My Adventures at Le Mans 2000, 10 days in France - Germany - Austria - June 15 - 25th

Subject: France-Lemans-Germany-Austria-Trip

I have been to the mountain and have witnessed greatness.....a brief review......photos and gory details to come later

Lemans trip went well, :-) I am back into Portland, OR Monday June 26th at 2 am.......

Our rental car for the 12 days was a treat, several friends with Audi connections arranged for us to get an A8 Quattro with 4.2 litre V8, the stretch version with lots of leg room, and a GPS system for finding everything.... 270km/h indicated on the speedo with 4 people and a trunk full of luggage....the ultimate transportation for the 4 Audi guys in Europe....fill up only requires a $100 bill...ouch!

Thursday: We leave Paris and with help from our designated "Autobahn Pilot" we arrive in a small town south of Lemans.....nice local home is our base camp for the weekend...

Friday: We visit the Lemans Museum on Friday and scope the weekends events....a parking pass and full admission VIP passes to the race and the Audi Hospitality tent bring big smiles to our faces....

Saturday/Sunday: Lemans Audi hospitality tent just past the Porsche curves provides great food, wine, beer, big screen televisions, race cars running outside, great souvenirs, and the nicely adorned "Audi girls" to meet our every need with bright red tops and hats, great bodies and great smiles to match....

Outside we find a fun tower 65 meters up to view the front section of the track....

Helicopter rides around the track give a great view of this 8+ mile long track...

Paddock hospitality booth provides great view above the pit action with some Audi drivers cruising through at times...

Lots of Audi flag waving after the race with glasses of Champaign and celebration cake fill our needs.....

Local towns provide expensive French food and nice wines to drain any bank account....

Monday: We leave France and head towards the Nurburgring....but first we stop at an Audi dealer and our friends let us test drive the Audi TT quattro 225HP, 6 speed on the Autobahn... Scott and Leigh see slightly over 250km/h, Jay buries the speedo over 260km/h on a down hill section....car requires some accurate driver attention and control operation at those speeds over the bumps and sweeping turns...

Nurburgring is under repairs for the upcoming 24hour race......the "Ring Taxi" (M5 ride) is booked for over a year in advance.....so we don't get to drive the famous Nordschleif section aka "The Ring"....but we eat at a very good local restaurant, tip a few Weisse Biers.....and get an up close view of the Grand Prix track under preparation for the upcoming weekend...

Late night with the Audi Guys...we leave the ring and head for town outside Frankfurt at 11PM....arrive at destination at 12:35am after our "Autobahn Pilot" sees 270km/h+.....trucks go by in a flash....motorcycle rider pulls in front of us at 220km + speeds, he tests the braking system of the A8......no problem.....word has it that we are getting an RS4 to test drive tomorrow????

Tuesday: We head to Ingolstadt for some fun....brief visit to the older small Audi museum....we see the AVUS concept car parked in the corner!!!! Mucho photos are taken...Tomorrow we will have more time in this place.....We stop at the Ingolstadt service center to pick up some Audi parts....and a nice red Audi service coat for me......Silver/blue RS4 is picked up at 5PM.......we have this car until tomorrow morning.....!!!!!! We have all died and gone to heaven......

Jay, Leigh, and our designated "Autobahn Pilot" flog the RS4 this evening toward/back from our hotel south/east of Ingolstadt......it pulls hard in every gear......the sound this thing makes is intoxicating....250km/h (155m/h), 260km/h.......comes easily.......As Jay drives the RS4 onto the Autobahn the song "Lovely Lady" from Kool and the Gang comes on the radio....the words in the song are perfectly matched to our driving experience......

On the way to dinner, Leigh wins the prize and sees slightly over 280km/h (174m/h) indicated on the speedo with the 4 audi guys in the car...Leigh indicates the car won't pull any more......later our main "Autobahn Pilot" takes the car back to the hotel after dinner....260-270km/h full out.... at night...even in the tight bends on the autobahn.....he really knows how to drive fast.......we are amazed........I finally do a short sprint with the RS4 as we head back to the hotel so I can at least sleep tonight.....my real driving stint in this machine comes in the morning.....sounds of the 380HP, 2.7 litre TT engine at full revs dance in my head as I sleep....

