Has it been a year since I got to do this again? (sigh - times flies when you are having fun - or locked in the garage packing boxes - but that is another story)

Dateline: 0400 : 09-02-2003

Out of bed and out the door for my rendezvous with AA airlines. Suspiciously when I get there and am safely plunked in my seat after running the gauntlet of security checks a crisp voice comes on the intercom and as the doors swing shut they proclaim themselves to be part of the "One World Alliance". I suddenly notice that the friendly stewardesses of yore have been replaced by machine gun toting AHHNOLD clones. YIKES!! Roger Hedgecock was right all along! (I keep my head down and pretend to go along with the pogrom and make it safely to Frankfurt.)

Dateline: 0800 : 09-03-2003

Suddenly it is Wednesday @ 0800. How did it take 24 hours at 600mph to get someplace just 9 time zones away? Confused as usual I follow the herd to baggage claim and get my stuff and decide which door to open... "to declare" or "not to declare" - it is the 64 €uro question of the moment. I figure, why not go for it and hit the "not to declare" line. In typical socialist proletarian fashion they are all too busy arguing over whether they deserve a 30 day paid vacation or a 60 day paid vacation or not and ignore me.

I make it to the fresh air and meet Detlef. FREE AT LAST!

He tells me that this years event at SPA should be great, as for the first time in 3 years, it is not going to rain. (later I find out that the European weather forecasters are just as bad as their USA counterparts) We throw the parts and bits I brought into the car (a snazzy red ITR with white 5 spoke wheels and a few carbon bits) and head off to the Autobahn. Did you know that a Euro ITR can go 240? (well kph that is) Maybe it is because it is red..or because Detlef had Strudel for breakfast? We head to the Honda dealer where the Trophy car lives now (Ecker Honda) and spend the day finishing prepping the car. They did a 90K service on it on Monday, (remember this for later in the story) which was good since according the Michael (the owner and racy race tech) the car looked like it had never been touched inside since 1993. It even had a rusty water pump! - amazing. So, except for a few last minute bolt tightening, decal & tape applications and fluid checks and all that it looks like it was ready to go. (ok well, we did have to get some air out of the race radiator and find the racer tape)

We go home to Detlefs nice new house and I fall asleep talking to him. This happens a lot at odd times in the story as I was just up for 24 hours and am now +9 hours off from the CA day.

Dateline: 0800 : 09-04-2003

Having woken up in the middle of the night with no place to go I am now wondering if this was such a good idea. Detlefs tar colored coffee changes my mind though and we head off to get the truck we will borrow to go to SPA, drag the trailer out of the bushes, get the gas cans, assemble the tool kit - all the stuff that you need to do before the race day.

Picking up the truck (a mini diesel Mercedes) was EZ - Detlef did all the talking as his pal does not speak English. Getting the car on the trailer was a bit more of a project all together. First we had to cut all the weeds out of it, (it has a mesh aluminum bed) and since it rains in Germany things GROW and it was literally woven through with weeds! That done, we drafted a few of the mechanics there to help us push it out of the back 40, not that hard really as it is pretty light. OK time to get the car on the trailer. This is always an adventure as my friends here are German and the trailer was made (and labeled) in Italy and came with no manual. It needs about a 50 pager from Helm as it has a hydraulic/electrical system that would make Rube Goldberg mad with jealously. Of course the battery for the hydraulics was dead and of course the "plug it in the wall" 220V 50 meter emergency cord did not work. Some bablefish translating of the switch labels later and a BIG HONDA battery to the rescue and we are ready to go.

We get the car up on it, and then............hmm, since it was custom made for the Norcini car and the welded aluminum wheel chocks only fit one tire/wheel combination, (17/18 with YOKO slicks) and we have 18/18 with S03's mounted on the car, what can we do? Back into the garage where we find some loooooooooooooong tow straps. (you can see how we did it in the pix) and we hook the winch back up on the front tow hook. Feeling snug and secure now we head back to Detlefs castle as we have to leave at 0500 to get to SPA in time to set up and get the maximum practice time out of the mere €383.33 (that is $413.00 USD for you farm boys) daily entry fee we paid. (well actually we have not paid it yet - so that becomes another adventure).

