The weekend to remember in 2002…18/20 May

There are so many impressions from this event, it's really hard to start telling you about it. I guess I will start out with the "thank you`s". Thanks to the Nissan 200 Owners group in Norway for the initiative. Without you, there wouldn't been any trackday. Thanks to the guys at Valer raceway for putting up with us. Thanks for all you guys who turned up. Thanks to all marshals working the yellow flags. Thank you all.

The weekend started at my work on Friday. I borrowed a Mazda T3500 (Titan) from work, and loaded it with stuff. There will be a list later. Stopped at the store for some supplies. BBQ stuff, and drinkin` stuff. Then headed home. Worked the rest of the night getting all the stuff organised.

Saturday was the day lots of people came around to my house. Picked a few up at the airport (what do you mean my GT-R gearbox is broken?). Most people who turned up are friends I know, but there was a few new ones. Some where wrenchin' the last bit on their cars. Thomas blew his radiator on Saturday 500 meters from my house. I had a new one in the garage
(-of course). There were people sleeping all over. Even in my Racetruck (Mercedes Truck that sleeps 6, and hauls my race bikes). But we had a mini-party with a few beers, Japanese streetrace videos, etc…. Packed it in at about 2 am.

Sunday was travel day to the track. We gathered everyone out of wereever they were sleeping, and I got stuff loaded on the truck.

Load list:

Thomas' GT-R (he was missing a coolant drain bolt, and someone was bringing it to the track)
A BBQ
A Fridge
Allot of food, and beer.
Tools
Washing stuff
A sound system (It's a party, innit?)
Lots of Mazda stuff (Flag, banners, etc..)
+ + + + +

I was going to drive the FD, but as it turned out, I was the only one with a license to drive the truck. Sh***. I was not feeling good when I turned over the keys of the RX-7 to a friend of mine.
We lined up a convoy. T3500 in front, a few GT-R, Sedan GT-R conversion (rare), Cosmo 3 rotor (rare), RX-7 Twin turbo and Turbo II. The track was about 1 hour 30 min away.
Came to the track around 3:30 PM. There was a VW/Audi trackday going on. I HATE those cars. We lined our convoy up on the entry road to the track, and sat down on some chairs. As we sat there, I thought it would be a good idea to make us noticed. We got a large (and I mean large) Mazda banner on a few sticks. As the Sh*** cars left, we were chearing on with the flag. They got upset, we had fun. ;-)

At about 4:30, the track was clear, and we moved in. Unloaded all the stuff, and set it up. Got 220 for the fridge and the sound. Stick in some west coast music, put the PC on with some ice vid action, and the gathering was ON. As we moved into the urge for food, we lit the BBQ, and started sizzlin' steaks and other nice stuff. People gathered around, and we were all enjoying ourselves. From here on I can only say to the ones who didn't make it, this was the party of the year. Things were fun, and then it got even FUNNIER ! later….

Packed it in at about 0430 am by the side of my RX-7 on a camping-bed. Wake up - very cold, Brrr ! I had fallen asleep in my shorts.

Monday, monday…..

0630 am. I am cold as hell. Can't feel my legs from my knee and down. Open my eyes, and see the results of last nights party. Wow ! Starts cleaning up like crazy. Jo helps to. It's fun watching him. He couldn't walk straight, but he was picking up litter like no tomorrow.

About 8, and the place looks decent. Cars are arranged with a little distance between them, so people can walk easy around them. The pit is starting to fill up.

9 am. - Briefing.
The guy from Valer raceway is instructing everyone about the day. He's cool, and is really interested in us having fun. Of course the safety is stressed, but not more than it should. Noise is also an issue, as the noise level is 90 dB max. This is more or less stressed during the day, but 90 dB is more noise tan I thought. (I think the guys at the track was being very cool about our soundlevel-thanks).

...closing in on 10 am....

Everyone is getting ready for the track. Some has to stay a little more in the pits (a little to much of the party-stuff). The drivers are split into 2 groups. Basically full trottle, and half trottle. The fulltrottle guys take off the first hour. Crowds are really turning into the pits now.

11 am to 3 pm
The place is packed ! lot's of people in the pits. The japanese tuningscene momentum is really showing its strength. It could well have been a scene from "Carwars"(-stupid name, but you get the idea?).

On the track...

There are quite a few cool cars out there (and makin' some pretty weird moves....).

The grey Mazda sedan GT-R doesn't really miss a braking point, he just tries to straighten the track out. It doesn't work. He litterally "takes off" on the banking. He flies high into the air (people close to the "incident" state about 1 meter), and lands hard ! Ends up in the sandpit. The flight GT-323 R has landed. The car is towed into the pits. Damage on the front shocktower and sand everywere. The driver is seemingly OK, but complaints about stomach and back pain for about a week later. (btw, the car is up and running again now).

There is a Nissan Skyline on the track too. Not that impressive in its current form, but an exciting feature. Ends up having a bit of trouble with the police... It's absolutetly not road legal in Norway (what twat tipped off the police?? Get a life, man (-or girl?).

There is also a kazillion Nissans there. Actually, I think the S14 200 SX is kind of cool.(Oooh, haven't we gone and gotten ourselves alarmingly deep into another brands abbravations - I promise it wont happen again).

2 FDs on the track are reduced to 1, as one of them(dark Green) is sadly attracted to the sand pit exiting a corner. The power steering belt is snapped off, so there ends the days trackaction for the driver. Other than the belt, the FD seemed OK. The silver one is showing potential, and is one of the faster guys out there......

The Cosmo is weird to watch. The AT makes the car sound slow. But when it accelerates, it's really moving ! Looking closely at the end of one of the videoclips, you can see evidence of why they use alot of gas....( - fire ! ) The road hugging ability on the Cosmo has been improved by TEIN coilovers and 18" wheels. The thing is really nailed to the ground normally, but the owner pushes a little too hard in corners, and he's sideways quite a bit. Action, sure, but not really effective.

Alot of 323 GT-R are out there too. They stay mostly on the track, and are behaving nicely (-for a change?).

5 pm...

People are starting to move out. The day is pretty much over for them, but we (me) are working with collecting our sh**, and loading it on the truck. Then we pick up some garbage after us, and we're off.

The weekend has been great ! We have been working our a** off, but It's been worth it. And we had alot of fun too. I hope all you that were there had fun too, and to you who couldn't make it this year, make it next year !

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