Wed: I drive the RS4 on local 2 lane roads on our way back to Ingolstadt....passing is available any time, in just about any gear..... 2nd, 3rd, 4th gear works the best.....I have a quick run on the autobahn and see a tick over 250km/h which comes up very fast....recent mag test shows 0-200km/h (0-124m/h) in 17 seconds....I believe it!!!!!....braking from high speed is no problem either.....finish the drive on local roads....I began weeping at the thought of giving this car back.....

Visit a local Audi dealer.....who has some interesting cars on display.....

Next stop is the Audi Boutique at the factory in Ingolstadt and some souvenirs purchases......

Now another visit to the small Audi Museum....and to the secret Audi warehouse for some views of some A2/S1 rally/Imsa/BTCC etc. cars...the molds for the AVUS concept car are stacked up in the corner......

Note: the new Audi museum is under construction next to the main new car delivery showroom and Audi Boutique....

Drive quickly to Stuttgart for a quick afternoon visit to the Porsche Museum and the Exclusive division (custom Porsche mfg). Late dinner with some local Stuttgart Audi/Porsche friends ends a great day...

Thursday: Today is a national holiday so we head towards the town of Singen and then over to Liechtenstein to visit Lehmann...very interesting things happening at this engine builder......

Later we head towards Munich for an interesting dinner with an Audi executive....while flogging the A8 at 260+km/h we notice we are low on fuel.....as we head off the autobahn into the truck stop/gas station....the car runs out of gas.....hopefully you can picture what happens next..... we see 3 Audi guys pushing the A8 200 meters up slight gradient.........thank god the A8 has all aluminum construction as we are able to push the car to the down hill section and coast in for re-fueling.....we eventually arrive for dinner late at 8:30PM...the next snafu occurs as I manually lock the A8 doors, not noticing that someone left the keys in the ignition.....luckily the trunk is still open......some McGiver action with a fountain pen and the trunk lock electrical connector, opens all the door locks.......we are once again saved from any further embarrassment....

Drive back late to Stuttgart....Leigh drives at high speeds in pouring rain and darkness......Leigh officially passes the Autobahn drivers test and is issued a certificate...we arrive in Stuttgart somewhere past 2 am....

Friday finds us heading north/west towards the Audi factory in Neckarsulm...quick visit at the boutique to gather some wordily goods......then over to the Sinseim museum.....to see some amazing cars/planes/tanks...etc. including the prototype 1986 Audi Quattro RS004 rally car....mid engine design.......oooh la la..........this is good....I hope those photos turn out....now we are heading back to France......for the 20 year quattro anniversary weekend event at Linas-Montlhery...

We are staying at some French Chateau in the countryside for the weekend....more draining of bank accounts for our rooms and for another French dining experience....

Saturday morning we run into Frank Biela and Emannuel Pirro during breakfast in our Hotel, after some quick introductions we head to the Montlhery event.....

More Audi hospitality is received, along with more good food, more Audi women, this time dressed with nice red suits....witness one of the RS8's from Lemans driving around the high banked oval of Montlhery....the original speed record event AVUS car from the 30's is there (streamliner from the Monterey Historics), but this time it is running under power around the high banked circuit....

We have a nice visit with the local independent Audi France quattro club...15-20 Ur-quattros are in attendance...

Back to the Chateau....the boys head out for another fine French dinner in the countryside.....I hear that some pigeons give their all for a great dining experience......I stay back at the Hotel and pack up for my return trip in the morning....the other 3 Audi guys are flying over to Goodwood festival of Speed for more fun....I am sorry I can't make it...

20+ hours of flying and I am home..... That is the summary....Check out the photos

Scott

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