Some good dinner and nice German beer and maybe I will sleep. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Dateline: 0430 : 09-05-2003

I'm awake anyway as the beer only worked for an hour. We pack up the truck and head off to hook up the trailer and head off to our big adventure. We arrive right on time @ 0500 and back the truck up and connect the ball thing & safety straps, release the hand brake on the trailer, plug in the electrical connection for the lights.... and hey! it is not the same plug. ohh, this is bad. Just like in the USA, there are at least 2 different plugs and we don't have 2 of the right ones or an adaptor. Hmm - too early to call anyone, so we look around the garage and the other trailers in the yard. We can't find anything to borrow, steal or cut off so we decide to hang tough and just go for it.

As we drive off Detlef explains to me in his normal understated way that since the Italian trailer is not certified for use in Germany anyway and has expired plates from both Italy and Holland on it - what is the big deal with adding no lights to the menu? (Oh and by the way, it is his first time driving with a trailer.)

Just call us a couple of "wild and crazy" guys. Off we go.

Soon we are zooming down the Autobahn at 140KPH, straight as an arrow. Not bad for a little diesel.

We stop in Luxembourg for some "cheap gas". Lets put this term in perspective. Gas in Germany is ~ €1.17/Liter, or ~ $5.00/gallon. WHOA! you say? Well in the tax haven called Luxembourg, you can fill up your gas hog race car and all the gas cans for a mere $3.74/gallon! (blame those damn tree hugging green colored socialists for the taxes in Germany) Still think that is expensive? Well, lets take a closer look at the octane rating, it is 98!! Bought any 98 "race gas" (or "95" for that matter) in the USA lately? it is $4.50 -$5.00/gallon. We got the killer deal. That and some good coffee. Every gas station has a $2000.00 espresso/coffee/cappuccino/Latte dispenser - where else can you fill up your brain for a mere €1.50 AND get race gas at a discount? - my dream vacation come true. I wonder if Blondie would consider moving?

Back on the freeway, Detlef asks the rhetorical question "what do you think will happen to the diesel motor if I put 98 in it instead of the diesel"? Turns out we now have 8 Liters of 98 in the tank along with a lot of diesel as he had a short circuit in his brain for a moment. We decide to find out and he hammers the pedal - YIKES! this thing flys!! We decide to race the rest of the way there now that we have found the secret rocket fuel mix....

Soon we see the signs for "SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS" - WOWIE! F1 dreams on a budget!

We pull into the welcome area where we registered last year - there is no one. I start to wonder if I am here on the right weekend. We decide to press onward and as we drive through town towards the track we see a small yellow cardboard sign taped to a flower pot at a gas station " NSX DAYS" with an arrow pointing to the gas station office. What is this? - are we doing it "on the cheap" this year??

We park, (blocking a race Porshe on purpose) he says something is French, "we" say something back in German - classic. I don't ask Detlef what was said and the Porsche backs up and drives off in a huff.

Inside we find a small table for the registration set up and a familiar face from last year handling things. So far so good. Goose was supposed to pay for the registration as he had some Swiss Francs to get rid of and needs some NSX body parts from me to fix his car not yet paid for so we figure this will be all worked out. Unfortunately this guy has heard of none of this and will not give us anything (like my race number) without money - lots of money. (remember the $413.00/day fee?) OK, no problem, I've got VISA! he does not take VISA. OK, how about MasterCard? He does not take that either. OK, how about dollars? he does not take no stinking Yankee dollars, just Swiss Francs or €uros. DANG it - what is this shit? Detlef and I conference. He has 500 €uros in his wallet, we come back in with the 500 €uros and make a deal with the registrar guy to drive now and pay later - he is a good guy after all! I even get a free T-shirt!

Off to the track we go................

We meander through the woods and as we get closer we hear the sounds of thunder! (the on the track kind - the rain would wait for the race.) We finally get to the tunnel that leads under the track to the pits and wait for the light to turn green telling us that it is clear and we can go through.

**Now lets pause and reflect for a moment....why would you spend $100,000,000.00 francs (or whatever) on a really nice race track and then build a one way one lane access tunnel into the pits that cannot fit anything bigger than a FIAT 600 in it? It must be a requisite for race track designers as it seems to be done everywhere.**

Anyway - we get the green light and move into the tunnel - we "just" fit and I mean just, as the antenna is dragging on the roof and the trailer is perilously close to the walls. (or at least it looks that way in the mirror) Of course at the end of the tunnel is an abrupt right turn onto a 15% up hill grade that looks like we just hit the Alps. Sweet. We hit the gas to make a run for it and standing right in front of that hill is an idiot that decides to stand his ground in front of the truck and stop us to ask us (in French of course) if we know where the F1 pits are - DOH! do we look like NASCAR FANS?

