.
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We got to see some new cars blasting past the entrance which appeared to be various new models from different manufacturers.
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I was only gonna do two laps in mr, thought that would be enough,
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Anyway the first lap I hopped in the m5 and we chased the Imprezza round.
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Any way we never overtook or put too much pressure on the imprezza, didnt want him to overcook it on the first lap!
Chris IS a good driver like, and he wasnt scared to push, J.J had to push a little to keep up, we were impressed with Chris in his Imprezza.
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During this battle on the ring Steve rang us on J.J`s hands free which was
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Right lets get the MR2 on the track, by the time I jumped out the M5 into my Mr2 the others were a good 6 cars ahead in the queue to get on.
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Directly in front of me was a Carrera 4s.
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However by about 5 corners time I was right behind him again.
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He had the legs on me through the corners, but I seemed to be getting better traction out the corners and had the legs on him on the straight sections and I pulled past.
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Jesus the mr2 felt fast, and pretty planted too.
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Next up a race prepped Suzuki swift.
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Next up another Porsche Carrera, dont know what type but just had
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Pretty quick, but passed him easily on the straights again, he then put up a fight with the Swift that was still somewhere behind me.
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After that I passed a few bikers and some usual traffic like sightseeing hatchbacks just cruising round.
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We all wanted another lap but sadly the track closed and didnt re open because of an accident.
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We knew that was it for the night and it was nt open the following day so we were all a bit disappointed and headed back to our hotel.
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Believe it or not the best bits yet to come!
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The next day we had a good look around the new facilities around the f1 circuit, bars, restaurants, shops, museums, casinos, roller coaster, karting track etc.
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Some sort of track testing maybe? We then see an old battered Ford Escort come down the straight.
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Even if it is, bet its expensive we thought, scrutinizing, safety briefing, helmets, surely.
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With now only 30 mins to go until we needed to leave to head back to the ferry, I decided in my wisdom to go ask at the info centre about the cars on track.
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With a small language barrier I asked if the public could take cars on the F1 circuit?
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But no.
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But did we have time?? Who cares, was the response at this point we were all going on if we missed the ferry or not.
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We all drove down the pit lane grabbing photos of our cars in the F1 paddock on the way.
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Once on the track I assumed everyone would take it steady the first lap to see were the track went,
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M5 quickly took the lead with me tailing Chris in the Imprezza, Christ hes some balls.
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With the MR going sideways through most of the corners, almost drifting, I hung on to Chris, I reeled him in on the that awesome back
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Unfortunately thats were my skill ran out.
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By that point I had lost Chris, but caught a Cayman s over the next few laps which I played with for a bit and then took on the back straight and left behind.
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Next thing I know theres a big black nasty looking Porsche climbing in my boot.
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I think I enjoyed the F1 track more than the ring itself to be honest.
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By the time we came off the track we were nearly an hour later than we should have been for the ferry.
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Time to hot foot it back to Holland.
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Claiming I would take it easier on the way back for fears of overheating soon disappeared when I was leading the convey and a Boxster wanted to play.
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A little disappointed I couldnt push past 160mph because of traffic, I reckon itll hit 165mph before bouncing of the limiter in 5th gear.
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Well we did make it just, thanks to the unlimited Autobahn and we all made it home in one piece with no problems at all really.
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For a long time Ive been wanting a Porsche 911 turbo and been tempted by a few on piston heads, but you know what? after this trip I have new found love again for the Mr2 turbo, and think Im just wanting the 911 for the prestige.
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Whats the point?
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Spend 25k just for the sake of Prestige, something a little newer? Or spend nothing and keep a car that is comfortable enough on long journeys and can do the business on track.
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I really think a tubby with a decent driver
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What else can you get for the money that will be as good? Not a lot, if anything.
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Long live the MR2 Turbo.
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