Got up today and drove down to Hockenheim - finally getting to do what we came here for (not that everything else has been bad). Of course we got lost going to the hotel - damn Mapquest! After a few phone calls and a lot of u-turns we finally stumbled across the hotel. That’s twice now that we have done that. We were really close at first, then the VW people told us something else and we ended up miles away from where the hotel was. Oh well - we are here now.
We headed out to the track around 12:30pm and met up with the team. They were still setting up the kiwi tile and awning so I bailed and got the heck out of there for a bit. ...Gord hates setting up kiwi tile. He always disappears when the kiwi tile comes out of the trailer. (Ed)
I walked around the paddock area and checked out the F3 and DTM teams and their setups. These guys are crazy over here! Every pit looked like an F1 pit - it was simply amazing. The amount of money put into the hospitality suites and buildings are incredible. The Porsche hospitality building (and when I say "building" that is what it is - a portable building) is huge. It has to be 70 yards long and 50 yards wide. It is crazy - it takes up half the paddock area. Every manufacture has their own hospitality tent/building along with Bosch, Yokohama, Dunlop and a ton more. We are pitted out in the grassy area just after turn 1 and all these suites are taking up the smooth pit area. I guess I know where the money is.
We hung out and had some Frites and Bratwursts for lunch and then had tech at 3:00pm which was interesting. They checked weights and changed everyone’s ECU as well as a fuel pump test and then plugged in their scanner to make sure all systems checked out. They had a bit of a problem with Liam’s helmet as it is wired for a radio system but the just put their seal stickers on the ends to make sure we don’t use it as radios are not legal in this series. We made it through tech without a hiccup and then off to the driver’s briefing.
The driver’s briefing was very informative – if you speak German! They tried translating some stuff to English but it would have been better if I translated from English to German. It was very short and direct like a drivers meeting should be.
We went back to the trailer and watched Michael the team organizer who owns a decal company put the stickers on Liam’s car all free handed! He made stars and stripes all over the nose, shock cover and upper engine cover and he did it all from solid pieces of decal material with not a bubble in sight. Actually he is one of my favorite guys on the team next to Henry who took us on our Berlin tour, as Michael is so intense with whatever he does or is going on. He is the type of guy that if you want something done he will get it done 10 minutes ago before you even ask. He reminds me of myself in a lot of ways - not. LOL! Right down to tool boxes not being in the correct spot and moving tables here and there to make sure everything is straight and perfect. The pit area looks like a mini F1 garage with the lights above each car and plugs and air hoses hanging down. It is really cool.
By the way, Henry the engineer is a huge Ross Bentley fan. He has the German version of Speed Secrets 1 and uses it as a bible for teaching the young kids. ...cool! (Ed) He said to me the other day when we were on our Berlin tour that he was honored to have Ross’s brother sitting in the front seat of his car. It was pretty funny, now he wants me to sign his book that he has as “Ross’s brother Gord”. ...not as cool (Ed) He can’t wait to see me in action tomorrow with Liam and to see how much the other driver on the team will learn from us.
The team is the parts supplier for this and the F3 series so they had to use their transporter this race for F3 hospitality and we should be getting passes to get in there this weekend with any luck.
When we left the track tonight finally around 8:00pm it was freezing out it was down to 4.5 degrees C. and dropping! I packed my toque and gloves for the trip and I think that I may need them tomorrow.
Got back to our room and then went out for dinner – we found a little pizzeria and shared a large salami pizza between the two of us (I know I am going to suffer for this one). We asked for a pepperoni but they don’t have it. They said that their "pepperoni" is hot peppers so we opted for the salami.
I am looking forward to letting everyone know tomorrow night how the day went so stay tuned. Liam is on track at 8:05-8:35am and at 5:40-6:30pm if they don’t change the schedule. Apparently it was very foggy this morning and it was getting dark at 6:00pm so they may change us with the SEAT touring cars as they have headlights and run in the dark sometimes.
Well we were up at 5:00am and Liam is already asleep so I guess I am off to bed also now.