Just to wet your appetites here's what I'll be doing for the next 8 days.................

The people:

Myself and 4 friends (including one dutch, one german)

The cars:

Black 996 GT2 Clubsport (mine)
Silver 996 GT2 Clubsport
Yellow 993 RS GT2-bodied (Nurburgring special)
Nissan Skyline GTR V-Spec (650bhp, hollinger sequential gearbox)


The journey

About 2,000 miles of high speed blasting on unrestricted autobahns and some cultural and motorsports sight-seeing


The visits

Moet & Chandon Factory and Chateau in Epernay
Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart
Porsche factory and Museum in Stuttgart
Ruf Factory in Pfaffenhousen
Munich
Hitlers Eagles Nest in the mountains near Austria
Neuschwanstein Castle
Manthey Racing

We will also be watching the 24hrs Race at the Nurburgring (3rd year in a row!) and a friend of ours is running a team there.

I'm sure we'll have some good video and pictures to share afterwards.


I have already been speaking to Ruf at length and if we agree a deal on what I want done, my GT2 will be staying at Ruf for a full Ruf engine upgrade and a few other cosmetic parts.

I'll also be looking very carefully at a set of the Manthey Racing one-piece Magnesium BBS wheels, that I've been speaking to them about. They weigh 7.3kg each - 16lbs but are very very expensive.

Guy

PS We'll be taking it easy in France and Belgium, they are hot on speeding and last year I had an on-the-spot cash fine equivalent to $700 for doing 160kph in an 80kph limit...............

 

wow, sounds like fun!! live it up! what are the upgrades you are speaking to ruf about???? would love to hear/see the details!

 

Planned upgrades are:

550bhp conversion
Ruf carpets
Ruf mirrors?
Ruf instruments?
Ruf steering wheel?

I need to see some of there stuff in person to decide.

 

We are planning a similar event for 2005. We are starting to work out all of the details now.

 

KPV,

Drop me a PM and I'll give you any help and hints I can for your plans. Recently I've been going to Germany/the 'ring at least twice a year.

Guy

 

Guy,
The plan is to ship the cars to England, take delivery there and tour through England to the Chunnel. Tour through France, into Italy, up through Austria, into Germany (stopping at RUF, Gemballa, and Porsche), on to the "Ring" and then back through Beligium to England.
I am considering leaving my car at Gemballa for some mods as well and having them ship it back when complete.

Thanks for your offer. We may take you up on some info exchange!

 

That'll be a great trip, there are so many great places to drive and see on the route you described. You'll need a couple of weeks to do it properly.

 

Guy,
you can afford those wheels, just buy them!! and what about brakes? ruf may have anupgrade? and put an integrated cage in while you're there, much safer

 

can ruf install the integrated cage aftermarket?

 

Watt,

We'll see. Anyway I'm sure you can also afford them..........

IRC is cool, but less strong than the clubsport cage, as it has no diagonals. I'd get it in a Ruf VIN RTurbo, but as mines an original Clubsport car I'll keep the CS cage in it (it's also better for the 6 points.........

Soon2be.........

Yes they can fit IRC aftermarket since they strip the interior, just as they have to do when they buy a new car from Porsche to make the RUF VIN cars.

Guy

 

When manufacturing a Ruf Vin car, Ruf purchases the shell and the necessary components from Porsche; Assembly is then done in house from scratch. Ruf does not stip a prebuilt car.

 

Dan,

Thats correct for left hand drive cars. But for RHD RUF VIN cars, Ruf has to be supplied with an entire car from Porsche, which they then do the conversion work on.

Oruehr,

There are actually very few speed limits on the autobahns.

There are some sections that have variable speed limits on the new style overhead gantries, that apply when the roads are busy. See below.

http://home.att.net/~texhwyman/elec.htm

There are also many sections that have recomended speed limits, which are the blue signs on the page below and also speed limits when wet (the signs with the wavy lines underneath). See below.

http://home.att.net/~texhwyman/zeichen2.htm

Most people confuse these signs for recomended limits as being speed limits, they are not. You can still go as fast as you want legally, it's just that if you exceed the recomended limit (usually 130kph) the onus of responsibility in the event of a crash is on you.

Guy

 

Not anymore. The speed limit as been raised to 150 km/h and they have started rigorous enforcement, especially in northern Italy. They can even confiscate your car if you can´t afford to pay the multi-thousand Euro fine you´d get for the 200 km/h+ speeding...

 

really nice trip.. when of these days Im going to do it..

 

No RHD cars are delivered to RUF in white bodies, i have e-mails from RUF, specifically Natalia saying we are hoping to receive the body from porsche soon to begin production....

Our R turbo in foetal stage:



IRC:




3,000 man hours later the Thomas(the chap waving) Bernd and Hans see the car off as it heads out for a shake down run



Have fun Guy, just had a chat with Mr R and he said he was very much looking forward to seeing you and the guys

all the best
adam