Worked on the R8. What an awesome car.
Spent a day at the Castle-Combe racetrack.
This is like a mini-commercial!
Gumpert Apollo. Kev and I's lap in the R8 was faster than this car... Maybe its the driver...
Our cars all piled out front.
Don't like the blue so much.
But this little blue car, an old NSU, ripped!
Hard not to love a track day.
My phone is as tall as an iPod.
New Audi S5
Audo TT tdi!
True.
Big showing of TT owners.
A silver R8.
Milltek S3.. Fast little car.
Loudest RS4 Cabriolet I have ever heard. Adrians car!
Tim and Charlie managed to squeeze 27psi of boost out of this stripped down and worked up TT.. They also managed to squeeze oil into the intake. Cut the day short.
And, because I am a nerd and secretly want to be a photographer, here is my only themed bit:
No S6 there at all. So I didn't include it. But the new ones are hot.
Don't complain about fuel prices stateside. Do the math:
($8.26 a gallon)
This is where it gets interesting and fuzzy. We had to go to Audi Driver International's Gala Awards dinner in Swindon. Apparently its like the oldest and highest ranked Audi dealership in the UK. I rode with Lucy, the bosses daughter, in the S3 from Castle-Combe. We had rooms at Hilton Swindon, and after everyone got cleaned up and dressed up (black tie affair, you know), we met downstairs for drinks.
Everyone looked great! We had a drink, and then we walked over to the dealership, opting to cross a 4-lane major highway rther than wait for a shuttle bus. We were recieved with served hors d'oeuvre's and popping bottles of champagne. I had to play international business rep for a bit with a crowd of folks... and lets face it... its not my shining area, so I 'wung' it. As Greg and I have actually had some practice with that in front of a crowd, it was fun.
This dealership had everything. R8 on the floor. RS4's in stock. Recaro Baby Racing Seats.
Sorry for the glare, its tough to be inconspicious.
Same here. Class event!
Our reserved table was no less than the RS4 table. It was Phil, Debbie, Louise, John, Adrian, Lucy, and myself. Lucy and Louise are Phils daughters. Luoise is married to John, who works for Phil. Debbie is his assistant, and Adrian is a friend of all of them. Awesome people.
It was fantastic food, wine, drinks, and a general good time. It did get a little long.
The awards started, and we won Best Aftermarket Product. How awesome. Phil gave a little speech. A bunch more people got industry related awards and mention. A scottish guy named Jim gave a speech, and apparently all of my south england friends had a hard time understanding him. I however, did not, and they all thought it was fantastic that I was able to translate. Maybe it was the multiple glasses of champagne. Maybe it was the gin and tonic. Maybe it was the wine. Maybe it was the girl to my right. But anyway it was cut, it was fun.
The night wore on.
Contemplating sleep, Adrian, Lucy, and myself opted to get something going and have a little evening. We started with some Audi-sponsored gambling.
We won several times in a row, without trying. Pissed off the rest of the table so, off the the bar we went.
Peroni. Quality Iti beer. I may, or may not, have texted andrew to mention this to him.
We drank. It was good. We got rounds for company heads that were there. They returned the favor. I talked to them. I introduced myself to the scotsman that was Jim Curry. He was like, "Do AH know YEH?" and I said, no sir, but I know about you from my friends here. And chat we did.
We reached this point.. You know, that point where you decide photos are good, and maybe you and Adrian just argued over shots of Jack Daniels until you each ended up with a glass full of it. ANd you drank it.
And then maybe, maybe lucy was quiet and watching me. So I talked to her. And without getting into it, I found she knew exactly why I was there, and what I was up to. And she wanted to talk about it right there... For fun of course, but dear lord this is an incredible british girl the same age as me with a firm confidence about her.. so we went outside to talk. Must have looked ridiculous, both of us dressed to kill and rolling around this parking lot loaded with nice cars... drinks in hand, laughing and talking and running around. 5 hours later, I woke up in her hotel room. Now, I am stating right here that I am not insinuating anything. After laughing about the evening having gotten out of bed, I decide to opt for a shower and a change of clothes... In my room. I open her door, step into the hall, close the door, turn around, and run smack into her father.
oh god.
he asked me if i had fun.
I told him yes, yes I did. Never had thta much fun in 24hrs ever.
He said that was great! And that he needed to run, and if Lucy and I wanted, we could do breakfast and head back of our own accord...
ok? sure!
Back into her room to laugh about it. A shower, a change, I walk downstairs a couple minutes before meeting her again. But I bump into just about everyone I talked to last night. Jim sure remembers my name, laughs it up with me, etc. So apparently, even though I am unsure as to what I did to get this, if I am ever in Scotland I had better call him to come visit.
Lucy and I drove back the 2+ hrs to Derby, piecing the evening back together and apologizing for whatever had happened. Then we just chatted about everything else, as is the trend with kids these days. She, is awesome. An independent, confident girl, schooled in psychology and using it, who likes cars as well. Upon dropping me off, we decided to make plans with everyone for friday before I left.
Whew. totally beat, I hit the sack at 3pm, and it was good.
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