We are now screwed. The truck is a manual, and front wheel drive. We are halfway out of the hole and halfway up the hill and we cannot move. Think of your first steep hill start with a manual with a grabby clutch and add a 5000lb. payload to your nightmare. We cannot back up to get a running start now as there are 3 other cars and trailers etc. in the tunnel behind us. The clutch is smoking. Detlef is sweating. The Belgians are shouting. (in French of course) What to do?

Just then a fellow racer walks down the hill and looks at the scene - he laughs and runs back up the hill only to appear moments later in a brand new VW V8 automatic SUV. He unhooks us and hooks himself to the trailer (after we push the truck out of the way as the clutch is still smoking) and with a small stab on the pedal effortlessly pulls us directly to the pit box. What was that old cliche about cubic inches? DANG! Of course this guy speaks German and Swiss and not English so I just to the smile and nod thing. I figure the bastard probably drives a Porshe anyway and will pass me in the rain like I'm parked and blind me with the 30ft high rooster tail from his 6 foot wide slicks later anyway. (no shit, and he does too, but I digress)

We unload (which takes but a few moments) as we don't have anything but the car, a small tool case and a 6 back of mineral water. After all, what could go wrong, it is a Honda after all, and didn't we just do a 90K and replace everything? and didn't we check it over on the lifter and drive it around the block 3X? No sweat!!

Ahhh, if we only knew...

Well actually we did, but we didn't think of it at the time. I suit up for the first session and fire the car up - all is well, the sun is out (amazing) and I putter around for a lap to warm up everything. All looks & smells good and I hammer the gas and off we go. "Hammering the gas" is a relative thing, as I'm not looking to set any personal lap records this session, it has been a year since I was here last in a different car, and it is the first time this car has been run on the track for over 2 years and we don't want anything to fall off at the wrong time.

I do 4 laps at what I think is about 80% of what I can do and come in to check everything and maybe check the rear tire pressures as they felt "greasy" in a few corners. Hmm... why is the right rear brake smoking? I wonder who left the line lock on - hey, it was me! (no wonder the car felt a little "slow" coming out of the corners) We let it all cool off and then pull the wheel to check everything. Hmm, nothing but backing plates left - nice. Do I have any spare brake pads? of course not, this is a Honda. I go prospecting, as I know from last year that there are two real NSX race teams here running the same Brembo race brakes as me. I mumble something about being an American and a dumb ass and they agree and hand me a new set of Pagid Blues - gee - the same kind as on the front if my car! - we must be kindred spirits! So, what is the "at the track" price for a set of rear PAGID race pads for a "bro" in need you ask? just a mere €250.00 or ~ $275.00USD. Lucky me he is more cosmopolitan than the guy at the registration table and dollars work. I give him $300.00 and one of his techs comes with the pads.

We push in the pistons in on one side of the caliper so we can install the new pads (remember the backing plates were clamped to the rotor) and what happens? Well, what USUALLY happens when you help? one of the pistons on the other side of the caliper almost pops out and fluid dribbles everywhere. Did I just introduce some AIR into the system? (DOH) Heck, what is a little air between friends - I push it back in and we put it all together. Then we do the other side. I find that I had Ferodo 3000 in the rear and PAGID Blue in the front. Interesting.

Now the pedal is "mushy" instead of the usual stone wall. (did I mention that this is a non power assisted dual master in car adjustable Brembo MONOBLOC billet brake system with no pedal feel?) I decide to give it a lap and see exactly "how mushy". Well would you believe the rears now do nothing and the fronts do everything and I'm smoking the fronts enough to get a black flag? killer - too bad we don't have video.

We cool it all off again and ask Gerard if we can "borrow" the brake fluid he brought. But he is not here to ask at the moment as he is out on the track belching flames at any that attempt to get close enough. He had offered it before, so we figure we are safe and just steal it. By now we are the talk of the pits (those crazy Americans - don't they know things don't always go perfectly?) and one of the techs comes over from the Integra team next door to help us bleed out the system. Since I clearly have the most thumbs of all of the hands there I get to push the brake pedal.

