List;
Well, in the interest of "full disclosure" I'll have to say that it
wasn't a real "race" and I wasn't even driving-- but it sure was
memorable.
One weekend a high school friend who owned a '48 Merc took a couple of
us classmates on a little trip up to the Nurburgring (I was an Army Brat
in Germany) and we bought a ticket to make a lap around that beautiful
14.7 mile track that runs through the Eifel Mountains. On non- race
days, it is open to the public for a fee; in those days (around early
1957) it was only a few DM. There are NO speed limits and you see a huge
variety of cars on the track at the same time-- everything from the most
exotic Ferrari to Herman the German (no offense intended, Pork Pie) with
his family in a '53 Borgward with 10 PSI in the tires. Quite a few
wrecks littered the course; it seemed like wrecks were accepted as a
normal thing so other cars only got a caution flag when approaching one.
I guess '48 Mercs were not something anyone had seen hurtling around the
Nurburgring before so we attracted quite a bit of attention. Porsches
were a dime a dozen but a '48 Merc? Now that's something to watch. We
must have scrubbed off half the tire tread as we careened around at
alarming roll angles trying to find the "line" through the corners. The
Karusel had a particularly high "pucker factor".
My parents were so glad that I hadn't done something dangerous like
buying that BMW motorcycle.....
Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-land-speed@autox.team.net
[mailto:owner-land-speed@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of
FastmetalBDF@aol.com
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2004 4:19 PM
To: lsr_man@yahoo.com; joyseydevil@comcast.net;
land-speed@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: First Race - - - or, How I outran the Sheriff!
John, I think you've opened up a thread here that could fill
many
volumes, not just one book ! The combined auto antics / racing
experiences
of the membership of this list must have many, many amazing, strange,
and very funny tales of events participated in or witnessed by all of us
here
I know there are some on this list ....
who were racecrazy before me ...... because they're older !
Story Time, Anybody ???
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