We go through the 1 Liter of Ate Blue liberated from Gerard and need some more - hmm. he does not have any. Oh what the heck, it is only for a day - we stick the stuff that came out back in the reservoir and keep pumping. We end up with "the rock" pedal feel again and I'm happy. So, one "challenge" down and now what to do about interesting observation number 2.

Remember that "greasy tire" feel I mentioned before? well, the tire temps across the tread were actually OK, what made the car feel a little off I think was the oil dripping off the block. Nice. After all this brake fiddling (ie the car sitting) we now have a bit of an oily mess under the car. It was not dripping BEFORE the 90K service, so what did we do? Turns out there are as many opinions as there are techs around. Kinda like the Forums. Since there were just two this time, we got two. The Integra guys said it was the clearly a valve cover gasket, the NSX guys said that MIGHT be true but since they couldn't appear to agree with the ITR guys they said it was the "button" rubber washers that are used to hold the valve covers on. Whatever, we pulled them off and then replaced everything and Voila! all fixed. I don't care who as right as now the car was ready to go again. We tell each pit that they were right and everyone is happy. We get in a few laps, and each time I pass the stands I turn the brake adjust another 2 turns more toward the back - it would be nice to know how far it shifts the brake bias with each turn but I figure I'll find out eventually when the rears lock up.(they never did - we have so way to go with that I think)

The day ends with us thinking that the car might be "OK" to race after all. We put the car to bed and go home to shower and eat. We eat a BIG PIZZA and have some really bland beer - we aren't in Germany anymore. I hit the bed and douse the lights. I fall asleep. Soon I find out that Belgians party like it's 1999. All night

Dateline: 0730 : 09-06-2003

Up @ 0700 - hit the hotel cafe for Jo, and more Jo and more Jo + a croissant or 2. We head to the track. Car prep this am consists of checking the oil again, (OK) checking the air in the tires, (OK) checking the coolant level, (same) and taping the days schedule to the side of the truck. Yawn, time for a nap I think, but we decide to put gas in the car instead. This is the first time we have tried to get gas from inside the small cans to inside the car. The cheap funnel we got at the gas station didn't have a long enough point at the end to depress the no lead lock in the filler neck. (and I now have a driving shoe that smells like 98 octane gas) I also noticed that the paint on the pit box floor was melting from the gas and that I had mushed it around. Did you know that 97% of all Europeans that go to the track or work on cars also smoke? With visions of car fires dancing in my head we put a rag on the floor and a screwdriver into the filler neck to keep the hole open and put in 20 Liters. Then it is out on the track for more "free practice". I wonder who got it for free? it was costing me ~ €10.00 per lap between the entry fee and the gas. Ah well, I can't take it with me so what the hell.

It was now time for the first race. My qualifying time were teeeeerrrrible (3:18:05) as we were on and off the track all day fixing and experimenting and etc. and never really had a good clean run. That means I was lined up in the last row. No big deal - it is an hour race and will be fun even if I'm last. Wait - it is clouding up and then it begins to rain! everyone but me puts their cars back up in the air and starts frantically swapping to rain tires, I'm on S03's anyway so I watch and smile. I hate those guys with piles of slicks. OK, not really, I'm really just jealous.

We line up and the green flag drops & then off we go! Before I describe the race, let me tell you what a "practice session" over here is like. Imagine a wheel to wheel race session with no official start where you can pass anywhere anytime and the drivers are looking in their mirrors and mostly obeying the flags. Lots of good clean fun. Then there are the official "qualifying" sessions. (we had 2 anyway) Imagine a wheel to wheel race session with no official start where you can pass anywhere anytime and the drivers are not looking in their mirrors and may obey the flags or they may ignore them. Lots of fun too. Now the actual race; we had an official flag waving SPEEDVISION start onto the track where you can pass anywhere and the drivers are blinded by testosterone, ignoring their mirrors and the flags. REALLY lots of fun. Too bad we suck here in the USA and can't do this too. Lawyers suck. (now, before you get all worked up, some of my best friends are lawyers and they agree)

This race was a 60 minute "Enduro" which just means that it is 20 laps (or so) instead of 10. Big deal. 20 laps is not what I'd call an "Enduro" - now 200 maybe. ;-)

The flag drops and the cars blast off and there is water everywhere. (did I forget to remind you it started raining big time?) By the time we got to the end of the first straight (Malmedy corner) you couldn't see anything ahead but the braking signs, and then a lot of red brake lights. (In the dry you enter the braking zone a ~ 220+kph) the wet version was much less but I was not looking to see what it was) Everyone made it through though and we all zipped around as best we could, which was not that fast considering all the slipping and sliding going on. My times were terrible, the best lap was a 3:20:769. No crashes though and we all came back to fill up and clean up and clap for the two guys that win all the races and watch them spray cheap Champagne on each other. Maggie scored 3rd in the stock division!

The weather then drys up completely and the sun comes out for the Porshe race directly after. (sigh) NSX's start popping up all over the place as the club people start coming. MR2's and ITRs arrive as well. It's a party! (I heard that there were 17 NSX's all together)

All the braking problems and oil dripping has gone away it seems and the car feels tight. We have some more practice time in the afternoon with a dry track - this is more like it. I keep twisting the brake proportioning adjuster 1 turn on each lap and am still wondering when I'll feel a difference. (yes it is hooked up thank you) We put the car to bed and go home to shower and eat. Belgians party on Saturday nights too. All night.

Dateline: 0730 : 09-07-2003

Up (or still up?) - We hit the hotel cafe for Jo, and more Jo and more Jo and more Jo as it is now 2 nights with minimal sleep. (+ a croissant or 2 for the road). We head to the track. I am praying for a decent day with SUN or at least a dry track so I can see how the car will really go. Mother nature obliges and it is "looking good" for the event, a 30 minute/10 lap sprint. Yesterday I was so slow that I was hearing some smack talk about being "out for a Sunday drive". Mind you this particular comment came from the peanut gallery of non racer guys running about 3:12:00 in their track session. Ha.

(little did they know I was sandbagging it on day #1 - well that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!)

We get the Green Light and off we go. The first lap is a 3:12+ and then we start to boogie. I was "stuck" behind a full race ITR and Civic battling to the death - the guys were just hammering each other into each corner but every time it looked like I'd be able to pass they would gang up on me and block. True friends. We were running 3:10:+ by then. Finally on lap 3 or 4 the Civic hit the brakes too late while they were playing chicken going into each corner and both of them ended up going off at the entrance to the chicane! I was gone, and ended up with several 3:03:+ laps in a row with a 3:03:354 as the best of the 10 laps we did that session. I went back and smacked a few heads. Maggie scored 3rd in the stock division again! She gets all the trophies.

After that race I was feeling kinda done for the day, so I was just hangin, but there was 4 hours of practice available that afternoon still, and several of the visiting NSX's headed out to have a go at the track. I hopped in with Kevin to see how his car was doing and just as we crested the EAU ROUGE hill we could see Maarten sitting in his car facing the wrong way across traffic (in the median) and with bits everywhere! We headed back to the pit.

Maarten had spun at the top of the EAU ROUGE hill (not that hard to do if you let off at the wrong time or came over the top pointing a little to far to the left) and slid across the width of the track, the buffer zone between the track and the track entrance lane to bury his car into the tire stacks on the passenger side, and it is totalled. He is luckily to be only in bed for a month with just 1 cracked vertebra (last I heard) Hopefully he will have a speedy and full recovery. We had to pack it up and leave before he came back from the hospital...............

bummer.

The event at SPA next year is already booked for September 3-4-5 - you comin?

We will be there with a slightly lighter and faster version of "Hahne" - some info on the car's history is copied below:

"The one you have in the States is the ‘93 race car from John Nielson, the one here in Europe is the old one from Armin Hahne, he raced the 3 first races in 93. I checked the VIN number with a guy from Honda R&D. They dont used test cars here. Mr Böttcher told me about only 3 NSX's. Seems that Mr. Josting removed some parts like STAC data logger, seats and engine incl. special engine mounts and sold this again (USA)"

note: I thought the motor in the Hahne car felt stock.

"The 3th car (I miss) was the racing car from Hahne for the rest of the season. This car they shipped back to Japan after ’93 season. The official ’93 HONDA team was Seikel Motorsport."

You can see the 3rd car on a Japanese video where they test all the NSX racer versions over the years - I saw this at Gooses house one night.

Mark Johnson / http://www.daliracing.com / Adapt:Innovate:Overcome "If you are not being criticized by someone, maybe you are not doing enough"